If you have recently seen an image showing two Black men standing against a teal colored background with the words WHO IS THIS? written prominently across it, you have probably encountered the viral Who Is This meme. The image became particularly recognizable across TikTok comments and reaction posts during late 2025 and early 2026, where users began posting it whenever they wanted to question who someone was, mock a person’s online popularity, or simply participate in a fast moving meme trend. Although the image looks like a typical internet reaction picture, its origin is more interesting than many users realize. The visual was originally connected to the cover artwork for a song called Who Is This? by Afro gospel artist Louis Pascal, featuring Edem Evangelist. The song itself dates back to 2022, while the cropped artwork did not become a widely recognized meme until several years later. Know Your Meme classifies the format as a reaction image, exploitable, and TikTok sticker meme, with its major online spread beginning around late 2025.
Who Is the Who Is This? Meme?
The Who Is This? meme is a reaction image built around a simple question: WHO IS THIS? The commonly circulated version shows two Black men positioned in front of a teal background, with the original artistic context often cropped away so that viewers see the image primarily as a reaction rather than as music artwork. Its simplicity is one of the reasons the format became so easy to reuse. Instead of requiring a complicated joke or a long caption, users can post the image underneath a photograph, video, celebrity post, influencer update, or unfamiliar person and let the question itself provide the punchline.
The meme is particularly effective because Who is this? can carry several meanings depending on the context. Sometimes it is a genuine question from someone who does not recognize the person being discussed. In other cases, it is intentionally dismissive, suggesting that the subject is not famous, relevant, or important enough to deserve attention. On TikTok, the image became common enough to function almost like a visual comment rather than a conventional meme. Know Your Meme describes its use as both literal and dismissive, while also noting that it became associated with spam and brainrot meme culture.
Who Are the People in the Meme?
The people appearing in the original image are connected to the artwork for Louis Pascal’s song “Who Is This?”, which features Edem Evangelist. The artwork was not originally designed as a meme. It belonged to a musical release and existed online years before the reaction image trend appeared. This distinction is important because the meme’s creation date and the underlying image’s creation date are different.
Louis Pascal released the song Who Is This? on January 8, 2022, and the artwork later became the visual foundation for the viral reaction image. The meme therefore did not originate as a purposebuilt TikTok joke in 2025 or 2026. Instead, internet users discovered, cropped, repurposed, and circulated an older piece of musicrelated artwork until it acquired an entirely new meaning. Know Your Meme identifies Louis Pascal as the Afro gospel artist behind the original song and Edem Evangelist as the featured artist.
This is a common pattern in internet culture. An image can exist for years without becoming particularly famous, then suddenly gain attention because users find a new context in which it works. In this case, the large WHO IS THIS? wording already communicated a complete reaction, meaning users did not need to add much explanation. Once people discovered that the image worked well in comments, its potential as a reusable reaction format increased rapidly.
Where Did the Who Is This Meme Come From?
The original source of the image is the artwork associated with Louis Pascal’s 2022 song. The later meme appears to have emerged online around the end of 2025, rather than at the time of the song’s release. According to Know Your Meme, the exact first person who cropped the artwork and turned it into a reaction image has not been definitively identified. However, the site’s documentation places the meme’s appearance around late November or early December 2025, with TikTok playing a major role in its early development.
One early trace is a Tenor upload from December 2, 2025, titled Who Is This Who is this Meme.” The image or GIF was then increasingly referenced in TikTok content and comments. A TikTok post dated December 12, 2025, discussed the meme as something creators could encounter in their comment sections, particularly because the reaction could be interpreted as a dismissive statement about someone’s relevance or fame.
The important point is that there was no single obvious moment when the meme was “invented.” Its development was gradual. An existing piece of artwork was converted into a reaction image, users began sharing it, other users copied it, and eventually the format became recognizable enough that people could understand the joke without knowing its original musical source.
How the Meme Became Viral
TikTok appears to have played the biggest role in transforming the image from an obscure reaction into a recognizable meme format. During December 2025 and January 2026, users increasingly placed the image in comment sections and created posts explaining or parodying the trend. One December 27, 2025, TikTok post discussing the origin reportedly attracted more than 118,000 likes and thousands of comments, demonstrating how quickly interest in the meme could spread once users began investigating its source.
The meme also benefited from the structure of TikTok itself. Comments are an important part of the platform’s culture, and reaction images can communicate an attitude much faster than a paragraph of text. A picture asking WHO IS THIS? can be posted beneath a creator’s video and immediately establish the user’s reaction. This made the format particularly suitable for conversations about celebrities, influencers, viral personalities, and people who suddenly appeared in users’ feeds.
By the end of December 2025, the meme had also started appearing on Reddit. In January 2026, examples began circulating on X, showing that the format was no longer restricted to TikTok. Know Your Meme documents examples from TikTok, Reddit, X, Tenor, and other online spaces, illustrating how the reaction image moved between different internet communities.
What Does the Who Is This Meme Mean?
The meaning of the meme depends heavily on how it is used. At its most straightforward, it means exactly what it says: Who is this person? Someone might use it when another person appears in a video or post and the commenter genuinely does not recognize them. However, in meme culture, the phrase is often more sarcastic than literal.
