Kamala is "brat" and she didn't fall out of a coconut tree - the internet is overflowing with jokes, videos and collages of Harris, and this could turn out to be key to the election. As well as the support of a loud singer:
Kamala Harris is likely to be the new Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States. Her team announced that she now has the support of enough delegates to receive the nomination. However, there is something else that no candidate for president of the United States has had in recent years - the approval of Generation Z.
Kamala and the meme culture
The vice president of the United States is the subject of all kinds of jokes on the Internet - on TikTok and Instagram you can spend hours watching clips of Harris' speeches, in which she makes jokes that are a little awkward, but she finds them funny and she's not shy about showing it off. Or in other words: he doesn't bother with his jokes, even when they are "cringe". You can also see countless of her memes or as they are known in Bulgaria - "memes". There is no point in explaining what this is - everyone who uses social networks and the Internet in general knows.
Kamala Harris has been the subject of jokes from the internet militancy not since yesterday, and certainly not since it became clear that Joe Biden will not continue his campaign for a second term and she will probably take his place. Since the previous election campaign, and during the nearly four years that she has been vice president, jokes about her are everywhere. Harris is often compared in videos and memes to the main character of the cult HBO series "Vice". Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is clumsy, a bit inadequate, often not knowing what she's talking about. On the Internet, many saw Mayer in Harris.
And while all of these jokes seem like a mockery of the vice president, it's actually all working out to Kamala Harris's advantage today.
Kamala is a "brat"
Some would say there is no better time than the summer of 2024 for someone like Harris to campaign. It is very important for the Vice President to get the support of as many Democratic delegates as possible, and she is doing very well in this task. In the meantime, however, he received the support of another very important person - the British pop star Charlie HSH. The 31-year-old singer has not been popular since yesterday, but in the last few months, according to many, she is the "queen" of pop culture. And now Kamala touched her too. Or vice versa.
Charlie HSH's album entitled "brat" was released this summer. This is not just a compilation of 15 pop tracks, but a cultural phenomenon and a symbol of the zeitgeist of the confused times we live in. Basically "brat" means a spoiled person who always gets what he wants. Charli HSH, however, gives a specific meaning to the term that hundreds of thousands have identified with - in the sense given by the singer, broadly speaking, to be a "brat" it means being a woman who does whatever she wants without caring what others think of her. The album is a window into how this 31-year-old woman handles the challenge… to be a woman. Her pop songs that anyone could dance to actually tell you that it's okay to want to party all the time, but also to wonder if and when you want to become a mother, how hard it is to please everyone and still you feel good And why you shouldn't please anyone in general.
So, Charlie HSH "broke" internet by posting a short and clear message on his X profile: "Kamala IS "brat". 52 million people saw the post. Every mockery of the vice president's laugh, the way her jokes sometimes don't go down well with everyone, the fact that she's casual and shows up in sneakers instead of high heels took on a whole other tone. For many of the young people, Kamala is already one of them.
Why does any of this even matter?
Harris doesn't have much time to campaign. Therefore, the fact that the vice president suddenly found herself at the center of the zeitgeist is very important. The people who work for Harris seem to realize it too. Her official social media accounts are now branded with the Charlie HSH aesthetic. The bright green album cover is everywhere: on people's clothing, on posters, social media profile pictures, and now on Kamala Harris's profile. At the same time, another one of Harris' failed (or surprisingly successful) jokes also gained momentum: A little over a year ago, Harris recounted how her mother taught her that a person is part of a community and does not live alone, so she often asked her: " ;Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?". The story was followed by the vice president's typical laugh, and today her supporters are flooding the web with the coconut emoji - 🥥 .
But not only Charlie HSH supported Kamala Harris. A number of other American stars also expressed support for her - such as singers Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes, director Spike Lee. TikTok influencers also supported her, and Beyoncé allowed her to use her song "Freedom" in his public appearances.
And all this matters a lot, because young people are not just a community that has fun with Kamala Harris on the Internet. A large percentage of them are also voters. And until recently, many of them felt completely disconnected from politics in the United States because neither of the two candidates who could be their grandfathers represented them. Kamala Harris may not be that much younger, but for Gen Z, she already embodies another idea they identify with. Could this win her the Oval Office? It's not clear. But it is certainly not unimportant.