Channel Awesome
I Fact-Checked The Worst Video Essayist on YouTube

Date Aired
December 3, 2023
Running Time
1:42:30
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Introduction[]

Audio clip of "Pod Save the People with Deray" episode from October 2023

Myles E. Jonson: ...show pictures of them in the gym and their workout journeys. So it feels like gym and fitness culture has actually taken over our media diets. There's another video by the YouTuber intellect James Somerton, from Canada, who I think is a, like, really brilliant person who actually does the cultural connection of what we now see as modern fitness culture with its roots in Nazi Germany and Nazi propaganda and the kind of bodies that Hitler thought were the most desirable. And how American soldiers looked to compete with those things. And I thought this was a really interesting challenge around how we share our journeys in a way that does not continue oppressive ideologies that really are rooted in... I don't wanna say just rooted in Nazi Germany but that's where it came from!

Deray: Myles, I'm happy- This really gave me, um, language...

Todd appears as his profile picture throughout the video rather than at the piano

Todd: [clears throat] So uh, hi. My name's Todd, I review music on YouTube. [image of a man sitting at a desk on a beach] Now for something completely different. So, through the [image explaining "through the grapevine"] YouTuber grapevine... Yes, we all talk.

Clip from "Plagiarism and You(Tube)" video

Todd (VO): I heard that Hbomberguy was working on a piece about plagiarism, including a segment about a YouTuber named James Somerton.

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James Somerton: "Fantasy" contains a possible critique of dominant heteronormative culture, as well as allowing for a proxy to exist.

Somerton is a gay YouTuber, he covers a lot of queer media, history, theory, stuff like that.

Todd: Somerton had gotten into some [screenshots of Somerton's Tweet threads] minor arguments on Twitter with people I know, and that's how he got on my radar.

Clip from "Where the 'Bury Your Gays' Trope Comes From"

Todd (VO): So when I heard about this, I started watching Somerton's stuff out of curiosity to see this, uh... To see all this plagiarism for myself. And I did catch some of it.

Todd: But I was struck by something else entirely, which was [poster for Liar Liar] his tendency to just straight make shit up. And I'm not talking, like, [image of a smiley face holding an "oops" sign] flubbed facts or sloppy analysis, or even that he was spreading bad information from bad sources. I'm talking [image with text "Now That's What I Call Bullshit"] really wild made-up shit that he pulled directly out of his ass.

Clips from more Somerton videos

Todd (VO): And over the next six months, uh... I don't know why but I just- I just kept watching his stuff, collecting his crazy fake-sounding facts and doing a lot of research into him. I fully admit that's kinda weird. But I was just fascinated with what crazy thing he was gonna say next.

Todd: I didn't even know what I was gonna do with this information but...

Clip from "Plagiarism and You(Tube)"

Todd (VO): ...I asked Hbomb if he was gonna be covering any of it, and he told me he was mostly focusing on the plagiarism. And I agree that that is pretty serious. [clip of James Somerton video] But Somerton has also used the credibility he got from stealing people's work to spread some really wrong information into the world. I hesitated on saying anything about this because Somerton is not the biggest YouTuber in the world or anything. [image of a James Somerton Video with "2.5M views" circled] But he's certainly not nobody either. He's about as big as I am, he has a decent-sized following.

Todd: And more importantly, he has a lot of respect among that following.

Clip of interview with...

Todd (VO): You just heard his ideas being repeated on Deray McKesson's podcast there. [arrow appears pointing to Deray with "One of the most famous activists in America"] So serious people do take him seriously.

Todd: And considering the severity of the things he said, I just feel like the record needs to be corrected on this. So this is just a straight, [image reading "Just the facts, ma'am"] just-the-facts debunking of every untruth I saw him spread. I hope Hbomb doesn't mind me [image of Stewie Griffin with text "And I Helped"] piggybacking off of his video. (watch his video first) I didn't consult him on this or coordinate with him [image reading "I call dibs!!!"] except that he asked me to let him publish his first. Which is fair, he had this idea first, I wasn't trying to scoop him on it. For all I know, he's gonna cover all this himself (I recorded 95% of this in august lol) and I did all this work for nothing. Which, honestly, I'm fine with. [image of Tati's "BREAKING MY SILENCE" video] I've never done a video like this before. Uh, I don't love it, it stresses me out. But if Hbomb doesn't cover this stuff, I want the truth to be told and if you watch this video all the way through, I hope it's clear why I felt like I had to make this. [sighs] So, without further ado, I give you...

Title card appears...

Todd (VO): The Many Bullshit Claims of James Somerton

Gay Porn Invented Skype[]

Todd (VO): Number 1: Gay porn invented Skype

Clip from "Make It Big: The History of Gay Adult Film"

James: A conglomerate of gay porn studios hired coding specialists in the mid-nineties to streamline the display of photos online, and then the ability to stream video. Technology that would later be adopted by Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. European gay porn studio BelAmi was the first company to stream live video over the internet, creating a whole new industry of webcam sex shows. In 2003, their streaming technology was bought by a small telecommunications startup called Skype.

Todd: [sighs] Ok, we're gonna start off with an easy one. You can just look that up on Wikipedia, it's not true. [screenshot of Skype Wikipedia page] Skype was invented by some of the people who made Kazaa, they have no connection to porn. [logo for...] Also, the gay porn company BelAmi definitely did not invent livestreaming. [screenshot of XBiz article "Q&A With BelAmi's George Duroy"] They didn't even have a website until 1999.

Clip of "JenniSHOW"

Todd (VO): Cam shows and live video definitely existed way before that.

Todd: And just in general, to the extent that porn did create the internet, it seems obvious to me that the much larger straight porn industry would be leading the way on this.

Hogwarts Gender-Transitions[]

Todd (VO): 2. J.K. Rowling once said you could magically gender-transition at Hogwarts

Clip from "An Overemotional Look at Why JK Rowling Is Bad"

James: In 2014, J.K. Rowling stated very clearly that gay, lesbian, bi, and transgender students could of course attend Hogwarts. She even said that they may use magic to help deal with gender confirmation. She didn't use those exact words, of course, instead clinically sating that one could use magic to change their genitals, but the meaning was still there. So it's no wonder her being a TERF came like a punch to the gut to so many.

Todd: Wow, what a wild turnaround from J.K. Rowling, huh? Ok, this is probably obvious, but for the record [screenshot of Rowling's tweet] the first part of that quote about LGBT students being welcome at Hogwarts is real. The second part about changing your genitals is just obviously not real. If it was, you'd have already goddamn heard about it. It'd be the only thing anyone talked about ever. And if I'm wrong and you manage to dig up this phantom quote, please tell me. [image reading "Nobody's Perfact"] In fact, if any of these claims turn out to be real, just let me know and I'll clip it from the video with, you know, the YouTube tools. And if you see any missing numbers in this list, that's what happened. [sighs] Anyway.

