Ayo Edebiri is an honorary people’s princess in Ireland — and the internet is loving it

Hang on, you may be thinking, Ayo Edebiri isn’t Irish… is she? Technically, no, she is not. But in spirit, Edebiri may be more Irish than any of us.

Edebiri may not have an Irish passport, or even a traceable Irish family member, but over the past few months, the Boston-born and -bred actress has somehow managed to establish herself as the honorary people’s princess of Ireland.

It all began when Edebiri joked that she had played the beloved Jenny the Donkey in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin during an interview with Letterboxd at last year’s South by Southwest Film Festival.

https://www.tiktok.com/@letterboxd/video/7213379298864975147?lang=en

“In preparing for that? I lived in Ireland…” she began, before stopping herself and dropping into a sing-song-y leprechaun-esque Irish accent and continuing, “Ireland for about four months and I got really in character.”

She went on: “I was on all fours for four months and it was really painful but beautiful as well. And it was probably the most fulfilling part of my career and I’m so happy for everybody going to the Oscars, even though I deserved the nomination more than anybody else, because I was, obviously, a donkey for four months.”

Then, she snapped out of her dubious Irish accent. “Oh my God, sorry! I literally — I was there, you know what I mean? I slipped back into it. Yeah, but it was very fulfilling. It was very fulfilling. And I want little girls out there to know that they, too, can be a donkey one day.”

There is no other word for this performance but iconic.

Since then, Edebiri has leant into the joke. In 2023, she tweeted about the release of her film Bottoms, writing, “Bottoms is out rn in the UK & my home nation of Ireland.”

The joke continued on when Irish national treasure Paul Mescal mentioned Edebiri during an interview with Awards Watch in 2023. “I think in the next five years I’m going to set myself a challenge to do maybe like a rom-com with Ayo [Edebiri] or something like that would be cool,” he said.

Naturally, fans joked that this would mean not one but two Irish legends coming together. “Ayo Edebiri making her return to Ireland???? I know that’s right. He bet not cry in this one, I know THAT much,” one fan joked.

When Edebiri won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series for her role in The Bear, people were quick to keep the joke going.

One fan called her the “people’s princess Irish queen” in a tweet. Another wrote, “Ayo Edebiri if there was an Irish National Treasure Award,” next to the meme of Emma Stone running to the stage to accept her award.

In fact, there are now so many jokes about Edebiri’s alleged Irish-ness, some people are actually starting to get confused. “The internet gaslighted me for months that Ayo Edebiri was Irish to the point I was confused hearing her speak in an interview,” one person wrote.

https://twitter.com/KaylaAncrum/status/1745508751782621663

What is most remarkable about the Ayo-Edebiri-is-Irish joke, is that what began as a comedy bit in an interview has somehow been willed into reality by the internet. Last week, Film in Dublin tweeted, “Congratulations to Ireland’s own Ayo Edebiri for her nomination for the 2024 BAFTA Rising Star Award.” They doubled down on the joke, adding in a comment, “For the record, yes we do know where Edebiri is actually from (Ireland).”

https://twitter.com/filmindublin/status/1745075196338266158

Edebiri then posted a screenshot of the tweet on her own Instagram stories, writing, “Go díreach.” And the jokes just kept coming. While speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at the Emmys the following week, Edebiri said with faux sincerity: “Shout out to my people, shout out to Derry, shout out to Cork, shout out to Killarney, shout out to Dublin.” She went on to win the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Ayo Edebiri is the Irish people’s princess, and the fact that she isn’t actually Irish doesn’t seem to matter. We have all embraced her as one of our own. This is one of the most wholesome instances of an Irish meme in internet history. Clearly, the Irish couldn’t be happier to welcome Edebiri to the fold.

One fan put it best in a tweet: “I hope Ayo Edebiri develops a career-long relationship with the country of Ireland and what was once a joke becomes something lasting and tender. I just think it would be neat.” Edebiri really is an honorary Irish princess — and here’s to celebrating her as such for years to come.