“What the hell, sure” is a catchphrase across social media platforms referencing an Instagram Story reply posted by actress Jemima Kirke in response to a fan asking, “Are you queer?”. Kirke has gifted the world with another meme-ified POV recently, in which she tells people they “think about themselves too much.” She calls it like she sees it!
The Girls star certainly doesn’t pull any punches, but here’s an explanation for where her most recent viral statement came from.
Where does “What the hell, sure” come from?
Jemima Kirke is best known for her role on HBO’s Girls, as well as roles in shows like Sex Education and Conversations With Friends. On her Instagram account, she will often host Q&A sessions with her followers where they write in with questions and she responds in a very dry manner, often with selfies.
In one question sent from a fan, she was asked, “Are you queer?”
Hilariously, Kirke responded, “What the hell, sure,” while sharing a photo of herself in a beret and leopard print coat.
Kirke is currently married to a man named Alex Cameron, which doesn’t mean she’s not queer. Before him, she was married to Michael Mosberg for eight years. But her irreverent response was pretty open to interpretation and many people found it very funny.
What does “What the hell, sure” actually mean?
One way of seeing Kirke’s response is that the umbrella of queer is so expansive that it doesn’t preclude women in successive long-term relationships with men. There’s also a resigned quality to the words, where it almost seems like she doesn’t think it’s worth a deeper explanation or that to say more would be too exhausting.
That’s a lot to put on a four-word sentence, but a lot of people did seem to find nuance in the statement and began to use it in response to other questions.
When did people start using the phrase online?
Kirke posted the image in early 2024, and whenever she goes viral, people circulate the original image, most recently in August 2024. However, it was in mid-November 2024 that it began to gain more traction on X, often being used as an expression of acceptance or in response to something seemingly ridiculous it’s not worth arguing about.
What The hell, Sure memes:
Related catchphrase memes:
- Explaining the ‘Sir, This Is A Wendy’s’ catchphrase and meme
- ‘My fist, your face’: The ‘Your Body, My Choice’ meme draws heavy backlash
- ‘No This Is Patrick’ meme history
- The ‘Mom I Threw Up’ meme and its many variations
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