Who is this man? Please RT, find him & ask him why he did this? Where is the humour in humiliating slaughtered animals? @ChrisGPackham pic.twitter.com/uHN37OywCx
— Anneka Svenska (@AnnekaSvenska) May 5, 2017
A few days ago, animal conversation advocate Anneka Svenska posted the above disturbing photo of some crazed naked guy literally humping a shark that he had allegedly just caught. Svenska called for anyone on the internet to identify this messed up individual and "ask him why he did this."
Apparently, many people thought that the guy in the photo looked like Jimmy John's founder Jimmy John Liautaud, and rumors began to circulate the internet that he was the dumbass in the photos above.
@AnnekaSvenska @ChrisGPackham @Protect_Wldlife @_AnimalAdvocate @LabourAnimalRG @domdyer70 @SaveOurSharks @FfSharks @PeterEgan6 @peteswildlife @wenhiggins Looks an awful lot like Jimmy John Liautaud pic.twitter.com/vLcpE2kRJv
— Alicia Kraft (@TheAliciaKraft) May 5, 2017
@TheAliciaKraft @AnnekaSvenska @ChrisGPackham @Protect_Wldlife @_AnimalAdvocate @LabourAnimalRG @domdyer70 @SaveOurSharks @FfSharks @PeterEgan6 @peteswildlife @wenhiggins Animal serial killer Jimmy John Liautaud smiling/posing next to some of his victims>?????(laying naked on a dead shark wouldn't surprise me) pic.twitter.com/GXBwsTqOjl
— Beth Lamb (@vanambb) May 6, 2017
It's pretty easy to see why people thought it was Liataud, since he has a reputation of being a big-game hunter and several photos of him posing with his "feats," including a rhinoceros, a grizzly bear, and multiple elephants, can be found online. The most recent photos can be traced back to a safari he went on in 2010 that resurfaced over the past couple of years, leading to boycotts of the sandwich chain amid massive public backlash.
However, in a 2015 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Liataud revealed that he had recanted his endangered animal-hunting ways, and was visibly saddened at his photos with those animals resurfacing and damaging his company's reputation. He would still go after other animals that he could butcher and consume after killing, however.
To further debunk the theory, Deadspin was able to retrieve a statement from the sandwich chain saying that no, it was not Jimmy John Liataud in the photo. So for now, at least, the search continues to figure out what perverted lunatic would want to ride a dead shark in the nude.
UPDATE: The search is over. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the man in the photo is a former NYC police officer named "Shawn." The photo is a couple of years old, and is meant to mock websites in the UK that apparently featured naked women doing the same thing. At least it's not the Jimmy John's CEO, that would've been embarrassing.
