What in the stereotype-soaked stunt is this???
Say what you will about viral fitness influencer Ashton Hall, but the brotha has already gone from amusing the internet with weird, outlandish workout routine videos to officially promoting a Hollywood film, with a weird, outlandish workout routine video—fried chicken and watermelon and all.
This time, Hall has teamed up with actor Glen Powell, who stars in the upcoming film The Running Man, which is based on Stephen King’s 1982 book of the same title, but there’s a short moment in Hall’s workout video that’s raising eyebrows.
From KTLA:
To promote his upcoming movie, Glen Powell met up with Hall for a routine of their own. The routine was uploaded to Instagram early Tuesday morning.
“From IG reels to the Big screen,” the caption said. “‘The Running Man.’”
It starts off with Hall dunking his face in a bowl of lemon ice water.
After toweling off with some perfectly placed Clean Towels.
At 8:54 a.m. he opens up his laptop on his desk and adds the finishing touches to a document titled “Glen Powell ‘Running Man’ Training Routine.”
The camera cuts to the two men meeting and beginning their training.
At 9:31 a.m., they strap on their weighted vests and get to work. An hour later, they take off for a run. However, it seems the pair skipped out on Hall’s famous sprints.
Then at 12:19 p.m., the influencer heads to the movies where he’s served fried chicken and watermelon as he’s seated to watch the trailer of the Maverick: Top Gun 2 actor’s new film, The Running Man.
Now, off the top, you, me, and probably Dr. Umar Johnson are all asking the same glaring question:
Why TF is this man in this video with a plate of fried chicken and a bowl of watermelon chunks?
Sure, a Black man suddenly leaning into Black stereotypes while promoting a white-led movie that had nothing to do with Black stereotypes seems like some Sunken Place-agacent (uncle)tomfoolery — but, to be fair, Ashton Hall is…interesting.
Back in March, Hall earned the internet’s collective side-eye by posting a video purported to show his morning fitness routine, which begins at 4 a.m. and includes him doing morning push-ups on his balcony, burying his face in a bowl of ice, sprinting at high speeds on the treadmill, swimming for roughly 20 minutes (four minutes of which were, apparently, spent suspended in mid-air from the diving board), wiping his face off with a banana peel, burying his face in more ice, brokering some random business deal over a Zoom call, and then being served breakfast by someone all-camera. Also, for some reason, the polarizing influencer made sure we watched him brush his teeth. (I don’t know why we couldn’t have just assumed that was part of the routine.)
He’s also apparently quite fond of watermelon and is seen eating it in his videos.
Look, I know none of this explains the chicken and watermelon, but, come on, y’all — this is exactly the kind of dude who would randomly pop up with chicken and watermelon with no additional context.
Shout out to Ashton Hall for making it to the movie ad business, though.
The Running Man hits theaters on Nov. 7.
