Who Is 'Johnny Elbows' And Why Is He Getting Canceled? The Odd TikToker Explained

The memetic rise of Johnny Elbows on TikTok was a strange one. First of all, he didn't even go viral on his own account. Instead, his first viral video was filmed by his friend, TikToker @bigboyofomaha, who was the same one to cancel him a year later.

Johnny Elbows, also known as Johnny Thornington, might seem like your average American TikToker, but after taking a closer look, one will notice how extraordinary he really is, or at least, that's what people on TikTok saw, as well as on Instagram and elsewhere, where memes about him surfaced en masse, garnering Johnny a cult fandom online.

So, who exactly is Johnny Elbows? How did he go viral and why is he getting canceled this week? Let's explain.

Who Is Johnny Elbows On TikTok?

Not much is known about Johnny Elbows despite there being many videos of him online. For instance, he started posting to his official TikTok account @jonnythorington in April of 2022. He appears to be close with another TikToker named @bigboyofomaha, also known as the The UnderFaker, who was the first one to make Johnny go viral in 2022. In accordance with The UnderFaker's username, it's likely that Johnny Elbows lives somewhere in the Omaha, Nebraska area.

Johnny Elbows first went viral in July 2023 for a video @bigboyofomaha posted of him doing the viral Griddy dance. Somehow, it landed on the "For You" pages of many, resulting in over 17 million plays in less than a year.

After the video's virality, @bigboyofomaha started posting more content with Johnny. This practice continued into early 2023 and allowed @bigboyofomaha to grow a large following of over 100,000 by May 2023.

Why Was Johnny Elbows Canceled?

On May 18th, 2023, @bigboyofomaha went Live with Johnny Elbows in a public park. It wasn't the first time that the duo had went Live together, however, it was the first time that Johnny said something problematic. At one point, a group of children started semi-harassing Johnny. They eventually walked away but then Johnny continued to talk about them, eventually slipping when he said that the girl had a "cute" behind.

Soon after Johnny said the controversial statement, screen recordings of the Live were posted to TikTok by other people. The virality of said screen recordings caused backlash which resulted in @bigboyofomaha addressing Johnny's comment. @bigboyofomaha condemned what Johnny said and stated that he'd be cutting ties with Johnny and removing all of his Johnny-related content.

For the full history of Johnny Elbows, be sure to check out our entry on him here for even more information.