Overview

#FindDancingMan is a hashtag campaign launched by Twitter users in search of an overweight man who became a target of fat shaming after a photograph of him dancing at a music concert surfaced on 4chan in early March 2015. Within days of the campaign's launch, the man was identified as a U.K. resident named Sean.

Background

On February 13th, 2015, a anonymous 4chan user posted two photographs of a man dancing at a concert with message "Spotted this specimen trying to dance the other week. He stopped when he saw us laughing" to the /pol/^[9] (politically incorrect) board (shown below). The comment subsequently received several replies criticizing the poster for being mean-spirited.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

On March 4th, Imgur^[1] user FrozenBadger uploaded a screenshot of the post titled "Why I Hate Children," which criticized the original poster for being cruel and immature. The following day, Twitter user @FitchyEmma^[16] posted the screenshot asking for followers to find the man and "tell him that he is beautiful and we love him" (shown below).

A Dance Party for the #DancingMan

Also on March 5th, Twitter user Cassandra Fairbanks^[2] tweeted the screenshot, asking for viewers to identify the man to "do something special" for him (shown below, left). Within one week, the tweet gained over 4,300 favorites and 3,800 retweets. On March 6th, the @TheElleWord^[3] Twitter feed posted a call to action to find the man pictured in the photos in order to throw a dance party with the hashtag #FindDancingMan^[15] (shown below, right).

Identity

Also on March 6th, Fairbanks^[4] tweeted a photograph of the dancing man holding a sign greeting Cassandra and his supporters on Twitter, and identified him as the creator of the @Dancingmanfound^[8] Twitter feed (shown below). In four days, the @Dancingmanfound Twitter feed received upwards of 78,000 followers. According to The Daily Mail,^[14] it was revealed that the man was named Sean and resided in London, England.

Celebrity Tweets

Also on March 6th, musicians Pharrell Williams,^[5] Moby^[6] and Andrew W.K.^[7] tweeted their support for Sean and expressed interest in performing at his upcoming dance party (shown below).

News Media Coverage

On March 7th, The Incredible World YouTube channel posted an interview with Fairbanks, who discussed the hashtag campaign and the upcoming dance party (shown below).

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the campaign, including Metro,^[11] BuzzFeed,^[12] NY Daily News^[10] and BBC News.^[13]

Criticism

On March 10th, internet writer and humorist George Ouzonian, a.k.a Maddox, wrote a piece on his website^[17] calling #finddancingman followers "well-intentioned idiots", arguing that there was no signs that people fact-checked the story as well as formulating an hypothesis that the dancing man may not want to be found and that, by doing this campaign, people may force him into a spotlight he didn't even choose. He also compared this well-intentioned craze to the Rolling Stone's UVA rape story in which reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely gave too much credit to the testimony of an alleged rape victim without checking for its conflicting details.

Dance Free Party

On May 25th, 2015, O'Brien was flown to Los Angeles by Cassandra Fairbanks' Dance Free organization for a fundraiser/dance party at the Avalon, after raising $40,000 on GoFundMe^[18] for the flight, party expenses, and anti-bullying organizations. The musician Moby played songs for O'Brien, his fans, and the other celebrities in attendance – including Meghan Trainor, Andrew WK, and Monica Lewinsky – to dance to.^[19]

O'Brien with Monica Lewinsky

In addition, Sean O'Brien appeared on The Today Show and threw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game during his visit to Los Angeles.^[19]

Search Interest

External References