Florida Man is an Internet meme first popularized in 2013, referring to an alleged prevalence of people performing irrational or maniacal actions in the U.S. state of Florida. Internet users typically submit links to news stories and articles about unusual or strange crimes 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". There have been criticisms and concerns surrounding the "Florida Man" meme, with some suggesting that the trend perpetuates harmful stereotypes and may have racist undertones, especially when disproportionately highlighting stories involving people of color or those from marginalized communities.
The Miami New Times claimed that freedom of information laws in Florida make it easier for journalists to obtain information about arrests from the police than in other states and that this is responsible for the large number of news articles. A CNN article on the meme also suggested that the breadth of reports of bizarre activities is due to a confluence of factors, including public records laws giving journalists fast and easy access to police reports, the relatively high population of the state, its highly variable weather, and gaps in mental health funding.
Origin
The meme originated in February 2013 with the now abandoned Twitter 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." The account referred to 'Florida Man' as the "World's Worst Superhero" jokingly implying the headlines are not a variety of people but a single prolific suspect.
Spread
Before the creation of the meme, the state of Florida had already garnered a colorful reputation on the Internet, with the social aggregation site Fark 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 and Tumblr, initially through the subreddit '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 as a sinister entity, referred to by Darius as an "alt-right Johnny Appleseed" who commits a variety of strange crimes in Florida as part of a plot to keep black voters out, portrayed by Kevin Waterman.
On November 1, 2018, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show filed a report comedically investigating the phenomenon of "Florida Man".
In 2018, IO Interactive 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 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.
In 2019, a variation of the meme developed on social media, in which people were encouraged to look up "Florida Man" and the date of their birthday, typically finding a bizarre news report involving a 'Florida Man' on that date. The "Black Judas" who turns in the title characters for reward money in Queen & Slim (2019) and played by Bertrand E. Boyd II, is credited as "Florida Man".
On October 31, 2019, Donald Trump, then president of the United States, was reported as changing his main residence from New York City to Palm Beach, Florida, the location of the Mar-a-Lago resort he owns and frequently visits. Sources joked about Trump becoming 'Florida Man', including The Daily Show, which released an extension for Google Chrome and Firefox that changed all instances of Trump's name to "Florida Man". On October 24, 2020, during his rally for presidential candidate Joe Biden in Florida, former President Barack Obama mocked Trump, saying, "'Florida Man' wouldn't even do this stuff", referring to Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his handling of domestic and foreign affairs.