A person can post the image to imply that an individual is unknown or insignificant. For example, if a relatively famous influencer is being discussed online, another user might respond with the meme as a humorous way of pretending that the influencer is completely unknown. In that context, the joke is not really about identifying the person. It is about denying their supposed importance.
The format can also be used as random reaction spam. As the meme became more widespread, users sometimes posted it simply because it was recognizable and associated with the current meme cycle. That helped push it beyond its original meaning and into broader “brainrot” culture, where repetition and absurdity can become part of the joke itself.
Why the Meme Works So Well
The biggest strength of the Who Is This meme is its immediate readability. There is almost no learning curve. A viewer sees two people, reads the large text, and instantly understands the intended reaction. This is especially valuable on fast-moving platforms where users may scroll through hundreds of posts in a short period.
Another reason is that the image works in both serious and ridiculous situations. A user can place it beneath a genuine celebrity discussion, use it sarcastically against an influencer, or simply drop it into an unrelated comment thread. Because the wording is so broad, the template can adapt to almost anything involving identity, recognition, popularity, or confusion.
The image’s connection to an actual song also gives it an interesting second layer. People who know the meme may initially recognize it only as a reaction image, while users who investigate the origin discover that it came from Afro gospel music. This contrast between the original purpose and modern internet usage is one of the most interesting parts of the meme’s history.
Where People Use the Meme Today
The Who Is This meme is primarily associated with TikTok comments and reaction content, but its recognizable format allows it to travel across platforms. GIF versions have appeared through services such as Tenor, while examples have also circulated on Reddit and X. Know Your Meme documents multiple versions, including GIFs, reaction images, and modified or exploitable versions of the original.
Users have also modified the concept by replacing or altering parts of the original image. This is an important stage in meme evolution. Once an image becomes recognizable, creators no longer need to preserve the original design exactly. They can add new people, change the background, alter the wording, or combine the format with other viral references.
There are also numerous generic Who Is This? meme templates available online. Imgflip, for example, lists a blank template specifically titled “Who is this?” and describes it as a reusable meme template. This demonstrates how a viral reaction can eventually become a standardized template that users can customize themselves.
Is the Who Is This Meme Still Popular?
The meme remained recognizable throughout 2026, particularly because its simple format continued to appear in reaction image collections and social media content. Know Your Meme added its main entry in January 2026 and updated the documentation in May 2026, reflecting continued interest in tracing and documenting the format.
However, meme popularity should not be treated like the popularity of a permanent cultural institution. Internet trends can rise extremely quickly and then decline just as quickly. A meme may remain searchable and recognizable long after its peak usage has passed. The Who Is This meme is best understood as part of the rapid reaction image culture that developed across TikTok and other social platforms during the 2025–2026 period.
Its unusual origin may give it more lasting interest than a completely contextless meme. Unlike a reaction image created specifically for social media, this one can be traced back to a real musical release from 2022, creating a clear before and after story.
Conclusion
The Who Is This meme is a good example of how modern internet culture can completely transform an existing piece of media. What began as artwork for a 2022 Louis Pascal song featuring Edem Evangelist eventually became a recognizable reaction image several years later. Its rise through TikTok comments during late 2025 and early 2026 shows why simple visual formats can spread so effectively: the joke is immediate, flexible, and easy to understand without additional context.
The most interesting part of the meme is therefore not simply the question who is this? but the story behind the image. The two people pictured were connected to an actual Afro gospel music release long before internet users began using the artwork sarcastically. Once TikTok users separated the image from its original musical context, it developed a new identity as a reaction, a joke, a form of comment spam, and eventually an adaptable meme template. That unusual journey from song artwork to viral reaction image is exactly what makes the Who Is This meme worth understanding.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the Who Is This meme?
The Who Is This meme is a reaction image showing two Black men against a teal background with the words “WHO IS THIS?” It originated from artwork associated with Louis Pascal’s 2022 song featuring Edem Evangelist and later became a viral TikTok reaction image.
Who made the original Who Is This image?
The original image comes from the artwork for Louis Pascal’s song “Who Is This?” featuring Edem Evangelist. The song was released in January 2022, several years before the artwork became widely used as a meme.
When did the Who Is This meme become popular?
The meme began circulating widely around late 2025 and early 2026. Its early spread was strongly associated with TikTok comments, GIFs, and reaction posts.
What does the Who Is This meme mean?
It can literally mean that someone does not recognize a person, but it is often used sarcastically to imply that a person is unknown, unimportant, or not as famous as they claim to be. It can also be used simply as reaction image spam.
Is Who Is This from a song?
Yes. The viral image comes from artwork associated with the song “Who Is This?” by Afro gospel artist Louis Pascal featuring Edem Evangelist. The original song dates to 2022.
Why is the Who Is This meme used on TikTok?
Its large text and instantly understandable reaction make it ideal for TikTok comments. Users can communicate confusion, sarcasm, or dismissal without writing a long response.
Is the Who Is This meme still trending?
It remained an identifiable internet meme during 2026, although individual meme trends can fluctuate quickly. Its documentation and continued appearance across TikTok, Reddit, X, GIF platforms, and meme template sites indicate that the format has had a substantial online presence.
Can I make my own Who Is This meme?
Yes. The format has been adapted into customizable reaction images and meme templates. Users can recreate the basic concept with different people, captions, or situations, although the original image is specifically connected to Louis Pascal’s song artwork.
