Jimmy Butler New ‘Emo’ Look Sends the Internet into a Frenzy

Jimmy Butler, the 34-year-old Miami Heat player showed up to media day with a new “emo” hairstyle, straightened hair, painted nails, and piercings. This is the second year in a row he’s debuted a new look for the season.

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Yeah, go ahead and laugh,” Butler told the reporters with a smile. “I’m feeling very emotional right now. This is my emo phase, and I like it. This is how I’ve been feeling lately.

Butler chose this look for media day, where players take official photos and talk to reporters. His emo style will appear in promotional images throughout the upcoming NBA season.

Social media users quickly compared Butler’s new look to the hairstyles of early 2000s emo bands like Secondhand Serenade, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! at the Disco.

A post on X, formerly Twitter, shared photos of Butler’s hair alongside a meme of the iconic emo hair swoop. The caption playfully tweaked the lyrics from Secondhand Serenade’s 2008 hit “Fall For You,” reading: Cuz tonight will be the night that I will ball for yewwww.

Another user shared Butler’s official headshot with the caption, “Not him going for that… ‘CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES; THIS IS MY LAST RESORT,’” referencing the lyrics from the song “Last Resort.”

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On Instagram, someone edited Butler’s head into Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” music video, where Andre 3000 sports a similar hairstyle. The hairdresser who created Butler’s new look also posted a behind-the-scenes video of her straightening his hair with Fall Out Boy’s “Thnks fr th Mmrs” playing in the background.

The internet has playfully nicknamed Butler things like “Heat Wentz,” “Ball Out Boy,” and “Panic! At the Free Throw.” Butler likes changing his look often; last year, he wore dreadlocks for a while but removed them before the Heat’s first preseason game. Because, he thought they might affect his performance, according to the Ringer.

It’s not clear how long Butler will keep his straightened hair, but social media users are guessing he might sweat it out by the end of the first quarter. Heat center Bam Adebayo admitted. He hadn’t seen Butler’s new look in person before media day and thought the photos were edited with Photoshop.