What the heck is Minion Jesus and why is it on my TikTok?

Plus: Why it feels like it's flooding everywhere, Ukraine's latest move, and more. Sept. 20, 2024 [View in browser]( Laura Bullard is the senior fact-checker for the Today, Explained podcast, where she has been footnoting and mercilessly splitting hairs since 2021. Laura Bullard is the senior fact-checker for the Today, Explained podcast, where she has been footnoting and mercilessly splitting hairs since 2021.   How Minion Jesus died — and rose — on TikTok [an illustration of a minion on the cross, like Jesus. It was created by an art student in Mexico, and became a Christian meme on TikTok] Courtesy of Americo Cruz Traci Coston, a serious young Christian TikToker, [stares directly at the camera](. “One day, an animator was messing around, and he created this picture of a little minion.” Coston points up to an image of a sausage-bodied minion hanging limply from a wooden cross. Minions are the stars of a [$5 billion]( animated movie franchise. And their extremely online fans have been feverishly producing minions memes like this one since the release of the first movie, Despicable Me, in 2010. “Listen to this,” she continues. “A minion didn’t die for you, but somebody actually did. Jesus actually died for you.” Coston had sacrificed the Minion Jesus for my attention, and the crucified minion had done its job. His death was the key that unlocked the door to my carefully curated TikTok algorithm, and this summer, Coston had walked right through. Coston isn’t a lone wolf. A dozen other TikTokers had recently posted Minion Jesus videos, all repeating the same near-verbatim message in front of the exact same image. The scriptedness of the videos was unusual. In the comment sections of these scripted Minion Jesus videos, hundreds of TikTokers gathered to discuss the mystery. Who wrote this script? Do these people know each other? Are they AI deep-fakes? Are they joking? For the [Today, Explained podcast](, I got to the bottom of it. The road to Minion Jesus is long and rambling. It takes us from a tiny town in Louisiana all the way to the steps of White House. But it begins at the Facultad de Artes Plásticas art school in Arteaga, Mexico. The Minion Jesus origin story In 2021, a young Mexican graphic design student named Americo Cruz opened up his 3D modeling software and created Minion Jesus. Two days later, he posted it to his personal Facebook page. Cruz told Vox he took inspiration from[a 2015 meme](: a photograph of a stuffed toy minion engulfed in flames and fastened to a cross. “The truth is that it's just a parody — a simple joke” inspired by Gen Z’s absurdist sense of humor, he said. Minion Jesus went moderately viral in 2021, and it has been shared thousands of times on Facebook, X, Reddit, and Instagram — all platforms where images are easy to access and download. But Cruz hadn’t seen the TikTok videos until I reached out to him for this story. The Minion Jesus TikTokers post[similarly structured content]( every day, most of it concerned with convincing the viewer to [convert to Christianity](. Several also make[conservative political content](. They don’t all follow one another on their various social media platforms, but I soon realized they all have one connection in common: a blond, brawny evangelist named [Taylan Michael Seaman](. [a balloon in the shape and form of a giant minion] Matt Cardy/Getty The makings of a Christian content farm Seaman is the 26-year-old self-proclaimed Louisiana millionaire behind a coaching program called [Kingdom University](. He offers online courses to any would-be social media evangelist willing to “invest” thousands of dollars into his ministry. In exchange, he teaches them his “Viral Video Framework,” a basic digital content marketing strategy couched in the language of proselytism. As you may have guessed by now, the Minion Jesus video is a Kingdom University product. According to several enrollees who spoke to Vox under the condition of anonymity, the coaches alert their students when a particular piece of content — like Minion Jesus — is doing well. They are then encouraged to follow suit, which is why the videos are often so eerily similar. Seaman’s personal content skews a bit more pessimistic. His message is also[often]([about]([money](, and his videos contain clear nods to a midcentury offshoot of Pentecostalism commonly known as the Word of Faith Movement. Ties to Word of Faith, an evangelical powerhouse In the 1960s, itinerant evangelist Kenneth Hagin rose to fame by performing (and possibly inventing) the miracle of [Holy Laughter]( in churches around the United States. At the wave of his hand, congregants would fall to the floor shrieking and