Getty An ice fishing event in Minnesota in January 2022 is pictured. A similar event is seen pictured in one of the popular "ice fishing prostitution" memes.
A mayor in Hudson, Ohio, got nationwide attention after he said that he was concerned allowing ice fishing in his city could lead to prostitution. The video of his comment quickly went viral, as people tried to determine exactly what the connection was between ice shanties and prostitution. It didn’t take long for ice fishing prostitution memes and jokes to go viral too. Here’s a look at some of the memes being shared, along with a review of how everything got started.
The Mayor Said Allowing ‘Ice Fishing With Shanties… Leads to Another Problem: Prostitution’
During a city council meeting, Hudson, Ohio, Mayor Craig Schubert professed that he was opposed to allowing ice fishing in city parks, Local 12 reported. But his reasoning took many people by surprise, as some people are portraying in the meme above.
“A couple of additional data points here for the council to consider,” Schubert began in his statement. First, he raised a concern about the fire department. After that, he brought up prostitution.
“Additionally, if you open this up to ice fishing, while on the surface, it sounds good. Then, what happens next year?” Schubert asked. “Does someone come back and say, ‘I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park for x amount of time?’ And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem: prostitution. Now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved. Just data points to consider.”
Below is one of the many memes that went viral about the statement.
WKYC Channel 3 shared a video of his comments, which you can see below. Watch the man sitting next to him for his reaction when Schubert said, “prostitution.”
Charlie Berens, a comedian and Emmy-winning journalist with nearly two million followers on Facebook, released a video reaction to the statements that helped the whole thing go viral. You can watch his video below.
He captioned the video, “Ohio, what’s goin’ on with this fella?”
Memes About Ice Fishing Prostitution Are Now Going Viral
After the comments were made, the memes started, helping make the whole thing go viral in a short amount of time. Here’s just one example that was shared on Facebook.
Others are joking about selling shanties and illustrating the absurdity. Here’s an example shared on Facebook.
And here’s a tweet that is being shared in a lot of places:
Hudson, Ohio, is a smaller city that had a population of 22,262 as of the 2010 census. It’s a suburb of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area.
There are also jokes about people not allowing their significant others to go ice fishing anymore.
When your man says he’s going “ice fishing .”
In one public ice fishing Facebook group, one person said that it wasn’t quite as absurd as it sounded. He wrote, “It does sound crazy, but I was at a jail/law enforcement conference in MN with a speaker from the from the fbi who specialized in trafficking and prostitution and it’s actually a pretty prevalent problem. But, that shouldn’t stop anyone from fishing or having access to any body of water anywhere lol.”
However, most people in the Facebook groups were joking about how absurd they thought it sounded, and sharing memes illustrating that.
The discussion about ice fishing being banned began after local resident Michael Whitacre saw a sign banning ice fishing, even though he had often been to the same spot before. So he wrote the City Council about it. He joked with WKYC that he and his friends go ice fishing “to get away from women.”
The City Council Decided to Allow Ice Fishing in the City Despite the Mayor’s Concerns
Hudson officials now allowing ice fishing. This sign is up at Hudson Springs Park.
Despite the mayor’s assertions, the City Council decided to allow ice fishing, Fox 8 reported.
Jody Roberts, communications manager for the city of Hudson, told Fox 8 that signs are up noting that ice fishing is now allowed.
Before the change was made, Cleveland 19 News reported that the following sign was seen at the Hudson Springs Ice Park.
Schubert told Fox 8 in a statement that his comment about prostitution “stems from my experience as a former television news reporter covering law enforcement agencies, which have made arrests for acts of prostitution in ice fishing shanties.”
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