Washing machine dial set to 'Whitest Whites' with a glowing green indicator light.

Whitest Whites

2018reaction imageclassic

Published October 5, 2026

Whitest Whites is a reaction image showing a laundry machine dial twisted to the 'Whitest Whites' setting, used as the punchline to jokes about stereotypically white behavior. The format first appeared in May 2018 on Twitter and quickly spread to Reddit, where it became a go-to visual gag for self-deprecating 'white people' humor across r/dankmemes.

reaction memes stereotype memes self deprecating memes object labeling race and identity memes

Overview

Whitest Whites is built around a single photograph of a washing machine dial cranked all the way to its brightest laundry setting1. The image works as a visual punchline: a setup describes some stereotypically white behavior, and the dial image lands as a mock-serious verdict that the behavior maxes out the whiteness meter3.

The joke lives entirely in the pairing of caption and image. Early uses targeted things like white people claiming local identity after moving to Hawaii1, saying the n-word while rapping along to songs alone in the car2, or the sing-songy 'See you later, Alligator' / 'After a while, Crocodile' exchange with a parent4. The tone sits in self-aware, often self-deprecating territory, with most captions playing on recognizable social tics rather than overt racial attacks3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (origin) / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
@battIemejadin
Date
2018

The earliest known post using the laundry dial image this way came from Twitter user @battIemejadin on May 6th, 20181. They quote-tweeted another user who had written, 'When I lived in California I was Californian. I live in Hawaii, I'm Hawaiian. Sorry, not sorry, if you're offended,' and added the caption 'and the haoles are back at it' above the dial photo1. The post picked up more than 4,000 retweets and 12,000 likes within a month3.

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How It Spread

The format jumped to Reddit the same day it appeared on Twitter. Redditor HeughJass posted it to r/dankmemes on May 6th, 2018 with the caption about saying the n-word a little extra hard while rapping along to a song, pulling in more than 12,000 points and about 100 comments in a month2.

Later that day, the Twitter account White People Humor (@whitememejesus) posted the 'See you later, Alligator / After a while, Crocodile' variation4. That version was reposted to r/MemeEconomy on May 8th, 2018, where it drew more than 27,000 points at 90% upvoted and over 230 comments within a month5. r/dankmemes kept producing new captioned versions through the following weeks, cementing the dial image as a recurring 'white people' punchline on the subreddit3.

Timeline

2018-05-06

Twitter user @battIemejadin posts the earliest known use of the laundry dial image, replying to a tweet about claiming Hawaiian identity.

2018-05-06

Redditor HeughJass posts a version to r/dankmemes captioned about rapping along to songs, which reaches 12,000+ points.

2018-05-06

Twitter account White People Humor (@whitememejesus) posts the 'See you later, Alligator' variation.

2018-05-08

The @whitememejesus version is reposted to r/MemeEconomy, pulling 27,000+ points and 230+ comments.

2018-06

More Whitest Whites variations keep posting to r/dankmemes through the following month.

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Frequently Asked Questions