Patriot Pulse

Internet Memelords Savaged Viral NBC White House Reporter for Her Reaction to Shots Fired at the White House

Chiarascura image via Shutterstock
Chiarascura image via Shutterstock

NBC News correspondent Julie Tsirkin was live on the White House North Lawn on Saturday night when gunshots rang out.

The shots were real – a 21-year-old gunman opened fire on a Secret Service checkpoint, and agents shot him dead – but Tsirkin's on-camera reaction immediately became the only thing anyone could talk about.

What she said in that moment turned her into the most famous reporter in America – and you have to see it to believe it.

Four Words That Launched a Thousand Memes

Saturday evening, May 23rd. Tsirkin was on the North Lawn prepping a live shot when 21-year-old Nasire Best approached the Secret Service checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, pulled out a handgun, and started shooting at officers.

Thirty shots.

Agents – guns drawn – returned fire, killed Best, and ordered everyone into the press briefing room.

Tsirkin turned toward the sound, scrunched her face, and delivered four words that broke the internet.

"What is that?"

Her cameraman, also apparently unconcerned, offered: "Sounds like fireworks."

It was not fireworks.

The clip crossed a million views before Sunday morning. Tsirkin's confused expression got plastered on everything from Spartan warrior memes to alien invasion movies to the Titanic going down. The internet had found its new favorite reaction face – a baffled NBC correspondent standing perfectly still while a gunfight unfolded behind her.

She posted a Spartan warrior meme herself, thanked everyone for the laughs on X, and invited them to stick around for the actual reporting.

The internet mostly laughed with her.

Mostly.

"Hilarious. You couldn't have been more chill and/or oblivious. The memes wrote themselves," one user replied.

That's about right.

Meanwhile, Here's Who Was Actually Shooting

The man Secret Service killed Saturday was not a random threat.

Nasire Best, 21, of Dundalk, Maryland, had been in the Secret Service's system since the summer of 2025.

In June 2025, he blocked a White House entry lane, claimed he was God, and was involuntarily committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Washington for mental evaluation.

In July 2025, he was back. Attempted to enter a restricted driveway. Arrested again. A judge issued a formal stay-away order banning him from the grounds.

He ignored it. A bench warrant followed.

His social media included threats against President Trump, claims he was the son of God, and at least one post identifying himself as the real Osama bin Laden.

Secret Service agents at the scene required no hospitalization. They did their jobs cleanly.

It was also – not that the meme coverage mentioned this – the third shooting incident near the president in thirty days. Shots at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April. Shots near the Washington Monument earlier in May. Now this.

Secret Service is three for three.

She Did Run. Eventually.

Tsirkin did run – after describing 20 to 30 shots and sprinting inside only once Secret Service agents made it impossible to do otherwise.

Tsirkin has been covering the White House since 2019. This is her beat.

And when thirty rounds went off behind her, her first instinct was to check with the cameraman about fireworks.

She took the memes well, which is genuinely likable.

But the clip doesn't lie. Every other journalist on that lawn ducked. Tsirkin stood there and asked a question.

And somewhere out there, an NBC producer is very quietly having a conversation about situational awareness.

Sources:

  • Julie Tsirkin, Megan Shannon, Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst and Marlene Lenthang, "Secret Service kills man who opened fire at White House security checkpoint," NBC News, May 24, 2026.
  • Nick Arama, "Hilarious: Reporter Becomes Instant Meme for Her Reaction Outside White House," RedState, May 24, 2026.
  • "Who is Julie Tsirkin? NBC reporter triggers viral meme over dumbfounded on-air reaction to White House shooting," Primetimer, May 25, 2026.
  • "What we know about Nasire Best, Maryland man accused of White House shooting," FOX 5 DC / Fox News Digital, May 24, 2026.
  • "Suspect killed after firing shots near White House security checkpoint, Secret Service says," PBS NewsHour, May 24, 2026.
  • "NBC Reporter's Reaction to White House Shooting Goes Viral," TMZ, May 24, 2026.

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