About
“Bye Felicia” is a memorable quote from the 1995 comedy film Friday which is often used online as a dismissive farewell.
Origin
On April 26th, 1995, the comedy film Friday was released, starring the characters Craig Jones (played by Ice Cube) and Smokey (played by Chris Tucker) as a pair of unemployed stoners who must find a way to pay a drug dealer $200 within 24 hours. In the film, a character named Felicia attempts to borrow a car and a marijuana cigarette from Smokey and Jones, causing Jones to say “Bye Felicia.” On March 11th, 2007, YouTuber HyFlyer988 uploaded a clip of the scene, gathering over 870,000 views and 290 comments in the first eight years.
Felicia: Let me borrow a joint.
Smokey:You need to borrow a job with your broke ass. Always trying to smoke up somebody’s shit. Get the hell on Felicia.
Felicia: I’m gonna remember that.
Smokey: Remember it. Write it down. Take a picture. I don’t give a fuck!
Felicia:Craig?
Craig Jones: ‘Bye, Felisha.
Felicia: Damn. Y’all stingy.
Spread
On December 7th, 2008, Urban Dictionary[1] user pimpin’817 submitted an entry for “bye felicia,” describing the phrase as a way to bid farewell to someone who is deemed unimportant. On October 27th, 2011, YouTuber Mamclol uploaded a video titled “Bye Felicia,” featuring the clip from Friday with an accompanying hip hop track about the character.
On January 14th, 2014, Redditor ArsenalZT asked why “bye Felicia” became popular in a post on the /r/OutOfTheLoop[2] subreddit. On August 4th, the phrase was discussed by guest Nicole Richie and host Ryan Seacrest during the radio talk show “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” (shown below).
In April 2014, American makeup artist and model Jeffree Star posted dismissive tweets accompanied by the hashtag “#byefelicia” (shown below).[4][5] On June 18th, BuzzFeed[3] published a listicle titled "22 Alternative Names to say “Bye” to Instead of Felicia." According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[6] the hashtag #ByeFelicia was tweeted over 35,000 times during the month of August.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Urban Dictionary – Bye Felicia
[2]Reddit – Why Did Bye Felicia Suddenly Become Popular
[3]BuzzFeed – 22 Alternative Names to say Bye to Instead of Felicia
[4]Twitter – @jeffreestar
[5]Twitter – @jeffreestar
[6]Topsy – #ByeFelicia