"White American is the cheese" — Internet reacts as biochemist's joke about being charged $1 at a restaurant for her race goes viral

Recently, a harmless "white American" joke from an X (formerly Twitter) user got over seven million impressions on the platform.

X is a somewhat wild platform where the slightest misunderstandings can cause an online backlash. With the highly polarized state of the microblogging website, a user, Vanessa (@Nessakins_), made a brave yet benign joke about her restaurant bill.

Vanessa, who is a biochemist, shared a picture of the bill from her recent restaurant visit. She jokingly claimed that she was charged $1 for her being a white American:

"I got charged $1 for being a white American. This is racist bulls**t."

The original poster's tweet was seemingly meant to fetch the attention of netizens, but it succeeded in doing so. A user, without understanding the joke, even tried explaining the context, as they wrote:

"Umm........White American is the cheese....Stop trying to make it about something else."

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Many failed to understand the "White American" joke, while others chimed in with their "cheesy" puns

After @Nessakins_'s post went viral, she got a myriad of responses from the X users. A section of users didn't get the sarcasm, while others joined in with puns of their own. Check out some of the reactions here:

"You got charged $1 for being a white American? Damn, the reparations plan starting on a budget. – Racist? Maybe. Petty? Absolutely. But let's be real—if $1 is your hill to die on, life's been pretty smooth for you. – Real question: Are you mad about the dollar or just realizing how it feels to get taxed for existing?" a user said without understanding the joke.

"Instead of posting this online, stirring up racism, you could've went to the counter and ask why you got charged that extra dollar and resolve the issue," another user didn't get the joke.

"I would have refrained from paying it, then I would have to the manager that I wouldn't be back and I would be telling all of my friends about the policy," someone suggested.

"You've gotta be kidding me. If that truly happened, then SUE that restaurant for racism. Whites can be victims of racism too," another one fell prey to sarcasm.

Fortunately, many understood the assignment and came with some humorous replies, and here are some of them:

"We ordered clam chowder the other night, and the waitress said, "Crackers?" We were very offended," a user wisecracked.

"This racism will cost them so much cheddar," a user said.

"This attempt at trolling is way too......cheesy," another responded cheekily.

"I wonder what the fee for being a pepper jack is?," someone added.

Some netizens were also left surprised how a section of users didn't get the joke:

The sheer amount of people that don't get the joke is really disturbing. 🤦‍♂️😆," another one noted.

"How are so many people not understanding the joke 💀," a user replied.

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For those who still haven't understood the joke, the original post was referring to the white American cheese, which the user had seemingly bought as an add-on to their burger. It is a white or cream-colored variant of processed cheese derived from cheddar, Colby, and/or Swiss. Furthermore, its origins are from the United States of America, which got it the name "American."