Forget witch and vampire costumes—this Halloween, the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating the spooky season with a viral meme dubbed, “I Hate Gay Halloween”.
While Halloween celebrators traditionally sport scary outfits, the community is embracing obscure pop culture moments and sharing these looks across social media. Costumes range from Lana Del Rey’s recent wedding to an alligator tour guide, to tributes to pop queen Chappell Roan‘s lyrics.
Riani Kenyon, an anthropologist and behavioral analyst at Canvas8 brand consultancy, explained the phenomenon to Newsweek
“This year’s ‘I Hate Gay Halloween’ meme, where people joke about the wildly specific costumes, highlights the fun of ‘getting the reference.’ The phrase has gone viral, with participants humorously bemoaning their commitment to costumes that only others ‘extremely online’ might recognize.
Composite image of people in costume. People are revealing why they hate “Gay Halloween” in a hilarious viral trend
Photo Illustration by Newsweek/Getty Images
“Yet, this tongue-in-cheek approach to Halloween celebrates queer culture’s inclusivity, making space for everyone—no matter how niche or unconventional the reference,” she explained.
Here’s a roundup of the best viral costumes from social media:
Motti (@motticomedy), a Brooklyn-based writer, shared a look referencing Roan’s hit “Casual,” which explores the pain of a situationship with a non-committal partner.
The woman embodies Roan in a pink sparkly cowboy outfit, while Motti channels the “passenger seat” featured in the song. Their post garnered 5.1 million views and 280,000 likes, with one viewer commenting: “Their creativity is unmatched!”
Cache Merrill, the founder of Zibtek told Newsweek: “Differently from regular Halloween festivities, participants of ‘Gay Halloween’ use camp, outrageous costume pieces, and a cheeky sense of humor about what even goes as a costume in the first place. The holiday is a celebration of subtle LGBTQ+ drama, pleasure and the past transgressed by costumes painstakingly crafted by their creators.”
Another X, formerly Twitter, user, @chrisfrostwho, channeled a hysterical moment from a defining movie of the 2000s, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, when Shaggy drinks a potion and becomes a woman.
“I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you’re Shaggy when he drank the potion and magically transitioned?” they joked on X, racking up 5.2 million views and 282,000 likes.
“This DIVA!,” said one user, praising the outfit’s creativity.
I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you’re Shaggy when he drank the potion and magically transitioned in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed? pic.twitter.com/36W0eWCZHR
— BUCKstopher Jones 🫡 (@chrisfrostwho) October 28, 2024
Mac (@MacDoesIt) and a partner dressed as Beyoncé’s album covers Cowboy Carter and Renaissance, with cutouts of Queen Bey riding horses featured on each. Their caption: “I hate gay halloween, what do you mean you’re Beyoncé’s horses?” quickly racked up 891,600 views on X.
In a particularly niche take, @holIiowbody dressed as the French children paying tribute to Serge Gainsbourg in a 1980s TV performance, reimagining the notorious gray-wigged kids with their faux cigarettes and wineglasses.
The post amassed 1.4 million views, leaving viewers praising its originality.
“This is iconic,” said viral tweeter The Notorious J.O.V., @whotfisjovana.
Kenyon explained the specificity of some of the inspirations.
“It’s an art form rooted in queer culture’s observant eye for detail and a shared understanding of otherwise underappreciated cultural moments,” she revealed.
Tyler LaCount (@LaCount_Dracula) paid homage to arguably to biggest cultural reset of the year- Brat Summer. LacCount embodied the moment she signed records while on vocal rest, sporting a black tee and shades and holding the same lime green sign reading “I’m on vocal rest”.
LaCount’s post, captioned: “I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you’re Charli XCX signing records on vocal rest,” received 429.6K views.
“Gays are so creative,” Mau wrote.
Justin Haber (@justin_haber) captured pop singer Shawn Mendes’s viral “Hey people” moment from a social media livestream.
Sporting Mendes’ white tee, silver chain, and navy jacket, his post, “Gay Halloween is crazy, what do you mean you’re ‘Hey People’ Shawn Mendes?'” drew 30,600 views on TikTok.
Elsewhere, Brad (@itsme_p3rs0nal) revived K-pop star JYP’s iconic plastic pants from the ’90s. “I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you’re JYP in his see-through pants?” he joked, with his transparent outfit garnering 75,100 views on TikTok.
“In a way, Gay Halloween is a kind of cultural reclamation. By choosing costumes that are meaningful to them, no matter how obscure, queer individuals are asserting the value of their unique perspectives,” Kenyon further explained.
A huge pop culture moment inspiring countless looks for this year’s Halloween is Lana Del Rey’s shock wedding to Jeremy Dufrene, an alligator swamp tour guide, last month.
TikToker, @joshmz, brought Del Rey and her new husband to life, referencing the surprise wedding. The person dressed up as the singer wore a short white wedding dress, and their partner dressed in a camo outfit and held an inflatable alligator. The look hit 1.6 million likes and 7.3 million views on the platform.
“I fear that’s the most poetic thing I’ve seen in a while,” said one viewer.
“For many, these costumes are a subtle ‘in-joke,’ a way of bonding over shared, sometimes hidden, queer narratives. The trend’s popularity this year reflects a pushback against Halloween’s commercialization, recentering the holiday on community, individuality, and authenticity,” Kenyon explained.
