One of the most popular memes on the internet today is of celebrities mistaken for another celebrity. Often the stars just go along with the mix-up and playfully accept the confusion. While it’s normal for a superstar to go through this sort of situation once or twice in their career, one skateboarding legend has been the victim of this multiple times.

Tony Hawk, aka Birdman, had dominated the skating world for three decades before his retirement. He is one of the most famous faces on the internet even today, but that does not save him from not being recognized as himself. Recently, ESPN called attention to this in a hilarious video.

ESPN video highlights the skateboarding legend’s identity mishaps

Tony Hawk retired from skateboarding professionally in 2003. Still, the iconic athlete is one of the top skateboarders in the world. Even in 2023, his dominance and influence on the sport have not diminished. Many rising stars like Guinness record holder Gui Khury look up to him as his idol. Despite such huge popularity, fans have not recognized him.

In fact, “people not recognizing Tony Hawk as Tony Hawk” has become a common theme in his life. People have approached him in odd places like in a coffee shop, a clinic, and even during a vacation in Hawaii and asked him, “anyone tell you that you look like Tony Hawk?” Hawk has shared the details of these amusing encounters on his Twitter page.

Yesterday ESPN uploaded a video on their YouTube channel with the title, “Tony Hawk, is that you?” But the video featured an artist and entertainer known as JamesG. He also identifies himself as a semi-professional Heelyer from Minneapolis. In the video first uploaded on JamesG’s YouTube channel called ‘jamesmakesmusic,’ he was at a local skatepark. The man tried to skate around the park in a pair of Heelys.

Read More: Out of the Hospital Tony Hawk’s “Worried” Little Buddy Melts the Heart

Tony Hawk, who has had a long history with skating shoes, did not feature in the video, but ESPN dropped his name anyway. The media giant reminded everyone of Hawk’s funny identity crises, but fans could not help but go back to the glory days of the legend in Heelys.

Tony Hawk’s iconic journey in Heelys

Tony Hawk’s first association with skating shoes started with a pair of Vans as a kid. Later in life, Hawk became the brand ambassador for a popular skating shoe brand called Airwalk. He even started manufacturing and selling his own shoes at one point, and they are still one of the best in the industry. Hawk says he is in his “twilight years” now and wants to concentrate on his clothing business.

Since his retirement, Tony Hawk has also devoted himself to music. This is one common thing between himself and the internet personality JamesG. JamesG is now called the “Tony Hawk of the Heelys world,” and he could not be happier with the comparison. He enjoys the heelys from Hawk’s line and often goes to the skateboarding park in them. Fans are excited to see if something else comes from this unexpected association between the two!

Watch This Story: Gap in the bone: After traumatic injury Tony Hawk breaks silence on the biggest test of his career