Shirtless, flag-waving men start a running club in Florida and the internet has questions

“We’re NOT a gay running club,” says the man who started the trend.

Mark Mark
Dec 31, 2025 - 19:00
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A video of a group of runners, each carrying a US flag and jogging in Tampa, Florida, has gone viral online. Its virality is perhaps not for the reason they hoped.

This is the video.

Online, many praised the men for their patriotic spirit. However, others had a different take.

How about we take this to the next level?

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At one stage in the video, a passer-by heckles the group and calls them a “gay running club”. One of the men—the blonde, twinky-looking one—seems confused and hurt by this and replies, “We’re not a gay running club.”

Who are these people?

The blonde guy is Teagan “Pure Joy” McCoy, and he’s the one who appears to have started this trend.

According to an NPR article from last week, McCoy—and occasional kick boxer and grappler according to old YouTube videos—began running a few months ago.

He started running “up and down U.S. 19” in New Port Richey. A friend encouraged him to post video content. That’s when he had the idea of grabbing the US flag from his truck and “like Forrest Gump … just started running.”

Once he was around ten miles from his house, exhausted, he turned back. On the way home, his dad showed up and filmed him. The subsequent video went viral on Instagram.

This spurred McCoy to keep running daily. He’s now started a GoFundMe to fund his dream of running in a half-marathon in every state across the country. He says he wants to unite the US and will advertise where he’s set to run.

“This is the American movement. This is the American tour. You’ll have the chance to run with me personally.”

On his GoFundMe, he says, “My goal is to unify this country one step and smile at a time, under God! To prioritize good relationships, physical health, as well as our patriotic spirit! There is far too much political association with our beloved flag.”

“High T”

The other man who joined him in Tampa last week—the one with the mullet and p*rno-style mustache—was Julian Becerra. According to his Instagram bio, his pronouns are “High/T”. He runs a business selling testosterone-replacement therapy, peptides and other supplements.

According to McCoy and Becerra, they’ll be out for another 5k this Saturday (1/3) again at 4pm in Tampa.

Queerty reached out to McCoy to ask him if he welcomed members of the LGBTQ+ community joining his runs. We’ve yet to receive a response.

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