Is Italian Brainrot offensive? Why people are criticising the trend

23 May 2025, 17:42

By Katie Louise Smith

The original Tralalero Tralala and Bombardino Crocodilo videos have been heavily criticised on social media over their offensive audios.

Italian Brainrot has taken TikTok – and school classrooms! – by storm, and if you currently have no idea what it is, it's only a matter of time before Ballerina Cappuccina begins to flood your For You Page.

The latest Gen Z/Gen Alpha slang meme trend involves a whole host of AI-generated characters with completely made-up Italian sounding names and ridiculous backstories.

Tralalero Tralala, Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Brr Brr Patapim are amongst those truly wild fever dream characters, but why are people saying they're offensive?

While the AI characters and their names are just nonsensical and low-key entertaining to say, some users have expressed concern that the extended stories associated with some characters are insulting and offensive.

• Read more: What is Italian Brainrot? Ballerina Cappuccina, Tralalero Tralala and the TikTok trend explained

Is Italian Brainrot offensive?

Visually, the Italian Brainrot characters themselves are not offensive at all. The only concerning thing about the visuals is the fact that they are AI-generated – but that's a whole different story.

The extended audio that accompanies a couple of those character videos is what is raising red flags amongst some social media users. The two main concerns are Tralalero Tralala and Bombardino Crocodilo.

In the original TikTok videos, the text-to-speech voiceover speaks the character's names followed by a length story that is usually complete gibberish and often unintelligible. But in some cases, the longer audios include phrases that can be translated into English.

In Tralalero Tralala's case, the original audio features a voiceover that some have said mocks religion and includes inappropriate and blasphemous language.

And with Bombardino Crocodilo, who is depicted as a military bomber plane with the head of a crocodile, users have grown concerned that the original audio mocks the deaths of children in Gaza.

For the most part, the viral audios have now been cut down to just the character's names, and new versions without any problematic language have popped up but the longer audio is still being repeated by young kids who have no idea what it means.

So, to avoid sharing any problematic audio associated with the trend, it's probably just best to stick to sharing those ridiculous videos of the love triangle between Ballerina Cappuccina, Tralalero Tralala and Tung Tung Tung Sahur... and try not to get the song stuck in your head.

I am Tung Tung Tung Sahurrrr, and I love Ballerinaaaa Capuccinaaaaaa...

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