Idris Elba as Knuckles

About

Idris Elba as Knuckles refers to memes spawned by the announcement that actor Idris Elba has been cast as the voice of Knuckles the Echidna in the upcoming sequel of the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film. The memes referenced Elba's previous roles and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, with meme formats Idris Elba Chokes on Chicken Wings and I Am Aware of the Effect I Have on Women, both featuring Elba, seeing use within the trend.

Origin

On August 10th, 2021, actor Idris Elba tweeted^[1] an image of Sonic the Hedgehog character Knuckles the Echidna's clenched fist, writing "knock, knock" and using hashtag #SonicMovie2. The tweet was quote tweeted^[2] by the official Twitter account of Sonic the Hedgehog movie, confirming that Idris Elba was cast to voice Knuckles in the upcoming sequel (tweets shown below, left and right).

Spread

In the hours following the announcement, users on Twitter and other social media created multiple memes that referenced both Sonic the Hedgehog and Idris Elba's various roles and memes. For example, on that day, Twitter^[3] user @CHELSOFARK posted an Idris Elba Choking on Hot Wings meme that gained over 7,100 retweets and 30,500 likes in one day (shown below).

Images in which Elba was given Knukcle's spikes, often paired with recaptioned quotes, were also posted online after the announcement (examples shown below).

Posts referencing the popular assumption^[4] that Knuckles is a Black-coded character were also made. For example, on August 10th, Twitter user @breanimator wrote,^[5] "WE TOLD YOU KNUCKLES WAS BLACK," with the tweet gaining over 400 retweets and 2,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). A tweet^[6] by user @TheBlackHokage gained over 200 retweets and 1,600 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

On August 10th and 11th, several news outlets reported on the reactions to the announcement.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References