Picture your typical fedora-donning neckbeard. What comes to mind? Odds are, it's an image of Jerry Messing, the unwitting poster child of internet cringe circa 2013.

That photo of him tipping his hat cemented an unflattering stereotype about awkward men and launched more than a few unfair assumptions about Messing himself.

But who is he really, and what happens to someone when their face becomes shorthand for a whole subculture and archetype the internet loves to mock? Here's a look at "Fedora Guy" Jerry Messing's life before and after the meme.

What Is The 'Tips Fedora' Meme, And How Did It First Go Viral?

The *Tips Fedora* image made its first appearance on the internet as a meme on October 31st, 2013, when a photo of a chubby young man tipping a fedora was posted to Reddit.

It reappeared on the subreddit /r/pics on November 4th, 2013, where it gained several thousand upvotes and even more attention, quickly becoming the emblem of a specific internet stereotype known as "the neckbeard."

A neckbeard, in internet speak, describes a socially awkward man who is often perceived as overweight, condescending, overly obsessed with "rationality," an awkward romantic and prone to poor grooming habits.

But there is no visual marker of a neckbeard more obvious than a spattering of facial hair and, of course, a fedora.

The photo of a man smirking and tipping his hat soon became the visual embodiment of this stereotype, and Redditors went to town with their own edits and remixes of the *Tips Fedora* meme.

Some memorable edits showed the man giving the viewer a wink, while others showed him uncontrollably shaking his hat.

Who Is The 'Fedora Guy' Jerry Messing?

The person behind the *Tips Fedora* meme is Jerry Messing, a former child actor who worked in several notable projects from the late '90s and early 2000s.

Messing says that he first posted the fedora photo to Facebook on May 1st, 2011, after taking a bunch of headshots to try and revitalize his acting career as an adult.

Messing was a prolific actor as a child. In 1998, he portrayed Pugsley Addams in the direct-to-video film Addams Family Reunion alongside veteran actor Tim Curry.

This clip shows Messing and his on-screen sister Wednesday Adams freaking out a postman in the movie's opening scene.

He also played Gordon Crisp, the hygiene-challenged but well-meaning classmate on NBC's cult classic show Freaks and Geeks, which aired from 1999 to 2000 and featured a star-studded cast of future actors.

Here's a clip from the series showing Messing as Crisp expressing his love for science fiction and still getting snubbed by other "geeks."

He also appeared in a few episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, Even Stevens with actor Shia LaBeouf and Mr. Show with Bob and David playing various minor roles during its HBO run alongside Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.

You can catch him squaring up against the Dalai Lama in this scene from Mr. Show.

How Did Messing React To His Image Going Viral Online?

To his credit, Jerry Messing really doesn't seem to care about his viral fame, and he approaches what his photo has come to signify with both detachment and amusement.

In an interview originally conducted by the now-defunct site Hopes and Fears, he acknowledged the assumptions that people made based on the image and said, "I have lost track of how many people have assumed I’m an atheist, that I have no hygiene skills. People have assumed that my favorite drink is Mountain Dew."

Messing credits his disregard for the meme to his own internet habits. He says that he spends most of his time online playing video games or keeping up with long-distance friends and that he didn't realize his photo was viral until 2014, a year after it was first posted to Reddit.

That's when Messing began noticing a spike in Facebook friend requests and odd messages from strangers. At first, he had no idea what was going on. "I didn’t know what 4chan was," he told BuzzFeed in 2015.

It was only after being informed by friends and looking into it himself that he realized his fedora photo had been co-opted into a meme. Though startled, he didn’t take it personally.

In fact, he expressed a kind of detached amusement about the whole thing by choosing not to be bitter. "It would be very easy to be angry and spiteful, but what purpose would it serve?" he said. "It wouldn’t do me any good. Nothing has any meaning save for the meaning we decide to give it. And ultimately, who am I going to be shaking my fist at?"

What Is Jerry Messing Up To Today, And Where Can I Find Him Online?

In August 2021, Messing contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized with severe complications, including paralysis.

As reported by TMZ, he was placed on a ventilator in the ICU and remained hospitalized for several weeks. He eventually stabilized but was left partially paralyzed and had to begin the difficult process of relearning how to walk.

His mother launched a very successful fundraiser to raise money for Messing's hospital costs, leading Messing to post an emotional video thanking his friends and followers in December 2021.

Following his release from the ICU, Messing began physical therapy and continued his recovery at home with the help of his father and caretakers.

While he's kept a relatively low profile since then, he posts occasional updates on his Facebook profile and still loves to interact with his fans.

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For the full history of Tips Fedora, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information. To see the rest of our "Where Are They Now" series, you can find them all here. Stay tuned for next week's editorial!

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