Why are people saying ‘girls with eyebrow slits can’t eat ube cupcakes’?

A TikTok video from a woman confidently eating an ube cupcake while joking, "who says girls with eyebrow slits can't get ube cupcakes from Buttermilk Bake Shop?" has left viewers confused and extremely online. Some saw it as a cryptic gatekeep, others a provocative absurdist meme. But as the sound spread and spinoffs took over TikTok, it became clear: the joke had nothing to do with eyebrows or baked goods. It was a full-blown internet inside joke that tapped into the online baiting culture and chaotic TikTok humor.

Why are people saying girls with eyebrow slits can’t eat ube cupcakes?

On April 29, 2025, model and actor Aminatou Diallo (@aminathree) posted an eight-second video to her TikTok. In it, she stood inside Buttermilk Bake Shop eating a purple cupcake. The creator talked directly to camera, saying, "Who says girls with eyebrow slits can't get ube cupcakes from Buttermilk Bake Shop, okay?" The video had the dialogue as its caption, with four crying face emojis after the text.

The video went viral, garnering 5.8 million views, nearly 800,000 likes, and over 12,000 comments.

@aminathree breaking barriers @Buttercup Bakeshop ♬ original sound - aminatou&lt3

The comments fell into two camps: those who were confused by the context of the video, and those who recognized it as a joke. "I'm confused, why are people normalizing this," one comment read. "Wait, is this a joke?" Read another. "I don't get it," read a third comment.

'Eyebrow slit girls and ube cupcakes don't mix'

The majority of commenters believed the post to be a joke. These responses leaned into the user's feigned disobedience of the "rule" of the video's assumed world: that girls with eyebrow slits can't get ube cupcakes from Buttermilk Bake Shop. With irreverent, absurd, and often impassioned tones, these responses leaned into the "seriousness" of Diallo's "transgression."

"Girl, you know the rules," read one comment. "As someone with an eyebrow slit, we, yes we, shouldn't be doing this. It's really disrespectful and just not for us, that simple," another comment read. Still another said, "I'm tired of pretending this is okay."

The confused responses and the humorous responses seemed to fuel each other. Those who knew the post was a joke trolled those who didn't.

In the days after Diallo's original video, the humorous rules and debate around girls with eyebrow slits eating ube cupcakes from Buttermilk Bake Shop only grew. Responses to the video also went viral. Those videos mostly agreed that if you have an eyebrow slit you can't have a ube cupcake from the Brooklyn-based bakery. In addition, they asserted that "eyebrow slit girls and ube cupcakes don't mix."

@feelingshelly spread awareness yall!! #ubecupcake #buttercupbakeshop #fyp #eyebrowslit ♬ original sound - michelle

Some creators used Diallo's audio to lip sync, demonstrating their unapologetic consumption of an ube cupcake from Buttermilk Bake Shop.

A callback to a 2016 meme, revived via chicken pot pie from KFC

What the confused commenters didn't realize was that Diallo had made a similar video on February 16, 2025, with a similar format. It was called, "Who said girls with honey blonde hair and highlights can't eat a chicken pot pie from KFC?"

Also a joke, this was the creator's first viral video. It garnered 7.1 million views, over 700,000 likes, and nearly 7,000 comments. This video was a reference to a now-deleted meme that originated on X in 2016. According to KYM, this meme—created by @champagnearii—depicted two photos of the creator in a crop top and jeans. The post's caption read, "and they say girls with brown hair can't wear jeans." The meme format circulated on X for years, often used by women to rage bait (post to illicit a provocative response) other online users.

"At that time people didn't remember the viral tweet that started all of this, Diallo said in a statement to the Daily Dot, referring to the X post that inspired her "who said girls with honey blonde hair and highlights can't eat a chicken pot pie from KFC" video." Much like her current video, Diallo's detailed play on "and they say girls with brown hair can't wear jeans," had users both laughing and confused, understanding the reference and not.

"The response was wayyy funnier this time because people kinda remembered from the KFC one," she said.

What Buttermilk Bake Shop has to do with all this

Diallo decided to include Buttermilk Bake Shop in her joke for personal (and delicious) reasons. "My cousin works at Buttercup Bakeshop and is running their social media so she bribed me with some baked goods to make one like that," the creator said. "I obliged because I worked there for like 3 weeks 2 years ago and I knew their cupcakes and cakes are super good."

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