If your social media feeds have been flooded with memes of Saratoga sparkling water, bananas and a large bowl of ice water, you’re not alone.
It’s all because of one man- Ashton Hall.
A video the online fitness coach posted back in February caught the internet’s eye last week, which has launched memes and parodies from online personalities to McDonald’s and even the Empire State Building.
All of this attention has prompted Hall to weigh in.
“I’m here to address the nonsense,” he explained in a since-deleted post to his 8 million followers. “So many videos are being sent to me, duplicates of my videos. For the creators sick and tired of their work being copied, listen to me well: you’re either going to be a leader or a follower and it’s okay to be either one. But you have to choose.”
The former college football player explained that if you’re a leader, it’s inevitable that people will follow you.
“I realized that God has me here to lead, not to follow anyone. So that’s what I’m going to do. When I see someone following away, I should be hyped,” he reasoned.
Hall then confessed that he’s “not perfect by any means” and that he used to get angry when other content creators would imitate his posts.
“I’m not going to act like I’m a Saint. I used to block anybody who was doing anything similar to me. That was me! I’m blocking them, screw them, how could they copy my work? I worked so hard for this. What’s wrong with this dude? Why do the same thing as me? What is up?”
Hall later flipped the script by leaning into his faith.
“Then I realized, bro, people follow Jesus. Why? Because he was great. As a Christian man (he asked himself), ‘Why are you angry if they’re following you?’ Matter of fact, if you’re doing something with good intention, it should be a great thing.”
For other online creators who are dealing with the same frustrations, Hall offered some advice.
“If people are doing what you’re doing, after they see what you’re doing is working for you, you’re doing something right. Don’t allow this to get you upset. This is the name of the game.”
The online discourse hasn’t disrupted Hall’s day-to-day. He has since uploaded another morning routine to his page and doesn’t show signs of stopping.
