Moto Moto the hippo from Madagascar flexing his bicep with a smug smirk

Moto Moto

2008character catchphraseclassic

Published September 7, 2026

Moto Moto is the smooth-talking hippo bachelor from DreamWorks' 2008 film Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, voiced by will.i.am, whose flirtation with Gloria birthed the enduring 'Moto Moto likes you' catchphrase. His song 'Big and Chunky' and reaction clips turned him into one of animation's most enduring thirst-object memes on Reddit and YouTube.

dreamworks memes thirst memes catchphrase memes late 2000s memes character archetype memes

Overview

Moto Moto is an animated hippo bachelor whose whole personality is confidence, low-frequency vocals, and an obsession with 'chunky' partners. His name means 'hot hot' in Swahili, and the running joke is that the name is so nice you have to say it twice1. Online, he functions less as a character reference and more as a stand-in for exaggerated attraction, with the line 'I think Moto Moto likes you' captioned over crushes, celebrities, and cursed image edits2.

The format is loose. People clip the scene where Moto Moto struts up to Gloria and use it as a reaction to anything they find hot, or they photoshop his face onto other bulky figures like Thanos and Salt Bae to riff on his aura3. The 'Big and Chunky' musical number gets repurposed as ironic hype music. Urban Dictionary entries lean into the bit, defining him as a 'smooth player hippo with big thick dark eyebrows'4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Film (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) / Reddit + YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
DreamWorks Animation; will.i.am
Date
2008

Moto Moto debuted in DreamWorks' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which was released theatrically on November 7th, 20081. Voiced by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, the character is written as a hippo heart-throb whose flirtation with Gloria drives a subplot about her feeling seen for her size2.

On November 8th, 2008, BlackTree TV uploaded a behind-the-scenes interview introducing the character and will.i.am's performance, and that clip circulated as the first taste of Moto Moto outside the theater5.

How It Spread

The song 'Big and Chunky', performed by will.i.am in-character, was uploaded to YouTube by XTheVideoGirlX on September 13th, 2009 and racked up millions of plays over the following decade, seeding the audio for later edits6. On April 27th, 2013, uploader Mostafaabobakr7 posted the isolated 'Moto Moto Likes You' scene, which became the reference clip people linked whenever the catchphrase came up7.

Reddit is where Moto Moto turned into a proper recurring meme. On October 17th, 2018, Redditor Danny-fantom posted a photoshopped Thanos/Moto Moto hybrid to r/thanosdidnothingwrong, and on December 31st, 2018, Redditor Inb625 dropped a Salt Bae-as-Moto Moto edit to r/dankmemes that pulled 14,600 points2. A dedicated r/motomoto subreddit was created on February 3rd, 2019, drawing 500 subscribers within weeks2. On April 28th, 2018, OllieMemes' compilation of every Moto Moto scene pulled millions of YouTube views, feeding a new wave of edits8.

How to Use This Meme

The classic use is captioning: paste 'I think Moto Moto likes you' under a photo of someone or something being thirsted over. The other common convention is a face-swap or role-swap, dropping Moto Moto's head onto muscular or bulky figures (Thanos, Salt Bae, a real hippo) to lean into the 'chunky' joke2. 'Big and Chunky' often plays over the edit as ironic backing music.

Frequently Asked Questions