# People Treated Me Like A Criminal
People Treated Me Like A Criminal is a 2013 Vine by Torrei Hart in which her young daughter parodies Macklemore's "Same Love," fake-crying about childhood mistreatment before pointing a toy gun at the camera and shouting "Because I killed somebody." The clip went dormant after Vine's shutdown, then came back in June 2020 when TikToker kokichis.poopypants pasted Killua from Hunter X Hunter over the girl's face, kicking off over 222,000 TikTok reuses of a sound titled "BeCaUsE I KilLeD sOmEbOdY."
## Origin
In August 2013, Macklemore's single "Same Love" set off a run of lyric-flip parodies on Vine, with users mocking the opening verse about thinking they were gay in third grade because they could draw. MTV covered the trend in an August 2013 article about Vine's hottest meme that week[1]. On August 19, 2013, Vine user Torrei Hart filmed her daughter performing a parody capped with a toy-gun point and the line "Because I killed somebody," tagging the post #macklemore and #samelove[3].
By Vine's shutdown, Hart's clip held over 2.3 million loops, 263,000 revines, and 307,000 likes[3]. The video was mirrored to YouTube many times, with a widely viewed reupload by channel benjaminbear going live on April 8, 2015[2].
- **Platform:** Vine (2013) / TikTok (2020 revival)
- **Creator:** Torrei Hart
- **Date:** 2013
## Overview
The gag runs on a fake-out confession. The opening half apes Macklemore's earnest tone from "Same Love," with a tearful kid lamenting unfair treatment as a third-grader, before the punchline flips the complaint into a cheerful admission of homicide[3]. The toy gun and sudden eye contact sell the twist, and the brevity of a six-second Vine keeps the misdirect tight[2].
On TikTok, the format often swaps the visual while keeping Torrei Hart's daughter's audio. Anime fans overlay character faces, and a huge share of entries use pets: calm house-cat or well-behaved dog footage runs during the sob story, then cuts to shredded couches or trashed rooms on the final line[3]. Short setup, hard pivot, destructive reveal is the formula.
## How to Use
A typical People Treated Me Like A Criminal TikTok runs under eight seconds. Creators commonly open with innocent footage (a sleeping cat, a photo of a toddler, a well-trained dog on its bed) synced to the fake-crying intro, then cut sharply to evidence of chaos (chewed shoes, destroyed room, kitchen disaster) landing on the "Because I killed somebody" beat[3]. Anime edits often skip the pet angle and simply overlay a character's face on the original video while keeping Hart's daughter's voice intact[3].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is People Treated Me Like A Criminal?
It's a 2013 Vine by Torrei Hart in which her daughter parodies Macklemore's "Same Love," fake-crying before pointing a toy gun and yelling "Because I killed somebody"[3].
### Where did People Treated Me Like A Criminal come from?
Torrei Hart posted the Vine on August 19, 2013, during an August 2013 run of Vine parodies mocking the opening verse of Macklemore's "Same Love"[1][3].
### What does People Treated Me Like A Criminal mean?
The joke is a fake-out: a tearful setup about childhood mistreatment flips into a casual murder confession for comedic shock[2].
### How do you use People Treated Me Like A Criminal?
Most TikToks sync calm footage (often of a pet) to the sob story, then cut to evidence of destruction on the "Because I killed somebody" punchline[3].
### Is People Treated Me Like A Criminal still popular?
The TikTok revival peaked in mid-2020, with the "BeCaUsE I KilLeD sOmEbOdY" sound used in over 222,000 videos by September 23, 2020[3].
## References
1. [http://www.mtv.com/news/1712840/macklmore-same-love-video-parody/]()
2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv9r12e4SdU]()
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people-treated-me-like-a-criminal]()
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrTEl9nb-3Q]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/people-treated-me-like-a-criminal
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