Last week, Seattle resident Kiana Hall spotted an oddly bedraggled-looking raccoon running across her backyard. She took a video, posted it on Instagram, and named the creature “Jimothy” in her caption.
Less than a week later, Jimothy has been seen millions of times online, is getting followed by citizen paparazzi, and now has his own merch.
Every once in a while, an animal comes along with such a striking appearance that it’s destined to carve out a fervent (if often short-lived) cult fanbase online.
Recent examples of this phenomenon have included Moo Deng, the adorably chunky hippo who lives in Si Racha, Chonburi Province, Thailand; and Punch the monkey, a stuffed animal-hugging baby macaque who lives in Ichikawa, Japan.
That’s exactly what’s currently happening to Jimothy, a raccoon who appears to have a spinal deformity that gives him an unusually round torso.
He’s been dubbed by The Seattle Times (which has now written multiple articles chronicling his rise to fame) a “scrappy hometown hero.”
And, like Moo Deng and Punch before him, it hasn’t taken long for Jimothy’s internet fame to translate into a business opportunity for merch sellers everywhere.
‘I’d die for Jimothy’
Ever since Hall’s initial video took off, dozens of other videos of Jimothy—including resurfaced clips of him as a baby—have gained traction on TikTok and Instagram.
Invariably, most of the comments under these videos are pouring in from fans expressing their undying loyalty to the “Raider of Trash Cans.”
Under one TikTok clip, the official Slim Jim account commented, “Protect jimothy at all costs,” while another user added, “I’d die for Jimothy.”
Jimothy has established a robust fandom on Reddit, where one post in the r/Seattle subreddit has generated more than 1,000 upvotes and countless comments declaring it “Hot Jimothy Summer.”
Offline, Jimothy has become something of a muse for artists around the world, inspiring an influx of pencil sketches, digital renderings, 3D-printed models, Lego builds, and even a few tattoos.
As in the case of Moo Deng and Punch the monkey, which both became the subject of countless merch ventures including t-shirts, mugs, and even children’s books, Jimothy’s moment in the spotlight has turned his image into a marketable good.
On Etsy and Amazon, Jimothy is already the subject of multiple bootleg-style graphic tees, which show the raccoon posed like a ‘90s superhero in front of lightning-filled backgrounds and hardcore fonts.
Other Jimothy shirts come with inspirational quotes, like, “In a world full of trash pandas, be a Jimothy” and “Jimothy: short spine, big spirit.”
Even more Jimothy merch options include mugs, sticker packs, and handpainted figurines.
Jimothy may have only recently captured the spotlight, but his merch-ification is a sure sign that he’s officially made it to the internet’s animal darling big leagues.