On X, a photo of a coal miner covered in soot and sitting in the crowd of a college basketball game has gone viral. The feel-good photo tells the story of a hard-working father (literally, he’s a coal miner) rushing out of the mine to take his son to a sports event.

But is it a lie? Or rather, is it a type of performative, working-class virtue signaling?

My dad worked in sewers and never once felt the need to go out in public covered in shit. https://t.co/qVwwIWcg80

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— Darrell Owens (idothethinking on bluesky) (@IDoTheThinking) August 20, 2025

Many people in the comments believe so. The photo, which, by the way, was first posted online years ago, has 19.6 million views on X and has been flooded with comments calling the father a “performative pick me.” A pretty good representation of the average comment: “My dad worked in sewers and never once felt the need to go out in public covered in shit.”

That kind of reaction, of course, is its own sort of performative, working-class virtue signaling. So maybe this is one of those times where it’s best to just keep your opinions to yourself — especially because it doesn’t seem as though the dad/family were posting the photo for any kind of clout.

They just wanted a nice memory — dirty face and all.