The clip comes from a short TikTok meme built around a chicken perched in a tree letting out a loud, drawn-out scream, a moment that was clipped, captioned and reposted until the sound itself became the joke. It travelled through reaction videos and short-form edits, where the scream was used as a standalone punchline rather than as part of a longer animal clip. Its popularity has lasted because the noise is instantly recognisable, extremely short and easy to drop into almost any surprising or embarrassing moment.