Fatphobic Hitler[]

Todd (VO): 3. The reason Hitler murdered Ernst Rohm is because he was fat

Clip from "The Gay Body Image Crisis"

James: Furthermore, due to the fact that a fat German man spat in the face of their master race propaganda, there was a precedent for punishing those who did not conform to these standards. There have been plenty of historians who have even postulated the idea that Ernst Rohm, Hitler's gay BFF while he rose to power and the man who ran the progenitor of the SS, the SA, was executed not because of Hitler's anxieties, or Himmler's disdain for gay men. But... because he was fat, and therefore didn't fit the ideal image of the Aryan man.

Todd: Alright. [image of newspaper article about...] This event is called "The Night of the Long Knives", where Hitler ordered the execution of Nazi party member Ernst Rohm and all of his allies. And the reason for that was just... good ol' fashioned power struggle. It wasn't because he was gay, although Hitler did use that as an excuse. And it certainly wasn't because he was fat. [image of Herman Goering] Lots of Nazis were fat. Hitler did have a fitness obsession, but it had nothing to do with this. [screenshot of article from Holocaust Encyclopedia about the Röhm Purge] Somerton claims plenty of historians say this; no, they don't. Name one.

Homophobic Anti-Italian Propaganda[]

Todd (VO): 4. England had a homophobic propaganda campaign against Italian tourism because Italy was turning their kids gay

Clip from "The Necessity of Gay Crime"

James: This was at the same time of European history when England had to launch a multi-media effort that included posters, pamphlets, Anglican church missives, fiction, and even spreading via word-of-mouth not to send your boys to Italy. Rich families noticed that after their sons toured Europe, something about them would change after they spent a few months in Italy. The combination of a prevalent causal approach towards sex, a culture focused around pursuing artistic romance, and simply being one of the most scenic land masses on the damn planet, usually culminated in cold English boys' sexual hang-ups being eroded by the hoards of beautiful Italians, or the "When in Rome" attitude when it came to 69ing with other guys.

Todd: One challenge I had throughout this list is that it's hard to prove a negative. [screenshot of headline "The queer history of Florence"] Like, I do know that parts of Italy and parts of history were widely known for having large gay scenes. [screenshot of text about...] And all the countries in Europe have been calling each other gay for centuries, [painting of a man lounging in front of the Colosseum] and I'm sure that at least one young Englishman has discovered himself in Rome. But here, he's claiming the existence of a widespread propaganda campaign that allegedly spanned government, religion, and popular culture [image of "Best Places to Visit in Italy", text "NO" appears above it] about a very specific topic. I'd love to track that down.

Image of a question mark

Todd (VO): But he doesn't give me a timeframe, a quote, a picture, anything that would help me figure out what he was referring to. [image of text "Source(s): Dude trust me"] I tried many different avenues trying to prove it true and I just couldn't find anything. [images of...] And there are comments on that video that are similarly frustrated and lost, trying to track this down.

Todd: Now, he'd also brought up this supposed fact about Italy in a previous video, but with a much more toned down claim.

Clip from "Reclaiming the 'Q' Word"

James: This is obvious in early English writings about Italy, where wealthy parents were informed not to let their sons travel there. Because the much more sexually fluid Italian Catholic boys would corrupt Englishmen into same-sex engagements.

Todd: I'll admit that maybe there's a scrap of truth in there. [screenshot of article about...] Italy did decriminalize homosexuality surprisingly early, so probably someone said this about Italy at some point. But suspiciously, he doesn't mention [drawing of a man in an "I Heart Florence" tank top] the associated propaganda that came with it, which I would mention at every opportunity. So, based on that and the fact that I couldn't find anything, and the lack of corroboration, [GIF of a woman saying "Bullshit"] I'm just gonna venture that he made it up. Now, maybe I'm wrong or maybe it's just an exaggeration rather than a lie which is why I can't find it. But, if it is real, then I will say that [brief clip of Todd playing the piano] as a fellow YouTuber and one whose videos are much less visual than his.

Todd (VO): Not having these supposed posters and pamphlets on-screen is just absolutely terrible video making. If they're real, why would you not include that?

Disney Gay Charity Theft[]

Todd (VO): 5. Disney did a gay charity event and stole the profits

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: During the 1990s, Disney's parks also tried profiting from their LGBT fans by creating Gay Night; a one night a year event at parks where LGBT folk would be the main guests. It was a big hit, and threatened boycotts against the company never seemed to materialize. Initially, the revenue was all to be donated to the Aid for AIDS foundation. But, by 1995, donations to the charity had dried up; Disney was keeping all of the profits for themselves.

Todd: Ok, this is a thing that happened, but it wasn't Disney. Disney Gay Days was an informal, unsanctioned event [screenshot from Wikipedia article about the events] organized by an outside travel agency, they had no official connections to the actual park. It was discovered that the agency wasn't giving the profits to charity like they promised, and after that, they went out of business. This had nothing to do with the actual Disney corporation.

Marvel Comics Gay Characters[]

Tod (VO): 6. Marvel Comics writer Allan Heinberg did a PR blitz to force his editors to let him write gay characters

Clip from "The Scarlet Witch and Marvel's Gay Power Couple"

James: When Allan Heinberg, the creator of the team, initially pitched the idea to Marvel execs, they weren't too fond of the idea of having a gay couple in an Avengers title. In fact, word came down from Isaac Perlmutter, the reclusive CEO of Marvel known for being an arch-conservative racist homophobe, that there should absolutely not be a gay couple in an Avengers title. They did like the idea of a young Hulk and Thor though, Billy's original superhero title was The Asgardian. So the compromise was that Teddy, Hulkling, being a shapeshifter, would actually be a girl who shifts into the big tough Hulkling when it's time to fight. This is the only reason that "Wiccan and Hulkling" actually made it into publication. But there was a wrinkle. See, Allan Heinberg was a well-known gay writer who had written for Sex and the City. So when word got out that he'd be writing the new Avengers series, the gay press interviewed him as much as possible. And he mad sure to tell them that he would be writing a gay couple. [bear with me, i realize this clip runs kinda long] So now the media was flush with stories about how Marvel would be featuring gay Avengers and how awesome and progressive Marvel was. They practically got handed a GLAAD award before a single page was printed. So they decided that Teddy would remain a boy. Oops. But then word came down from Perlmutter to stop the run at six issues; he would not have gays queering up his comics. The thing is though: money trumps hate almost every time. And when the pre-sale numbers came in for "The Young Avengers", the run was extended to twelve.

