50501 Organizer posted hundreds of cruel and unfunny memes mocking COVID deaths in 2022 and 2023
Update: I’d like to clarify why I posted this. I am not saying that one person behaving poorly three years ago invalidates the collective action of millions of people yesterday. I am saying that this person now wields considerable political power, and as such is deserving of scrutiny.
The Reddit-born 50501 protest movement, which saw millions of people demonstrating across all 50 states on April 5, is the brainchild of a Reddit user, u/Evolved_Fungi. Fungi is the oldest moderator of the r/50501 subreddit, and in February, Newsweek published an exclusive interview with the anonymous organizer.
As reported by Newsweek, “u/Evolved_Fungi has both marketing and engineering degrees and loves to read psychology books. He is part of other activism groups, including the bodily autonomy group Bloodstained Men and Their Friends, who protest against circumcision.”
Last night I reviewed u/Evolved_Fungi’s Reddit profile. In addition to, as Newsweek reported, a post where the user claims they have a marketing degree and an engineering degree, I found that u/Evolved_Fungi had posted hundreds of times in a subreddit called r/HermanCainAward.
The forum’s name is a reference to the late Republican presidential candidate, who in 2020 died from COVID after contracting the virus at a presidential campaign event for Donald Trump.
The primary format for posts on the forum by u/Evolved_Fungi, who does not appear to have been active on that subreddit after 2023, is a series of photos that seem to have been lifted from the Facebook profile of a deceased “nominee” and then crudely decorated with clip art germs and other cartoon-like features, ostensibly to avoid doxxing the recently deceased.
Here’s a few examples posted by u/Evolved_Fungi below.
Despite searching extensively, I could find no prior reporting on this. Do you know anything about it? Shoot me an email please: jon.gerhardson@proton.me
