A few hundred spectators and Sixers fans packed Rittenhouse Square Park on Friday to watch a lineup of LeBron James hopefuls toss chalk, flash their best hairlines and test their hops, and the whole thing ended the only way it could: in a three-way tie. Kenneth Martin, Chad Brown and Malik Fisher all walked away as co-champions of Philly's newest celebrity doppelganger showdown.
The contest, held at the park on Oct. 31, put contestants through a series of James-inspired challenges, including his signature chalk toss, a hairline comparison and a vertical-leap test, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Ultimately, the contest ended in a three-way tie, between Martin, Brown, and Fisher, the paper reported, closing out an afternoon that organizer Jamir Griffin hoped would do more than just make people laugh.
A Dance Teacher's Surprise Entry
Martin, who hails from South Philly, found out about the contest through a co-worker who told him he looked a lot like James, the Inquirer's account noted. He's a charter school dance teacher by trade, and he went straight from the barber shop to prepare his shave for the contest. Despite the prep work, he admitted the physical demands of the competition caught him off guard, saying the unexpected jumping and falling were fun but caught him by surprise.
That didn't stop him from dominating on the court. The same report noted that Martin easily won the dribbling challenge against Fisher, the 33-year-old Germantown contestant who was one of the first to appear at the park that day.
A Grand Entrance and a Crossover
Brown made his presence felt with theatrical flair, arriving at 1:45 just as the host was crowning winners while wearing a suit meant to emulate a famous LeBron James press-conference moment, per the same account. Earlier in the competition, he crossed another contestant during a one-on-one defense challenge, a flash of footwork that helped cement his spot among the finalists.
Fan Outcry Brings Back 'Art School LeBron'
Not every competitor made it to the end on the first try. Hannah Russo, a 25-year-old Center City resident who competed as “art school LeBron,” was eliminated in the second round, then reinstated after fan outcry, the Inquirer reported. Russo told the outlet that she and her boyfriend share a favorite LeBron photo and memes, and that fans understood why she returned to the competition. She celebrated her reinstatement with her boyfriend by doing the LeBron-Joel Embiid handshake, a nod to the two-time MVP's run in Philadelphia.
Small Businesses in the Spotlight
Every entrant walked away with something: competition winners received unique prizes, and other entrants also received prizes sourced from Forbidden Closets, a South Philly vintage store, according to the Inquirer's reporting. For Griffin, that community tie-in is the point. He hosts numerous events in the area to raise money for charity, for progressive political causes, and to bring people together, he said, and to put some of his favorite small businesses in the spotlight.
Griffin's events, he has said, are about connection as much as comedy — a theme that fits into a broader wave of celebrity lookalike contests that have swept through Philadelphia and beyond in recent years. Look-alike contests have been the latest trend, making waves throughout social media, the Inquirer reported in late 2024, pointing to similar events in New York and Chicago.
Rittenhouse Square's Lookalike Legacy
This isn't the park's first brush with celebrity impersonation. A Jason Kelce lookalike contest was scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. in Rittenhouse Square, just one day before a Jalen Hurts look-alike contest at the same location, the Inquirer reported in 2024, while Chickie's & Pete's and Garage Beer hosted their own costume contest for the former Eagles center that October, drawing dozens of Kelce look-alikes to the South Philadelphia sports bar. A Miles Teller lookalike contest also drew contestants to Rittenhouse Square Park that year, with a free cheesesteak from Angelo's Pizzeria as the prize, according to PhillyVoice.
The Jalen Hurts contest drew its own crowd before an Eagles game against the Steelers, with Hurts doppelgangers flocking to Rittenhouse Square for a look-alike competition, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. That event pulled in a few hundred Eagles fans, with winner Quaeleb Monfiston receiving two tickets to the Eagles-Steelers game and a year of free coffee at Dunkin', the Inquirer previously reported. With LeBron James now added to the list alongside Jason Kelce, Jalen Hurts and Miles Teller, Rittenhouse Square has quietly become ground zero for Philadelphia's ongoing love affair with celebrity lookalikes.
