Blair Carlyle’s social media journey inspires millions

Patrick Connolly, Tribune News Service

Many of Uncle Pappy’s social media videos start with a shirtless old Florida man in a lily-pad-filled pond sharing messages of positivity, philosophy and a love for nature. In the last two years, his Instagram audience has grown to 1.1 million followers.

In January, the previously anonymous content creator shared a clip revealing his true identity: Blair Carlyle, a 30-year-old native Floridian, born in Leesburg, who created the character of Uncle Pappy using a Snapchat filter. Carlyle decided to share who he actually was to be more open and honest with his fans, and to make a change by working with environmental groups and meeting people in person.

His fears about losing followers after revealing his identity were quickly quieted by an outpouring of support. “That day that I posted, I thought that everything could go away,” Carlyle said. “Everyone was nice, understanding and supportive in the comments. People were super receptive to it. I feel like the luckiest person in the world.” The creator’s role as Uncle Pappy began a few years ago when he created a satirical comedy character to yell about uniting America against England, a bit that began between his friends on Snapchat. They encouraged him to post his videos to social media.

“I just thought it was funny because it’s kind of a harmless villain, like England is doing fine,” he said. “I just started posting them, not expecting anything to happen, and then it took off very quickly. Within a month, I think I had over 100,000 followers on TikTok. I never expected that.” What began as a harmless project took a turn when Ben Shapiro, the right-wing firebrand, made a reaction video to one of Uncle Pappy’s clips in June 2024, taking his comedic comments at face value. “He did not know it was a guy with a filter, he just thought it was a real old Florida man,” Carlyle said. “That was kind of a wake-up call, like ... This is the first time in my life that I actually have people listening to me, and so what do I want to be known for saying? What do I want my audience to be? What do I want to be remembered for?”

Carlyle initially worried that pivoting his content toward a more positive direction could cost him followers, knowing that controversy is a big driver of engagement on social media. “I thought my page would suffer, but then it took off more than ever. That was really life-affirming and beautiful,” he said. “I saw that the opposite approach could work too, just trying to be positive and bring people together and not garner any type of rage bait or anything.” Now an environmental law student at Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Carlyle is spreading encouragement and motivation to his followers while also preaching a message of caring for the natural world. He also talks about legislation and current events that pose harm to Florida’s public lands and wild spaces.

“I know it’s very ironic to say, but I am not a big fan of social media. I think it has made the world worse than it has better. At the same time, I do feel like it’s kind of like fire, where it can burn down the village, but it can also cook your food,” he said. “Given the position that I have, I’m like, ‘Let me try to cook some good food with this fire,’ in terms of being able to use it for the good.” Growing up in Central Florida, Carlyle learned to love nature and how to protect it from his grandparents. His grandma started a local movement to save a wilderness area near Lake Harris.

“Growing up, we had all these oranges here. I went fishing and quail hunting with my grandpa, and I loved being in nature all the time,” he said. “I remember when I was a little kid, my grandma explained to me what she was doing, and I thought, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that the natural world needed us to protect it’ because it seemed like it was just always there. And also that people can protect it if they dedicate some time to it.”

Now that Carlyle has gone public with his identity, he’s embarking on a summer road trip with nonprofit United by Nature, driving 8,000 miles from Los Angeles to the Everglades to raise awareness about water issues. When not busy with school and Uncle Pappy projects, Carlyle plays in a band, C.B. Carlyle & the Desert Angels, spends time making tables with his woodworking business and writing. He also dreams of hosting a late-night radio show and of running for governor of Florida.

As he juggles his identities and shares videos now as both personalities, Carlyle finds that Uncle Pappy represents the best version of himself. “What would life look like if you only listened to the really good moral compass that all of us have? That’s kind of what Pappy is to me, he’s like the guiding light that I can ask for advice,” Carlyle said. “I genuinely feel like the luckiest person in the world. I don’t know how it’s happened, because it is just the amalgamation of everything that I love into one life.”