Jeremiah Johnson the 12-Year-Old Football Player

About

Jeremiah Johnson the 12-Year-Old Football Player refers to an American football player from Fort Worth, Texas who went viral on TikTok and Twitter in late 2022 for looking much older than his self-proclaimed age of 12 years old. Johnson notably has a mustache and an arm tattoo, leading to skepticism over his purported age. The video that popularized him was uploaded by TikToker hoodnews24 in December 2022 after he won the MVP honors award at the 2022 Youth National Championships in Miami. TikToker hoodnews24, real name Melvin Lawson, is also the same man in the Black Man Crying meme (also known as the "Thank God For My Reefer" man).

Origin

On December 11th, 2022, Twitter^[3] user BangBangCanes tweeted a photo of Jeremiah Johnson with an MVP trophy, writing, "Aint no fucking way this person 12," and earning roughly 50,900 likes in three days (shown below).

On December 12th, 2022, TikToker^[1] hoodnews24, real name Melvin Lawson, posted a video interviewing Jeremiah Johnson after he won the MVP honors award at the Youth National Championships in Miami. Jeremiah can be seen holding his trophy and wearing a medal as hoodnews24 asks him his age, to which Jeremiah responds, "12." The video earned roughly 835,200 plays and 141,100 likes in two days (shown below).

Background

Jeremiah Johnson is from Fort Worth, Texas and has been playing football since he was young. His predominant social media presence is on Instagram under the username callme_mr.4x_.^[2] On February 4th, 2020, he posted his first Instagram^[3] photo to the account, showing himself when he was nine years old (shown below).

Spread

Following TikToker^[1] hoodnews24's video and Twitter^[3] user BangBangCanes's tweet, multiple reactions surfaced online, mostly from internet users who were skeptical. For instance, TikToker tayvo_g commented, "He might’ve graduated in 2012 😂😂," underneath hoodnews24's video gaining over 7,000 likes in two days. On December 12th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user PlansPicks tweeted a meme that showed Jeremiah Johnson's face on a piece of paper that read "I am 12" in crayon, earning roughly 7,100 likes in two days (shown below). The original "I am 12" image is from the 2006 movie The Benchwarmers.

On December 13th, 2022, TikToker^[5] strictlyfootball explained who Jeremiah Johnson was in a video that received roughly 2 million plays and 159,400 likes in one day (shown below).

Various Examples

Live footage of his game pic.twitter.com/KBZ3Yr2ln7

— 🎱 (@ownworst_enemy) December 13, 2022

Druski got somethin for every situation lmao😭 pic.twitter.com/8DDIOfuxnY

— SemperSmoke (@SemperSmOke) December 12, 2022

Search Interest

External References