Charles McDowell's Wide Neck Mugshot

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About

Charles McDowell's Wide Neck Mugshot refers to the arrest photo of Florida man Charles McDowell, who has an exceptionally wide neck. The mugshot went viral in November 2018 as Facebook, Reddit and Twitter users joked and made puns about McDowell's large neck. McDowell used his virality to gain a following, becoming a part of the Instagram collective Shrimp Gang and producing music videos and content with Daddy Long Neck that year. In 2019, he was arrested again, sparking the "#FreeWideNeck" hashtag. In November 2022, he was arrested for a charge of aggravated stalking and withholding child or spousal support.

Origin

On November 13th, 2018, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office^[1] posted to Facebook that they had arrested Charles McDowell on charges of Fleeing/Eluding Police with Lights & Sirens Active, Possession of Meth with Intent to Sell/Manufacture/Deliver, Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Sell/Manufacture/Deliver Schedule II, Possession of Controlled Substance without a Prescription, Possession of Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Equipment. The posted the suspect's picture in their post, which gained over 49,000 likes and reactions and over 235,000 shares. WKRG^[2] reported on the story the next day.

Spread

Facebook users were quick to mock the size of McDowell's neck with numerous puns on the Office's post, with several gaining tens of thousands of likes (examples shown below).

Once the photo hit Twitter, users made similar puns as commenters on the Facebook post. For example, Twitter user @Hunsucker4 posted a pun that gained over 620 retweets and 3,200 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @Felonious_monk made a Thank u, next pun that gained over 3,400 retweets and 12,000 likes (shown below, right).

On Reddit, the shot became popular on /r/BlackPeopleTwitter. For example, Redditor Crakzor made a pun that gained over 30 points (shown below, left), and user Quleki made a joke that gained over 430 points (shown below, right).

November 21st, 2018 Arrest

On November 21st, 2018, the Daily Mail^[3] reported that McDowell had been arrested again on drug possession charges. A new mugshot was released alongside the news of his arrest (shown below).

Continued Virality (Shrimp Gang, Daddy Long Neck Collaborations)

On November 26th, 2018, heavy^[4] reported that McDowell was training to fight in the MMA after he posted a now-deleted photo of himself with the Island Fights belt. On November 28th, the official JRE Clips YouTube channel posted a clip from an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience where Rogan talks and jokes about McDowell's neck, suggesting his mother must have a thick neck too, garnering over 3 million views in three years (shown below).

On December 1st, Daddy Long Neck posted a collaboration with Wide Neck to Instagram.^[5] In the video, Wide Neck and Long Neck meet up and say "all necks matter," then do a number of fun, wholesome activities together, garnering over 1.9 million views on Instagram and 1.1 million on YouTube^[6] in four years (shown below). That month, Wide Neck joined the Instagram content collective Shrimp Gang alongside Supreme Patty, Long Neck and other Instagram celebrities. Daddy Long Neck posted several photos to Instagram^[7] with Wide Neck that December.

On December 16th, 2018 and January 8th, 2019, Wide Neck and Long Neck released two music videos through the WorldStarHipHop YouTube^[8]^[9] channel for original, neck-themed songs, "Neckst Up" and "Neckst Big Thing" (shown below, left and right). The videos gained over 13 million and 5.8 million views respectively in four years.

On January 10th, an interview with Wide Neck was posted by YouTuber^[10] DJ Smallz Eyes, garnering over 900,000 views in three years (shown below). During the interview, Wide Neck says that his neck is not wide due to a medical condition but also says he "doesn't know" and hasn't had it looked at by a doctor.

January 2019 Arrest / #FreeWideNeck

On January 30th, 2019, the official @damnwideneck Instagram^[11] account posted a new mugshot of McDowell along with the announcement that he was arrested in Pensacola, Florida after a judge "revoked his bond from his original charges," along with the hashtag #freewideneck (shown below).

That day, a GoFundMe^[12] page titled "Free Wideneck" was created for donations to fund McDowell's legal fees (shown below). Meanwhile, Supreme Patty reposted an announcement of the arrest on Facebook^[13] with the #FreeWideNeck hashtag. The GoFundMe page earned $180 of its $15,000 total funding goal.

On February 10th, 2019, McDowell made a post on Instagram^[14] claiming he'd be out of jail soon. The post is a video of Wide Neck talking through a cellphone that is calling him from prison and gained over a million views in three years (shown below). He was released on an unknown date.

Post-2019 Arrest (Drew Mournet Fight, Dr. Hightower Appearance, Joe Rogan Response)

On March 6th, 2020, the World Star Hip Hop YouTube^[15] channel released a music video for a new song by McDowell called "First Day Out" about his jail experience, garnering over 834,000 views in two years (shown below, left). On May 29th, Damnwideneck posted a photo of a mugshot to Instagram^[16] captioned "Those days are over with," suggesting he would try not to go to jail again. On June 15th he appeared on chiropractor Dr. Hightower's YouTube channel, where he had his neck cracked, garnering over 5 million views in two years (shown below, right). On November 26th, he posted a photo to Instagram^[17] posing with his family for Thanksgiving, gaining over 20,000 likes in two years.

On June 11th, 2021, McDowell fought Drew Mournet as part of the undercard for the Aaron Carter v. Lamar Odom celebrity boxing event.^[18] McDowell lost to Mournet by majority decision. The fight was uploaded to YouTube^[19] on June 13th, garnering over 434,000 views in a year (shown below).

On June 24th, YouTuber^[20] Mediagrapher Studios posted a video of McDowell watching the Joe Rogan video for the first time and responding to it (shown below). In the video he tells Rogan to keep his mother out of things and challenges him to a fight at the end. The video gained over 9,800 views in a year.

2022 Stalking Arrest

On November 28th, 2022, McDowell was reportedly arrested on one charge of aggravated stalking and one charge of failure to pay either child or spousal support. According to Mirror,^[21] a warrant was issued for McDowell's arrest in August after he showed up at a woman's house uninvited and sent her threatening messages. A mugshot was released alongside the reports (shown below). The story went viral and was reported on by a variety of media outlets. That day, it was reported on by Twitter^[22] user @Rap, garnering over 16,500 likes and inspiring numerous memes about his neck in the comments.