Part of: Nancy Mace and the UAP hearings · UAP & the Hearings
The 'non-human biologics' hearing
Mace's deadpan questions about 'non-human biologics' and her demand for evidence she could touch made her the congressional face of a UAP hearing the internet spent days turning into a meme.
On July 26, 2023, the House Oversight subcommittee held a hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) drew one of the day's most-replayed exchanges. Pressing former intelligence officer David Grusch on his claim that the government had recovered crashed craft, Mace asked whether the recovered remains were "human or nonhuman biologics." Grusch answered: "Non-human." The phrase, and Mace's flat, just-checking delivery, made her the congressional face of a hearing the internet spent the next several days turning into a wall-to-wall meme.
Most of the jokes that followed took aim at the hearing itself, and at the surreal idea of the U.S. government conceding "non-human biologics" in sworn testimony, rather than at Mace personally. But as the member asking the bluntest questions, and who told reporters afterward that she would need to "touch" physical evidence before she believed it, she became the recurring image attached to the moment, from the Post and Courier's "Nancy Mace wants evidence she can touch" headline to days of reaction threads.
The hearing:
The July 26, 2023 UAP hearing. Watch the full clip on C-SPAN.
Mace: "Were they, I guess, human or nonhuman biologics?"
David Grusch: "Non-human."
The exchange, via Roll Call.
By that evening "aliens are real" was trending worldwide, and outlets from BuzzFeed to The Washington Post were cataloging the response. The dominant joke wasn't awe, it was indifference: a running bit that the government had just confirmed extraterrestrials and nobody could afford to care.
They announcing that aliens are real and not one person moved……
@keyon July 26, 2023
hey boss sorry can't come in to work today. aliens are real
@jzux July 26, 2023
The reaction even spawned its own fact-check. Singer Lizzo told her followers the government had "stated under oath" that it possessed "UFOs and non-human alien bodies." PolitiFact rated that False: Grusch testified as a private whistleblower, not on the government's behalf, and the Defense Department said it had no "verifiable information" substantiating the claims.
Aye.. I know there's a lot of pop culture news and memes going on rn but… THE GOVERNMENT JUST STATED *UNDER OATH* THAT THEY ARE IN POSSESSION OF UFOs AND NON-HUMAN ALIEN BODIES YALL WTF
Lizzo (@lizzo) July 26, 2023
PolitiFact rated the "under oath / the government" framing False.
The hearing trended worldwide, yet it generated zero late-night monologue coverage: every major late-night show, Colbert, Meyers, Kimmel, Fallon, and The Daily Show, was dark during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike (May 2, September 27, 2023). The mockery was driven entirely by social media.
Non-human Aliens discovered by our government - 2. Epstein's clients discovered - 0
Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 27, 2023
Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) July 27, 2023
See also
- UAP & the Hearings
- "Human or nonhuman biologics?", Mace's question that defined the 2023 UAP hearing
- "Come at me bro": Mace's most striking lines from the 2024 UAP hearing
- Nancy Mace and the UAP hearings
Sources & related coverage
- C-SPAN, Hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (clip)
- Roll Call, Whistleblower at UAP hearing claims non-human remains
- ABC News 4 (Charleston), Whistleblower tells Rep. Nancy Mace the government has recovered non-human biologics
- The Hill, House UAP secrecy hearing
- The Post and Courier, Have aliens visited Earth? After UFO hearing, Nancy Mace wants evidence she can touch
- NBC News, UFO hearing online reactions
- The Washington Post, UFO, aliens and the Congress hearing reaction
- BuzzFeed, Aliens Are Real tweets
- Know Your Meme, 15 memes about the UAP/alien hearings
- PolitiFact, Fact-checking Lizzo's incorrect claim
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