Where did the "Quietly Hanging Out" meme come from?

It originated from a September 12, 2023 post by the X account @PopBase, which shared a report from The Messenger about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce spending time together.

What does the "Quietly Hanging Out" meme mean?

The meme parodies the tone of celebrity gossip reporting by applying its formal, hushed-voice framing to ridiculous fictional pairings. The scare quotes around "quietly hanging out" amplify the comedy.

How do you use the "Quietly Hanging Out" meme?

Place a side-by-side image of Taylor Swift next to any character or person, then use the exact caption format: "Taylor Swift and [name] have been 'quietly hanging out,' The Messenger reports".

Is the "Quietly Hanging Out" meme still popular?

The meme had a sharp but brief viral window in September 2023, with nearly all major variations appearing within 48 hours of the original post. It burned through its creative potential quickly and is no longer in active circulation.

Who posted the original tweet?

@PopBase, a popular entertainment news account on X that aggregates celebrity and pop culture updates, posted the tweet on September 12, 2023.

What was The Messenger?

The Messenger was the digital news outlet that published the original report about Swift and Kelce "quietly hanging out," which @PopBase then shared on X.

What was the most popular version of the meme?

In terms of individual post engagement, the @alphaINTEL version pairing Swift with Mirage from Apex Legends earned over 7,000 likes in one day. The Memezar Instagram repost of the original tweet, while not a true variant, hit 445,000+ likes.

Why did the meme spread so fast?

The template's rigid structure made it extremely easy to replicate, and it launched during peak interest in the Swift-Kelce relationship. The combination of a simple format and a trending topic created ideal viral conditions.

Taylor Swift And Nfl Player Travis Kelce Have Been Quietly Hanging Out

Q: What is the "Quietly Hanging Out" meme?

It's a phrasal template where users post side-by-side images of Taylor Swift and an unexpected character or person, captioned with "Taylor Swift and [X] have been 'quietly hanging out,' The Messenger reports." The humor comes from substituting Travis Kelce with absurd figures while keeping the celebrity gossip tone.

2023Phrasal template / snowclonedead

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: "Quietly Hanging Out" meme

"Taylor Swift and NFL Player Travis Kelce Have Been 'Quietly Hanging Out'" is a phrasal template meme that exploded on X (formerly Twitter) in September 2023. After the entertainment news account @PopBase shared a report about the two celebrities spending time together, users swapped Travis Kelce for increasingly absurd characters while keeping the deadpan celebrity gossip framing intact1. The format spread across X and Instagram within hours, with pairings ranging from Alvin the Chipmunk to video game characters.

taylor swift memes exploitable templates snowclone memes celebrity reaction memes nfl memes

Overview

The meme follows a strict formula: a side-by-side image of Taylor Swift next to another person or character, paired with the caption "Taylor Swift and [X] have been 'quietly hanging out,' The Messenger reports." The comedy lives in the contrast between the serious entertainment journalism framing and whatever ridiculous figure gets slotted in where Travis Kelce's name originally appeared. The scare quotes around "quietly hanging out" and the attribution to The Messenger are essential parts of the joke, giving every version the same veneer of breathless celebrity reporting.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

X (Twitter)

Creator

@PopBase

Date

2023

On September 12, 2023, X user @PopBase posted side-by-side photos of Taylor Swift and NFL tight end Travis Kelce along with the text: "Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce have been 'quietly hanging out,' The Messenger reports"1. The post linked to a report published by The Messenger, which quoted an anonymous source saying, "Taylor and Travis have been quietly hanging out. She saw him when she was in NYC a few weeks ago". The @PopBase tweet collected over 100,000 likes within two days1.

Something about the tweet's formal phrasing and the understated scare quotes made it an instant target for parody. Within hours of the original post, X users were copying the exact sentence structure but replacing Kelce with other figures.

How It Spread

The template caught fire on the same day it was posted. On September 12, 2023, X user @biceplor swapped Kelce for Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks, picking up over 220 likes. That same day, @Maxerto posted a version pairing Swift with political streamer Hasan Piker, which pulled in over 4,700 likes within 48 hours.

The meme crossed platforms almost immediately. On September 12, Instagram comedy page Memezar shared a screenshot of the original PopBase tweet with a reaction comment attached. That post earned more than 445,000 likes in two days, far outperforming the original tweet.

By September 13, the template had moved well beyond real celebrities. X user @Ianscheese paired Swift with Ethan Klein of the H3 Podcast, getting over 1,500 likes. @alphaINTEL pushed into pure fiction with a version featuring Mirage from Apex Legends, which hit over 7,000 likes in a single day. The rapid pivot from real celebrity pairings to fictional characters marked the meme's shift from gossip commentary to full absurdist humor.

How to Use This Meme

The format is simple:

Find or create a side-by-side image of Taylor Swift next to another person, character, or entity

Write the caption: "Taylor Swift and [your choice] have been 'quietly hanging out,' The Messenger reports"

The more unexpected or absurd the pairing, the better the joke tends to land

Fun Facts

The Memezar Instagram repost earned over 445,000 likes, more than four times the engagement of the original @PopBase tweet that spawned the whole format.

Most major variations of the meme appeared within a 24-hour window between September 12 and 13, 2023, making it one of the fastest-burning templates of that year.

The highest-performing individual variant was the Apex Legends Mirage version, which outperformed even the Hasan Piker edit at 7,000+ likes in a single day.

The meme's rigid adherence to the original tweet's exact sentence structure, including the attribution to The Messenger, is unusual for phrasal templates, which typically allow more flexible wording.

Derivatives & Variations

Alvin and the Chipmunks version

by @biceplor, one of the first variants posted on the meme's launch day

Hasan Piker version

by @Maxerto, pairing Swift with the political streamer for a cross-genre collision that earned 4,700+ likes

Apex Legends Mirage version

by @alphaINTEL, taking the template into video game territory with over 7,000 likes in one day

H3 Podcast version

by @Ianscheese, crossing Swift into internet culture with an Ethan Klein pairing

Frequently Asked Questions

References (1)

1
Taylor Swift and NFL Player Travis Kelce Have Been "Quietly Hanging Out" - Know Your Memeencyclopedia