About
“What Are Those?" is a video remix and parody series stemming from a short clip of a man loudly asking a police officer “What are those?” while panning to his black work boots.
Origin
On October 2nd, 2011, Urban Dictionary[4] user JOHNxRYAN95 created an entry for “What Are Those?”, defining it as a question yelled at someone wearing unkempt or off-brand footwear. On June 14th, 2015, Instagram user Brandon Moore (a.k.a. Young Busco) uploaded a video in which he confronts a police officer by loudly asking “What are those?” before panning to his black shoes (shown below). Within three weeks, the video gained over 2,300 likes and 1,200 comments.
Spread
On June 18th, Viner A-RODney King[3] reuploaded the video to Vine, where it received upwards of 20 million loops, 271,000 likes and 136,000 revines in the following two weeks. On June 20th, 2015, YouTuber Crey Crey[2] reuploaded a looped version of the original Vine video, garnering more than 210,000 views and 1,700 likes over the following two weeks. On June 27th, the DeboraGrano Vines YouTube channel uploaded a compilation of notable remixes and parodies of the clip on Vine (shown below).
On June 28th, Viner Samuel Grubbs uploaded footage of a man standing at a pulpit before jumping down and asking a seated church goer “What are those?” (shown below, left). The following day, the pop culture blog Complex[1] published an article about the Vine video series followed by an interview[5] with the video’s creator. On July 1st, Viner Danny Gonzalez uploaded an autotuned remix of the original “what are those” audio dubbed over a scene from the film Jurassic Park (shown below). In the first 24 hours, the video gathered upwards of 8.9 million loops, 205,000 likes and 110,000 revines.
On July 21st, Viner Joey Gatto shared a Vine of himself pulling the prank on his grandmother, to which she calmly responds “they are my Crocs.” Though presumably staged, the video has garnered more than 33.7 million views and 11,000 comments in less than two weeks.
On August 4th, Viner Bryce Lyle posted a video of a boy at a Michael Jordan basketball camp pranking the 52-year-old legend with the question “what are those???” during a Q&A session. As the crowd reacted with laughter, Jordan eventually responded:
“I have one question for you… What are those???”
“I’m lost in that Vine stuff, man… What are those? These are 29 lows.”
Search Interest
External References
[1]Complex – Sneakerheads are trolling everyone
[2]YouTube – What are those?
[3]Vine – A-RodneyKing
[4]Urban Dictionary – What Are Those?!
[5]Complex – Meet the Originator of the
[6]Instagram – youngbusco
[7]Twitter – Bryce Lyle’s Tweet
[8]ABC7 – MICHAELJORDANVICTIM OF TEEN’S ‘WHATARETHOSE’ MEMESLAM
[9]Meme Documentation – What Are Those? Meme
[10]Complex – Funniest “What Are Thooooose?!” Memes
[11]BuzzFeed – A Guy Made Fun Of A Police Officer’s Shoes And Now It’s A Huge Meme
[12]Reddit – What is the “What are those?!?!” meme, and why did Michael Jordan get a huge response with his answer?
[13]TIME– A Teen Tried the ‘What Are Those?’ Shoes Meme On Michael Jordan
[14]Funny Or Die – What Are Thooooose? The Journey Of A Meme From An Officer To His Airness