Royce O’Neale asked about Suns fans’ Hooters with the fellas meme

Forward Royce O’Neale went through his initiation process as a new member of the Phoenix Suns when they traded with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire his services. Suns fans bringing up a very old tweet about Hooters very much confused him.

As is per tradition, fans had unearthed a tweet from 2011 about O’Neale eating at the chicken wing joint. Run It Back‘s Michelle Beadle on Friday asked O’Neale if he knows why fans went diving into his tweet history for that very random, specific item.

“Maybe you can explain this thing Suns fans do, ’cause I don’t get it. When a player heads to Phoenix, they do this thing where they go and see if that player has ever tweeted about Hooters, the restaurant,” Beadle said. “They did it with Devin Booker, who had tweeted about Hooters back in 2012. They did it with you, and sure enough, you had done it before as well. What is this tradition?”

“To be honest I have no idea,” O’Neale responded. “When I got traded, I was like, ‘Yo, why I am trending with Hooters?’ I see me, book, KD and Brad literally tweeted something about Hooters. I was like, ‘oh, OK.'”

"When I got traded I was like 'why am I trending with Hooters?' and then I see me, Book [Devin Booker], KD [Kevin Durant], and Brad [Beal] all literally tweeted something about Hooters."@BucketsONeale00 on Suns' fans digging up his old Hooters tweets 😂

📺:… pic.twitter.com/pjM6cJtUYF

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) March 1, 2024

Why do Suns fans search for Hooters with the fellas tweets?

Phoenix fans have made it common practice to search through a new player’s social media accounts to determine if they have referenced the wing restaurant.

Why? Booker’s rise to All-Star status has everything to do with it.

In 2012, when he was around 15 years old, Booker sent out this tweet: “I’m thinking hooters tonight with the fellas.”

I'm thinking hooters tonight with the fellas.

— Book (@DevinBook) May 9, 2012

It was dug up and found by Suns superfan @Sreekyshooter on the X platform, who made it a running joke. Eventually, that led to Suns fans searching for Hooters in the tweets of Booker’s new teammates.

Booker, for what it’s worth, explained in 2020 during a public Twitch stream that the tweet stemmed from one of his dad’s traditions.

Wow. The origin story of Hooters with the fellas. What a day for @sreekyshooter. pic.twitter.com/SHch82EaZI

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 6, 2020

 

“My dad used to play in this men’s tournament in Mississippi … every Thursday or every Friday, something like that,” he said. “After we leave that, he would take him and the whole team to Hooters. It wasn’t me and homeboys … but we was definitely in there with the fellas.”

Now, Suns fans have used tweets from Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant about Hooters as evidence that they were destined to join Booker and the Suns.

“Weirdest tradition I’ve ever heard and I love it,” Beadle said Friday on Run It Back.

Added O’Neale: “I haven’t been in years.”

Follow @AZSports