Josh fight

The Josh fight was a popular Internet meme, mock fight, and charity fundraiser at Air Park in Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 24, 2021. A second edition of the event took place at Bowling Lake Park in Lincoln on May 21, 2022.

The event was first thought of by a civil engineering student named Josh Swain from Tucson, Arizona, on April 24, 2020, because he was bored during COVID-19 lockdowns. It became popular after a screenshot of a Facebook Messenger group chat with many users named Josh Swain spread widely on the Internet.

Swain told people in the chat to meet at a set of coordinates one year later and fight for the right to use the name "Josh". Although the event was meant as a joke, nearly a thousand people came on the day of the event. Three "fights" took place, one game of rock paper scissors for those named Josh Swain, a second with pool noodles for all attendees named Josh, and a third and final all-in battle for anyone with a pool noodle who wanted to join.

A local five-year-old boy named Josh Vinson Jr., dubbed "Little Josh", who had been treated at the CH&MC for seizures when he was two years old, won the event. He was given a paper crown from Burger King and a replica AEW World Championship belt. Winson's Jr.'s father, Josh Vinson Sr., said afterward that his son "had the time of his life".

The gathering was lighthearted and there was no actual violence involved. The Wall Street Journal said the event became a "global news phenomenon", while a technology writer for The Guardian called it "perhaps the ultimate response to an online doppelgänger".

References

Category:2020s in Nebraska
Category:2021 in the United States
Category:Charity events
Category:2022 in the United States
Category:Lincoln, Nebraska
Category:Internet memes