The Riverdale-inspired Karma’s a Bitch Challenge is no longer a Chinese phenomenon. The social media phenomenon has made it to the United States and celebrities are getting in on the act.
Actress Busy Philipps and writer Kelly Oxford tried their hand at the meme, with Philipps posting on Instagram that it took the pair three hours to figure out exactly how the meme was done but had a lot of fun doing it. You can check out their Karma’s a Bitch Challenge entry below.
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“This legitimately took us like 3 hours to figure out how to do but I feel like it was worth it if for no other reason than it was really fun?” Philipps captioned the short video.
For those who haven’t yet seen it, the Karma’s a Bitch Challenge is a curious and creative meme coming out of China. Chinese teenagers have taken a line form the Riverdale season two episode “Chapter Nineteen: Death Proof” and created the challenge in which teens lip-sync to a clip of Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) saying “karma’s a bitch” while look absolutely as plain as possible. Then Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci” comes on and there’s a quick transition — usually a jacket or blanket pulled in front of the teen’s face — only to reveal a dramatic transformation from plain to fabulous. The challenge has exploded on China’s Weibo microblogging site, with Buzzfeed’s Kassy Cho being credited with introducing Western audiences to the meme, some of the best of which we’ve compiled here.
As for the context for Veronica’s “karma’s a bitch” utterance, the clip is near the end of the episode when Hermione Lodge (Marisol Nichols) receives a phone call that so-called-friends, the St. Clairs, have been in a car accident and while everyone survived, their son Nick suffered serious injuries that will take months to heal. Considering that Nick attempted to sexually assault both Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Veronica earlier in the episode, we know that the accident probably wasn’t really an accident. When the camera pans to Veronica, she smugly responds “karma’s a bitch.” It’s a fierce moment of empowerment, making it ripe for the meme.
Here’s to hoping maybe some of Riverdale‘s cast will give the challenge a try next.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
