If you’ve ever walked into a room and forgot why, a TikTok meme featuring Howard Stern personality Beetlejuice will resonate.
Beetlejuice (real name Lester Green) is perhaps best known for being part of the Wack Pack, Stern’s chorus of side characters, starting in the late ’90s. He’s also been a meme. But he’s been introduced to a new audience on TikTok.
In the clip featured on TikTok, someone asks Beetlejuice, “What are you doing?”
Beetlejuice responds, “Nothing,” before adding, “Me? Just hanging around.”
The clip started going viral in early April, along with the greenscreen format, and has been applied to a range of incidents where people are caught doing something they shouldn’t be, or caught doing something other than the thing they should be doing.
@nfs_closet Cmon pookie why you lookong for me 🤧 #work #target #walmart ♬ original sound – Koosh604
@daltonator7 Worlds best life hack!! #jokes #whatareyoudoing #beetlejuice #funny #selfcheckout #walmart #justhangingaround #meme #beetle ♬ original sound – Koosh604
The meme is so widespread, there are now meta TikToks about it.
@nihilustic #beetlejuice #beetlejuicetiktok #relatable #memes #memestiktok #memetok #trendincoming #sus #justhangingaround ♬ original sound – Lordofmemes
According to Know Your Meme, the video is originally from December 2021, and was posted to Instagram by Beetlejuice’s manager, Robert Rooney. That post is now deleted, but shortly after, the clip was posted to TikTok, captioned, “Beetle explains why he went off the grid.”
@beetandsean Part 1/2 #beetlejuice #beetlejuicetiktok #beetandsean #beetle #funny #beet #foryou ♬ original sound – beetandsean
The video features Beetlejuice talking about why he has been absent from the boxing world, but it wasn’t long before TikTok gave it a different context. In December 2021, user Regan Curtis posted it with the caption, “When you get caught doing something you shouldn’t be..,” and the comments are full of people coming “full circle” to the original in April 2023.
Beetlejuice appeared on The Howard Stern Show in December 2021, saying that he was sober and had gotten into crypto.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/just-hanging-around-meme-beetlejuice-tiktok/