Disney-owned Maker Studios co-launched Revelmode – a multichannel network that produced videos, mobile apps and merchandise – with the YouTube star, until the partnership was dissolved following the revelations. But the revelations over the course of 2017 may mean his earnings drop substantially.Īn investigation earlier this year revealed at least nine videos over a six month period contained either antisemitic jokes or Nazi imagery, and led to Kjellberg losing valuable revenue streams. Kjellberg has almost 60 million subscribers on YouTube, and reportedly earned $15m (£11m) from the site in 2016. “I’d urge other developers and will be reaching out to folks much larger than us to cut him off from the content that has made him a millionaire.” Vanaman said: “I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make. The video has almost 6m views on YouTube, rendering it a potent source of publicity for Campo Santo and a revenue stream for Kjellberg. Sean Vanaman, the co-founder of games developer Campo Santo, tweeted that he would be filing a copyright claim in order to force YouTube to remove Kjellberg’s video of Vanaman’s game Firewatch. This time, his racist outburst has prompted a bottom-up response, with games companies stating they will fight his attempts to use their work to create his videos. In February this year, he lost partnerships with Disney and YouTube after an expose of his regular use of antisemitism and Nazi imagery as props for shock humour. The phrase was originated by Harlem, New York City, natives and made famous by the Harlem rapper Cam'ron as a way to quash any sexual and gender error or overstep within lyrics.It isn’t the first time the YouTube star has crossed the line. Joshua Brown in the Journal of Homosexuality, states "the phrase no homo arose in Hip-Hop lyrics of the 1990s as a discourse interjection to negate supposed sexual and gender transgressions". The phrase no homo used in a lyrical context comes as a pre-emptive maneuver to deflect any attacks on the artist's masculinity or heterosexual status. Within this context, " No homo is not necessarily addressing homosexuality, but creating a verbal defensive in the musical battlefield that is wrought with signifyn' and bustin'. realize that a lyric, which is 'inadvertently gay,' is fodder for another's verbal attack on their masculinity within hip-hop culture. In an attempt to divert their own de-masculinization, musicians presuppose those attacks at their masculinity". Use of the phrase Īs with many attributes of hip hop culture, the use of no homo has become integrated into the mainstream North American vernacular. One reason for this as proposed by Brown is that the integration and reception of the specific phrase no homo into the conversational dialect of North American English was simple and due in part to its phonetic resonance. Due to its association to the display of hypermasculinity, scholar Deborah Cameron argues the use of this phrase by young males demonstrates how "gender has constantly to be reaffirmed and publicly displayed by repeatedly performing particular acts in accordance to cultural norms". It is often viewed as humorous, particularly when in relation to a double entendre.
The use of no homo among women is far less commonplace. Brown states that "women can and do use 'no homo,' although the instances are markedly less in frequency" because it is not unacceptable for a female to commit a gender transgression or display femininity through their modes of speaking. Hip hop artist Nicki Minaj used the phrase in her song "Baddest Bitch", stating in the lyrics: "And if he want some pussy that's a no-no / I only fuck with bad bitches, no homo". Criticism of the phrase Īccording to some critics, no homo perpetuates the notion that homosexuality and gay people are lesser than heterosexuality and straight people. Others have pointed out that the phrase is used among gay people.