Who’s that guy with the flag in the Hurricane Dorian memes? The ultimate Florida man

If you were stuck at home over Labor Day weekend, waiting and watching for news, you might have noticed one Hurricane Dorian meme in particular.

It was a split image, with the picture on top is of a family enjoying a barbecue that read “Labor Day in most of the USA.”

On the bottom , though, is a picture of a shirtless, barefoot man in the middle of the street during a hurricane trying to hold onto a wildly flapping American flag, along with the words: “Labor Day in Florida.”

So who’s that guy blowing in the wind?

Florida man Lane Pittman, and he’s a hoot.

The Jacksonville Beach musician first hit the internet hard in 2015 after a video of him getting arrested made the rounds. Cops hauled him away for playing the “Star Spangled Banner” on his electric guitar during a July 4 festival in his town.

Pittman posted a video of his arrest on Facebook, and it spread like e-wildfire. The Foo Fighters even Tweeted about the rocker, posting his name in capital letters, and soon Pittman, a symbol of rebellious patriotism, began playing dozens of paid gigs all over the U.S.

Then, a year later, Pittman got an idea for another video, thanks to Florida’s weather patterns: His dad shot the video of him standing in the middle of the street waving an American flag amid Hurricane Michael. The video is set to a song by heavy metal band Slayer.

Boom! Pittman went viral again, and shortly thereafter became a bona fide meme.

These days, the part-time teacher does more than rock and roll. He’s gotten into hurricane relief, which seems pretty fitting, with a GoFundMe page to help Dorian victims. It has raised $925 of its $2,500 goal.

On the charity site, there’s a picture of him, in just a pair of briefs with a hurricane map in the background.

“I’m transparent with the money and relief efforts,” Pittman writes. “LET’S DO THIS FLORIDA YEEAAHHHH.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2019 at 1:04 PM.