Todd: This one wasn't easy to check, cause a lot of the comic book sites from 2005 don't exist anymore. [image of...] But I did find a couple interviews with Heinberg preserved on LiveJournal. And, assuming they're real, they completely contradict what Somerton says. [screenshot from one of the interviews] Heinberg says specifically that Marvel didn't do any pre-release hype for his gay couple because he asked them not to. Because Billy and Teddy are just two characters in the ensemble, they're not what the comic's about. It's a new millennium, let's not make a thing of it. He also says that his editors did not try and stop him, they actually pushed him to make it gayer. [image of Hulkling] It is true that Teddy was gonna be a girl.

Screenshot of another interview with Heinberg

Todd (VO): But the idea was that later, through alien magic or whatever, it would turn out she was actually a guy. And the whole reason for that is Heinberg was scared to come right out of the gate with a gay couple and that's how he was gonna sneak him in there. But, his editors told him, "That sounds pretty complicated, why not just make them gay to begin with and be done with it?"

Todd: So there you go. Assuming those interviews are real, that entire narrative is just completely out of his ass. [screenshot of "Young Avengers" Wikipedia page] And finally, according to Wikipedia, the series was always originally conceived as twelve issues instead of being bumped up from six. The citation is a dead link, but I found the writer of the article it was sourced from and he confirmed it, so even that little detail is false.

Bonus Claim: Bendis Also Not Allowed to Write Gay Characters[]

Todd (VO): Bonus Claim: He says Brian Michael Bendis also wasn't allowed to write gay characters. [image of "Iceman" comic] And Bendis made Iceman gay right before quitting as a "Fuck you" to Marvel.

Clip from "The Scarlet Witch and Marvel's Gay Power Couple"

James: Basically, Jean Grey, a psychic, outs him to himself. This was mostly a parting "Fuck You" from Brian Michael Bendis, who had been trying to add queer characters to Marvel comics for years, but Perlmutter wouldn't let him. So, as he was fixing to leave the company, he made a main line X-Men character gay. And, following the outline made by Heinberg, whipped up a storm of publicity about it so that Marvel would receive maximum backlash if they tried to shove him back into the closet.

Todd: Yeah, I don't have the killer quote from Bendis disproving this one, but this claim is still very dubious. First off, [image reading "I can't find it"] obviously I couldn't find any verification for it. Secondly, the timing is really shaky. [screenshot of article about Bendis leaving for DC comics] Bendis outed Iceman two and a half years before he announced his exit from Marvel, that seems like a long gap to me for a guy supposedly in the process of quitting. Then again, I don't necessarily know how long these things take to complete and announce, so who knows. But thirdly, [screenshot of quote from...] according to then editor in chief Alex Alonso, Bendis sold him on the idea just like any other storyline and they ran the idea up the ladder as per usual. So it sounds like Bendis didn't and couldn't run it unilaterally. And finally, it of course builds off the previous lie about Heinberg. [screenshot of quote about...] Who, for the record, says that Marvel was very open to having gay characters. So all of this, no.

Dahmer Hate Mobs[]

Tod (VO): 7. Jeffrey Dahmer inspired violent hate mobs

Clip from "The Troubling Thirst for Jeffrey Dahmer"

James: In many sections of the United States, this sphere of gay men never went away. Even today, these people are influenced by Dahmer when they fight against gay rights; they associate his heinous crimes with others in the queer community. Because if one of us could be a monster, that means we all could be. After the discovery of Dahmer's crimes, there was a rash of hate crimes against gay men across the United States with vigilante mobs out to make sure that the next Jeffrey Dahmer, the next monster queer wouldn't get a chance to find his victims.

Todd: K, I did a lot of hunting for these supposed anti-gay hate mobs, and [image of a "Nothing" stamp] I came up with a big old nothing. The closest thing I found was a reference to [image of newspaper story about...] a spike in hate crimes in Milwaukee after Dahmer was arrested there. But that turned out to be mostly harassment, not violence; the only violence it mentioned was school bullying. [image of Jeffrey Dahmer] So if Somerton's talking about stuff that happened elsewhere, or he means, like, a more indirect link between hate crimes and Dahmer. Uh, I can't prove or disprove that without more details about what he's referring to. But, I would point out that anti-gay bigots [screenshots of various articles about...] were mostly pro-Dahmer, not anti. The popular perception of Dahmer was as a killer of gay men, not a gay man himself. That was a relatively obscure detail until recently. At the time, hate groups would do things like call Dahmer a hero, or they'd invoke him as a threat against gay people the same way neo-Nazis invoke Hitler to threaten Jews. In fact, Somerton himself talks later in the video about how Dahmer's homosexuality was buried in the news coverage.

James: The media became so concerned that their reports not appear homophobic, that they largely dropped any mention of Dahmer's sexual orientation.

Todd: Yeah, so while I cannot be 100% sure on this one, I think the evidence I found points to these mobs being made up.

SS "Teeming with homosexuals"[]

Tod (VO): 8. The SS was "teeming with homosexuals"

Clip from "The Pink Triangles: The Story of the Gay Holocaust"

James: But Himmler soon found himself the topic of mockery as more and more people began to realize that the SS was becoming dominated by gay men. Leadership positions were teeming with homosexuals, and it was an open secret among many in Germany that if a man were to offer sexual favors to an SS officer, most any crime could be forgiven.

Todd: [beat] No it wasn't. That isn't true.

Bonus Claim: Hitler Youth Run By Homosexuals[]

Todd (VO): Bonus Claim: The Hitler Youth was also run by homosexuals

James: Still more embarrassing proved to be a second inquiry into same-sex felonies within the Hitler Youth. Fifteen percent of upper management. Schirach's closest confidantes had been discovered committing homosexual acts, and the organization hid it from public view.

Todd: [sighs] Ok, the thing about Somerton is that sometimes he will cite his sources, and you can just read along and see where he's adding things. [image of...] He got most of this video from Richard Plant's "The Pink Triangle". And the passage he's quoting from actually says that fifteen percent of the teenage boys kicked out of the Hitler Youth were kicked out for being gay, not the adult leadership. Also, there's nothing in there about any cover-ups. And that's also how I know the SS stuff is also made up. [screenshot of a passage from the book saying...] Like, the book specifically says there couldn't have been gay men in the rabidly homophobic SS, you'd have to be crazy. [screenshot of article "The Denial of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Incidents in Himmler's SS and Police"] Now, I have seen a different article arguing that Himmler maybe didn't drum out all the gays from the force like he claimed he did.

