In this article, I examine how 6th-grade students used pop culture texts to inform their understandings about social studies texts and shape their discussions of it. Discussions showed that students used pop culture texts in three ways when talking about social studies texts. First, students applied comprehension strategies to pop culture texts to help them interpret social studies texts. Second, students used pop culture texts as evidence to support their arguments about social studies texts. Finally, students used pop culture texts to shut down interpretations of social studies texts that they did not agree with and silence students who expressed alternative ideas.