Explainers

‘WASP mom’ meaning: TikTok star Caitlin Reilly’s parody explained

Caitlin Reilly
It didn’t take long for Caitlin Reilly’s super-relatable WASP mom videos to go viral on TikTok. Pic credit: @hicaitlinreilly/Instagram

Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has exploded over the last five years, becoming the birthplace of dozens of viral dance crazes, lip-syncs, and memes; and one craze that keeps returning is Caitlin Reilly’s Wasp mom.

Beloved Tiktok user and comedian Caitlin Reilly has reached new heights of fame by making parody videos of herself impersonating a WASP mom.

Aside from being hilarious, Reilly’s videos work so well because almost everybody knows one of these characters all too well.

So we’ve decided that it’s high time that we explained exactly what is a WASP mom?

But what is a WASP mom?

Traditionally, WASP is an acronym that stands for white Anglo-Saxon protestant and first came into use in the ’50s. These days, the term is used to refer to white, wealthy moms that are essentially a “basic b***h,” according to Urban Dictionary’s top definition.

Caitlin Reilly’s portrayal of the new stereotype shows WASP moms as passive-aggressive, over-the-top, and with a noticeable laugh, and almost always with a glass of wine in hand.

Throughout her videos, Reilly’s WASP mom can be seen asking for discounts, demanding to speak to a manager, and even trying to skip the line for a COVID vaccine.

How WASP mom went viral on TikTok

The first official WASP mom video that emerged featured Reilly playing a “WASP white mom having a psychotic break during FaceTime.”

In the video, Cheryl, the WASP mom, is talking with her friend via FaceTime about how much she loves spending time with her family at home during quarantine.

However, it’s revealed that maybe Cheryl isn’t having the great time she claims to be – confirmed when she begins gulping down a glass of wine at 10.45 am.

Some other particularly popular WASP mom appearances include WASP mom ordering a pizza, where she explains while placing her order, “I would like some extra chili flakes – I asked for that last time, I didn’t get it, I was really dissatisfied.”

As well as WASP mom at Olive Garden, where she tries to get a discount purely on the basis, “I live in the area.”

WASP mom’s most recent ventures saw her embarrassing her daughter at the hair salon. In the video, WASP mom gives the stylist a very specific set of instructions for her daughter’s hair.

“Brightness around the face but not too much, something in the middle. And we are doing three-fourths of an inch of a trim, not an inch, three-fourths if you wanna write that down, so you remember.”

Followed by the unnecessary humiliation of her daughter in the process. “The last time that she got her hair done, she looked like Lord Farquad from the film Shrek.”

She added, “Right, yes, she has a wide set face, if we could just trim that down that would be fantastic!”

It seems Caitlin Reilly is getting better and better at these videos and her popularity just keeps growing. The comedian has now amassed a very impressive 1.7 million followers.

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