Archival footage of Nazi soldiers

Todd (VO): But, you know, that's more to the level of arguing that, you know, the SS was as gay as the general populace, not so gay that they were infamous for coercing gay blowjobs from people. [screenshot of Slate article "Why the Myth of the 'Gay Nazi' Is Back in Circulation"] Also, the whole idea of gay Nazis is a wildly homophobic myth and you shouldn't spread it.

"Red, White & Royal Blue"[]

Todd (VO): [sighs] Alright, let's do something less heavy. 9. There was a big outrage about the gay sex scenes in "Red, White & Royal Blue"

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

James: And yeah, it got some heat... Of the not so great kind.

Todd: Actually, I'm gonna cut him off right here so I can walk you through how hard it is to find out where Somerton gets his narratives.

Clip of trailer for...

Todd (VO): Red, White & Royal Blue is a gay rom-com that came out on streaming last summer. There is sex in it, it's not graphic but it's not chaste either. According to Somerton, there was a backlash against it from viewers, mostly straight women, who thought the sex was too much.

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

James: The bulk of criticism, however, was found on social media, where straight people seemed to be confused and shocked that gay men had sex at all. According to what I've gathered, the majority of viewers who were... offended were heterosexual women who were apparently exposed to gay content for the first time in their lives via Heartstopper. I can understand how legs up anal penetration may leave them surprised.

Todd: Yeah, he also seems to believe that all these women were fans of...

Clip of trailer for...

Todd (VO): ...the cute gay teen drama Heartstopper for some reason.

Todd: [sighs] Anyway, according to Somerton, this became a mini firestorm on Twitter that lasted a few days.

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

James: They were so taken aback that they criticized the film for having an excessive amount of sexual content. They were shut down online pretty quickly by a huge swathe of fans made up mostly of women but, to my delightful surprise, a lot of gay men as well, who told them to pipe down and accept that sex exists, thank you. But for a few days, this very, very vocal minority were making it seem like Alex and Henry having sex in the most basic position known to humankind, while using a condom and even, to my recollection, being under the bedsheets, was compared on a 1 to 1 basis as the third day of a meth orgy.

Todd: For the record, I don't find this remotely plausible.

Clip of Red, White & Royal Blue trailer

Todd (VO): I don't believe that there is any substantial demographic that willingly watched this gay rom-com, adapted from what I've heard is a much more explicit book, and then got offended at how sexual it was.

Todd: Who are these straight women who like gay stories, but not gay sex scenes? [question marks appear on-screen] Name them, show them. But he goes off on this for five full minutes.

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

James: So why is it that they were perfectly fine with Nick and Charlie kissing up a storm on Heartstopper, but basically formed a covenant the minute Alex pushed Henry's knees up to his chest? Were they homophobic?

Todd (VO): Yeah, it- It goes on like this. And he goes into enough detail that I began to doubt myself. It is after all...

Todd: ...a wide world of people out there with many different perspectives. And if I find even one tweet about this, that makes his narrative true [brief clip from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi] from a certain point of view, even if I think it's wildly blown out of proportion. [screenshot of tweets about the show] For the record, I did not find even one tweet about this, and I looked. But, I cannot search and read the entirety of Twitter, especially since search engines all suck ass now.

Todd (VO): And of course he doesn't give any evidence of his own, he never, ever does. Meaning that there's a lot of things he says I can't definitively say is wrong.

Todd: However, in this case he does bother to add a few more details that we can check.

James: We're talking about thinkpieces from places like the Huffington Post and the BBC getting their knickers in a twist over the movie's "excessive" sex scenes. The twist: some of these naysayers were gay men.

Todd: Gay men were offended, huh? Alright, he named the outlets, the BBC and the Huffington Post. [image of...] I found the HuffPo article he talked about, you can see it here. And if you actually read the article, you can see that the writer is interrogating his own discomfort, which came from constantly being told by the world to hide his queerness so as not to offend the straights. The writer is fully aware that this is his own hang-up which he is trying to get past. Because, quote, [screenshot of the quote] "Straight people have seen other straight people love each other on-screen since the beginning of TV and movies — it's time we got that, too." If I were this writer, I would be deeply insulted to hear Somerton describe me as a [the clips of Somerton briefly appear as Todd says the quotes] "naysayer" who was "getting my knickers in a twist" because of the "excessive" sex scenes. He didn't say any of that. [logo for...] Somerton also cited the BBC, I didn't find anything that matches that description.

Screenshots from BBC's review of the show

Todd (VO): All I found on that site was a negative review from someone who basically just thought it was cutsie and flat. None of the criticism about the sex. He liked the sex. In fact, the reviewer said it wasn't as good as Bros, and the sex in that movie was a lot more explicit.

Todd: But again, I don't necessarily know that this is the thinkpiece Somerton was referring to. In any case, [image reading "Oops! No Results Found"] he's named two places so far, and I couldn't find any of these alleged prudes in either of them. But he said the backlash was mostly from straight women, so what about them?

James: Straight people seemed to be confused and shocked that gay men had sex at all. The blowjob references and the one particular sex scene, which seemed like a Rubik's Cube to some straight viewers, were too much for an audience that had been raised on the sexless gay best friend sidekick character. It's almost as if someone asked, "Do gay characters have sexual encounters? How do they do this when they're both facing each other? What kind of witchcraft is this?" As a result, they rushed to the internet, first to investigate how the missionary position could possibly work with gays, and then to express their dissatisfaction with the situation.

Todd: Straight people not knowing how gay sex works, that I do find plausible. But then getting offended about it?

James: And then to express their dissatisfaction with the situation.

Todd: That doesn't sound right to me, why would they be watching this movie? So I looked for it, [screenshots of Queerty* and Out articles about the show] and I was able to find a few articles from LGBT websites on the topic, [screenshot of the original tweet] all citing the same one tweet which you can see here. For the record, I hate articles like this. Trendpieces where the only evidence is a single tweet, and then a bunch of people tweeting about the one tweet. But unlike Somerton, at least they do have that one tweet.

Screenshot of the user's reply

Todd (VO): And you can see clearly that that person wasn't offended in the slightest, she was just confused about the mechanics. [screenshot of another tweet where the user says she's bisexual] Also, she's not even straight, so that's another dead end [image of a "Dead End" sign] on finding these supposed sex haters.

Todd: I also asked some queer friends who liked the movie if they'd ever heard of this. Nothing. [screenshot of Todd's post of the RedWhiteAndRoyalBlue subreddit] I asked its fans on Reddit if they'd ever heard of this. Nothing again. I cannot discount the possibility that I'm just looking in the wrong places, it's not like there's a definitive index of social media flare-ups. But I can tell you that, one, [image of "I Smell Bullshit" meme] it doesn't pass the sniff test. And two, [image reading "No Evidence"] he provides absolutely no evidence that this actually happened. Again, he goes off on this for a while.

