Last week, TikTok was invaded by a somewhat one-sided discussion. Generation X, it seems, is… “declare war” about Gen Z, going viral with shitposts about what they see as Gen Z’s overreaction to Eminem’s new album The Death of Slim Shady. While it may be difficult to determine which members of Generation X “Get up” on the social media platform are being sarcastic and those who are serious, all the fuss has generated confusing, but funny content.
Online tensions between Gen X and Gen Z have been rising for months. Finding an exact tipping point is difficult, but many signs point to a now-deleted video in which a younger TikTok user says, “I think we can all agree that if we generalize, Gen X is the worst generation.” The video sparked multiple criticisms. reactionsmany of which found their way to FYPs across the platform. One of the beginning of Maya video by user @robhomecook warning that “under no circumstances should you mess with Generation X” has received some 5.5 million views.
“What you get on TikTok is an exaggeration of generational tensions. We’re talking about the tension between the parents’ generation and their children,” says Sonia Livingstone, a professor of communication at the London School of Economics and Political Science. What’s happening on the platform, Livingstone adds, is not the cause of the tension, but rather a symptom.
This was all catalyzed earlier this month when Eminem released The death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)which sparked various responses from Generation Z and turned some videos into viral ones. What Generation X calls a full-blown online “war.”
One of the The most controversial lyrics of Death comes from the song “Houdini,” in which Eminem raps, “My transgender cat is Siamese / Identifies as black but acts Chinese.” As the lyrics circulated, several members of Gen Z took to TikTok to “Cancel” the rapper in his Comments sectionBeyond these comments, however, Gen Z seems largely unbothered by the rapper’s lyrics and is more interested in trolling Gen X for their dramatic digital backlash.
A clear example is TikTok user @moustacheman23, who racked up over a million views in the mock apology gave to Gen Z. His next video, which was viewed over 4 million times before being deleted, borrowed the lyrics “You’re gonna cancel me, yeah? Gen Z me bruh?” from Eminem’s “Trouble.” One user commented, “Nobody (is) trying to cancel Eminem,” adding that all of Gen Z “grew up” with the rapper.
“We are used to young people attacking older generations,” Livingstone says. “This is a change in attitude; it is quite unusual to see an older generation attacking a younger one.”
The scale of engagement in views, likes and comments on these videos has multiplied in recent weeks, gaining traction through TikTok’s algorithm because “we find it appealing,” says Anjana Susarla, a professor at Michigan State University who specializes in social media analytics. “This is the same reason why cancel culture filter bubbles exist. It’s the same thing we’re seeing with this generational war.”