The Broomstick Challenge Is Sweeping the Internet with These Hilarious Tweets

updated Feb 11, 2020
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
Credit: Spiderstock/Getty Images

We’re always down to support trends that involve a cleaning product. People all over the internet are posting photos and videos of them doing the Broomstick Challenge, which stems from the myth that brooms and other objects can stand upright due to a change in gravity on certain days of the year—and apparently, yesterday was one of them. 

It all began with one tweet that went viral yesterday, with one user claiming that NASA said February 10 was “the only day a broom can stand up on its own because of the gravitational pull.” People on social media went into a frenzy and followed suit with putting gravity to the test with their own brooms, hashtagging #BroomstickChallenge along the way. 

The tweet and challenge has been sweeping the internet (pun intended) with people posting their brooms well beyond midnight. Just like a game of telephone, the original story—which is questionable to being with— has gotten twisted over the tweets, some claiming that the broom can only stand upright when it’s the equinox (the spring equinox isn’t until March 19 this year).

NASA did eventually respond to the rumor, stating that they did not make the claim that was mentioned in the viral tweet—it’s just physics.

Beyond the buzz on social media, even big outlets like “The Today Show” covered the #BroomstickChallenge earlier today. Instead of feeding into the “magic,” Al Roker showed viewers that this trick could be done any time, and that no gravitational change is at play. “I could do this any day,” Roker said during the segment. “Basically you use the short bristles to act like a tripod.”

But let’s be honest: sometimes, we all just want to have fun and engage in viral trends, even if we know it’s kind of ridiculous. So to participate in the spirit of #BroomstickChallenge, we rounded up some of our favorite tweets that gave us a good laugh:

Yeah, we’re pretty sure Mickey did it first circa 1940.

In the words of our Lifestyle Director Taryn Williford, “It’s a perfect microphone.”

And then there were tweets that…really got us scared.

Maybe that’ll be the next viral challenge??

We’d love to see another reaction video of how today’s #BroomstickChallenge went…

A public demonstration in the name of science calls for extra claps.

Hey, no one specified what height the tool needed to be! All sizes are welcome.