What is “Skibidi Boppy,” the viral catchphrase on TikTok and Instagram

A young reporter approaches a boy focused on his laptop, in a beach resort. “Are you enjoying your vacation?” she asks. “No, I’m working remotely,” he replies. And she, without batting an eyelid: “Okay, Skibidi Boppy .”

The scene is not real: it was generated by an artificial intelligence, to be precise by Google's Veo 3 , a system capable of creating ultra-realistic videos, with perfectly synchronized audio, starting from a simple text prompt. The power and ease of use of these tools has given rise to a new wave of surreal , short - at the moment the AI ​​can only generate videos of a maximum of eight seconds - and completely nonsensical clips.

In these microfilms, what happens is deliberately grotesque and nonsensical : someone dives into the sea with their laptop turned on, another throws himself into a bin full of pistachio ice cream. All preceded by a phrase that has now become a catchphrase: “ Skibidi Boppy ”. An expression that means nothing, but that's exactly the point: it's the skeleton key to access a digital universe made of lightness, creative chaos and virality.

On TikTok and Instagram , by typing “skibidi boppy” or “skibidi bop,” you find an infinite number of videos that always follow the same pattern: a seemingly normal interview, a nonsensical exclamation, and then an absurd gesture . The goal is simple: to surprise, make people laugh, and perhaps shock. In a word, to entertain.

“Skibidi Boppy” is a perfect example of a viral neologism , born out of the “ brainrot ” culture – a term used ironically online to indicate content so strange or repetitive that it seems harmful to the brain, but which is irresistible, especially for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. It is the humor of the absurd, the art of nonsense transformed into a social phenomenon. As Colapesce and Dimartino would say: for those who don’t want anything, this is also fine.