Jon “JonTron” Jafari, one of the most popular gaming channels on YouTube, has finally come out of hiding. After an eight month hiatus riddled with controversy, he’s back and pretending like absolutely nothing’s changed. An update video titled “Where’s Jonno?” went up on his channel, telling all his fans what he’s been up to over the last 294 days. He’s finished three Jontron videos, but wants to pursue other projects. However, Jon made zero reference to his highly controversial views that he made public in a series of tweets and a highly-publicized interview with streamer Destiny. It’s weird to see him accepted with open arms by the community after openly arguing that black men are more violent and more likely to be criminals than whites.
The second video posted, a traditional JonTron take on Vanilla Ice’s 1991 disaster of a movie , Cold As Ice, has been watched nearly two million times, garnering 200,000 likes. The comments section is a battle zone, with JonTron supporters and haters from both sides in attendance. Some are ecstatic to see JonTron posting videos again and can’t wait to see what’s next for the internet recluse. Others are too busy fighting over politics in the comments, ignoring the content of the video entirely.
Jon’s controversial, but never in his content. He’s always just been a normal gaming channel, making jabs at glitchy, old or poorly made games like Daikatana and Dino City. I used to be a huge JonTron fan, watching every video he released. His editing was tight and the format was funny. For years, he was just a normal YouTuber. Then in March, when Jon started supporting white nationalist views on Twitter and posting videos with incorrect data to back up his racists claims, I was in shock. This normal looking, unoffensive dork is filled with enough vile rhetoric to give Steve Bannon a half chub.
Many of Jon’s fans seem to be at the same crossroads, figuring out if it’s okay to still like his videos after everything that’s happened.
“I don't agree with Jon's political (views) but because I respect him as a creator and I find him amazing and relatable aside from this, I liked the video,” Kid Icarus posted on the Cool As Ice video. Meanwhile, I watched Conor McGregor, who’s said some awfully racist stuff as well, fight Floyd Mayweather, who’s been arrested for battery and harassment to his girlfriend and kids, and I felt dirty the entire time. Is it even possible to separate the art from the artist?
I actually found myself enjoying Jon’s take on Cold As Ice. “Tarring grandma’s ashes to your body and doing a Bolivian rain dance” got a legit chuckle out of me. After the video was over, I felt uncomfortable, like giving him any ad revenue was unjustified. When I found out what was really going on inside JonTron’s head, I felt a bit hurt. Like a long-time friend who I’ve laughed with and had some amazing times with was actually a fan of eugenics.
Jon ends the video by walking into a freezing capsule and says: “if I hurt myself, then you can’t hurt me.” Nothing said in the comment section or shared on reddit will ever hurt Jon’s career as much as what he’s already said.