James: There's a strong undercurrent of hypocrisy here. When it's gay, it's sexualization.

Todd (VO): This supposed controversy is the basis for this video's entire thesis about gay people not being allowed to have sex scenes. And as far as I can tell, he made it up from whole cloth.

Todd: I am not even trying to defend straight people here. It took me [screenshot of article "It's supposed to be sci-fi, not sex-fi: Hundred of viewers complain to BBC over 'pointless' gay scenes in Torchwood"] five seconds to find an actual example of straight people whining about gay love scenes. But for some reason, Somerton felt he needed to make it about this movie so he could make up a guy to get mad at. Why?

Intermission

Todd (VO): I'm gonna pause for a second. If you're still watching at this point, you're probably like, "Ok, I get it".

Todd: The guy's videos aren't accurate, you made your point. Do you have to exhaustively catalog every single thing he got wrong?

Yes.

Todd (VO): Yes. Yes, I absolutely do.

Todd: And we've got some doozies coming up. (Nazis invented abs?) If you've heard enough though, you can skip to the conclusion where I explain why I did it like this and all my thoughts on the topic. But please trust me that for my own peace of mind, I do have to correct them all. Alright, back at it.

Joey Stefano[]

Todd (VO): Number 10. Hoo boy, whole mess of stuff here about The life and death of gay porn star Joey Stefano

Todd: Uh, there's a lot here about Stefano, so we're gonna take it one by one.

Clip from "Make It Big: The History of Adult Gay Film"

James: He created a hit clothing line and was featured in multiple Madonna projects. The singer was so smitten with Joey that she was apparently devastated when she found out that he was actually gay and not gay-for-pay.

Todd: Alright, I don't wanna say for sure what Madonna thought of the guy, maybe there's a tabloid or something I didn't read. [image of "Wonder Bread and Ecstasy" by Charles Isherwood] But the few reputable sources I consulted [screenshot of text about...] said that Madonna's attitude towards him was coldly professional. Or at best, they hung out a few times. Couldn't find anywhere suggesting she thought he was straight. Alright, next part.

James: Talent agent David del Valle, who represented multiple Hollywood actors and some of the biggest stars on Broadway was thoroughly convinced that he could turn Joey into a leading man and began shopping him around to casting directors. Shockingly, they were pretty open to having him read for upcoming parts, gay porn history or not. He was a talented actor, oozed charisma, and had the type of movie star good looks that are rare. Like Tom Cruise with prettier eyes. Joey also took frequent trips back to Pennsylvania to visit his older sister Linda. On one trip back in 1994, he told her that he planned to leave porn, since David del Valle was busy lining him up auditions for mainstream movies. In the meantime, he was willing to mop floors or wash dishes, whatever it took to keep the bills paid while he waited for his Hollywood dream to come true.

Todd: Mmm-hmm. First of all...

Clip of interview with...

Todd (VO): David del Valle did do some talent management in his time, but he's mostly known as a journalist and historian, I don't think he was as big an agent as Somerton is saying.

Todd: Anyway, the only connection I could find between Stefano and del Valle [screenshot of City Life article "The Tragic Story of Local Porn Star Joey Stefano"] comes from this article. And del Valle is specifically quoted as saying that he failed to convince Joey to try mainstream acting. The article says he never tried to go legit, (his real name was Nick) and that he was actually trying to get out of the industry altogether and leave L.A. Thirdly, Stefano's tragic death.

Clip from "Make It Big: The History of Adult Gay Film"

James: Before leaving Linda's house that summer, he told her that he had some unfinished business in L.A. It was in L.A. that he received the news that he was HIV positive. There was still no effective treatment for the disease and he felt hopeless. Joey Stefano was found nearly lifeless in a Hollywood motel room, his ashen body spread across sweat-soaked sheets, garbed in only a red hoodie. He was pronounced dead later that day at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The cause of death was an overdose of cocaine, morphine, and heroin, a lethal combination that everyone who knew him said was obviously suicide.

Todd: Right, so as to Stefano's overdose being intentional. Yeah, I couldn't find any proof of that except idle speculation from outside observers, not close friends. If he did decide to kill himself, it wasn't upon his AIDS diagnosis, [screenshot of article with text "1990 - the year Stefano was diagnosed with HIV" highlighted] because that happened four years earlier. If he even had HIV at all, which is disputed. I'm just trying to lay out the facts here with minimal commentary, but to me, this is damning.

Todd (VO): A lot of this video you could say, "Well, he just got the wrong idea in his head somehow and then he never bothered to go check it." Lazy, but "Oops, my bad".

Todd: But in this case, [screenshot of the City Life article from earlier] this is the only article about the guy that mentions del Valle. Somerton quotes big chunks of it.

The original quote from the article is shown

James: Like Tom Cruise with prettier eyes.

Todd (VO): So we know this is where he got it...

Todd: ...and he completely re-wrote what the article says.

Tolkien Laughed Out of Oxford[]

Todd (VO): 11. Tolkien was "nearly laughed out of" Oxford because Lord of the Rings was "soft"

Clip from "The Diversity of The Rings of Power" with title card "Part Two: Fake History"

Nice chapter title, James. Anyway, here's the important part.

James: "The Lord of the Rings" is brazenly anti-war, pro-racial cohabitation, collectivist, anti-industry, and pro-nature. In fact, these scenes are so explicit in the text that Tolkien himself was nearly laughed out of his academic position at Oxford, and not just because he wrote a fairytale for grown-ups, but because it was just so soft. So much of it was dedicated to men learning how to talk about their feelings, and protecting forests, and dismantling industry in lieu of pastoralism. [scoffs] "We want real books, John. Like 265,000 word books about a guy who goes on a walk in Ireland while his wife cheats on him, not 575,000 words about why protecting the natural world is important."

Todd: Ok, I don't know what he means exactly by "laughed out of his position". Like, I certainly don't think it's literally true that his job was ever in danger. [screenshot of early LotR review] A lot of you probably already know that "Lord of the Rings" got an initial rough reception from critics, but only some critics. [screenshot from Wikipedia article about LotR] A lot of other critics were pretty ride-or-die for it right off the bat. [image of the LotR books] It wouldn't become a phenomenon for another decade or so, but it certainly wasn't this massive critical or commercial bomb either. It had wildly mixed reviews and solid sales. So I don't think it's fair to say that he was "nearly laughed out of" Oxford in any sense.

