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‘I didn’t get a graduation’: How the Class of 2020 turned their pandemic loss into a running joke on TikTok

15 137
21.02.2026

The Class of 2020 still aren’t over the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling their graduation. Apparently they never stop bringing it up, according to TikTok. Now their complaints are being used as a punchline.

Being robbed? “Did you know that I didn’t get a graduation.”

Slip on ice? “I didn’t have a prom, I didn’t have a homecoming.”

Oh, your grandma just died? “Okay, well if you think that’s bad, I literally didn’t graduate.”

While the trend has been around since Gen Z did—or didn’t—graduate in 2020, with some reminiscing on those “unprecedented” times and others crashing their siblings’ graduations in place of their own, it has recently picked up traction again.

In the past few weeks, it has merged with another trend in which TikTokkers explain how certain people would react to a glass being half full or half empty. Instead of just the classic “optimist” or “pessimist,” the trend includes the points of view of random people, characters, or the Class of 2020.

“It wasn’t even like a graduation, it was like a drive thru and you just grabbed your diploma,” one creator laments.

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© Fast Company