Florida Man
About
Florida Man is a Twitter feed that curates news headline descriptions of bizarre domestic incidents involving a male subject residing in the state of Florida. The tweets are meant to be humorously read as if they were perpetrated by a single individual dubbed “the world’s worst superhero.”
Origin
The @_FloridaMan Twitter feed was launched on January 26th, 2013, which featured news headlines containing the keywords "Florida man." Within one month, the account received over 64,000 followers.
Florida Man Arrested After Pocket-Dialing 911 | foxnews.com/us/2013/01/31/…
— Florida Man (@_FloridaMan) February 2, 2013
Precursor
Fark gave Florida it's own tag in 2005 due to a high volume of news items submitted to the site from Florida.[31]
Spread
On January 30th, 2013, Redditor Deus_Ex_Corde submitted a post titled “Florida Man is a terrible superhero”[4] featuring a screenshot of Google News search results for news stories containing the keywords “Florida Man.” (shown below). Within one month, the post received over 22,700 up votes and 360 comments.
On January 31st, the /r/FloridaMan[3] subreddit was created with links to news articles containing the words “Florida Man” in the title. The same day, the Tumblr blog StuckInABucket[5] published a list of notable “Florida Man” news headlines, which accumulated more than 200 notes in the next month. On February 8th, Slate[9] published an article noting that the @_FloridaMan profile avatar was a mug shot of Indiana resident Ricky Lee Kalichun, who was arrested in January of 2011 after covering his face in black marker and attacking his neighbor with a sword.[10] In the next several days, compilations of notable tweets from the Twitter account were featured on several Internet news and tech blogs, including The Daily Dot,[8] Laughing Squid,[11] Gawker,[12] Mashable[13] and BuzzFeed.[14] On February 14th, NPR[15] broadcast a news segment on “All Things Considered,” featuring audio clips of reporters reading headlines containing “Florida man.”
Documentary
On February 2nd, 2015, filmmaker Sean Dunne released a documentary titled "Florida Man," which features interviews with eccentric Florida residents (shown below).
In an interview with indie film blog Directors Notes,[30] Dunne revealed that the documentary was inspired by a mushroom trip with the film's producer and cinematographer, as well as the Surveillance Camera Man video series.
Beer
On March 10th, 2015, the Orlando Sentinel[23] reported that the Tampa-based craft brewery company Cigar City Brewing[25] has launched a beer brand named “Florida Man Double IPA" in tribute to the meme, with the bottle packaging featuring a photoshopped image of Ricky Lee Kalichun’s[24] mugshot from @_FloridaMan's Twitter profile picture (shown below). According to the brewery's spokesperson, the microbrew has "a bright citrusy hop character" with hints of piney resin, apricot, peach, orange and lemon on a solid malt background. In the coming days, several other news sites reported on the release of the new beer, including NY Daily News,[26]CNNMoney,[27] Tech Times[28] and Mashable.[29]
Fan Art
Several fan art illustrations dedicated to the fictitious superhero have surfaced on the microblogging site Tumblr under the tag "#florida man."[16]
Derivatives
Colombian Man
Shortly after the viral takeoff of @_FloridaMan in late February, screenshots and tweets of headlines describing bizzarre news stories about a Colombian man began emerging on Twitter and Tumblr. On February 28th, 2013, Tumblr blogger RedSuspenders[20] posted an image compilation of "Colombian Man" headlines (shown below), which went onto receive more than 36,600 notes within less than a week. Throughout the first week of March, the image was reposted on Reddit and WeKnowMemes.
Drunk Humans
On February 20th, Twitter account @Drunk_Humans[21] was created to provide the latest updates on police news reports and offbeat stories involving individuals described as "drunk man" or "drunk woman."
Shirtless Man
On March 16th, Twitter accout @Shirtless_Man[22] was launched in similar vein of the previous accounts, which gained more than 6,100 followers in less than two weeks. On March 28th, The Daily Dot[23] published an article about the spin-off account.
Search Interest
External References
[1] twitter – Florida Man
[2] tumblr – tagged: Florida Man
[3] reddit – /r/FloridaMan
[4] Reddit – Florida Man is a terrible superhero
[5] Tumblr – Stuckinabucket
[6] Pleated Jeans – Florida Man Twitter
[7] BuzzFeed – 10 Reasons Florida Man is the Best Twitter Aggregator
[8] Daily Dot – Florida Man is Pretty Much the Worst Person Ever
[9] Slate – Follow Friday = Florida Man the Worlds Worst Superhero
[10] CBS News – Ricky Lee Kalichun
[11] Laughing Squid – Twitter Feed for Florida Man
[12] Gawker – Florida Man Personifies Everything Thats Messed up in Florida
[13] Mashable – Florida Man is Twitters Worst Superhero
[14] BuzzFeed – 10 Reasons Florida Man is the best Twitter Aggregator
[15] NPR – Florida Man On Twitter Collects Real Headlines About World's Worst Superhero
[16] Tumblr – #florida man
[17] Reddit – I want these to all be the same person so badly
[18] WeKnowMemes – Colombian Man Killed by Flying Toilet
[19] Reddit – /r/colombianman
[20] Tumblr – Colombian Man Stories
[21] Twitter – Drunk Humans
[22] Twitter – Shirtless Man
[23] Orlando Sentinel – Cigar City now brewing Florida Man beer
[24] Courier Press – Evansville man arrested after alleged sword attack
[25] Cigar City Brewing – Whats On Tap
[26] NY Daily News – Cigar City Brewing crafts Florida Man Beer
[27] CNN Money – Cheers! That crazy Florida Man
[28] Tech Times – That Florida Man Twitter Account
[29] Mashable – Florida Man Beer Bottles
[30] Directors Notes – How a Mushroom Trip Led Sean Dunne to Make a Film About Everything and Nothing
[31] Tampa Bay Times – Gathering to embrace the power of the Fark Side
Recent Videos 7 total
Recent Images 94 total
Top Comments
Daft Punkjet
My thoughts on Florida:
SSJInfinity
Florida Man, ever vigilant against the threat that is Cuban Pete.
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