It’s TikTok, with jazz hands. A foot-tapping trend gaining momentum on the social media app sees “We both reached for the gun,” a song from the hit musical “Chicago,” transformed into a versatile meme.
In the 1975 musical, and the Oscar-winning 2022 movie version that followed starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, the song reflects a storyline about spinning false narratives to manipulate public perception. But on TikTok, some users are applying the lyrics literally, to people or entities headed toward potentially explosive conflict. One video of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris has racked up 1.5 million views, and at least 30,000 TikTok videos now feature the lyrics below (which, be warned, can lead to a persistent earworm for which there is no known cure).
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes they both / Oh yes, they both / Oh yes, they both reached for / The gun, the gun, the gun, the gun / Oh yes, they both reached for the gun
“When I see a nonchalant boy and a very emotional girl start dating,” the text in one TikTok video reads as the movie version of the song plays. Reads another: “Emotionally immature mom vs angry daughter.”
The song is showing up in countless “fancams,” which are fan edits that add a soundtrack to heavily edited clips from TV shows and movies. One vid juxtaposes footage from Barbie and Oppenheimer, two 2023 blockbusters dubbed Barbenheimer for their joint box office success and often mentioned as direct competitors during awards season.
Glee rivals Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray got the “They both reached” edit. So have shows including Squid Game, The Bear, Dance Moms, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones, a drama abundant with conniving enemies jockeying for power.
The musical Chicago, written by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb and composed by John Kander, tells the story of chorus girl Roxie Hart and vaudevillian Velma Kelly, two women accused of murder, and of their unscrupulous lawyer Billy Flynn. It’s the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, beloved for its show-stopping numbers and satire of celebrity culture.
A famous scene in the movie musical Chicago shows Gere as lawyer Flynn at a press conference mounting a false defense for his client Hart. She and her victim both reached for the gun, he sings, a story that earns her public sympathy and widespread media attention. Interspersed with the more literal footage of the media gathering are images of Flynn as a ventriloquist and Hart as a marionette sitting on the puppet master’s lap. A chorus of journalists with notebooks appear on puppets on strings, dance behind them.
The musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a Chicago Tribune reporter assigned to cover the high-profile 1924 trials of two women charged with murder. In the play, Hart is accused of murdering her lover, while Kelly is charged with killing her husband and sister after catching them having sex.
The TikTok meme that’s put the musical in the social media spotlight has serious legs, with tap shoes at the end of them. It’s spurred videos of dancers performing choreography of the song that TikTok attributes to Dev the Menace. The dancer credits the musical Chicago with sparking his love of dance, and pays tribute with “They both reached for the gun” moves complete with twirls and kicks that have so far pulled in 7.2 million views.
Theater TikTok, also known as “Theatertok,” has embraced the classic song. Writes one drama school graduate who launches into a professional-level version of the dance, “Chicago is trending? Say no more.”