The internet is buzzing over one question: Could 100 unarmed men beat a gorilla in a fight?
The discourse started with a post on X on April 25, when one user named Michael Sherills said he thought 100 men could take on one gorilla. However, all the men in the battle had to “be dedicated” to win. He jokingly told his followers that if they’re not “ready to die” in the fight against the gorilla, “don’t sign up” for it.
His opinion quickly went viral, amassing more than 290 million views at the time of writing. In the comments, many people disagreed with his take, arguing that the gorilla would emerge an easy victor.
“First 15 getting slept expeditiously,” one person wrote about the 100 men.
“You tripping bro,” another responded, sharing a screenshot from an episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob was ripped in half by a gorilla.
However, others believe there is strength in the number of people going up against the gorilla.
“This 100 men vs one gorilla discourse is killing me man. Cuz all this stems from the fact that people just don’t realize how big of a number 100 is. Just count one to 100 slowly rn. 30-40 is enough to handle a gorilla,” one person wrote on X.
“The gorilla has to win 100 times. We only gotta win once,” another added.
The debate has gone beyond just X. In a TikTok video shared by NBA on TNT, famous sports announcers and former NBA stars were asked who would win the fight.
“100 men,” former power foward Charles Barkley said. However, “the Jet” Kenny Smith asked for a little more context: “Who are the 100 men? Let’s get that in order.”
“If the fight was mandatory to stay alive, I would go with 100 men,” Smith added.
Barkley also explained his answer: “The gorilla going to get tired, and [100 men] are going to be coming from all directions.”
However, Shaquille O’Neal disagreed with his co-hosts, saying “one gorilla will knock out 100 men.”
Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast shared a post on X with an edited photo of a group of men approaching a gorilla.
“Need 100 men to test this, any volunteers?” he joked, including a fake thumbnail for a YouTube video on his account titled “100 Men vs a Gorilla.”
Tesla founder Elon Musk responded to MrBeast, writing: “Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?”
NBC News caught up with Sherills to ask what he thought about the post going so viral.
“The thing people love the most is things that probably won’t ever happen, because you can debate about it,” he said. “It’s like tasting a dream, you know what I’m saying? And I think people love to feel it out.”
Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a Professor in Geochronology and Geochemistry at Southern Cross University, wrote an analysis about the debate for The Conversation. He claimed a gorilla “can make ‘human-mash’ with one hand, and there is no contest when discussing brute force and bare hands.” However, he’s not necessarily focused on the winner of the hypothetical battle.
“Perhaps the real takeaway message isn’t who wins in a fight, but to realise that two very different and yet very close cousins have walked two separate evolutionary roads, in their very own and distinct way. And both are nature’s triumph and accomplishment,” he wrote.
Gorillas are one of the closest living relatives to human beings. Along with chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, they belong to the great apes or Hominidae family. Chimpanzees share about 98.8 per cent of their DNA with us, while gorillas come in close second, sharing around 98.4 per cent.
