The Yo Semites meme originated in August 2020 when President Donald Trump mispronounced Yosemite National Park during a White House ceremony for the Great American Outdoors Act. Instead of the standard four-syllable pronunciation, it sounded like 'Yo, Semites,' a greeting to Jewish people. The clip immediately went viral, spawning countless jokes, merchandise, and image macros that play on the phonetic slip-up. It is commonly used as a satirical template to highlight verbal gaffes or to create humorous crossovers between national parks and cultural references.