Elizabeth Houston from Washington, D.C. came up with a way to honor her nephew and troll conservatives at the same time. Now, the hashtag she’s started, #CrunchyWhitePimp4Ever, has over 2.5 million views on TikTok.
Under her username @bookersquared, Houston stitched a TikTok of Ben Shapiro flexing and growling, “Let’s go Brandon,” the right’s inside joke turned rallying cry.
She explains there’s only one “Brandon” she can think of when she hears the chant—her late nephew Brandon Baker.
“Brandon was really, really funny and goofy and very much like a class clown,” Houston shares with the Daily Dot. “Everybody liked him…he made friends wherever he went.”
Brandon Baker passed away in 2019 at the age of 22 and was a figure in the Memphis music scene known by the stage name “Crunchy White Pimp.” The name was an homage to Memphis icon and Three 6 Mafia member Crunchy Black.
So, @bookersquared had an idea. To honor her nephew and troll conservatives back, she asked people to respond to “Let’s Go Brandon” posts online with #CrunchyWhitePimp4Ever.
Houston says Baker would have loved the idea of using his name to mess with conservatives.
“He would think this is hilarious,” Houston says. “It’s such a Brandon-esque joke.”
TikTok exploded with enthusiasm for the idea. The original video now has over 800,000 views.
@grogusimp said, “I immediately ran to his page to start supporting this trend. Love to you and your family”
@mrsbutterfield added, “I am absolutely hopping on this. Twitter is about to be crunchier and whiter.”
Houston shares she’s been sent posts from Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter where people are working to help the trend catch fire. However, the best reaction has been from her family.
“My brother-in-law and my sister are absolutely ecstatic over this, because I don’t even know how they deal with losing a child,” Houston said. “That has to be the worst pain imaginable. And when my sister got up to go to work, and saw just how the video took off… and the different things people are tagging #CrunchyWhitePimp4eva. It has made her so happy,” Houston says.
Within a few days, people were asking for merchandise to mock conservatives IRL. Houston has designed #CrunchyWhitePimp shirts and says that 100% of proceeds of the shirts are going to support Baker’s 3-year-old-son, Carson.
Houston says she has no expectations for how viral the Crunchy White Pimp will go.
As far as what she hopes Ben Shaprio will think?
“I don’t care what Ben Shapiro thinks,” Houston says. “I don’t think about him very much at all.”
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