I Can't Be Your Mother

About

I Can't Be Your Mother is a viral video of a woman wearing a nun costume and holding her child. The child says "Mommy, mommy," and the woman turns to her and says, "I can't be your mother." The video was originally posted to TikTok by @holleydoit in late October 2022 and became the subject of memes, including lip dubs and recreations, over the following years.

Origin

On October 29th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @holleydoit posted a video in which she is in the grocery store dressed as a nun and holding her daughter. In the video, her daughter calls out to her, "Mommy, mommy." She turns to look at her daughter and says, "I can't be your mother," then continues walking. The video gained over 6.9 million views in two years.

On November 14th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @usemysoundxx posted a version of the meme adding a dramatic music clip to the end of the video, garnering over 44,000 views in two years.

Spread

The video went viral and became the subject of memes over the following years, in particular, the version with the added audio clip. On May 9th, 2023, it was reposted by YouTuber^[3] Floprada, garnering over 1.9 million views in a year. On September 19th, 2024, Tiktoker^[4] @nara_aranara posted a meme using the video's audio over Genshin Impact footage that garnered over 1.1 million views in a month.

On October 9th, TikToker^[5] @camm4x posted a meme using the audio made within the Roblox game Dress to Impress, garnering over 289,000 views in three weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References