The Fallout From Fitness Influencer Joey Swoll's Hulk Hogan Tribute Went So Poorly That He's Quit Social Media Entirely

God damn. Post one Hulk Hogan tribute video and 5 days later you're off the internet for good. That escalated so quickly. I've got no ill will towards Joey Swoll. Other than when I don't realize I'm watching one of his videos. It can be jarring when I think I'm enjoying the wholesome content of a spandex-clad woman who's sharing her immaculate form with the internet, or watching a young women stay loose between sets with a casual dance for the camera, then all of the sudden I'm blindsided by Joey Swoll's bulbous head on my screen.

But whatever Joey Swoll had been doing was clearly working. He built a massive following. However, in the last week, Joey Swoll managed to do what's becoming increasingly easier to do these days, and post a video that angered all of the internet mobs. For Joey Swoll to be deemed both deeply racist and embarrassingly woke, all stemming from a single incident… that's what we call the Barstool Sports special.

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I'm not here to discuss the ethics of a Hulk Hogan tribute video. Just to give an objective review of Joey Swoll's last however many hours. He paid tribute to Hulk Hogan. He vehemently defended his tribute to Hulk Hogan. He then performed a full 180 and apologized for all the bad things Hulk Hogan has ever said or done. And for the grand finale, posting an Instagram story announcing his retirement from social media all together. 

The crazy thing is, Joey Swoll didn't even make Hulk Hogan video after he died. That video already existed. He saw that Hulk Hogan passed away, and thought to himself, "I once dressed up as Hulk Hogan. Now would be a good time to repost that video."

But if you're going to go the "Hulk Hogan was an incredible wrestler, and he deserves his flowers for that" route, then you know you're going to get some hate for it. You know there's going to be a reaction from people who despise the man for things he said in the past. But in the end, Hulk Hogan was undeniably a MASSIVE international influence on the world of wrestling. He was a pop culture icon. I can't be 100% sure how this would have played out had Joey Swoll posted his video then never addressed it again. But I bet within a few days, the angry mob would have been on to someone else. Because for the most part, people know that Hulk Hogan was iconic as a wrestler, and they understand the intention behind Joey Swoll's post. It's not like he dressed up as Hulk Hogan and shouted slurs at his fellow gym-goers. He dressed up as Hulk Hogan to do bicep curls and wrestling poses.

That should have been it. Surely it was all going to blow over for him in a day or two. But apparently, Joey Swoll has a bit too much of my co-worker White Sox Dave in him. He can't help but address things. If you ever find yourself on the internet feeling the need to address something, even if people are clamoring for it, it's almost never a good idea.

He just couldn't help but go live on TikTok with all his sauces and drop a hard "colored". But Joey Swoll was passionate about the issue. He thought it was bullshit that he was being dragged for honoring the life of a world famous wrestler, and he wanted to make his feelings on the matter known. Just because a person made some mistakes in their life, doesn't mean they don't deserve to be recognized for the positive things they've done as well. 

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Even after going live on TikTok. Even after saying the c-word with his whole chest. He was probably fine. He still only pissed-off half of the internet. Sure, that half was a bit more pissed-off than they were before, but Joey Swoll wasn't wrong. He's not the only person who honored Hulk Hogan. Which is exactly why this was all going to be water under the bridge in a few days.

Unfortunately for Joey Swoll, Joey Swoll wasn't done there. I don't know who it was that got to him. Maybe he really spoke to a friend who made him see things differently. Maybe he really had no idea what Hulk Hogan had said in the past. Maybe there was a sponsor sitting in his passenger's seat with a gun forcing him to say sorry. But for whatever reason, Joey Swoll got in his car and issued a formal apology for his Hulk Hogan video.

Now look what he did… 

I have a bit of a hard time believing he really didn't know what things Hulk Hogan said. That he was truly flabbergasted when a trusted friend called him up with all the details of his past. If I had to bet, Joey Swoll never would have issued that apology if he didn't drop a hard "colored" on TikTok. I'm guessing the backlash from that specifically is what he felt put him in a "racist" category that he needed to dig himself out of. 

But it was hard to not feel bad for the guy. All he did was see a famous wrestler die, then think to himself, "I'm going to post a tribute video". Tons of people loved Hulk Hogan. Joey Swoll has over 13M followers between Instagram and TikTok. Both him and Hulk Hogan are gym guys. So it stands to reason that there would be some fan overlap there. As with most content that gets blown out of proportion on the internet, I guarantee the thought behind posting it was not that deep. But the fallout from there was so drastically ridiculous that Joey Swoll posted an Instagram story announcing his retirement from social media for good.

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Boy is there a lot of "fucking fed up with this shit" behind those words. Maybe a weeeee bit dramatic. Who knows how genuine he is with the, "I am done with social media". Reading between the lines, that is an incredibly emotional post. The type of post you might wake up in the morning and think, "Damn I wish I wouldn't have done that."

If he is done for real, I can't blame him. I'm sure he's made more money than he ever thought was possible off the back of gym TikTok's. Even off of social media, I'm sure he has the connections to make a fine career somewhere the physical fitness space. But Joey Swoll has so many fans who love him. When shit goes bad on the internet, it's always disproportionate number of haters that come out of the woodwork than fans who love you and come to your defense. Especially at first. But after this post, Joey Swoll is absolutely going to get an outpouring of love from people who support him. From people who sympathize with how bat shit crazy social media can be. If in a week from now he realizes how much love and support he actually has out there (or just gets bored doing nothing) I wouldn't be surprised if he's right back to telling off hot girls at the gym who think it's ok to film sexy workout content in public. 

Joey Swoll is a guy with fans on both sides of the aisle, and in an effort to please everyone, he managed to piss off both of the mobs. He ran the racist-to-woke gamut in the span of five days. That's a hell of a run to make. All from a Hulk Hogan tribute video that he probably posted on a whim. The series of events that occurred following that post truly could not have gone worse. Well… that's not true… he could have gone full Hulk Hogan and used a word other than colored. But still. As far as celebrity death tributes go, it's hard from them to turn out any worse than that.