Safe Edgy

About

Safe Edgy is a slang term used to describe humor, especially ethnic jokes, that would be considered edgy and offensive if it was directed at another group. The term is used to describe jokes about British and French people, among other things, and is used as a part of memes criticizing such types of jokes and mocking those who make and enjoy them. Influencers and content creators like Hasan Piker and Cr1TiKaL have both been labeled "safe edgy."

Origin

In 2019, jokes making fun of British people, over their accent and their supposed dental issues among other things, started gaining popularity, with the trend becoming viral in 2020. The trend developed further with jokes about other white ethnicities and countries with predominantly white populations, most notably France, such as the meme about French people being unbearable (examples shown below).

On September 10th, 2022, iFunny^[1] user slimypoopblast posted a starter pack meme titled "Safe Edgy Starter Pack" that made fun of a type of person who makes ethnic jokes about the French, English and Italians but gets angry when such jokes are made about non-white ethnicities, who watches streamers and YouTubers h3h3, Hasan Piker and Cr1tiKaL, and likes Rick and Morty and Borat. The post (shown below) gained over 1,000 smiles on iFunny in eight months.

Spread

On September 11th, 2022, Redditor countersignals reposted the meme to the /r/starterpacks subreddit,^[2] where it gained over 260 upvotes in eight months. On September 15th, streamer Hasan Piker tweeted^[3] the image, with the post gaining over 120 retweets and 2,600 likes in the same period.

On September 20th, Twitter^[4] user @LeaMaric posted a screenshot of a Reddit post in which a person wears a face mask at a Satanic Temple, writing, "“Safe-edgy” is by far the most cringe trend among aging millennials." The post (shown below) gained over 900 retweets and 12,200 likes in eight months.

The term saw more exposure online in January 2023, when several users on Twitter^[5][6] called out meme account @ShotpostGate over reposting "safe edgy" memes (posts shown below).

More posts calling out people over posting "safe edgy" memes went viral in the following months. For example, on March 7th, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @AccurateThinger quote tweeted a meme about "frenchphobia," with the post gaining over 970 retweets and 11,400 likes in one month (shown below).

The term continued to gain popularity online in the following months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References