Josh Swain Fight
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About
The Josh Swain Fight, Josh Fight, or Josh vs Josh vs Josh, refers to a screenshot of a Facebook group message from April 2020 consisting of a number of people named "Josh Swain" in which the original Josh gives the other members of the group specific coordinates and tells them to meet on April 24th, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. for a battle royale to decide who keeps the name, ultimately giving them a year to prepare. The screenshot inspired a number of image macros and photoshops referencing it throughout 2020 and 2021, particularly on Reddit and Facebook, increasing as the 24th of April neared. The popularity of the meme lead to the original Josh Swain holding a charity event at Air Park Green in Nebraska for the Josh Fight.
Origin
On April 24th, 2020, Twitter[17] user @joshswainaz, real name Josh Swain, posted "there can be only one" with two screenshots; one showing a Facebook DM group full of people named Josh Swain, and another of a string of messages. The creator of the group says, "You're probably wondering why I've gathered you all here today," to which one Josh correctly guesses it's because they all share the same name. A man named "Josh Swain" leaves the group, then the creator tells the others to meet at the GPS coordinates 40.8223286, -96.7982002 in a year (April 24th, 2021, at noon) for a fight, with all the losers having to change their names (shown below). The post gained over 21,000 retweets and 61,000 likes in a year.
On April 26th, Facebook[1] page Fun Things With Depressed People posted the screenshot. On the same day, the screenshot was also shared to /r/GoodFakeTexts[4] by u/JoffaCXD1, garnering over 2,200 upvotes in just under a year.
The GPS coordinates lead to a location outside the Lincoln airport in Nebraska that's since been registered as the "Josh Fight" when searched on gps-coordinates.net[2] (shown below).
“Precisely, 4/24/2021, 12:00 PM, meet at these coordinates, (40.8223286, -96.7982002) we fight, whoever wins gets to keep the name, everyone else has to change their name, you have a year to prepare, good luck.”
Spread
On April 27th, 2020, the Facebook[3] page Abey saley posted the screenshots. On the same day, they were shared by Instagram[11] page @pubity, garnering over 633,000 likes in roughly a year.
On that day, Redditor u/Nu1tr4 shared an image macro to /r/dankmemes[5] featuring saley's Josh Swain screenshot and an added image from The Matrix depicting the fight between the Josh's, garnering over 41,500 upvotes in roughly a year (shown below). That day, Redditor u/nailmot0rcycle posted saley's screenshot to /r/me_irl,[7] garnering over 59,000 upvotes in the same span of time.
Later that day, Redditor u/TheLogisticLogic posted a new image macro to /r/animemes,[6] imagining the fight between the Josh's with a scene from Naruto, garnering over 8,400 upvotes in just under a year (shown below).
In 2021, memes referencing Josh Swain increased as users reminded each other of the upcoming date, especially on Reddit. On January 19th, 2021, the subreddit /r/JoshSwainBattle[19] was created.
For example, on January 19th, 2021, the Facebook[8] page Hey Admin, Sauce Please, posted an image macro consisting of the screenshot and text reading, "Just reminding all of you that we only have a couple more weeks to go until the fight," garnering over 26,000 reactions and 19,000 shares in three months (shown below, left). On January 20th, Redditor u/MajorMentos posted a "Trollface Incident" meme referencing the fight to /r/TrollFaceIncident,[9] garnering over 700 upvotes in a comparable span of time (shown below, right).
On April 14th, Redditor u/TextDeletd shared the domain for joshvsjoshvsjosh.com[12] in a comment on a post to /r/memes.[13] The site currently consists of a countdown to the day of the Josh Fight. On April 19th, Redditor u/McBizcut posted a photoshop referencing the fight, garnering over 44,800 upvotes in 20 hours (shown below, left). On the same day, u/Human1223 created /r/JoshVsJoshVsJosh,[14] a subreddit for the meme.
On April 20th, four days before the fight, Facebook[10] page Ｓｈｉｔｐｏｓｔｉｎｇ ２００６ posted an image macro reminding users of the fight, garnering over 3,800 reactions and 4,400 shares in 21 hours (shown below, right).
