The “who are you people” meme comes from a scene in SpongeBob SquarePants where Patrick lifts his rock, sees a bunch of eyes staring back at him, and panics, yelling, “Who are you people?!”

Origin of the meme

In the episode “Prehibernation Week” (Season 2, Episode 27), which first aired on May 5, 2001, Patrick returns home, lifts his rock, and discovers multiple creatures living underneath. Startled, he shouts the line “Who are you people?” in a high‑energy, panicked voice, which later became the iconic reaction used online.

Years later, on October 17, 2010, a YouTuber called SuperGtafail uploaded a clip of that moment, helping it cross over into early meme culture. On the same day, a user named KBangin posted one of the first image macros of the scene on FunnyJunk with the caption “Who are you people?”, turning it into a shareable reaction format.

How it spread online

Once the screenshot and GIF of Patrick yelling were out there, people started using it as a reaction to:

  • Suddenly seeing new users in a community or group
  • Random people joining a group chat or Discord server
  • Weird or unexpected content in their feed
  • Being out of touch with current fandoms or trends

By May 2011, users were already using it in blog posts and GIF form, including a Blogspot user who placed the GIF under a list of blocked accounts as a kind of visual punchline. It also became a recurring punchline on Reddit threads about messy Facebook newsfeeds and other social media clutter through the 2010s.

Throughout the 2010s, the meme kept circulating across platforms like YouTube, Reddit, 9GAG, Facebook, and DeviantArt as a versatile reaction image. Meme databases such as Know Your Meme now catalog it as a classic SpongeBob reaction macro, cementing its status in meme history.

What the meme “means” in 2026

Today, people mainly use the “who are you people” meme to express:

  • Overwhelm at a sudden influx of strangers (new followers, new coworkers, unfamiliar characters, etc.)
  • Confusion when a fandom, trend, or discourse seems to appear out of nowhere
  • Playful gatekeeping, like when a long‑time fan sees lots of new people suddenly joining “their” niche

In text form, you’ll often see it written simply as:

“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE”

with or without the image, especially in fast‑moving group chats, Twitch chats, or forum threads.

Variations and related formats

There are a few common variations you might see:

  • Captioned screenshot – the classic still of Patrick under his rock, with the quote as the caption.
  • GIF format – short looping clip of him shouting the line, used in replies and stories.
  • Text‑only jokes – people just typing “who are you people” when new accounts flood their comments or when a niche subreddit suddenly gets mainstream attention.

In broader meme culture, it fits into the larger family of SpongeBob reaction memes, alongside things like “Mocking SpongeBob” and “Imagination,” which are also heavily used to convey exaggerated emotions or commentary. Because SpongeBob has such a long cultural life, older clips like this keep getting “rediscovered” by younger users, so the meme still pops up in new contexts in the mid‑2020s.

TL;DR:
“Who are you people” is a SpongeBob meme from the 2001 episode “Prehibernation Week,” where Patrick finds strangers under his rock and screams the line in panic. It turned into a reaction image and GIF around 2010–2011 and is now widely used to joke about sudden influxes of strangers, confusing trends, or feeling out of place online.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.