Overview

Naked Man Riding a Shark refers to a controversial photograph of a heavyset naked man lying on top of a dead shark on a boat. While the identity of the man remains a mystery, people have accused several notable public figures, including Jimmy Johns-founder John Liautaud, of being the culprit.

Background

On May 5th, 2017, Wildlife Conservationist Anneka Svenska^[1] tweeted a picture (shown below) of a heavyset naked man lying on a boat lying on top of a dead shark and the caption, "Who is this man? Please RT, find him & ask him why he did this? Where is the humour in humiliating slaughtered animals?" Within one week, the tweet had received more than 1,200 retweets and 740 likes.

Developments

Jimmy John Found John Liautaud

One of the suspects thought to be the man in the photograph was the founder of the sandwich chain Jimmy Johns, John Liautaud (shown below, left). Long criticized for big game hunting and photographing himself with his kills, Liautaud denied being the man in the photo by his spokesperson.^[2] They said that this was not the Jimmy Johns founder and it "had nothing to do with Jimmy Johns."

University of Florida Football Coach Jim McElwain

Early reports on the photograph led to speculation that the man in question was Jim McElwain, the head football coach for the University of Florida. McElwain, however, has denied such allegations through a spokesperson for the school. Deadspin posted a photo of the coach from 2015 (shown below, left) along with a close up of the shark picture (shown below, right).

However, when speculation failed to quell, McElwain denied being the man in the photograph on camera. On May 9th, YouTuber Ryan Young uploaded a video of McElwain answering questions on the photo. The video received more than 67,000 views in three days.

In the video, McElwain says:

“Well, first and foremost, I don’t know who it is, but it isn’t me,” McElwain said.

“Clearly,” Orlando Sentinel reporter Edgar Thompson replied. “I mean, what’s your feeling in general, just that something like this could even get out there and become a story?”

“I guess that’s for you guys to answer,” McElwain answered. “You know, in the world we live, what is a story? I just know this: It isn’t me.”

"Shawn"

On May 12th, the Orlando Sentinel^[3] reported that the man's identity may have been discovered. He is, apparently, a former New York City police officer named "Shawn" from upstate New York. The sports anchor for WKMG-TV in Orlando, David Pingalore, called into the Mike Bianchi's radio show, "Open Mike," to tell the host that the photo was taken in Long Island almost two years ago. He claimed the photo was meant to be a parody, saying, "They were mocking, I guess in the UK there’s some websites that naked women get on sharks, so they were trying to mock what women were doing with sharks.”

"Shawn," apparently, now fears for his life, believing that "bounty hunters" and animal welfare activists will come after him.

That day, the New York Post also reported that "Shawn" was indeed the man in the photograph.^[4]

Search Interest

External References