YouTuber JonTron Has Incited Centrist Controversy His Whole Career and Faced Few Consequences

June 2024 · 4 minute read

The gaming YouTuber and former Game Grumps collaborator has incited controversy with his problematic affairs of state.

Source: Instagram/@jontronshow

The Gist:

In April 2013, Game Grumps — a well-liked gaming YouTube channel initially hosted by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson and Jon "JonTron" Jafari — uploaded Part 36 in their ongoing Let's Play collection of Sonic the Hedgehog. By this level, the channel had won huge recognition since launching a year prior in 2012. In the video, JonTron dropped a series of racial slurs in succession. Arin attempted to defuse the placement whilst recording, to which JonTron spoke back by doubling down with more racial slurs.

The episode was once firstly uploaded with heavy censorship and in the long run got rid of from the channel altogether. It has since been uploaded through different unofficial sources. Months after the video was once uploaded, JonTron left the display to pursue a solo YouTube career and used to be replaced by means of Dan Avidan.

That was easily the first instance wherein JonTron began to publicly show indicators of his highly-problematic conduct. What did JonTron do within the years since Game Grumps? Things have handiest gotten worse.

Source: Instagram/@jontronshow

What did JonTron do? The YouTuber has incited a number of controversies.

After leaving Game Grumps, JonTron started working his own YouTube channel categorised "JonTronShow." On his self-named display, he uploads critiques and opinions of games, movies, and shows whilst incorporating components of caricature comedy into his videos. As of this writing, his channel has over 6.68 million subscribers. He has additionally seemed as a visitor on a number of other YouTube channels and has even provided voiceover in video video games.

Throughout his career, however, JonTron has sparked plenty of controversy with his political remarks. In 2017, he publicly defended Republican politicians as they decried immigrants in the United States, pointing out: "Nobody wants to become a minority in their own country."

"If they immigrate, they need to integrate, but also we don't need immigrants from incompatible places," JonTron as soon as publicly stated as a visitor on someone else's Twitch circulate.

In defense of his remarks, JonTron would later put up a follow-up on JonTronShow, where he would proceed by declaring that he believes white people face a double standard in terms of racism within the United States. He would also make the baseless claim that wealthy Black Americans devote more crimes than poor white Americans.

Shortly following these statements, JonTron was once coincidentally removed as an energetic member from his alternate YouTube channel NormalBoots, even though he was still instated as a founder. Though his co-creators have mentioned that his removing had nothing to do with his political remarks, this would be the 2d time in his career that he could be got rid of from a YouTube channel following his personal statements.

Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly let up within the years that followed. In 2021, the YouTuber began voicing skepticism over COVID-19 vaccinations that could easily be construed as anti-vax sentiments. He started spreading incorrect information suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci's administration was once liable for the COVID-19 outbreak. He also aggressively questioned the efficacy of vaccines, which many believed to be an issue against getting vaccinated.

Just to be transparent: I’m no longer saying you shouldn’t get vaccinated, that should be your choice. I’m also not pronouncing the vaccine is unsafe. I need the most productive for everybody, I’m simply concerned that the extent of conformity round public discourse has reached dangerous ranges. Stay secure✌️

— JonTron (@JonTronShow) October 26, 2021

Again, he would attempt to explain his remarks in a follow-up observation. In essence, he tried to argue that he was once contributing to public debate as a centrist observer seeking to understand each side of the vaccine debate. His remarks had been met with both make stronger and grievance in equal measure.

Yet regardless of the selection of times JonTron has been criticized for his on-line conduct and his own lackluster response to it, it has had little blowback on his career. He still enjoys a regular online public presence and his YouTube channel even has more subscribers than Game Grumps. His upload schedule is sporadic, however he continues to publish steadily on his social media platforms to his loyal fanbase.

However, he has controlled to keep away from making public controversial statements in the years following his COVID-19 scandal.

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