Kamala Harris and 'The Coconut Tree' meme: Exploring viral trend that emerged after VP's presidential bid

WASHINGTON, DC: Since President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign on Sunday, July 21, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, her supporters have been taking to social media, flooding it with coconut and tree emojis.

Harris officially entered the presidential race on the same day, expressing her gratitude to the incumbent for his support.

Meanwhile, the coconut tree theme went viral among netizens, leading to a flood of memes and creative mash-ups with iconic pop songs.

Where did the coconut tree meme originate?

According to People, Kamala Harris delivered a speech at the White House back on May 10, 2023, on the topic of advancing opportunities for Hispanic individuals.

There she spoke about investing in the elderly population and the larger community instead of only in the younger generation.

"Because none of us just live in a silo. Everything is in context," she explained.

"My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?'" Harris continued with a chuckle, before adding in a more solemn tone, "You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."

This sparked a trend on social media among her supporters, known as the KHive, who began flooding platforms with coconut and tree emojis.

Officials and organizations using the coconut and trees emojis

The trend found solid footing among government officials, such as Colorado Gov Jared Polis who shared a post with the emojis, along with an American flag, and Sen Brian Schatz, who posted a photo of himself climbing a coconut tree, with the supportive caption, "Madam Vice President, we are ready to help."

Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, who endorsed Harris and is rumored to be her running mate, reacted to speculation about his political future by tweeting, "You think I just fell out of a coconut tree?"

The coconut and tree symbols were also added to the usernames of the X accounts of organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and EMILYs List.

Memes on 'The Coconut Tree' theme

Multiple memes on the topic have been making rounds on the internet, and have been collated by the internet meme database, Know Your Meme, such as the following.

The clip of the original speech has also been utilized by netizens to create mash-ups with iconic pop songs such as Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off,' Britney Spears' 'Gimme More,' and Charli XCX's 'Brat.'