Alleged New Location
On April 20th at 6:40 p.m., Twitter[15] user @MemesCentraI posted, "The Josh Fight Has Been Moved" along with an image of a wooden shipping skid with a crudely written message reading, "No Josh Fight Here!!! Private property. Please Go To Bowling Lake Park for Josh vs Josh vs Josh. 40.8654791 -96.7842755. (May the best Josh win)" (shown below). The post gained over 240 likes and 30 retweets in a day.
On April 21st, The Tab[16] reported on the post, offering evidence that it might be legitimate via a Google Maps screenshot of an orange pole at the location of the original Josh Fight that the skid seems to be resting against (shown below).
The new coordinates point to Bowling Lake Park in Lincoln, Nebraska (shown below).
Josh Swain's Official Statement
On the night of April 20th, 2021, Redditor u/Josh_Dot_Exe, the original Josh Swain, made a post to /r/JoshSwainBattle[18] confirming various details of the event and providing proof of his identity (shown below, click to expand).
In the post, Josh confirms that the new location of the fight is at GPS coordinates 40.858689, -96.784136, leading to Air Park Green Area, not Bowling Lake Park as some said. Swain also confirmed that he would be there an hour early to "warn park go-ers" of the event, that he is the only Swain he knows of attending telling other Swains to bring a pool noodle to participate in the "fight," and mentioning that there would be a charity drive at the same time for Food Bank of Lincoln. The post gained over 7,000 upvotes in a day.
![+ Posted by u/Joeh_Dot_Exe ACTUAL JOSH 1 day ago O 20 20 3 16 20 7.0k IMPORTANT: I am Josh Swain, and here are the official details of the event. See you soon. Hello! My name is Josh Swain (actually) Verification. Almost one year ago, under a spell of pandemic boredom, I made a groupchat of all the people on Facebook that I could find with the same first and last name as mine, and challenged them to fight for the right to keep this common name. This was a complete joke, and I have posted jokes to my twitter before, but when I posted the screenshots to my twitter here, the internet ran with it, and ran with enough endurance for you all to remember a YEAR later. That doesn't happen very often, so I'm afraid I have to oblige the internet and trek all the way across the contiguous United States to defend my name. SO, I have seen a lot of information on the internet that might be misleading regarding the event, so I would like to set a couple of details in stone so that we can exercise this complete act of absurdity without reigning terror on the wonderful residents of Lincoln, Nebraska. The details are as follows: 1. The Coordinates have officially changed to 40.858689, -96.784136, or known by it's street address as Air Park Green Area, 4500 NW 45th St, Lincoln, NE, 68524. (not Bowling Lake Park as others have suggested) I originally picked the coordinates at random, and they landed on some farm owner's land who did not agree to host such a ridiculous event. Please be courteous and proceed directiy to the new coordinates. We will take an available green lot, and create our own venue there. 2. As per the original post, the date is Saturday, April 24th, 2021 A.D. at 12:00 PM (CDT, UTC-5) I will be showing up one hour earlier at 11:00 AM just to scout the location and warn any nearby park goers of what events are about to transpire. 3. As of writing this post, I am the only Josh Swain that I know of that will be there. No other Josh Swain's have contacted me thus far with concrete plans of attending. Should another Josh Swain arrive, we will have a grueling and righteous battle of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If no other Josh Swain's arrive, then you will be a witness to the coronation of the rightful Josh Swain. 4. [EDIT] Bring a pool noodle, or a lot of them! First Name Josh's will be allowed to fight Due to the limited number of Josh Swain's, the Swainbowi will be followed by a pool noodle fight with any person with the first name Josh, then proceeded by a complete pool noodle fight with anyone who would like to join. 5. The city of Lincoln still has a mask mandate for large gatherings. I am not going to tell you how to live your life as a guest in your home, however, wearing a mask when you can would be greatiy appreciated. I am not going to be the mask police, but just know that if you're wearing a mask that I love you. 6. Bring Nonperishables! We will be having a food drive for the Food Bank of Lincoln! Stay tuned for more charitable info to come! 7. You can now donate to the "Help pay legal fees for Josh Swain's to change their name" fund This is just a fun title for a fundraiser we have to benefit the Children's Hospital & Medical Center Foundation which provides medical care to children across the state of Nebraska, join me in donating and please share! And lastly, like I said, it is not often that someone has the opportunity to have the attention and focus of a large number of people, and so I thought it would be a great idea to use this spotlight to bring word to a few worthy causes. Please consider donating to show the world how the internet can turn an exercise in absurdity into something beautiful. Thanks so much again everyone for making this probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. Please help me in sharing this new information and if you have any concerns please leave a comment and I will be sure to update this post on rljoshswainbattle, r/swainbowi, and r/lincoln, I look forward to seeing you all soon.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/081/448/cae.png "Josh Swain's Statement")
On April 21st, Redditor u/phoenyx32 posted another image of the shipping skid in the original field to /r/JoshSwainBattle[20] with a new note clearing up the location of the fight, garnering over 860 upvotes in a day (shown below).
