Normalization of queer-phobia and the Popular culture.
Recently, a video “Tiktok vs YouTube” by the celebrity YouTuber, Ajey Nagar a.k.a. Carryminati, has been taken down by YouTube under the case of homophobic content and online bullying. There has been a lot of rage among the huge fan base of the YouTuber, mostly youth, against the action. The video has broken a lot of records and was on the way to become the most liked non music video in the world. He posted a statement on his Instagram platform about the situation and thanked his fan for their support towards him.
So, what exactly happened? Why was the video taken down? Well, the video basically featured a Roast of the Tiktok star Amir Siddiqui. Roast is a form of content genre that is quite popular among the YouTube content creators as well as the young audience of India. In such content, a specific subject is taken(mostly a person) and then they are critised in a bit of harsh but entertaining way. This is not a form of defamation, legally as it comes under an artistic expression. So where did Carryminati go wrong?
I personally watched the video and to me, it really was problematic! It was problematic in many levels and ways that I think, I should share today.
A celebrity YouTuber roasting a Tiktok star is a very normal thing. Because, that’s how the industry runs. That’s how content is produced. But the problem came into play when the 21 year old Youtuber Ajey started spewing homophobic and transphobic slurs at Amir!
Slurs like Chakka, Hijda(a community of Trans folks in actual, but the word is used to offend people), meetha(literally translates to sweet, but is used as a offensive innuendo for being ‘gay’) were thrown out by Carryminati, along with other degrading cuss words towards the Tiktoker. Usage of slurs like these, by a youth icon can be very harmful to the queer folks and people who identify as a part of LGBTQ+ community, as it normalises the usage of these offending slurs.
What really happens when slurs are normalised is, the terms that are actually offensive start to make way to people’s daily vocabularies. Psychologically, they start thinking that those specific words are ‘normal’ to use and cuss. Which in turn paves the way for harassment of people in the basis of their sexuality and gender identity. In simple words, the word normalises the insults which in turn normalises the harassment and oppression.
Not only gender and sexuality related slurs,but casteist slurs like, Chamar(used for Dalits), ableist slurs and body shaming related slurs are also a huge problematic side of these kind of contents. Normalising such slurs can propagate these among the youth.
In a world where marginalized folks are already fighting hard for their rights and going through a lot, the normalisation of these slurs will actually make things much worse.
Most importantly, when something hurts the dignity and safety of a marginalized community, the privileged cannot and should not invalidate it. When homophobic/transphobic slurs are hurled, heterosexual or cis gendered people have no say in it. They cannot brush it off saying, “Eh, what ya? Come on it’s not offensive. Don’t be a snowflake.”
The statement Carryminati posted on his social media platforms didn’t quite show any apologetic tone, which shows that he’s Missing out the whole point of it, thus provoking more young minds to deviate from such a grave issue. Carryminati being a content creator might not have direct intentions to hurt sentiments but that does not quite compensate the damage he has done.
Lastly, The YouTubers are a very important part of the popular culture and have now become the idols for youth and it’s high time, they should be accountable for their actions as everything they do has consequences and effects a mass number of people.
The opinions expressed within the article are the personal opinions of the author.
By Urza Dey.
In reference:- CarryMinati’s instagram post.
