It was only a matter of time before social media infiltrated Fleet Week New York, the annual celebration of sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen leading up to Memorial Day.
As members of the United States Navy, Marines and Coast Guard descended upon New York this week, images tagged #SelfieWithaSailor surfaced on social media, proving yet again that it’s hard to resist a man or woman in uniform.
Now in its 27th year, Fleet Week is marked by concerts and ship tours, but most New Yorkers experience it through encounters with service members in the streets, bars and restaurants, making it ideal for social media spontaneity.
The #SelfieWithaSailor hashtag was promoted by TNT show “The Last Ship.” (TNT is owned by CNN parent company Turner Broadcasting.) The show pledged to donate $1 for each #SelfieWithaSailor shared on social media to the USO, a non-profit that provides programs and services to troops and their families.
It took off as celebrities and television personalities joined, a Fleet Week spokesman said. Technically, not all of them are selfies in the purest sense of the term, but we’re not purists.
Even New York first lady Chirlane McCray got in on the fun, tweeting “if I’m going to use a selfie stick, it has to be with some handsome sailors.”
The hashtag works both ways, with many service members using it to tag photos with celebrities like Jim Gaffigan, Geraldo and Savannah Guthrie.
The week-long event officially kicked off Wednesday with the Parade of Ships as three U.S. Navy ships, two U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutters and four U.S. Naval Academy Yard Patrol boats arrived in New York Harbor. The ships are open to the public through Monday.
CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.