The phrase comes from comedian and YouTuber Steven He, who popularised it in sketches in 2021 playing an exaggerated Asian dad character reacting to his son's failures. Clips spread quickly on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, where users isolated the shout as the Emotional Damage Meme for edits about roasts and setbacks. Its mix of a familiar family dynamic and an over the top delivery helped it outlast the original sketch, and it remains a shorthand reaction for pretend hurt feelings online.