Shoot That Guy

Submission 4,764

Part of a series on Reaction Images. [View Related Entries]

About

Shoot That Guy refers to a reaction image of the character Wardaddy, portrayed by actor Brad Pitt, from the 2014 movie Fury pointing his finger at a German officer and ordering a soldier to shoot him. The image achieved virality as a reaction on social media in 2023, being used similarly to the Let's Kill Him reaction. It is also sometimes recaptioned using the phrasal template "X That Guy" in which the first word is changed to different actions.

Origin

On October 17th, 2014, the war film Fury premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, the character Don "Wardaddy" Collier (played by Brad Pitt) is seen standing in an open hatch of a Sherman tank as he gives an order to shoot a Waffen-SS German officer responsible for executing children, pointing at him with his finger (scene^[2] shown below, 1:53 mark).

Shoot that guy.

Prior to February 2023, the scene saw limited use in memes, with disconnected examples appearing on iFunny^[3] and Reddit.^[4]

On February 21st, 2023, iFunny^[5] user DemonShark172 posted a still image of Wardaddy pointing, captioned with the dialogue (shown below). The post received over 260 smiles and was used as a reaction image on the platform in the following months.

Spread

Starting in May 2023, the image saw use as a reaction on X / Twitter. For example, on May 1st, 2023, X^[6] user @AlmightyFreeMan used the image as a reaction to a now-deleted post, with the reply gaining over 1,300 likes in nine months (shown below).

The image saw repeated use on the platform through the second half of 2023, being used to express a strong dislike for people and suggestions. For example, on November 5th, 2023, X^[7] user @RazingPlato06 used the image to reply to a poll about a hypothetical situation regarding sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, with the reply garnering over 110 reposts and 9,300 likes in four months (shown below, left).

Recaptioned versions of the image were also used as reactions. For example, on September 12th, 2023, X^[8] user @_JohnnyJones posted a recaptioned version of the meme with "[REDACTED]" that gained over 860 likes in five months (shown below, right).