Comedian Monty Franklin defends Aussie term Mexican Wave after realising other countries don’t use

An Australian comedian has defended an unusual phrase said Down Under stating that the beloved Mexican wave is completely innocent.

Monty Franklin, who left Australia to move to Los Angeles, explained the origin of the ‘Mexican wave’ in a February TikTok after realizing the sports icon went by multiple names around the world.

Franklin defended the term Australian in the captioned video: “Things in Australia that sound racist but aren’t.”

After moving to the US, he began to notice how many cultural differences there were between Australia and other countries and began to work those into his comedy.

The stand-up comedian scoffed at the odd inclusion of “Mexican” when describing the friendly staple sport where crowds simulate the fluid motion of a moving wave.

It’s hard to miss the basic sport when the crowds simulate the fluid motion of a moving wave.

“You know the ‘wave’ at sporting events that comes around and everyone does it and has a great time,” Franklin said in the video.

‘In Australia we call that ‘the Mexican wave’… I don’t know why. There is no need to put Mexican first.’

The comedian realized that the term was not as common abroad when he returned to Australia with his American wife.

“They said ‘the Mexican wave’ on TV for cricket, she said ‘why do you call it that?'” Franklin told Daily Mail Australia.

“She thought it sounded funny, but I realized she had no idea why we called it that and I never questioned it, it’s always been that way.”

New Zealand is another of the few countries that use the term ‘Mexican wave’ instead of simply ‘the wave’.

After moving to Los Angeles from Australia, Mr. Franklin began noticing the differences and working them into his comedy.

This prompted an investigative inquiry by Mr. Franklin, who uncovered the disputed origins of the term.

“The first time commentators saw this wave was at the soccer World Cup in Mexico in 1986, so they started calling it the Mexican wave and it has stuck ever since,” he said on TikTok.

However, a comment on his video actually disputed Franklin’s investigation, claiming that it might actually have happened in 1979.

“The term was coined by ‘Krazy’ George Henderson in October 1981 at the televised A’s-Yankees playoff game in Oakland,” the commentator noted.

‘Krazy’ George Henderson is widely credited for perfecting the Mexican wave before it broke out across the world.

The Mexican wave was documented for the first time in a 1981 Video taken during a Major League Baseball game.

After that, it was introduced to the world at the 1984 Olympics when 100,000 fans created a wave during the soccer final.

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico is where the move gained global prominence when crowds did it at least once at every game.

This was how the description ‘Mexican’ entered the Australian lexicon, as many around the world first saw it during the 1986 World Cup.

Franklin said many Mexicans joyfully reached out to him after he posted the video, which has since been viewed more than a million times.

“I had thousands of Mexicans contact me on Instagram and they thought it sounded funny, but they just call it La Ola, which is ‘the wave,'” he told Daily Mail Australia.

The Mexican wave isn’t the only oddity she’s discovered since moving to the United States.

“You know Americans have a thing called Australian cheese fries, French fries covered in cheese, I’ve certainly never heard of this at home,” he said.

“As an Australian living in the US, I say a lot of things sound strange and raise eyebrows.

‘Flat white is another stranger.’

Australian Cheese Fries are not a common dish in Australia, but they are popular at Outback Steakhouse.

Similarly, those living in the US are unfamiliar with the popular Australian style of coffee we call flat white.