What Is Something That Isn't Racist But Still Feels Racist To You? — Two men holding large fish with overlay tweet reading 'Pics of people holding fish' as a

What Is Something That Isn't Racist But Still Feels Racist To You?

2020catchphraseclassic

Published October 26, 2026

What Is Something That Isn't Racist But Still Feels Racist To You? began as a Twitter question posted by @abcdrih on November 9, 2020, asking users to name innocuous things they still associate with bigotry. The question collected over 33,000 retweets in three days, and by November 11, 2020, Twitter users were posting variants with 'Asian' or 'gay' standing in for 'racist' as the phrasal template caught on.

race and identity memes snowclone memes twitter memes black twitter memes stereotype memes

Overview

Responses typically match the question with a specific scenario or trait that someone finds racially coded without being bigoted in itself. @abcdrih's own first answer named 'white men in flip flops'2, setting the tone for jokes about mannerisms, product preferences, and TV moments that feel loaded despite being harmless. Many of the viral replies focused on Black contestants losing on game shows or cooking competitions, drawing on a shared sense of pattern recognition rather than actual prejudice3.

The thread doubled as a template. Once it took off, writers began testing the structure 'What's Something That Isn't X But Still Feels X to You?' with X standing in for other identity labels, and by mid-November Twitter users had posted versions for Asian5 and other identity categories6. The format works because the self-aware setup gives permission to voice an association that would feel awkward unprompted.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Creator
@abcdrih
Date
2020

On November 9, 2020, Twitter user @abcdrih posted the question 'what's something that ISN'T racist but still FEELS racist to you?'1. The tweet collected more than 33,000 retweets and 13,000 likes inside three days6. Shortly after, @abcdrih answered their own prompt with 'I'll go first, white men in flip flops,' a reply that drew over 15,000 likes and 650 retweets2.

Loading tweet...

How It Spread

Quote tweets drove the next round of growth. @MichellCClark replied 'when the Black family loses on Family Feud,' a response that collected around 26,000 likes and 5,200 retweets in under a week3. @RAGGEDYROYAL offered 'when the only black chef gets sent home on Chopped,' landing roughly 13,000 likes and 2,600 retweets4. Both answers leaned on cooking and game show tropes, giving the thread a repeated beat that other users riffed on.

Within days, users were adapting the same template to other categories. Writer Jonny Sun posted 'what's something that ISN'T asian but still FEELS asian to you?' on November 11, 2020, drawing more than 1,300 likes and 400 retweets in a day5. Variants cycled through labels like 'gay' and other identity groups across Twitter6.

Timeline

2020-11-09

@abcdrih posts the original tweet 'what's something that ISN'T racist but still FEELS racist to you?'[1].

2020-11-09

@abcdrih replies to their own prompt with 'I'll go first, white men in flip flops'[2].

2020-11-10

@MichellCClark's answer 'when the Black family loses on Family Feud' goes viral[3].

2020-11-10

@RAGGEDYROYAL posts 'when the only black chef gets sent home on Chopped,' drawing over 13,000 likes[4].

2020-11-11

Writer Jonny Sun launches the Asian variant with 'what's something that ISN'T asian but still FEELS asian to you?'[5].

Loading tweet...

How to Use This Meme

Users typically quote-tweet the original or adapt the structure 'What's Something That Isn't X But Still Feels X to You?' with a different identity label in place of X6. Writer Jonny Sun used the frame for an Asian variant on November 11, 20205.

Frequently Asked Questions