A.J. and Big Justice

Submission 901

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About

A.J. and Big Justice, also known as Anthony "A.J. Befumo Jr. and Eric Justice Befumo, are an Italian-American father and son influencer duo who post videos on their Instagram and TikTok account @a.j.befumo. They're based in Boca Raton, Florida and predominantly make family-friendly food and product review content. The two went viral in early 2024 for their Costco content including the viral We're Costco Guys video. Later in the year, more Befumo family members were revealed on the page like Cousin Angelo and Big Justice's sister Ashley. Also, collaborators like The Rizzler joined their content. On Twitter / X, A.J. and Big Justice went viral because their videos were reposted and then memed. Many made fun of the Boom Meter (their rating system) because they seemed to give everything 5/5 booms on the Boom Meter. Before influencerdom, A.J. Befumo was an independent professional wrestler named "The American Powerchild" Eric Justice.

Background

Anothny "A.J." Befumo Jr. is originally from White Plains, New York.^[3] He started his professional career in New Jersey.^[1] For work in 2024, he's a Regional Manager at American Financial Network, LLC based in Boca Raton, Florida, per his LinkedIn^[2] page.

"The American Powerchild" Eric Justice

In the early 2000s, A.J. Befumo was an independent professional wrestler in New Jersey. His stage name was "The American Powerchild" Eric Justice. Clips of his wrestling matches from 2001 have been posted to YouTube^[3]^[4] as early as 2010 (examples shown below).

Big Justice's full name is Eric Justice Befumo, named after his father's wrestling alter-ego. In a TikTok LIVE from early 2024 (recording from TikTok^[5] shown below), A.J. Befumo discussed his independent professional wrestling career, the origin of his son's name and the origin of their catchphrase "Boom!" According to him, he started calling his son "Big Justice" after a tee-ball grand slam that inspired him to say, "Big Justice goes boom!" from the sidelines.

Online History

A.J. Befumo's online presence started on September 4th, 2015, when he shared his first Instagram^[6] post. Years later, on November 21st, 2021, Befumo posted his first Reel on Instagram.^[7] On April 11th, 2022, Befumo posted his first TikTok^[8] video.

The duo's first viral post was a TikTok^[9] shared on December 28th, 2022, in which they visited Sally Slices' New Jersey pizzeria and collaborated with the creator, earning over 1.3 million plays and 127,700 likes in two years (shown below, left).

Their next largely viral TikTok^[10] was posted on January 27th, 2024, showing A.J., Big Justice and his sister Ashley in the car playing a game for bites of a protein brownie, gaining over 3.7 million plays and 329,700 likes in five months (shown below, right).

We're Costco Guys

On March 1st, 2024, the duo posted a TikTok^[11] that followed the We're X, Of Course We Y trend in which Big Justice starts by saying, "We're Costco guys! Of course, we go shopping while eating a chicken bake!" A.J. then says, "We're Costco guys! Of course, we had to try the new double-chunk chocolate cookie!" The video received over 46.6 million plays and 4 million likes in three months (shown below).

The viral video inspired mass reactions, memes and discourse across social media.

We're Costco guys! Of course, we go shopping while eating a chicken bake!
We're Costco guys! Of course, we had to try the new double-chunk chocolate cookie!

Boom Meter

The Boom Meter, also known as Boom or Doom or 5/5 Booms on the Boom Meter, refers to a rating system used by A.J. and Big Justice to rate food products in their recurring segment "Boom or Doom." A "boom" visually involves shouting "boom," flexing a bicep and a clip-art explosion graphic with an explosion emoji. The Boom Meter went viral as a meme in 2024 when TikTok and Twitter / X users started to question the accuracy of the Boom Meter because the family seemed to give everything "5/5 booms." Meme creators used the Boom Meter graphic as an exploitable thereafter.

The Rizzler

The Rizzler is a nickname for Christian Joseph who's a child influencer on the TikTok account @savastaar_n_cbaby. His father gave him the nickname in early 2024. "Rizzler" is a precursor Rizz Nickname. Joseph's Rizzler face is a Chad Face expression, also resembling the Lightskin Stare meme. In June 2024, The Rizzler started collaborating with A.J. and Big Justice. He was featured in their Boom Meter videos and then memes about him surfaced en masse online.

Reception

After the viral We're Costco Guys video, polarizing discourse about A.J. and Big Justice spread on X when X^[12] user @JUSTcatmeme reposted the video and captioned it, "This kid is going to grow up and resent his father for this," receiving over 12,000 likes in three months (shown below, left).

The tweet received viral quotes that disagreed, like one shared by X^[13] user @chillextremist on March 18th, reading, "I actually think it’s baller this kid has a good relationship with his dad and they spend quality albeit cringe time together," gaining over 39,000 likes in three months (shown below, right).

In June 2024, following viral X^[14] reposts of the Boom Meter videos with The Rizzler, discourse about A.J. and Big Justice resurfaced en masse. For instance, on June 18th, X^[15] user @NotThatTomGreen noted that A.J. used to wrestle as "The American Powerchild" Eric Justice and said, "which sounds like a Japanese parody of an American wrestler," gaining over 2,200 likes in three days.

Then, YouTuber Justin Whang quoted^[16] the abovementioned tweet with a photo of A.J. as "The American Powerchild" Eric Justice, captioning it, "Bro," and receiving roughly 13,000 likes in three days (shown below).