Jamal Did It Who Stole X
Jamal Did It, also known as Who Stole X, is a TikTok photo slideshow trend from April 2022 where users pose a hypothetical crime and cycle through emoji or photo suspects before landing on a Black boy named Jamal as the framed culprit. The format drew heavy criticism for leaning on racial stereotypes and later spawned a fake death hoax in late 2022.
Overview
Jamal Did It, sometimes called Jamal Is Innocent or Who Stole X, is a TikTok slideshow format where a creator poses a crime, cycles through a handful of suspects rendered as emojis or photos, and lands on a Black boy named Jamal as the framed culprit1. The bit is almost always set to Mississippi Fred McDowell's blues track "You Gotta Move," which functions as the audio signature for the format1.
Most slideshows use a stock photo of actor Abraham Clinkscales as young Jamal, which became the go-to face of the joke by late 20221. Critics on TikTok argued the trend was straightforwardly racist because the punchline relies on Black identifiability rather than any actual setup2.
How It Spread
How to Use This Meme
A typical Jamal Did It post is a TikTok photo slideshow set to Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move"1. Creators usually pose a question in the caption like "who stole the X," then cycle through three or four suspect images, whether emojis or real photos, before ending on Jamal, most often the Abraham Clinkscales stock photo1. The caption often tags the final slide with "suspicious" or "#jamal" to signal the punchline.