Florida Man is an

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

first popularized in 2013, referring to an alleged prevalence of people performing irrational, ridiculous, and maniacal actions in the U.S. state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Internet users typically submit links to news stories and articles about unusual or strange crimes, actions and other events occurring in Florida, with stories' headlines often beginning with "Florida Man..." followed by the main event of the story. Because of the way news headlines are typically written, they can be creatively interpreted as implying that the subjects of the articles are all a single individual known as "Florida Man". The ''

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami metropolitan area, and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired ...

'' claimed that freedom of information laws in Florida make it easier for journalists to acquire information about arrests from the police than in other states and that this is responsible for a large number of news articles. A

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

article on the meme also suggested that the breadth of reports of bizarre activities is due to a confluence of factors, including

public records Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. Depending on jurisdiction, examples of public records includes information pertaining to births, deat ...

laws giving journalists fast and easy access to

police report In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

s, the relatively high population of the state, its highly variable weather, and gaps in

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

funding.

Origin

The meme originated in February 2013 with the now abandoned

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account @_FloridaMan, which quoted notably strange or bizarre news headlines containing the words "Florida man", such as "Florida man run over by van after dog pushes accelerator" or "Police arrest Florida man for drunken joy ride on motorized scooter at

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

". The account referred to "Florida Man" as the "World's Worst Superhero".

Spread

Before the creation of the meme, the state of Florida had already garnered a colorful reputation on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, with the social aggregation site

Fark Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. The site receives many story submissions per day and approximately 100 of them are publi ...

hosting a "Florida" content tag in the years before the Twitter account @_FloridaMan appeared. After the creation of the account in January 2013, and its ensuing popularization on social media sites such as

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

and

Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

, initially through the

subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

"r/FloridaMan" and the Tumblr blog "StuckInABucket", the meme was featured in numerous news articles and stories throughout February 2013. 'Florida Man' was also referred to in the opening episode of Season 2 of the FX show ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

'' as a sinister entity, referred to by Darius as an "

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

Johnny Appleseed Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman; September 26, 1774March 18, 1845) was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds (as opposed to trees grown with grafting) to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, I ...

" who commits a variety of strange crimes in Florida as part of a plot to prevent Black people from voting, portrayed by Kevin Waterman. On November 1, 2018, Desi Lydic of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' filed a report comedically investigating the phenomenon of "Florida Man". In 2018,

IO Interactive IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer and publisher based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the ''Hitman'' and '' Kane and Lynch'' franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is '' Hitman 3'', which was ...

released the stealth action video game '' Hitman 2''. In the game's second level, set in Miami, Florida, the players can disguise themselves as "Florida Man", an owner of a local food stand. The player can use this disguise to poison and eliminate their target. The character of Florida Man also makes an appearance in a level set in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

in '' Hitman 3'', where the player can again take his disguise. A play titled "Florida Man" by Michael Presley Bobbitt premiered July 31, 2019, at New York's Theatre Row Studios. On October 31, 2019,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, then president of the United States, changed his legal residence from New York City to

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

, the location of the

Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago ( , ) is a resort and National Historic Landmark on a barrier island in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. It spans 126 rooms and built on of land. Since 1985, it has been owned by Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of t ...

resort he owns and frequently visits. Sources joked about Trump becoming "Florida Man", including ''The Daily Show'', which released an

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for

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and

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

that changed all instances of Trump's name to "Florida Man". On October 24, 2020, during his rally for presidential candidate

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in Florida, former President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

mocked Trump, saying, Florida Man' wouldn't even do this stuff", referring to Trump's handling of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and his handling of domestic and foreign affairs. American classic rock band

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...

referred to the phenomenon in the song "Florida Man" on their 2020 album '' The Symbol Remains''. The maintainer of the Twitter account @_FloridaMan stated in 2019 that he had "retired" from creating tweets at that account. Republican U.S. Representative from Florida,

Matt Gaetz Matthew Louis Gaetz II ( ; born May 7, 1982) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S. representative for from 2017 until his resignation in 2024. His district included all of Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties, ...

has embraced the moniker "Florida Man" for himself, including in his

bio, and with his "Florida Man Freedom Tour" in 2021. On November 16, 2022, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' reported Trump's 2024 presidential campaign announcement on the front page as "Florida Man Makes Announcement", proceeding to mock the former president on page 26 referring to Mar-a-Lago as containing his "classified-documents library". In March 2023

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

announced a

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limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

titled '' Florida Man'' from showrunner (and Florida native) Donald Todd, starring Edgar Ramírez as a disgraced ex-policeman who is forced to return to his native Florida in search of a mobster's missing girlfriend. A Florida Man Games event took place in 2024 in

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Jacksonville, the city is on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spani ...

"Florida Man Birthday Challenge"

Becoming popular in 2019 and periodically resurfacing on social media sites like

is a variation of the meme, dubbed the "Florida Man Birthday Challenge," in which people search the date of their birthday followed by "Florida Man" on a

search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

with the goal to find bizarre news reports involving a "Florida Man" on that date.

Reception

The meme has widely been seen as a confirmation of the association between the state of Florida and bizarre or humorous activity, and has been compared to the

Darwin Awards The Darwin Awards are a rhetorical tongue-in-cheek honor that originated in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly Culling, contributed to human evolution by natural selection, selecting thems ...

. The meme was criticized by ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'', which called it "one of journalism's darkest and most lucrative cottage industries," where "stories tend to stand as exemplars of the mythical hyper-weirdness of the Sunshine State, but more often simply document the travails of the drug-addicted, mentally ill, and homeless."

References

External links

Florida Man
on

* {{Florida 2010s in Florida Crime in Florida Florida culture Internet memes introduced in 2013 Men in Florida Socioeconomic stereotypes Cultural depictions of Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago