"This is for all you lovers out there."

Another Pogo video. We discussed Pogo (Nick Bertke) in a post yesterday called "Not-Funnyites converge on a hipster homophobe."

I'm putting this one up because I like "Back to the Future," and I like the way this edit extracts a theme from the movie: What men do to men. That's what I'm seeing anyway. At one point — 0:47 — there's a split screen with love (on the left) getting gradually squeezed out by the hate.

I feel bad about Pogo. Yesterday, I sent a video to Meade along with the text: "you’re finding out about a talented guy who’s been around for 10 years on the day of his (social, career) execution." It's a little random to throw this on here, but this was the video I sent Meade:

Not-Funnyites converge on a hipster homophobe.

Yesterday, responding to a NYT article about the supposed new trend of "gaysploitation," I offered the term "hipster homophobia" (like "hipster racism") to refer to some uses of homophobia that don't count as bad but work as casual and cool and perhaps even affectionate. I said:

But watch out, especially if you're the wrong kind of person. We've seen "hipster racism" (how'd that work out?), and I'm inclined to call this "hipster homophobia." Make sure you're wearing your "hipster" shield! But you can't make sure, because it's not hip to fret about security. And never forget: this is The Era of That's Not Funny. And the Not-Funnyites know how to strip you of your livelihood in just about exactly one day. To be hip, you must be loose and casual about your ironic interface with the world. If you're not already poor and beyond any interest in building a career, step away from the fun new game of "gaysploitation."

And now, today, I've stumbled into "Disney remixer Pogo can’t walk back his homophobic comments on YouTube." I had to get up to speed on what a "Disney remixer" is. It's not some job at Disney, the media giant, it's independent recording, using Disney audio, and producing results like this...



... which is truly fun and delightful and perfectly nice. That video, from 11 years ago, has over 20 million views, and AV Club had a piece, 5 years ago, "Pogo’s 'Alice' is the Internet’s nostalgia fixation at its most enchanting." Here's a Reddit discussion of it that includes a lot of reminds me of the time I took LSD.

Here's another example of Pogo's sweet video pleasantry:



It seems simultaneously edgy and cushiony soft. Mmm... just like I feel when I think I'm so hip and I can say... anything. And you'll get me. Because you know I'm cool, and you'd be stupid or stiff if you didn't understand the amorphous hipster place whence I originate.

But this is The Era of That's Not Funny. And the Not-Funnyites know how to strip you of your livelihood in just about exactly one day.

So, back to the piece in The Verge.

Earlier this week, a wildly homophobic video surfaced where [Nick] Bertke [AKA Pogo] states that he views “gays as an abomination” and cheers the 2016 massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse. Faced with immediate backlash, the musician is now trying to walk his statements back, claiming the internet “has taken the video very far out of context and proportion.”

In the video, which was filmed in 2016, Bertke addresses why he chose the username “Fagottron” for his YouTube channel. “I’ve always had a very thorough dislike of homosexuals,” he says. “I’ve never liked a grown man acting like a 12-year-old girl. I’ve always found that to be quite disgusting.” The video has since been taken down, though mirrors of it remain on YouTube. He adds that his “subtle” username is a way for him to “express to the world that I view gays as an abomination.”

Here's that video. I've watched it. You watch it and catch whatever nuance you can:



It's "hipster homophobia," isn't it? To my ear, he's a confident guy who thinks he's cool and can tweak and trigger uptight dumb people. Here he is, after he's come under the attack of the Not-Funnyites and after it's not funny for him anymore because he must find a way to repent or die:



At one point, he mentions Andy Kaufman. Fortunately, for Andy Kaufman, he's already dead or he would be murdered.