Big Floppa

On December 23rd, 2019, Instagram user prozhony posted a photograph of his pet caracal named Gosha (Гоша) and another cat lying on a window.[2] The image received over 16,600 views in six months (driven largely by its meme popularity). The name "Big Floppa" originated in reference to the caracal's distinctive large tufted ears.[3]

Gosha was born on December 21, 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine.[4] In April 2018, he was adopted by Andrey Bondarev and Elena Bondareva from Moscow.[4][5] Andrey and Elena also own a housecat named Justin (Russian: Жора, Zhora), who is 4 years older than Gosha and shares a room with him. Gosha enjoys eating shrimp and mice and is very active around his apartment.[4]

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many social media have been banned in Russia, including Instagram, where Gosha's owners typically post.[6] In response to this, a post was made on their instagram page which read "Dear friends, today Instagram will be blocked in Russia, but we remain with you!".[7] Soon after this announcement, they also announced the creation of a YouTube channel and a Telegram channel.[8] Gosha's YouTube channel, called 'Big Floppa Official' hosts livestreams of Gosha with various webcams around Andrey and Elena's house. As of March 2022, Gosha's channel has 17.2k subscribers.[9]

The original Big Floppa following spawned an internet subculture based on caracal memes in general. The community is active on a number of social media platforms such as Telegram and Matrix, with multiple groups devoted to the creation and sharing of such material.[10]

Within this community the term "Floppa/floppas" (lowercase when used generically) has come to refer caracals in general, and especially to a number of other named pet caracals with a social media presence or YouTube following that have originated their own memes.[11]

Big Floppa, as a distinct title, is now usually reserved for Gosha alone, and is often compared with rap monikers as it is very similar to many rappers' scene names, with "Big Floppa" itself being a reference to the 1994 Notorious B.I.G song Big Poppa. He is also known for being a main character in memes about several war crimes and terrorist attacks.[12]

In Russian Internet culture there's a flash mob called "Мам, смотри, это Шлёпа, он тебе нравится?" (Mom, look, it's Floppa, do you like him?).[13]

A Roblox game called "raise a floppa" was made on the 26th of March 2022. As of May 2nd, the game reached over 16 million visits.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Big Floppa.

• Big Floppa on Instagram