Screenshot from "Literary hostility" section of the LotR Wikipedia page

Todd (VO): Secondly, of the bad reviews it did get, none of them even remotely resemble Somerton's description. Critics thought "Lord of the Rings" was juvenile, they thought it was one-dimensional, they thought Tolkien's style of writing was bad. [image of the LotR books] But I just can't find anyone slamming it for being environmentalist, or anti-war, or anti-industry, or that it was pastoral. Except one Marxist critic who thought [painting of men riding horses] pastoralism was conservative British nationalist imagery.

Todd: Not for being soft, there's nothing about "Lord of the Rings" being too soft, or not manly enough. [image of review calling the books "problematically masculine"] If anything, critics thought it was too manly. And I'm dead certain no one complained that it was about men learning to talk about their feelings, simply because that does not happen in the books. I read 'em, it doesn't happen.

Faked Chinese Box Office Record[]

Todd (VO): 12. The record box office for a recent Chinese blockbuster was obviously faked

Clip from "Hollywood's (Gay) China Problem"

James: In fact, a lot of people who work in the industry are pretty convinced that China fudges their numbers all the time. Avengers: Endgame had been the biggest opening weekend of all time at a domestic box office with 357 million dollars in the U.S. and Canada. A record most industry professionals were convinced wouldn't be broken for years. But then earlier this year, Detective China Town 3 opened in China to a reported opening weekend of 400 million dollars. These numbers weren't released by any studio or production company of course, they were announced by CGTN, China's global television network. Basically their English language propaganda channel. The news wasn't even announced on local Chinese news, only the English language variant. Making it pretty clear that it was a dick-wagging move, allowing the Chinese film industry, and by proxy, the Chinese government to flex how well they were doing economically while most of the rest of the world's cinemas still stood empty because of COVID-19. And since there's no way for Hollywood studios to confirm these numbers, they're just forced to take the Chinese government at its word.

Todd: The germ of truth here is that [screenshots of headlines "China's Box Office Fraud: How Phony Ticket Sales Hurt the Film Industry"...] there are reports of Chinese theater chains jacking up ticket sales, [...and "China Film Execs Claim 'Terminator' a Victim of Box-Office Fraud to Boost Propaganda Movie"] including at least one case that was probably because of pressure from the government. [image of The Hundred Regiments Offensive poster] But that was for a specific government propaganda film, not a blockbuster. The only person who suggested that this one movie's numbers are fake...

Clip of video from...

Todd (VO): ...is film journalist/vlogger Grace Randolph. [screenshot of Grace's "Controversies" section] And she literally has a section of her Wikipedia dedicated to shit she's made up. Now I've watched her video, she doesn't have any evidence. She just thinks it's suspicious that a movie could do that well during COVID.

Grace Randolph: They- they doubled their last biggest opening, and that seems to me like a ridiculous jump. There's no way it would jump that high!

You know, she's all like, you know, "I'm just asking questions." It's nonsense. [screenshot of Reddit comments saying...] Everyone else agrees that this movie's high box office was thoroughly normal. Cause it was a highly anticipated sequel, had a holiday weekend. [screenshot of headline "A Bored China Propels Box Office Sales to a Record"] There were a lot of COVID travel restrictions so no one had anywhere else to go. [image of a large crowd of Chinese people] And also, China has a lot of people in it. [screenshot of the propaganda film headline from earlier] Also, when the government does put their thumb on the scale for a movie, rival studios tend to call it out and complain about it, no one did that here.

Todd: And the idea that China only announced it in English and we have no way to verify it, as far as I can tell, the only source for that is Somerton himself. [screenshot of...] These numbers get reported on box office tracking sites that track every ticket as they're sold. And they get that information directly from the theater chains themselves, not the government or the state media. [image of a Chinese cinema lobby] If there's any fraud happening, it has to come from the theaters. The government actually has to go out and buy tickets, or force the theatre chain to ring up fake screenings. It's not just "Oh, you know, the government or the media said it so we have to take their word for it." That's not how it works. Also, why would they only announce it in English? That doesn't make any sense.

Disney Exploited Howard Ashman's Death[]

Todd (VO): 13. Disney cynically exploited Howard Ashman's death

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: Disney did have one employee who was out and who they couldn't convince to go back into the closet though. Lyricist Howard Ashman, the man who created the award-winning soundtracks for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Reportedly, Disney executives were frustrated with Ashman being so publicly out, but his growing clout made it impossible to do anything about it. But sadly, in March of 1991, Ashman passed away from complications related to AIDS. Later that year, Beauty and the Beast would go on to become a box office sensation and become the first animated movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture. Its main competition for Best Picture was seen to be The Silence of the Lambs, which was being protested against by the LGBT community for its portrayal of psychopath Buffalo Bill. Disney saw an opening to win over the gay community, and made a giant donation to the Aid for AIDS foundation. The seemingly altruistic act was later confirmed to be nothing more than a PR stunt, as the money had come out of Beauty and the Beast's award campaign budget. Disney saw it as nothing more than a For Your Consideration ad. When the Oscars rolled around, Disney lost Best Picture to Silence of the Lambs. And when Howard Ashman's partner Bill Lauch took to the stage to accept the Oscar for Best Song on his late partner's behalf, Disney executives reportedly fumed.

Todd: Ok, the best source I could find about Disney's relationship with Howard Ashman was the book [image of...] "Disney War", and here's what it says. [image of...] First, about Howard Ashman's open gayness being a problem for Disney, [various quote from the book appear] the book points in the opposite direction. It says that when Disney recruited Ashman, he asked them if his sexuality was gonna be an issue, and he was assured that it would not be. And when he later revealed his AIDS diagnosis to Eisner and Katzenberg and animation head Peter Schneider, they were all very supportive. Second, this supposed donation to the Aid for AIDS foundation... [image of a stick figure holding up a "Citation Needed" sign] There's just nothing. I've looked and looked and found no connection between Disney [image of Aid for AIDS logo] and this charity, or any other shocking revelations about their Oscar campaign. There's just no publicity for this supposed publicity stunt.

Image of "For Our Children: the concert" promo

Todd (VO): Disney did make a charity album for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation in 1991, but uh, it had no connection to the Oscars. [image of newspaper story about...] They auctioned off some Beauty and the Beast art for the [logo for...] Gay Men's Health Crisis in 1992, but that would've been after the Oscars. [image of Aid for AIDS logo] The only connection I could find between Disney and Aid for AIDS [screenshot from Wikipedia article about the events] was the Disney Gay Night event I mentioned previously. And again, that was not connected to the Disney corporation.

Todd: And as for them being upset about Ashman's partner accepting his Oscar, [quote from...] according to "Disney War", Katzenberg arranged that personally. If any other executives felt differently about it, please tell me where you found this information, but I don't understand why they'd make pandering donations to gays and then not be OK with a gay man onstage. Are they pandering to gays or not?

