The Tifa Italian Senate meme, explained

Tifa Lockhart has been a fan-favorite character from the Final Fantasy series for almost 30 years now. While this hand-to-hand fighter made her debut in Final Fantasy VII, she has been featured prominently in many crossovers and, of course, the remake. Where people don’t expect to find Tifa Lockhart though, is in Italian parliament. She was definitely featured up close and personal during an Italian Senate Zoom meeting, however, and in an extremely lewd way. Tifa and Italy have been merged into a popular meme ever since, so let’s detail just why this came to be a thing.

What is the Tifa Italy meme?

In January of 2022, the official television channel for hosting Italian Senate hearings broadcasted an in-person conference for the Movimento 5 Stelle political party. Several of the attendees were present for the meeting via Zoom, a common occurrence with the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the meeting, a random person named Alex Spence hacked their way into the call and started playing hentai videos of Tifa Lockhart. Hentai, for those who don’t know, is a form of Japanese pornagraphic content.

Zoom’s popularity during the pandemic made the act of “zoombombing” common, which is hacking your way into a Zoom meeting and effectively disrupting it. This Alex person managed to showcase Tifa in a sexually perverse manner for 30 seconds, and also showcased Xiangling from Genshin Impact for a time before finally being kicked from the meeting.

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Since then, the internet has decided to internet and use the awkward comical moment to merge Tifa with Italian culture. Several hilarious memes have popped up, including Tifa on a Vespa and Tifa visiting famous tourist locations in the country.

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Sometimes awkward situations can bring on good humor, and this is one of those cases. Tifa Lockhart being a focus of sexualized content is not new at all, as she has been utilized in this medium for decades. Whether this is okay is another conversation entirely, but fans are really digging her Italian enthusiasm now that this event has occurred. We doubt this Italian link will continue into the remake sequels, however.