Users on X are posting “just got the call. Fired…” memes about getting fired from imaginary DEI jobs doing absurd things. The latest political meme has people turning other humans, animals, and objects gay or making sure not all mountains in the country are white, among other fake tasks.
The trend appears to be in response to President Donald Trump’s moves to end all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the federal government, including with some of his many executive orders signed in the first days of his second term.
‘My job was to turn the frogs gay’
The format of this new meme is markedly simple. Each tweet starts out with “just got the call” often followed by “fired” and then which department the jokester headed and a description of their DEI-related job.
“just got the call. fired,” wrote X user @eigenrobot. “I was the wildlife DEI coordinator at the EPA. my job was to turn the frogs gay.”
This post has over 1.3 million views and references an infamous Alex Jones moment on his former podcast on the now-defunct Infowars. In a 2015 conspiratorial rant about alleged chemical warfare conducted by the government on citizens, Jones claimed that “they” were putting something in the water that encouraged queer tendencies.
“I don’t like them putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay,” he said.
‘Just got the call’ meme origins
The earliest known “just got the call. fired.” DEI joke was by user @kathrwn on Jan. 22, 2025, and claimed that they were the “DEI coordinator at Area 51” whose job it was to “trans the aliens and then inject them with fentanyl.”
The tweet earned over 4.2 million views in less than 24 hours, as well as over 249,000 likes. It didn’t take long for others to jump on the trend, and it remained strong through the morning and early afternoon of Jan. 23. There’s hardly a federal department in the entire nation that doesn’t have a recently fired DEI coordinator at this point.
Trump’s anti-DEI efforts
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order that “terminates ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending,” according to a White House fact sheet. The administration framed the move as protecting civil rights with a “promise of colorblind equality.”
On Wednesday, Trump followed up on the order by directing all federal departments to put their DEI staff on paid leave. This is not exactly firing them, but the goal is to eventually lay each of these workers off. Additionally, Trump told these departments to take down DEI-related webpages, cancel trainings, and end contracts by 5 pm.
The returning president focused much of his 2024 campaign on attacking DEI following right-wing backlash against these programs.
What is DEI?
Corporations and civil rights groups popularized the term “DEI” in the early 2020s, but related efforts to diversify both public and private entities have been an American tradition since President John F. Kennedy signed an order calling it “affirmative action” on March 6, 1961.
Affirmative action and DEI frameworks seek to increase representation across all demographic groups, bringing more people from marginalized races, genders, sexualities, and ability statuses into workplaces and government agencies. The goal is to make up for historical barriers placed before these groups that left them behind.
In spite of the “just got the call. fired” meme, DEI does not involve specific actions by workers once they’re hired. Most DEI efforts involve diversity training and efforts that encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply for jobs or higher education programs.
‘Just got the call. Fired’ memes
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