It is a joke and so are the people who would willingly choose to buy into the hype.
But at the end of the day it's not malignant. It's not like it harms crypto.
Sure, you could argue that it gives crypto a bad rep given its volatile status and such. But compare that to stuff like actual scams like Bitconnect and CBDCs and very soon you won't bat an eye at it.
Its not harm crypto, but its hard to believe that sometimes investors prefer that meme coins over real projects on crypto. It would make some good coins lack of investment and its not really good.