Black Cat Clapping Meme: Who Made It and 4 Ways to Use It

A black cat stands up on a tiled floor, grins and slowly claps at the camera. You have probably seen it pasted under someone's worst decision. This is the black cat clapping meme, and the cat is real.

Who made it

On 25 September 2026, AI creator Aleksandr Kim (@merkurianin) posted a clip of his black cat Peep on TikTok and Instagram. Peep stands on its hind legs, grins and claps with human-like hands. The cat is real; the hands and the smile were made with AI.

Two days later, Kim shared how he did it: a still made with Nano Banana Pro, animated with Kling 3.0 Motion Control using his own clapping as the motion.

How it became a reaction meme

From 28 September a green-screen version spread as the go-to reaction for "applauding" bad behaviour. According to MakeViral's tracking as of 11 October:

• @asian5767's "My teacher took my phone.." reached 5.2 million views and 600,000 likes.
• @yeltiktok's version reached 4 million views.
• The original had 43.5 million views and 6.1 million likes on TikTok, plus 2.59 million likes on Instagram.
• #clappingcat counted 2,430 videos and 52.9 million views; #clappingcatmeme 515 videos and 22.9 million.

Know Your Meme added "Black Cat Clapping" on 5 October, and US searches for "clapping cat" grew to about six times the 30 September level.

Why it works

The slow clap is universal sarcasm, and a cat doing it makes it ten times funnier. The clip is short and quiet, so it fits under almost any caption.

4 ways to use your own clapping pet

1. The sarcastic reaction. Post it under a story of a bad decision, yours or a friend's.
2. The work meme. "My boss when I show up two minutes early."
3. The pet who judges you. Caption your own pet's clap as its opinion of your life choices.
4. The pet roll call. Make one clip per pet and post them back to back; every clip shares the same floor and camera.

With TrendSwap's Cat Clapping AI Video Generator you upload one pet photo and get the clip with the clap sound. Step by step: how to make your cat clap.