Overview

Montgomery Alabama Riverboat Fight, also known as the Alabama River Dock Brawl, refers to an incident at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park in Alabama in which a large group of people was captured fighting after a pontoon boat was blocking dock space needed to park a riverboat. The brawl occurred in early August 2023 and several videos of the events went viral on social media, inspiring various memes related to people watching the fight from their phones, among other moments. A folding chair was also used during the brawl, which became a prominent meme subject online related to the event.

Background

On August 5th, 2023, the Montgomery police department responded to a disturbance at the 200 block of Coosa Street in Alabama after a large group of people engaged in a physical altercation.^[1] News outlets have reported that the fight started with a few boaters hitting the security guard of the dock after he asked them to take their pontoon boat to some other spot as the place was already taken by the Harriott II Riverboat. A video of the incident (shown below), which many speculated as having a racial connotation, was shared on August 6th on Twitter^[2] by user @naaeee__xx. The post garnered over 19.3 million views and 104,000 likes in a day.

Nigga swam cross fa dat smoke 😭😭😭🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾 love to see it pic.twitter.com/rvU9ont3RI

— thecook. (@naaeee__xx) August 6, 2023

Developments

On August 6th, 2023, WSFA 12 News channel uploaded a video on YouTube^[3] detailing the events that caused the fight, reporting that at least four people were arrested during the brawl. The video (shown below) garnered over 282,000 views and 1,900 likes in a day.

A video posted by Twitter^[4] user @notcapnamerica on August 6th explains how the whole Montgomery ferry brawl started. The video (shown below) shows the fight just feet from the water and the dock worker telling a group of men to move their boat. The post quickly received over 10 million views and 92,000 likes in a day.

This video shows how the whole Alabama ferry brawl started. Brother man was doing his job telling these folks to move their boat so the ferry could dock. Privileged ass white people refused to move and then jumped him pic.twitter.com/6fPnjBDGsH

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) August 6, 2023

Over the next several days, Ebaum's World^[10][11][12] published several articles about the fight.

Folding Chair Memes

A particularly viral piece of the story was a folding chair that was used during the brawl, and as such, it became a trending topic and meme inspiration on social media. For instance, on August 6th, 2023, Twitter^[5] user @MixCultureFlow posted a still image of the moment the folding chair is used in the fight and a history detail explaining that the object was invented by a Black man Nathaniel Alexander.^[6] In less that 24 hours, the meme received over 1,700 likes.

Full circle moment in finding out a black man invented the folding chair 😂😭 #Montgomery #Alabama pic.twitter.com/6ioMfM6MP8

— she (@MixCultureFlow) August 7, 2023

On August 7th, Twitter^[7] user @GossipInformer posted a picture of a group of Black men and women holding the chair used in the fight (shown below). The post garnered roughly 2,800 likes and 365 retweets in less than a day.

Black Aquaman

A 16-year-old Black boy has been highlighted as the "Black Aquaman" of the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl. He was filmed jumping into an Alabama river and swimming to help a dock worker during a wild brawl in Alabama. Twitter^[13] user @GgLexC posted a parody video of the fight showing the teen, identified only as Aaren, rushing to save the black security guard (shown below), which received 1.7 million views and 25,900 likes in three days.

Yall play way too muchhhh☠️ “Take a Seat” and callin him Black Aquaman/Barnacle Boy I’m cryin- pic.twitter.com/ayVMTKIqZ2

— iLexc (@GgLexC) August 7, 2023

The teen received a series of nicknames on social media, such as Black Aquaman; JJ Fish; Michael B Phelps; Captain Hook; Catfish Cuz; Kofi Kingfish; Tyrone Lochte; Tilapia; Lil' Namor and Shaquille O'Gills. Twitter^[14] user @MsPackyetti posted a reaction meme paired with the caption "Did y’all call that man JaMichael Phelps?!" to comment on the ironic nicknames given to the boy. The post (shown below) received more than 44,500 likes and 5,800 retweets in three days.

Online Reactions

The conflict at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park garnered significant attention on social media, with users starting discussions and posting memes and other commentary. For example, on August 7th, 2023, Twitter^[8] user @SylviaObell posted a photoshopped picture of the fight with the Avengers: Endgame Portals meme (shown below, left). The post received over 64,000 likes and 10,000 retweets in a day.

Also that day, Twitter^[9] user @Sony12Play posted a picture of himself holding a folding chair paired with the caption "I'll be in Alabama tomorrow. Who riding with me?" The post (shown below, right) garnered over 670 likes and 33 retweets in three hours.

Search Interest

External References