# Middle Finger Duel In December 2018, a Twitter video of two men repeatedly flipping each other off on a SoHo sidewalk racked up millions of views before its creator admitted the whole thing was staged. The clip birthed a wave of edits and became a go-to reference for absurdly low-stakes internet feuds. ## Origin On December 4th, 2018, producer Guy Blelloch posted the clip from his Twitter account @apiecebyguy with the caption "The most intense fight I've ever seen"[4]. Within 24 hours the tweet was pushing past 168,000 retweets, 475,000 likes and 17 million views, according to Know Your Meme's tracking[1]. Blelloch, listed on LinkedIn as creative director at Jerry Media, the agency that grew out of the Fuck Jerry Instagram account, quickly admitted to The Daily Beast that the fight was fake[2]. Speaking to The Cut, he said he and FuckJerry co-worker Chris Thompson had shot the video the previous Friday and that it was made for his personal account, not for Jerry Media[3]. - **Platform:** Twitter - **Creator:** Guy Blelloch (@apiecebyguy) - **Date:** 2018 ## Overview The Middle Finger Duel is a 15-second clip shot on Mercer Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, showing two young men walking away from each other while jabbing their middle fingers into the air with mounting theatrical fury[1]. There are no punches, no yelling, and at one point one of the duelists nearly gets clipped by a van but never breaks the bird[2]. The comedic charge comes from the mismatch between the flat setting and the operatic commitment of the gesture. Once the clip broke out, remixers piled on with sound effects and visual gags, turning each finger flip into laser blasts or lightsaber swings[3]. The bit also picked up a second life as a shorthand for pointless online arguments, with commentators pointing out that the video looked exactly like a Twitter fight rendered in physical space[2]. Conservative actor James Woods called the men "soy boys," while others zeroed in on the hypebeast-friendly SoHo backdrop[2]. ## How It Spread Numbers climbed fast after the initial post. The Daily Beast clocked the video at 3.5 million views and 40,000 retweets on the day of publication[2], and by the time The Daily Dot wrote it up the clip was over 5 million views and 150,000 likes[5]. Media coverage stacked up quickly across The Daily Beast, The Cut and The Daily Dot, all landing within the same news cycle[2][3][5]. Remix culture kicked in almost immediately. On the same day as the original post, Twitter user @DropToons dropped in laser images and pew-pew sounds every time the men flipped each other off, pulling more than 780 retweets, 2,900 likes and 62,000 views in a day[1]. Another user swapped in lightsaber noises for a Star Wars flavored cut[5]. The reveal that the fight was staged didn't kill the momentum so much as reframe it. The Cut leaned into a bit comparing the duelists to Burr and Hamilton, joking about a Broadway adaptation[3], while The Daily Beast noted this wasn't Blelloch's first attempted fake viral, listing earlier staged bits like the Citi Bike condom "catch" and a pull-up gag that never took off the same way[2]. ## How to Use Reference the Middle Finger Duel when a low-stakes online spat starts escalating with no real consequences, or share the clip as a visual shorthand for two people digging in over nothing. Edits typically add sound or visual effects on each flip, from lasers to lightsabers, though the format is loose enough that any absurd overlay works[1][5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Middle Finger Duel? A December 2018 viral Twitter video showing two men walking away from each other on a SoHo sidewalk while repeatedly flipping each other off with escalating anger[1]. ### Where did Middle Finger Duel come from? Guy Blelloch, creative director at Jerry Media, posted the clip from his @apiecebyguy Twitter account on December 4th, 2018[4]. ### What does Middle Finger Duel mean? It became shorthand for absurdly low-stakes feuds, with viewers pointing out the video looked like a Twitter argument acted out on the street[2]. ### How do you use Middle Finger Duel? Share the clip in response to escalating online spats, or make an edit that adds sound effects or visuals like lasers or lightsabers on each flip[5]. ### Is Middle Finger Duel still popular? The clip is still cited as a classic staged viral from 2018, though Blelloch confirmed shortly after posting that he and FuckJerry co-worker Chris Thompson filmed it themselves[3]. ## References 1. [https://x.com/i/status/1069947397982351360]() 2. [https://www.thedailybeast.com/that-viral-nyc-middle-finger-fight-video-was-staged-creator-confirms]() 3. [https://www.thecut.com/2018/12/fake-viral-nyc-middle-finger-fight-soho-duel.html]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/middle-finger-duel]() 5. [https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/viral-middle-finger-fight-staged/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/middle-finger-duel Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library