A new meme has been circulating this week that will make absolutely no sense unless you are a member of Gen Z or impressively up to date with internet culture.
What you need to know is that Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk, and now Baby Gronk is the new rizz king. Confused? Don’t worry. We can explain everything.
Who is Baby Gronk?
Baby Gronk is a 10-year-old American football sensation whose real name is Madden San Miguel.
The “Baby Gronk” moniker is a reference to former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, the four-time Super Bowl champion regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time. He was a key part of the New England Patriots dynasty of the 2000s and 2010s along with Tom Brady.
San Miguel has 320,000 followers on Instagram, on an account that is run by his parents. The account is packed with pictures of him meeting celebrities and NFL stars, and videos of him showing of his athletic prowess. In many of the photos he wears a crystal-studded “Baby Gronk” chain.
San Miguel is larger and stronger than most children his age, making him near-unstoppable on the football field. His parents have paired their marketing knowledge with their son’s ability to turn him into a young star.
His father, Jake, spoke to The Athletic about his son’s fame and internet persona, telling the site: “Everything we do for content is on purpose. Everything is planned out. Just being a creator and being an influencer. The internet and real life and his training are kept separate. He is actually really advanced and very good at football, and he plays five sports. He’s a really humble kid. Straight-A student. The internet shows one thing, but he is the kid you want at your house. He’s that kid.
“Everything we’re doing, it looks like a show. It’s not reality. I know how to balance the internet and real life. I don’t think my son is a god or better than all these other kids out there. His goal is to go to the NFL. But the NFL is rare. It’s hard to make. So my goal is to build him a platform and a following where he is making money now and it’s going into a savings account. Just keep stacking up, being a part of companies, this and that. By the time he’s a senior in high school, he’s a millionaire and above and he’s well taken care of.”
Who is Livvy?
Livvy refers to Olivia Dunne, a 20-year-old gymnast at LSU. She, like Baby Gronk, is something of an internet sensation, with 7.5 million TikTok followers and 4.1 million Instagram followers.
She is reportedly the top-earning female athlete in US college “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) deals, and second overall only behind LeBron James’ son, Bronny. Her endorsem*nts are believed to be worth seven figures.
What does ‘rizzed up’ mean?
“Rizzed up” is a term invented by Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, meaning “to have charisma”, and rizzing someone up is charming or flattering them.
So what is this meme all about?
Back in March, Dunne and Baby Gronk met when he went on a visit to LSU, purportedly to talk about him joining their football programme when he is old enough.
A video of the meeting was posted to the Baby Gronk YouTube channel titled “LIVVY DUNNE KNOWS I GOT RIZZ”. The staged video shows Dunne trying to convince Baby Gronk to play for LSU before the pair hug.
However, the meme did not take off until June, thanks to TikTok user h00pify, whose real name is Henry De Tolla, a lacrosse player for the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
In the video, he shows the clip of the hug and says “Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk” and convinced him to commit to LSU. De Tolla posts a lot of similar jokey videos to his channel, several of them featuring Baby Gronk.
The TikTok was then reshared on Twitter by @BenShh1, which brought it to a wider audience, many of whom were extremely confused by almost every word.
Essentially, this is all a bit of fun that has done wonders for Baby Gronk’s already significant popularity, and made a lot of normal people feel very, very old.