"Rocky Horror" Saved 20th Century Fox[]

Todd (VO): 14. "Rocky Horror" saved 20th Century Fox

Clip from "The Queer Sensibilities of Cinema"

James: Cleopatra's budget was so inflated and audiences were so disinterested in spectacle that it nearly tanked 20th Century Fox. They were only saved by The Rocky Horror Picture Show. [laughs] More camp! Look it up, it's true.

Todd: [sighs] Ok.

Clip from...

Todd (VO): The movie he's thinking of is The Sound of Music. The Sound of Music saved Fox, [images of cast from...] not Rocky Horror [...release dates of Cleopatra and Rocky Horror...] which came out 12 years later and bombed, [...and people dressed as Rocky Horror characters] and slowly caught on over the next few years as a midnight movie. By which point, Fox had also made [logo for...] Star Wars. So no, it didn't save them from anything.

Todd: For what it's worth, I'm trying to keep this list to the more fancifulized, not the basic factual errors like this, cause I don't wanna seem like I'm nitpicking. But this was... This was just, like, so wrong that I had to say something. Also, he said "look it up", which... It annoyed me.

"Legend of Korra" Too Gay For TV[]

Todd (VO): 15. "Legend of Korra" was moved to streaming because it was too gay for television

Clip from "For the Love of Gay Nuance"

James: Nickelodeon fought tooth and nail against the creative team of Legend of Korra, who wanted to present a queer woman of color. Which were, at the time, three words that the network did not want to hear in a pitch. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there was little effort made to code Korra as queer in the earlier seasons. Maybe it was even a studio note to force Korra into a number of love triangles with male characters, and a continuing on again/off again relationship with a male supporting character. Eventually going so far as to push the final two seasons of the show onto their web-only platform because they knew Korra and Asami were going to hold hands in the final shot and, well, we can't have that on TV now, can we?

Todd: Ok, reportedly there was [screenshot of article about...] some resistance from Nickelodeon for a female protagonist in a quote unquote "boy show". But that resistance didn't have anything to do with Korra being "of color". [image of "I Am Ang" book] I mean, that'd be weird, it was a sequel to Airbender. Nor did it have anything to do with Korra being queer. [screenshot of Vulture article about...] The writers say they didn't even decide there was anything gay going on initially, it just kinda gradually grew that way over the course of season 3 and 4. And they didn't decide to make it official until they were already actually working on the finale. So right at the end, well after it was moved to streaming in the middle of season 3. And it was moved to streaming because of low ratings, it didn't have anything to do with two girls holding hands in the final shot. Ok, and speaking of handholding.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" Controversy[]

Todd (VO): 16. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was controversial because any kissing or touching was taboo lyrical content

Clip from "Disney's War on Gay Kids"

James: Well how is two boys holding hands any more inherently sexual than a boy and a girl holding hands? Bear in mind, the Beatles owe their skyrocket to fame thanks to their song "I Want to Hold Your Hand". But at the time, this was essentially a scandal. "My daughter, holding hands out of wedlock?" Rock music before this was about how pretty your girl was, touching and kissing was considered to be absolutely unsuitable for even teenagers. Elvis was so racy because he made songs about dancing with girls, his gyrating pelvis had women fainting.

Todd: What? Alright, he's making some kind of point here about the straights being weird about handholding, but... [sighs] I mean, like, does this even need a rebuttal? No, handholding in general has never been controversial, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" wasn't controversial, [single covers for The Everly Brothers - "Till I Kiss You", Elvis Presley - "Kiss Me Quick", and Frank Sinatra - "Kiss Me Again"] and there were songs about kissing before 1963. Ask your grandparents. Or just know anything about the past?

Dahmer Fangirls' Victim Shipping[]

Todd (VO): 17. Weird Dahmer fangirls are shipping him with his first victim

Clip from "The Troubling Thirst for Jeffery Dahmer"

James: And we get an extra layer of that with Dahmer's victims, since the vast majority of them were not white, but the vast majority of Dahmer's thirsters online are white, there's further license for disconnection. They get to look at them even less like people than if they were white gay men. It's telling that the person fans ship Dahmer with the most is Steven Hicks, his first and whitest victim.

Todd: So, he's making a point that the weird Jeffrey Dahmer fandom is not just creepy, but also homophobic and racist since they're so disrespectful to Dahmer's victims, most of whom were gay men of color. I think that's a fair point.

Todd (VO): But, then Somerton backs it up by pointing out how these fans ship Dahmer with his only straight white victim, Steven Hicks.

Todd: I decided to go see this quote unquote "popular ship" for myself, uh, and I spent my morning searching through the dark corners of [logos for...] Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, AO3, Wattpad, LiveJournal, FanFiction.net. And based on what I saw, I don't think shipping is actually a huge part of this fandom. [image of Dahmer fanfiction categories] Unless you count shipping with yourself because a lot of people wanna fuck Jeffrey Dahmer. But to the extent that it is...

Clip of Dahmer TikTok edit

Todd (VO): The most popular pairing appears to be with one of Dahmer's black victims, Tony Hughes. Now, that ship mostly took off after Somerton's video. Before that, the most popular ships, uh, [image of Dahmer fanfiction categories] seem to be with other serial killers like Ted Bundy or Richard Ramirez, [image of...] with the actor Evan Peters, who plays Dahmer in the TV show, [image of "My Friend Dahmer"] and with childhood friend John Backderf, who wrote the comic "My Friend Dahmer" about him.

Todd: I also saw all sorts of one-off crack pairings, like [images of...] with Harry Styles, Eleven from Stranger Things, Chainsaw Man, a character from Teen Wolf, a member of the K-pop group TXT, a character from Danganronpa, Pip from South Park. At which point I decided I had to stop looking at this shit. But I didn't see a single one involving Steven Hicks. Uh, you can say many things about Dahmer fans, this isn't one of them. If they are racist, this isn't why.

Bob Iger Pro-Gay Rights[]

Todd (VO): Number 18. Disney CEO Bob Iger has a strong pro-gay rights record

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: Iger was well-known in political circles as a progressive on social issues, and had spearheaded multiple initiatives while working under Michael Eisner to increase the rights of LGBT employees at Disney and to empower LGBT Disney fans. Under his stewardship, Disney switched from the once-a-year Gay Night at Disney Parks, to the full Gay Days event, rebranding the occasion into a more family friendly affair with the intention of helping bring LGBT families into the mainstream. He was vocally opposed to George W. Bush's crusade to ban gay marriage, and donated to the Obama For President campaign in 2008 under the caveat that Obama not defend the Defensive Marriage act, or don't ask, don't tell if he were to make it into office.