convulsing in rapturous hysterics. This kind of ecstatic religious expression is a defining feature of the Pentecostal tradition. Hagin’s Word of Faith movement capitalized on that fervor. Fifty years before TikTok appeared in the app store, Hagin began broadcasting his sermons over the radio and selling reel-to-reel tapes to anyone willing to pay for them. In 1974, he founded Rhema Bible Training College, an unaccredited bible school in Oklahoma. Today, there are [Rhema training centers]( in 14 countries, and[course listings]( include classes on using the Internet to grow your congregation. In 2002, two Rhema graduates founded Faith Church Ruston, a nondenominational church in Ruston, Louisiana. Their son-in-law and protégée is the godfather of the Minion Jesus TikTok, Taylan Michael Seaman. What does this have to do with Christian nationalism? After Hagin’s death, a new Kenneth rose up: Kenneth Copeland is now the figurehead of the Word of Faith movement and has taken it to new heights. He founded a Christian broadcast network, built a multimillion-dollar empire, and now claims that his flagship show reaches 885 million viewers a day. Under Copeland, and thanks to his network, theology and conservative politics began to meld. The Word of Faith movement dovetailed neatly with another quasi-Pentecostal movement called the New Apostolic Reformation — a fusion of prosperity gospel theology and Christian Nationalist politics. Where the Word of Faith movement leveraged the faithful to amass wealth, the New Apostolic Reformation is leveraging that wealth to build political power. Andy Kroll, who covers fringe religious movements in America for ProPublica, told Vox that where [right-wing Christian political movements]( in decades past have encouraged Christians to effect change from within the political system, the New Apostolic Reformation’s vision for America is more ambitious and less democratic. Its most prominent figure is Lance Wallnau, a [regular]([guest]( on Kenneth Copeland’s television network, the movement’s loudest megaphone. Wallnau has [a vision]( he calls “The Seven Mountains Mandate,” arguing that conservative Christians should “take dominion” over American life by assuming positions of power in seven key spheres of influence: arts and media, business, church, education, family, government, and science and technology. “This segment of Christianity is not the largest by number, but it's the fastest-growing,” says Kroll. And you cannot, of course, spell “dominion” without the word “minion.” “How To Have DOMINION!!” In July, Seaman, the man behind the Minion Crucifixion TikToks, [livestreamed]( a sermon to his YouTube followers that he had titled “How To Have DOMINION!!” Once fringe, this vision for America has found a champion in former president Donald Trump. Wallnau was one of the [first]( Christian leaders to endorse Trump, and Trump has spent the past eight years borrowing liberally from Wallnau’s language and theology to appeal to his base. In the tradition of Hagin, Copeland, and Wallnau, Seaman has come to recognize that he, too, is only as powerful as his flock is large. His YouTube audience? Three million. “When I go online and I look up Minion Jesus, and when I read about Taylan, I see an archetype,” said Kroll. “Someone who is common throughout this Wild West of Christianity. Someone who’s really thinking about how to break through on whatever the latest communication platform is.” There’s a chance, of course, that his subscriber count has been inflated by purchased followers. Regardless, he is effectively exploiting a loophole that his predecessors could only have dreamed of. Put simply, I didn’t go searching for Minion Jesus. Minion Jesus came looking for me. Hagin, Copeland, and Wallnau may have created the millionaire Christian influencer. Seaman perfected it: Game the system. Crucify a minion. Let the algorithm do the rest.   [Listen]( Republicans are getting raunchy Conservatives have started claiming hot girls as a culture war victory. Vox's Constance Grady explains why. [Listen now](   [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during briefing at 4th Summit of the Crimean Platform on September 11, 2024, in Kyiv, Ukraine.] Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Ukraine’s drone strike in Russian territory: On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military launched a large-scale drone attack against a weapons depot in Russia’s Tver region, causing the town of Toropets to be evacuated. This attack follows August’s offensive into Russia’s Kursk region. Both are likely [efforts by Ukraine to put itself in a better position to receive aid and end the war](. 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