Steven He Viral ‘Emotional Damage’ meme takes over TikTok

By now, if you have used TikTok at all lately, you would have most likely seen Steven He’s ‘Emotional Damage’ clip on your For You Page. The meme is used to poke fun at situations that are ‘emotionally damaging’ — for example, getting roasted by your parents or crush, or being in awkward situations.

He is an Irish-Chinese YouTuber and comedian that has amassed over 2.4 million subscribers on YouTube and 3.9 million followers on TikTok. The ‘Emotional Damage’ clip was taken from a YouTube video that He uploaded in September 2021, where He was featured as the ‘Asian Dad’ character playing a game with multiple difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and “Asian.” The sequence begins after the Asian Dad gets insulted by a boss called ‘Aunty’ while playing the “Asian” difficulty mode and hilariously incurring ‘Emotional Damage’ and killing his in-game avatar.