Fact Check: Did Someone Light Their Feet on Fire to Protest Nike?

Nike’s decision to make Colin Kaepernick the center of its new ad campaign sparked a small (nay, microscopic) contingent of Nike consumers to begin a #JustBurnIt movement involving tossing their Nike gear into a fire.

This encouraged one bit of satire in which a Mr. “Mustard” purportedly burned his Nike shoes while they still adorned his feet.

TWS Fact Check readers may shake their heads, suggesting “No way. No one thought this was real.”

But alas, many (seemingly more than those who participated in #JustBurnIt) were fooled into belief, including a humor writer for the web-based film company FunnyOrDie.

The website 12up posted the tweets as if “Mustard” truly did burn his feet, garnering thousands of comments and reactions on Facebook.

“People of his mindset are the reason why the current resident of the White House is there today,” one Facebook commenter (of hundreds) wrote on the page “NFL Memes,” which shared 12up’s post. “Just another brilliant Trumper!” another suggested.

A short Google image search reveals that the image of the burned feet comes from an Australian government website educating users on how to deal with certain types of physical trauma.

When ask about his stunt, twitter user Phil Braun told NBC affiliate KGW8 that it was all a joke.

I am doing satire on these protests, & how genuinely dumb people can be when they burn their shoes, destroy keurigs, etc. I fully support Colin Kaepernick’s right to protest and think he has a pretty legit reason given the climate of our country…the fact people can’t tell it’s a joke tells you a lot.


We are left asking who, in fact, are the real fools.

If you have questions about this fact check, or would like to submit a request for another fact check, email Holmes Lybrand at [email protected] or the Weekly Standard at [email protected]. For details on TWS Fact Check, see our explainer here.

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