Detroit Sign

Submission 4,952

Overview

The Detroit Sign is a Gateway sign in the city of Detroit located on the Eastbound I-94 highway that spells out "DETROIT" in individual, eight-foot-tall, green lettering. The sign was put up on April 9th, 2024 and became the subject of memes and reactions online, with some finding its appearance and location disappointing. Notably, the sign inspired a diss track by rapper Gmac Cash titled "Detroit Sign" that went viral the month the sign went up.

Background

On February 16th, 2024, the Detroit Free Press^[1] published an article announcing that a sign spelling out "Detroit" would be built on the I-94 highway as part of their 2024 NFL draft improvement plans. Detroit's deputy chief operations officer is quoted in the article as saying "It’s going to be like the Hollywood sign, but smaller," continuing to say the letters will "light up in Detroit’s colors, green and white."

Developments

On February 21st, 2024, the Detroit Free Press^[2] shared a rendering of the sign in the midst of a purported fake rendering going around online (shown below). On the same day, the WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 YouTube^[3] page shared a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the sign's individual letters, garnering over 1,700 views in two months.

On April 9th, the completion of the Detroit sign was announced by the City of Detroit. That day, the City of Detroit Government Facebook^[4] page posted a series of photographs (shown below) of the sign that gained over 7,600 reactions and 2,200 shares in three days, writing:

Our D-E-T-R-O-I-T sign is up!🤩 Detroit’s new Gateway sign will welcome residents and visitors to the city. The eight-foot-tall letters, mounted on two-foot-tall concrete blocks, is alongside Eastbound I-94 between Central Street and Cecil Ave. The City of Detroit, DTE, MDOT, FHWA, and the Fairmount Sign Company made the project possible.

Online Reactions

Reactions to the sign were mixed online, with some criticizing its appearance after being promised something like the Hollywood sign. On April 9th, 2024, X^[5] user @DeepWatersOfEL posted a photo of the sign, writing, "We were promised a ‘Hollywood’ style Detroit sign 😂😂," garnering over 3,200 likes in three days.

On April 10th, X^[6] page @DailyLoud posted an image comparing the Hollywood sign to the Detroit sign, garnering over 67,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). Instagram^[7] user thepernateam posted a meme about the sign, garnering over 2,800 likes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

That same day, TikToker^[8] @traylittle posted a video where he visits the Detroit sign himself, suggesting it's somewhat better looking in person but offering some criticism, garnering over 100,000 views in two days (shown below).

"Detroit Sign" Diss Track by Gmac Cash

On April 10th, 2024, Detroit rap artist Gmac Cash posted a music video on his YouTube^[9] channel for a diss track titled "Detroit Sign," in which he disses the Detroit sign, garnering over 28,000 views in two days (shown below). The video is filmed at the Detroit sign. Gmac posted the video to X^[10] the next day, writing, "They Ordered This Sign Off Wish 😂," garnering over 3,000 likes in a day.

The video gained viral spread over the following days. On April 11th, it was reposted by X^[11] user @scubaryan_, garnering over 100,000 likes in a day. On April 12th it was reposted by Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy on X,^[12] garnering over 6,000 likes in under a day.