Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 5 weeks ago
Gen Z has turned 72-year-old Fed Chair Jerome Powell into a symbol of defiance of the second Trump era, clad with reverent edits usually reserved for K-Pop stars.

Fortune news fellow Eva Roytburg explains the story behind the internet's new star.

Category

🤖
Tech
Transcript
00:00Not permitted under the law, but not permitted under the law.
00:04And the law clearly gives me a four-year term.
00:06Over the past week, Jerome Powell has been recast through the lens of high-saturated AI songs
00:11and fan edits set to the tune of techno beats.
00:14The videos come after Powell explicitly pushed back on Sunday
00:17against a subpoena that was served to him by the Justice Department.
00:20Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats.
00:24At 72, the central banker is being framed online as cool, tough, and a symbol of institutional resistance.
00:30One particular manifestation of the trend, titled We Are Jerome Powell,
00:33comes after Democratic strategist Keith Edwards saw the We Are Charlie Kirk song
00:40and wanted to flip the trend on its head.
00:42Edwards told me that the move is tactical.
00:44In an information war dominated by conservatives,
00:46he decided to repurpose a populist aesthetic in order to elevate a character
00:50who could stand up to Trump and does things by the book.
00:53Meme analyst Aiden Walker told me that the appeal lies in the contrast.
00:56There is a gently subversive irony in treating a sober, rule-bound official like a K-pop idol.
01:01Gen Z prizes authenticity, and because Powell isn't trying to be famous,
01:05they decided that his video went hard.
Comments

Recommended