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About

Black Guy on the Phone is the nickname of former Republican congressional primary candidate Martin Baker, who was photographed talking on his cell phone during an event to support police officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. The photograph has been widely circulated in joke tweets posted on Black Twitter.

Origin

On August 17th, 2014, The Guardian[1] published an article about protesters in St. Louis, Missouri who came out in support of Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri earlier that month. The article referred to a man named Martin Baker as the sole black member of the crowd.

The same day, a thread titled "Meet the one black man that showed up at the rally for the cop that killed Mike Brown" was submitted to the Lipstick Alley Forums,[2] which highlighted a photograph of Baker holding a Darren Wilson T-shirt (shown below, left). In the thread, forum member originalwharris posted another photograph of Baker, in which he is shown holding his cellphone up to his ear (shown below, right).

OFFICER

Spread

On August 18th, 2014, UpRoxx[6] published an article about the online backlash toward Baker for attending the rally. On August 20th, several Twitter users posted the photograph of Baker with jokes about various types of phone calls he could be making (shown below).[3][4][5]

Follow @RealRaymondJ "Oh yeah my ex and her new n---- smoking illegal substances.."
+ Follow @Fvnxy When you was little and yo mama forget to sign the field trip form the bus finna leave わ ★ and yo classm
* 塩Follow @RealRaymondJ When you're using somebody's food stamp card & you forget the pin.

On August 27th, Nike Talk Forums[7] member 4318MichaelJohnson431 posted a thread titled ''Is Black Guy on the Phone the Hottest Meme in the Streets?'', which gathered more than 300 replies over the next two months. On February 5th, 2015, the pop culture blog Complex[8] reported that Baker was working at a new job recording mixtapes.

2017 Resurgence

On February 22nd, 2017, Twitter user @Jay_50_Williams[9] tweeted a photograph of Baker at a soda shop with the caption "I think I just found the guy from the meme in a soda shop lmao" (shown below). Within 48 hours, the tweet gained over 19,000 likes and 11,000 retweets.

8.306623 @Jay_50_Williams Follow I THINK I JUST FOUND THE GUY FROM THE MEME IN A SODA SHOP LMAO 8 RETWEETS LIKES 11,122 19,387 inf] £2 4:17 PM-22 Feb 2017

That day, Twitter users reposted the photo with various humorous captions (shown below). The following day, Twitter launched a moments page for the tweets titled "TFW you spot a meme in the wild."[11] Meanwhile, Redditor lj300 reposted the photo to /r/BlackPeopleTwitter,[10] where it gathered upwards of 14,900 votes (94% upvoted) and 350 comments within 24 hours.

Gianni Raye @GianniRaye Follow @Jay_50_Williams when you pick something out at the grocery store and your mom tells you to put it back RETWEETS LIKES 466 9:34 PM- 22 Feb 2017
Chris @ChrisHK Follow Looks like he about to call the cops on you too 8.306623 @Jay 50Williams I THINK I JUST FOUND THE GUY FROM THE MEME IN A SODA SHOP LMAO RETWEETS LIKES 28 327

Various Examples

6ynth God @Drews ThatDude This how chicks be looking when they f--- the promoter but stll watting in line pic.twitter.com/jiyqRMnpfG :03 PM-17 Aug 2014
When yo card declined and you tryna call the bank knowing damn well you broke 9
When you on the phone with Comcast after you get your first bill after the 12-month promo ends
When the sub can't control the class & calls the principal e e
When your ex post a picture with her smoking with her boyfriend, so you call the police.
WHEN THE CLINIC CALL AND SAY YOU GOTTA COME

Search Interest

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