Podcast Demands YouTube Demonetize Geeks + Gamers, Nerdrotic, RK Outpost
The campaign to save The Acolyte, the Disney+ Star Wars show that was recently canceled because its ratings were abysmal, has reached its reciprocity stage. Now that, presumably, it’s clear to the people on social media who were willing to do everything to save The Acolyte aside from actually watching it that it’s not coming back (though one of its stars, Manny Jacinto, still holds out hope), they’re targeting everyone who didn’t like it. This has manifested in an attempt to get several YouTube channels demonetized, including Nerdrotic, Ryan Kinel’s RK Outpost, and something called Geeks + Gamers, with which I’m unfamiliar, but I’ve heard good things. The righteously indignant movement originated with Rewriting Ripley, a podcast about, according to their website, “feminism & fandom in the age of social media.” Sounds like a barrel of laughs. They made a video they posted on X and wrote a letter to YouTube requesting the channels they don’t like be demonetized, which they also posted on X. You can see them below:
A handful of YouTubers have jeopardized the safety of our community & the creatives we love for too long. The Star Wars fandom demands action. @TeamYouTube demonetize Nerdrotic, Ryan Kinel – RK Outpost, and Geeks + Gamers. Hate SHOULD NOT be a career path. pic.twitter.com/NFzcTLrALB
— Rewriting Ripley Pod (@rewritingripley) September 4, 2024
If you’re angered by the video above, take action. Ask YouTube to demonetize the hate on their platform with this letter from the Star Wars community. pic.twitter.com/3CoufWe6LR
— Rewriting Ripley Pod (@rewritingripley) September 4, 2024
To the surprise of nobody, replies to the video have been turned off for anyone but “people the author mentioned;” they only tagged YouTube, so nobody else can comment. The video and letter try to tie Geeks + Gamers, Nerdrotic, and RK Outpost to Milo Yianopoulos and his bashing of Leslie Jones when the Ghostbusters remake came out in 2016, arguing that their criticisms of Star Wars, Captain Marvel, and The Rings of Power (“to name a few;” will the horrors ever end?) are an “incitement of targeted harassment against women of color” and demand they be demonetized. And it is a demand; the heading on the last part of the letter, which talks about demonetization, is “Action Required,” like they’re threatening to tow a car over unpaid parking tickets. They also bring up Star Wars Theory, who’s gotten a lot of hate since he became – or was perceived to have become – more critical of new Star Wars content in recent months. (This guy was also mocked by Lucasfilm employee Pablo Hidalgo when a scene from The Mandalorian moved him to tears; he can’t win, no matter what he does.) Others have joined their crusade since the initial posting:
This isn’t only a targeted campaign to bully these channels off YouTube and get them deplatformed/demonetized-which violates TOS- its a campaign that’s originating on X which could be a violation on @X as well…but what do I know… pic.twitter.com/crxaN64Xmq
— Steph Anie (@mynerdyhome) September 4, 2024
The “Action Required” thing is important in understanding their mindset. Someone with genuine concerns, just looking out for helpless millionaires whose show was canceled because YouTubers disliked it, doesn’t issue demands like a government regulatory agency. These are the words of authoritarians who think your rights exist with their permission, and if you’ve seen what’s happening to some other big YouTube channels at the behest of the Justice Department, you don’t have to guess where this mindset comes from. When an ideology captures virtually every societal institution, its adherents become drunk with power rather quickly, and the idea of eliminating anyone who disagrees with them grows too attractive to ignore. Call it Karen Culture, if you like, with an army of perpetually offended scolds demanding to speak to whatever manager they can get hold of because they know the managers will be on their side.
Will this work? Probably not. Rewriting Ripley pulled this a few years ago, and nothing came of it. Aside from that, they haven’t demonstrated how any of the YouTubers or videos they mentioned jeopardized anyone’s safety. There’s also the numbers issue, which I’m not surprised they don’t understand because they think YouTubers got The Acolyte canceled and not bad ratings. The channels they mention pull in big numbers for YouTube, with subscriber counts reaching over 1 million – over 3 million if you include Star Wars Theory – and YouTube takes a good chunk of the revenue they generate. That isn’t to say that the platform couldn’t prioritize their politics over their money and do it anyway, but that rarely seems to happen to the extent that they’ll demonetize an entire channel for good. Conversely, Rewriting Ripley doesn’t have a YouTube channel; their podcast is on Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. YouTube only loses money if they give in to Rewriting Ripley. And there’s not a big enough push to demonetize these channels; the video has been shared 647 times as of this writing, which isn’t close to the number of subscribers any of the targeted channels have. This is just another tantrum from activists who are increasingly realizing that most people are not with them, hence The Acolyte’s rejection. But who knows? I mean, they signed the letter with “May The Force Be With You,” so obviously, they’re taking this very seriously.
Let us know what you think of this movement or whether you believe these channels should be demonetized (no hard feelings if you do) in the comments!
Comments (6)
Yeah, the Tenet Media thing was what I was referring to. Such naked bullshit; they’re clearly going for that “Russia hacked the election” narrative, probably without explaining what they even mean by “hacking” again. (You’d be surprised how well it works on their supporters, though.) The good news I take from this is that they’re panicked, and while an animal is dangerous when it’s backed into a corner, it’s preferable to giving it free rein.
Also, the claim that Amandla is marginalized is not only completely wrong, but it is backwards as well. Amandla, Ezra Miller, Chalamet I’ve heard never even have to audition. If an actor gets a role without having to audition, then it is all the other actors who are marginalized while the hired actor is actually privileged and Amandla is privileged.
I once watched a girl on youtube who was mid and average, except in the realm of professionalism. Her presentation was excellent. She did casting calls and auditions for stage, tv and film and commercials. She showed she went 0-for-76. 76 tries and 76 fails. All that work for nothing. Now, that was a marginalized person. We’ve reached the point where the media thinks they can lie to our faces about the terms they use and about reality itself.
When they say “marginalized,” they only mean cosmetic things like race, sex, or sexuality. It’s the only way they know how to view the world.
They are going after Elon, too. Already went after the Telegram guy.
Gossip of fake arrest warrants out for Andrew Torba of GAB?
Will say, after this absurd attack on GnG, my respect for all you critics has gone way, way up. It was the thing that originally put you on the radar was just honest feedback and criticism because I’d never, ever hear anyone talk back to Hollywood.
Hollywood is sham and fake aristocracy. They act like they’re better than you when it’s just a caste system privileged enough to get to be in from of cameras. The implication is that we, the people, are subordinate to them, but that’s not what the country was founded on, which was to go against people like that. People came from Europe to get away from the aristocracy, so Hollywood invented one here.
Anyone who even dares punch up and point out flaws has my respect. You see the stakes. Just for posts and tweets and videos. They call us bugs but cannot take the slightest buzz due to such thin skin.
No, of course not, but I do think there is an across the board holistic approach to ending alternative media. For example, they just accused TENET media, Lauren Chen, Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and others of being “paid by the Russians.” I heard this is being expanded for people outside, like Candace Owens, Andrew Tate and others. So anyone who is competition for what is basically some kind of monopoly in media is being targeted by the Deep State.
Deep Down, I always knew they’d come for GnG, Nerdrotic, and others. Not sure why. The Kelly Marie Tran accusation actually made me laugh because that was before when I was a lurker. It’s such an old story, that to bring it down now, you have to ask, why now? The timing of it is years off, so they are fishing.