The phrase comes from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, the Cartoon Network series that ran in the 2000s, where Billy's simple minded panic often drove the comedy. Clips of his repeated destroy us all chant were lifted from the show and shared on YouTube and soundboards as a standalone reaction. Its length and repetition set it apart from single shout memes, letting editors stretch the joke. It remains popular for apocalypse humour, fandom edits and over the top doomposting where a situation is nowhere near as serious as the audio suggests.