On April 23rd, Know Your Meme[21] published an interview with Josh Swain about the event.
April 24th & Little Josh Crowned
Hundreds of people showed up to the Josh Fight on April 24th, including dozens of Josh's, who all proceeded to fight with pool noodles to determine the ultimate Josh. "Josh" trended on Twitter that day.
In the end, a five-year-old boy, quickly nicknamed "Little Josh," was declared 'King Josh,' and crowned with a cardboard Burger King crown in front of the cheering crowd of participants (video of Josh post-fight shown below).
update: Lil Josh (Pequeno Josh) ganhou a #JoshFight #JoshFight2021 https://t.co/ytYSw7AW57 pic.twitter.com/Stc3HpgXXu
— PulseJhon (@PulseJhon) April 24, 2021
The Josh Fight managed to raise over $14,000 in donations for the Children's Hospital & Medical Center Foundation.
On April 25th, Little Josh opened an Instagram[23] account (run by his guardians) including a link in the bio for a GoFundMe[24] page to donate to Little Josh's college fund. Most posts are fanart and images from the Josh Fight. A limited time merch site[25] was also launched to raise funds, with $8 of each purchase going to the college fund (preview of items shown below).
Josh Cellars Wine Doubles Donation
On May 5th, 2021, California winemakers Josh Cellars[22] announced that they would donate an additional $30,000 to the Children's Hospital & Medical Center Foundation, equalling a total of around $44,000 raised overall. They also made the announcement on their Instagram page, garnering over 2,500 likes in a day (shown below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook – Fun Things With Depressed People
[2] gps-coordinates.net – gps-coordinates.net
[3] Facebook – Abey saley
[4] Reddit – Only joshing ya
[5] Reddit – the real battle royale
[6] Reddit – Josh Swain
[8] Facebook – can't wait
[9] Reddit – 24 April 2021 'Josh Swain' Incident
[10] Facebook – shitposting 2006
[11] Instagram – Winner takes all
[14] Reddit – JoshVsJoshVsJosh
[15] Twitter – The Josh Fight Has Been Moved
[16] The Tab – What is the Josh fight meme that is due to take place on April 24th?
[17] Twitter – there can only be one
[18] Reddit – IMPORTANT: I am Josh Swain, and here are the official details of the event. See you soon.
[19] Reddit – JoshSwainBattle
[20] Reddit – This is your sign: get to the Josh Fight
[21] Know Your Meme – Josh Swain Tells All About Viral 'Josh Fight' And How He Turned A Meme Into A Charity Event
[22] PR Newswire – Josh Cellars Donation
[23] Instagram – Little Josh
[24] GoFundMe – College Fund Donation
[25] ItemOrder – Little Josh Merch
![Josh: *expecting to be the only one at the fight* Josh: [laughter] -You dumb bitch. FX](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/084/457/660.jpg "You Dumb Josh")
