It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have unusual pets, but it’s somewhat uncommon for them to take those pets to work. Enter: Big Boi. The Outkast rapper previously shared footage of his pet Owl Hootie with him in the recording studio, and it’s gone viral once again.

In a video post to X/Twitter, Big Boi is seen holding Hootie in his hand while wearing a protective glove. He jokes that the bird is “sleepy in the daytime” because “she is nocturnal.” After Big Boi goaded her to “let ’em see your wings,” the owl put her wingspan on display and hopped off his hand and onto a railing in front of them. See below for the clip, which originally circulated in 2022.

Big Boi brought his pet owl “Hootie” to the studio 🦉 pic.twitter.com/UROFXJ6nWs

— lumi (@ilylumii) August 3, 2025

It was way back in 2018 that Big Boi first opened up about his obsession with owls. “My new fetish now is owls,” he explained during an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at the time, as reported by HipHopDX. “So my assistant, Shay, she’s into birds, and the guy who trains her birds brought this owl to the studio one time, and I fell in love with him. I bought two owls, Hooti and Houdini … Mike Tyson had tigers. I got birds.”

In 2019, he spoke with Rolling Stone about his fowl friends, making it clear that they were free to roam around his workspace. “Once they perch, they’re there unless you’re gonna feed them or they see something run across the floor.” He was quick to caution, however, “I don’t encourage everybody to [own owls]. You gotta have the space, time, and knowledge of the bird.”

Big Boi also reitered that the stoic nature of owls keeps them unbothered by pointing out, “I can sit here and smoke 10 blunts and they won’t move.” He did then clarify: “I don’t smoke around no birds.”