LeBron James follows 182 accounts on Twitter, and Josiah Johnson is 1 of them.
Johnson (@KingJosiah54 on Twitter) is a social media savant who has constructed a worthwhile profession using sports activities and pop tradition satire, finally successful in excess of expert athletes, entertainers, and hundreds of 1000's online.
His comedic attempts include sending witty tweets in actual-time, typically paired with memes that reference videos, Tv set reveals, and other moments in pop society.
On Monday, he applied a meme of Vice President Kamala Harris to troll the Nuggets after the Warriors took a 2- lead in their 1st-spherical playoff collection.
Johnson, who phone calls himself a 1-guy band when it arrives to crafting comical tweets, does not shy away from more critical topics, this kind of as the vaccination standing of Nets guard Kyrie Irving, or the Ben Simmons saga with the Sixers.
But what occurs when the celebrity athletes you’re tweeting about be a part of your checklist of followers? In Johnson’s circumstance, that contains Hawks stage guard Trae Youthful, Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz, and of program, Lakers superstar James, amid other superior-profile athletics figures.
Johnson, a previous UCLA basketball participant, instructed The Submit he approached his job significantly in a different way in 2019, when athletes started to see his tweets and his next soared.
At the time, Johnson posted a clip from the film “Get Out” to characterize Antonio Brown assembly Josh Gordon following he signed with the Patriots in Sept. 2019. Jordan Peele, the film’s director, replied to the tweet, writing, “You get, Josiah.”
That instant catapulted him to Twitter stardom. But there was just one moment that trumped all of his previous social media results.
“But to get a cosign from LeBron James honestly meant the globe to me,” he said of the time when James, “his beloved participant at any time,” followed him on Twitter. And on June 10, 2021, a working day Johnson has since immortalized, the Lakers star known as him “the goat.”
“I’ll never fail to remember it. Toss like a Josiah getaway occasion for me. I probably will get off perform for the rest of my existence just in celebration of it,” said Johnson, whose Twitter next increased by 9,000 in a matter of 24 hrs.
What separates Johnson from most social professionals is that he has not confined himself to just tweeting about the NBA.
“Everybody’s just glued observing what’s heading on [in the world], right? For me, NBA Twitter taught me how to produce memes, but now I have figured out you can get individuals memes and implement them to something — politics, NFL, MLB, songs, lifestyle. Something trending in the earth, there is a meme for it,” Johnson stated.
“Crazy adequate, I basically did my major surge last November. I set on like 20 to 30 thousand followers just in the course of the election cycle with NBA Twitter-type memes.”
As Johnson’s listing of Twitter followers became a sea of blue checkmarks, he realized he experienced to solution his satirical tweets with warning.
“LeBron adhering to me… now I bought to be super selective in how I transfer and the kind of content material I write-up, which is yet another thing I figured out as I’ve developed in this space, like the folks that I’m chatting about know me now,” Johnson stated. “Now, I usually try out to be respectful, try to do things that when they see, they’ll laugh about and share with their teammates and matters from that aspect.
“But it unquestionably has adjusted the way that I strategy social. I’m a whole lot additional respectful of these guys. Believe that me, I’ll be satirical and I’ll comment on diverse items likely on socially, but having respect for athletes as males and girls — I consider we have noticed a whole lot of men and women form of working with mental wellbeing. We place these athletes on a platform pedestal and never truly acknowledge and understand that they are human, just like us. The issues individuals say are out of pocket and they would not say these items if you saw [athletes] on the avenue.
“Whatever you say, you have acquired to be capable to defend whichever you’re placing out there. And which is how I try to tactic this thing from a amount of respect and comprehending that they’re human beings just like me. They make mistakes. They have feelings. They have family members.”
Ahead of he turned “a lot much more grounded” on Twitter, Johnson mentioned he was “definitely a large amount much more preposterous and out of pocket.”
“Obviously, I’m obtaining more mature now. I’ve received a relatives and young children and just trying to clearly show them the correct way to do it,” he mentioned.
“With tales that are now coming out currently, I just bite my tongue out of respect for the functions concerned. So, I let these things fly, or then there was the Aaron Rodgers predicament. I have a ton of respect for Rodgers as a male and things he’s performed in the NFL, but when you lie about becoming vaccinated, especially with all the ridiculous things going on in the earth, you have earned to get clowned. And I will be the one particular to do it.”
Johnson’s followers connect with him “the king of #NBATwitter” — a nod to his manage, KingJosiah54, which offers more than 200,000 followers. That made for a smooth changeover to a reoccurring host seat on “NBA Twitter Are living,” the app’s NBA exhibit, which is also broadcast by Turner Sports.
He also juggles co-web hosting the “Outta Pocket” podcast on Wave.tv set, and the “No Chill” podcast with Gilbert Arenas, along with a rotating portfolio of model bargains.
Most just lately, Johnson landed composing roles on the Netflix series “Colin in Black and White,” based mostly on the daily life of the previous 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and Personal Network’s “Cherish The Working day.”
Right before all of that, however, Johnson was working “18-20 several hours a day” as a author, producer, and creative for networks together with Comedy Central and Fox Sports. There have been also stops at NFL Network and other desk work alongside the way.
He co-made Comedy Central’s animated sitcom, “Legends of Chamberlain Heights,” which lasted two seasons, all the even though increasing the cable channel’s social media platforms.
Johnson has normally experienced a foot in the sports globe. In reality, he’s the son of NBA alum Marques Johnson, who put in over a 10 years in the league — generally with the Bucks and Clippers. The elder Johnson was selected 3rd general by Milwaukee in the 1977 draft and now functions as an analyst for the Bucks with Bally Sports activities.
Johnson bonded with Kaepernick about his father’s taking part in career just one day in the writer’s space for the Kaepernick-produced Netflix series.
Johnson, a Trenton, N.J. indigenous, has carved his very own route, producing a quite penny executing things his way and pushing the boundaries on social media. But becoming an world wide web feeling wasn’t initially in the playing cards for him.
“I was a background major on scholarship at UCLA,” he reported. “I preferred to variety of exist in the shadows. My dad is a colour commentator and an analyst. He’s an actor and he’s accomplished a ton of stuff… I form of joke with my mates about it now. You do not have to be a previous NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer to be capable now to definitely exist and function in this place.”
Johnson has produced such a title for himself in the NBA social media and broadcast spaces that he goes by his very own guidelines now.
“If I set up the acceptable meme that will get Jordan Peele’s focus, I know persons will occur to me. So now I’ve uncovered I want to deliver these folks to me. I do not at any time go out now and seek out gigs anymore, search for any of that sort of things. It’s very validating and just demonstrates that all the hard operate and exertion that I put into it, it’s commencing to pay off,” he explained.
“Social [media] is like a drug. I’m not going to say like clout chasing, but when you see things operating it’s that quick gratification of getting in a position to drop a tweet and routinely and it has a thousand retweets within just a couple of minutes. It’s a actually gratifying experience. And I crave it, and I truly stick it out now and have come to be so good at it now that models achieve out to me. From time to time, they’re like, ‘Oh, make our [social media] warm. Improve our quantities.’ I’m just delighted to be a portion of. S–t I would have under no circumstances imagined, you know, currently being equipped to make funds off of it mainly because it did not exist when I was a kid. So to be ready to thrive in these spaces is f–king brilliant.”
Johnson wishes other social media users to know that they also can revenue from their have information.
“I’ve embraced it. I really just take fantastic delight in seeking to lay that foundation and assist other persons, particularly individuals who glance like myself, know the value and equity that they have in this circumstance to be ready to monetize their have social in their own platforms,” Johnson said.
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