--- title: The Funniest Reactions to the Katy Perry Swish Swish Video description: The 'Witness' singer collects a bunch of stars and internet celebrities, from Nicki Minaj to the "Backpack Kid," to appear in her new video. canonical: https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-24T15:33:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:46.150Z og:title: Katy Perry's Goofy "Swish Swish" Video Is a Meme Machine og:description: Can you find all the famous (and internet-famous) faces? og:url: https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Katy Perry's Goofy "Swish Swish" Video Is a Meme Machine twitter:description: Can you find all the famous (and internet-famous) faces? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Internet Has Arrived for Katy Perry's Meme-Worthy 'Swish Swish' Video > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b2aa2c6e-ca7a-450f-8b5c-a96c7f8af4e0&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 24, 2017 3:33 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 24, 2017 3:33 PM UTC For her new music video for the basketball-themed single [“Swish Swish,”](http://time.com/4816737/katy-perry-changes-lyrics-swish-swish-feud-taylor-swift/) Katy Perry went all-out to collect an oddball group of guest stars that span the reaches of fame, from internet-viral superstars to a _Game of Thrones_ actor and the comedy queen [Molly Shannon](http://time.com/4829170/wet-hot-american-summer-trailer/). The Space Jam-inspired video dropped Thursday, marketed as a battle between the inept “Tigers” and the “Sheep.” In the game-time set-up, Perry and her squad — [_Stranger Things’_](http://time.com/4532104/most-influential-teens-2016/item/gaten-matarazzo-14/) Gaten Matarazzo, Jenna Ushkowitz from _Glee_, the virally-dubbed “Backpack Kid” who stole the show at _Saturday Night Live_ and more — face off against _Game of Thrones_ actor Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson, who plays the inimitable [Mountain](http://time.com/4307937/the-mountain-game-of-thrones-worlds-strongest-man-diet/) on the HBO show. Also spotted in the crowd: competitive eater Joey Chestnut, Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots and internet-famous Doug the Pug, among others. Thanks to a halftime show from Nicki Minaj, Perry and her teammates manage to pull it together for the second half. As with much of Perry’s persona and Witness videos, “Swish Swish” ends in a frenzy of goofy antics and slapstick comedy. The whole six-minute film is stuffed with Easter egg details and meme-worthy moments. The video was directed by [Dave Meyers](http://davemeyers.com/music-videos/), who was also behind the highly-nominated video for Kendrick Lamar’s [“HUMBLE.”](http://time.com/4785837/best-songs-2017-so-far/item/kendrick-lamar-humble/) This is definitely a different vibe — and online reaction was mixed. Perry will next be taking to the stage as host of MTV’s [Video Music Awards](http://time.com/4903945/mtv-vmas-2017-watching-guide/) this Sunday before kicking off her _Witness_ world tour this fall. > [](https://twitter.com/bkkeeboy/status/900650298443571200) > [](https://twitter.com/yas%5Fbish%5Fjan/status/900621584754511872) > [](https://twitter.com/sella%5Fsandra/status/900622075257249793) > [](https://twitter.com/broxbeeble/status/900735528840159232) > [](https://twitter.com/khierstynross/status/900734739233034240) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/"},"headline":"The Internet Has Arrived for Katy Perry's Meme-Worthy 'Swish Swish' Video","datePublished":"2017-08-24T15:33:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:46.150Z","description":"The 'Witness' singer collects a bunch of stars and internet celebrities, from Nicki Minaj to the \"Backpack Kid,\" to appear in her new video.","url":"https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","Katy Perry","Music Video"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4913950/katy-perry-swish-swish-video/","name":"The Internet Has Arrived for Katy Perry's Meme-Worthy 'Swish Swish' Video"}}]}] ```