Virginia teen's ‘clock-it’ gesture from Trump’s SOTU goes viral as Internet explains meaning

WASHINGTON, DC: A teenager went viral after making a gesture during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 24. The young woman from Virginia has been identified as Sage Blair, who was invited by the president along with her family.

Blair made the gesture, identified as “clock it” by the internet users, when her name was taken by Trump during his speech, which lasted more than an hour and 40 minutes. She and her family were the Republican leader’s special guests as he used her story to demand a ban on states and schools letting transgender and nonbinary students socially transition without parental consent. 

Trump says 'no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms'

During the event, Trump said, “Sage was 14 when school officials in Virginia sought to socially transition her to a new gender, treating her as a boy and hiding it from her parents.”

“Surely we can all agree, no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. We must ban it and we must ban it immediately,” he added. 

Netizens found Sage Blair's gesture 'cute appreciation'

Meanwhile, netizens went wild over Blair’s gesture as one person on X(formerly Twitter), “Do you know what she was doing when tapping her fingers? She ‘clocked it’….in agreement, approval GenZ speak! Love it!!”

Another person wrote, “This young lady now has the unique distinction of being the first person in 250 years to ‘clock it’ during a State of the Union speech. 😂”

But one X user shared, “It looked sort of disrespectful to me, but I guess I'm just old.  I'll go worry about something else, np.”

One more explained, “It’s the gay way of applause. Done by drag queens.”

A post read, "I thought it was cute appreciation. Thanks for the applaud."

TikTok creator and teacher Philip Lindsay reportedly said on a YouTube Short, “I cannot get a solid definition or origin for this word. From what I can figure out it’s actually not a very new phrase, and there doesn’t seem to be just one definition of it.”

“This word is huge right now among teenagers – it’s been trending for quite a while but it’s really starting to uptick in its usage,” Lindsay added.

Besides, as per a dancer and ballroom performer on TikTok, “I’ve been seeing people saying this [*does hand gesture*] is ‘clock that tea’. Come on, you all know this has derived from the ballroom culture ... It’s a ballroom community thing. We’re showing the love.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.