Parkour, Pick-Up and the Perils of Youtube
So, I just want to rant about something and since LW has always been so understanding when I want to rant, rave, and recap X-Files, Game of Thrones, or the terrible state of romance novels, I hope they indulge me for this little rant, which combines several of my pet peeves: injustice, copyright abuse, and misogyny.
First, a little background. Forgive me if you know all this. I know that several news outlets covered it, but it’s still not widely known. I’ve found, in my daily life, that not a lot of people get what I’m so jacked up about, so I’ll just introduce you to this like you have no idea.
In the past year, I began watching a lot of YouTube content because my favorite producers from Channel Awesome were getting tossed off Blip TV. Blip had been a haven for some time because it could host video without allowing movie studios or music companies to sue anything using their footage when the use of said footage was justified. Then Disney and Maker Studios bought it, shut it down, promised the creators they’d represent them with their YouTube work and… nothing. I think they just left them to fend for themselves or use Patreon.
With nowhere else to go, these creators were tossed back to YouTube, where showing a clip of a movie or song, even when the use of that thing was necessary and covered under Fair Use, meant that content would be struck without question, creators were guilty until proven innocent, and creators could even get a strike for talking about a movie if the studio didn’t like their opinion. Some of this was just studios using bots to identify their work and striking without thought, but that last example was obviously and maliciously stifling criticism.
The video’s ad revenue would revert to the person or entity who put a claim on it without anyone at Youtube reviewing whether the claim was true or false first. Maybe the creator could fight it, but that revenue from those views had already been given to the claimant. YouTube has taken steps to change the system since, but it’s a slow process and there are plenty of people still abusing it.
This is a platform full of people playing video games, even all the way through, without issue (I have to give most game companies some credit for realizing that even bad reviews are promotion, though Nintendo can be a jerk), so you have to wonder why the studios behind most TV shows, music, and movies were so strike-happy. But I suppose that’s a whole other topic.
The worst part is that most of these strikes were on videos that were snarking on the work in question, just another way to silence criticism. And it can be the same for certain YouTube creators. They just can’t handle anyone that doesn’t reaffirm their genius.
See, there’s this whole subgenre full of people who react to things seen on Youtube and some have a loyal audience who enjoys their commentary, sketches, or skills at generating memes. I mean, there is also this whole set of “reactors” who play videos in their entirety, adding almost no commentary while either smiling or laughing. I’m not talking about those idiots.
I’m talking about the skilled reactors. The Fine Brothers have a stable of kids, teens, and elders to give their take on videos, memes, or trends, then we have roasters who take a video to task for one or all of several crimes: being cringe-worthy, hypocritical, phony, or just heinous. They show a bit of it, but most of the video is their commentary, sketches, or dramatic reenactment.
H3H3 is one of my absolute favorites, run by Ethan and Hila Klein. They show me things I might not otherwise have seen, they comment on it with real effort and sketches, they (along with their fanbase) generate some hilarious memes, and they are also careful about who they target. I’ve never seen them go after someone who didn’t deserve it or that couldn’t handle it (foreshadowing!).
They have exposed fake pranksters or people who try to use their “pranks” to forward hateful ideas (women are gold-diggers, black people are violent, women are stupid and easily fooled into making out with strangers, it’s okay to accost women on the street and ask them questions about their sex life!), they put in time exposing injustice (like SoFloAntonio and his Facebook view-stealing), and even if you’re the worst kind of scumbag, they will endeavor keep it light-hearted and meme-worthy. And sometimes we need that. Look, these things could drive you crazy if you let them. It’s nice to have someone to get you to laugh, because sometimes it’s best to take away the anger and, hence, the power.
Then they found Matt Hoss.
Matt Hoss is a middle-aged man (who puts one in mind of Rowan Atkinson without the talent). He likes to hire actresses who are objectively out of his league for sketches that combine pick-up and parkour!
They are basically the film versions of self-insert fanfic — where women who are not receptive to his advances are won over by his negging, debate skillz and, of course, his sweet parkour moves!
He has this character he calls Bold Guy. This guy is the embodiment of confident and sleeveless, taking women to task for those “bitch moves” like not being picked up by strangers at the bus stop…
…not being receptive to being drooled over while exercising….
…being gay…
Bold Guy is usually able to overcome all of these frigid harpies and leave them panting after him.
(Incidentally, there are several Reddit AMA requests for any of the actresses from his sketches. I hope it happens at some point. I’d love to know how many showers it took to scrub those sketches away.)
On one level, these sketches are so mind-numbingly awful and surreal as to defy parody, satire, or even commentary. What can you even say when someone is this delusional?
Well, Ethan and Hila found a few things to say and they got sued for it. The video they are being sued for has been removed, but you can find it easily (I won’t link it directly so as to not get users keeping the evidence out there striked by this jerk, too). They did put up a video explaining the lawsuit last year…
And other YouTubers helped them raise the funds needed to defend themselves. I truly believe they didn’t think they’d need it. They earmarked the funds for an account to help others fight these kinds of claims that they called the FUPA (which stands for both Fair Use Protection Account and Ethan’s nickname for his gut). But it turns out that fund will be depleted before this lawsuit is over, even if they win. To their credit, they are not asking for more money, but they need to if Bold Guy continues to drag this out to assuage his ego.
There are several things about this that hurt my poor head. First, there’s the fact that the FUPA will be drained even if Hoss loses. It’s a shame for those funds to go to waste on fighting this giant baby. Second, and worst of all, is the fear that Hoss might win and leave behind a case and a precedent that many people can use to stifle criticism. I don’t think he has a case and most of the public agrees. But maybe he’ll get a jury that doesn’t get these YouTuber upstarts and finds in his favor. It will impact more than the Kleins if that happens.
But I think the thing that bothers me most is his reason for doing this. In his initial demands, before he let this escalate to a real lawsuit, he wanted Ethan and Hila to promote him, praise him, basically pimp him all over their channels and social media. It was only when that demand wasn’t met that he took things to court on principle.
And what principle is he fighting for? Why would he take it this far? He’s disabled likes on his videos and all the comments are people telling him what an terrible garbage person he is. He is doing himself no favors. He could have quit this and embraced the meme and the extra promotion, but he won’t.
I have to believe it’s his ideology. This is more than a grievance against someone crapping on his “hard work.” These sketches are more than just for funsies. This is dead serious. Matt Hoss isn’t parodying the kind of assholes who think they can get any woman by negging her enough and showing off mediocre parkour skills. He thinks that people should be laughing with him and his redpiller-approved “you should smile more” antics without irony.
He wants to be Bold Guy. He wants all men to want to be Bold Guy. He wants all women to be secretly super into Bold Guy. The fact that this is not the case is galling, and he is willing to take it to court to prove he is the ideal man!
That’s what makes me saddest. This guy exists and he is dead serious about his “comedy.” God help us all!
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