Internet strangers gathered to mourn the “goonicide” of an Arizona man who went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now, the event has prompted backlash over an alleged lack of empathy as the discourse surrounding it spirals.
Who is the ‘goonicide’ guy?
On January 8, Nautica Malone was recorded by a manager at Bikini Beans Coffee in Tempe, Arizona, pulling up to the drive-thru with no pants on.
“Sir, you need to leave,” she tells him in the video. At that point, Malone seems to realize he’s being recorded and immediately drives off. The manager then asked someone to call 911, and reported the incident to local authorities.
According to police, an employee who took Malone’s order noticed he had no pants on and informed her manager, who was then waiting for him with her camera rolling as he pulled forward.
Things took an even darker turn just a couple days later when Malone committed suicide, leaving a note for his wife and kids apologizing for the incident.
“I made a mistake and I don’t think I’ll be able to face you and the babies,” he wrote, per TMZ. “I don’t know why I drove through like that. My mental has been fucked up. I am not a monster. I apologize and love you forever.”
Due to claims made to police that Malone had been masturbating in the drive-thru, some folks online dubbed him the “goonicide guy,” a play on “gooner” and suicide.
Strangers hold ‘gooneral’ after Nautica Malone’s death
Following Malone’s death and the attention the story received online, people decided to hold a vigil—or “gooneral”— in the parking lot of the Bikini Beans Coffee where the incident took place.
— alobᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ (@alob_e) January 26, 2025
Attendees largely treated this event the same way they had been treating everything else surrounding Malone on the internet—as an unserious extension of meme culture. There were candles with his face on them, joke prayers, and people going out of their way to harass employees over Malone’s death prior to the cops ultimately breaking things up.
this generation is so unserious, they really held a gooneral for the goonicide guy…
— ryanpic.twitter.com/0qsRKCVFGD
(@scubaryan_) January 27, 2025
RIP NAUTICA MALONE pic.twitter.com/BDMXEOivzJ
— siren (@sirenswiren223) January 27, 2025
unreal scenes at the gooneral pic.twitter.com/rluFm50U2j
— SQØØF ᥫ᭡ (@vsqoof) January 27, 2025
Someone brought this to the goonicide funeral service pic.twitter.com/ynOuOUJPYu
— hydra (@blephin_) January 27, 2025
Front row POV to the #gooneral powerful stuff pic.twitter.com/ZSByIqHU9k
— Tensorial (@Tensoriall) January 27, 2025
Mixed reactions online
The initial chain of events sparked debate online over both the casual misogyny and sexual harassment at play and the normalization of filming strangers to shame them on the internet.
On one side, there were people who insisted the death of a “predator” deserved celebration. On the other were those who felt the incident should have been handled by police rather than escalated in a way that led to Malone’s death.
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Bikini bean is basically coffee Hooters. This guy intentionally drove up pantsless to a coffee drive thru where the gimmick is women in bikinis. His intention was clear https://t.co/j0eRW2L6hp
— Mawce (@ItzMawce) January 16, 2025
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There were also plenty of people who felt that this was a complex tragedy that can’t be boiled down to injustice vs karma as some would like. But the “gooneral” and all it entailed brought a new wave of frustration at the larger cultural context in which this occurred.
the general hyper misogyny young men in America seem to be returning to is alarming. what Nautica Malone did was vile, and he clearly needed mental health intervention. instead, he’s being posthumously revered as a cultural icon by these weirdos. genuinely disturbing trend. https://t.co/3a4UGZFfky
— Palpable 𝕯𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉 (@Dread_Botlord) January 29, 2025
The internet has caused a downfall in empathy. And I’m not talking about the man (he was a creep), I’m talking about his poor wife, his child and the employees. So much trauma left behind for them and they have to deal with idiots like this. https://t.co/t3AFw2fpGr
— stupid ass princess (@snowskionline) January 27, 2025
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