Overview

The Gooneral, also known as Bikini Cafe Drive-Thru Gooneral or Goonlord Vigil, refers to a vigil held for Nautica Malone, the "Drive-Thru Goonicide" man who exposed himself at a coffee shop drive-thru in Arizona and later committed suicide in early January 2025. The funeral occurred in front of the drive-thru featured in the viral video recorded by one of the employees in late January, spawning memes, jokes and backlash on X / Twitter, Instagram and TikTok over the people who attended the event.

Background

On January 23rd, 2025, Instagram user @tresellers^[1] posted an image titled "Candlelight Vigil" to celebrate the life of Nautica Malone to be held on January 26th, 2025, at the Bikini Beans Parking Lot. "This is a calling for all Gooners and Goonets to come and pay respects to the GoonLord," he wrote in the caption, which amassed more than 15,000 likes in three days.

Developments

The Gooneral

On January 26th, 2025, X^[2] user @alob_e posted a photo in front of the Bikini Beans Drive-Thru, writing "The Gooneral," inviting people to bring candles and flowers to pay hommage to Nautica Malone. The post (seen below) received over 6.5 million views and 131,000 likes in a day.

On the same day, YouTube^[3] user @AyaziXXX livestreamed the Goonlord vigil event, which garnered roughly 1,500 views and 90 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

The Gooneral event gained viral attention on January 26th, 2025, as the attendees shared videos, images and memes of the satirical vigil on social media platforms.

For example, on January 26th, X^[4] user @blephin_posted a picture of a prayer candle with Nautica Malone's face photoshopped over Jesus (seen below), writing, "Someone brought this to the goonicide funeral service." The post amassed roughly 3 million views and 118,000 likes in a day.

Also on January 26th, 2025, TikTok^[5] user @greglegpaul posted a video of the gooneral event (seen below), which amassed over 646,000 plays and 126,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References