Todd: Yeah, I couldn't find any of that.

Clip of Nightline interview with...

Todd (VO): If Iger ever did anything for gay Disney employees, I didn't find it. If Iger ever did anything for gay Disney fans, I didn't find it.

Todd: Literally the only connection I could find between Iger and LGBT issues was that...

Image of Ellen's "Yep, I'm Gay" TIME cover

Todd (VO): ...he was head of ABC when Ellen DeGeneres came out, which was under the Disney umbrella, but not really Disney, you know. [image of newspaper article "Disney Co. Will Offer Benefits to Gay Partners"] Any initiatives for gay Disney employees during the Eisner era happened before Iger ascended to the Disney corporation proper, so I don't think he was involved. [image of men at a Disney pride event] And I know Iger didn't re-design Gay Night into Disney Gay Days because, again, [screenshot from Wikipedia article about the events] Gay Days was never a Disney-sanctioned event. [screenshot of article about Disney's 2023 Pride Nite] Disney didn't do a pride event in America until this year. And for the record, it was a gay night. [screenshot of headline "Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage"] And then the stuff about opposing Bush's gay marriage ban. Look, if a major executive [image of "American Heritage"] at a family-oriented, American icon brand like Disney took...

Todd: ...a bold stance against the President on this [image of people protesting gay marriage] very controversial issue, you'd think there'd be some coverage. But it just doesn't come up anywhere, not in searches, [images of "The Ride of a Lifetime"...] not in his memoir, [...an article about...] not in 2017 when he was briefly floating a presidential run. [...and a quote about...] He talked about climate change, gun violence, immigration, nothing about gay rights. If he had ever taken a stance that brave and ahead of the curve while running as a Democrat, it's political malpractice not to bring that up every chance you get. [screenshot of article about...] He has made some pro-gay rights statements more recently, but that was after he left the company, and well after Somerton's video came out. And, ok, all that stuff about Obama. [image of OpenSecrets logo] Uh, you can see people's donations, so I went to OpenSecrets.org, which [screenshot of...] does have a listing for all of Iger's donations. Uh, it doesn't list any donations to Obama in '08. And uh, none of the committees Iger donated to gave to Obama either. I think because Obama was not accepting any corporate PAC money that election. Now, Somerton adds to this point in a later video, where he compares Iger to his successor at Disney, Bob Chapek.

Clip from "How Disney Tore Down the Owl House"

James: Well, the CEO went from being a guy who argued for gay marriage legalization, even threatening to stop donations to the Obama re-election campaign in 2012 if the president didn't come out in favor of it... To a guy who kept silent when the Florida government started passing legislation that erased queer people from classrooms.

Todd: I think he's implying that [screenshots of headlines "President Obama Supports Same-Sex Marriage"...] Obama came out in support of gay marriage in 2012 because of pressure from Iger. That doesn't seem likely. [...and "A Scramble as Biden Backs Same-Sex Marriage"] We know why Obama came out in support, it's because Biden blundered into the issue, forcing Obama to finally make an official statement. Iger did donate to Obama during that cycle, [image of Iger's donations] but only before Obama made his statement, not after. Meaning this threat to cut off funds unless he supported gay marriage... Yeah, I mean, that's probably not true. Also, he only ever gave Obama $5,000 anyway. Iger was more generous with the Democratic party in general, which might be what Somerton meant. But I'd point out here that [image of Michelle Obama and Mickey Mouse with...] while Iger is both very rich and somewhat politically active, [screenshot of Iger's $350 Million net worth] he is not a billionaire and he is not a power donor. He is nowhere near the level of, like, George Soros or the Koch brothers. I don't think he's out here making sweeping policy demands of the president.

Bonus Claim: Bob Iger Against Valkyrie Being Gay in "Thor: Ragnarok"[]

Todd (VO): And one minor bonus claim: On the other hand, Iger wouldn't let Valkyrie be gay in "Thor: Ragnarok"

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: While he hasn't allowed major characters to come out as LGBT, putting his foot down when Taika Waititi planned for Valkyrie to be a lesbian in Thor: Ragnarok, he has allowed smaller queer characters to appear.

Todd: Ok, fact check. [screenshot from article about...] According to Rolling Stone, they did shoot a scene confirming that Valkyrie was gay, but it was cut for pacing reasons. That's the official story at least, you don't have to believe it. But there's no actual reporting saying that it was cut for any other reason, or that Iger was the one that made that call. That's just speculation and I don't think you should present it as fact.

Origin of "Good Omens"[]

Todd (VO): 19. The origin of Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett's "Good Omens"

Clip from "Neil Gaiman & Queering Fantasy"

James: Gaiman's renown as a writer truly began in 1990, when he co-authored "Good Omens" with literary giant Terry Prachett. According to legend, Neil pitched the idea to Prachett offhand at a convention, to which Prachett seemed agreeable. Though Neil assumed that he was just being let down gently and put it out of his mind, sometime later, Neil got a phone call from Prachett who wanted to know how this misplaced Antichrist idea might play out.

Todd: This is not the craziest story on this list by any means, but like, that's just not what happened. The only part he got right was that it was Gaiman's concept originally. [screenshot of article "Good Omens: How Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett wrote a book"] What actually happened was that Neil wrote a few pages and sent it out to all of his author friends looking for ideas on an ending, [image of...] and then he began his new project "Sandman" and forgot all about "Good Omens" until nearly a year later, [screenshot of quote...] when Prachett called and said "Are you still working on that? Because I don't know how it ends, but I do know what happens next." And then he offered to Neil to collaborate. And since he was a published novelist and Neil wasn't, Neil agreed immediately. So there you go, like I said, not the biggest deviation from reality, but still.

Todd (VO): Not true. There was no convention where Gaiman shyly approached Prachett looking for a co-writer.

Todd: And this story's very easy to find.

Clip of panel with Neil and Terry

Todd (VO): They told it a few times, I don't know why you would tell a wrong and slightly worse version of it when the truth is so widely available.

Todd: Somerton did say [the clip of Somerton briefly appears] "according to legend" at the beginning. Uh, I guess presenting a fake urban legend is better than presenting a fake fact.

Todd (VO): But it's not according to legend, there is no legend.

Todd: No one said that.

"Yuri on Ice" Censorship[]

Todd (VO): 20. "Yuri on Ice" was censored because of its time slot

Clip from "For the Love of Gay Nuance"

James: Japan has certain laws, such as what time of night a queer centric show can actually be aired on TV. This show was slated for an earlier time slot in the night because it's, first and foremost, a sports anime. In order for the quiet part to be as loud as the creator wanted, it would have to have had a much later time slot than the network wanted. Probably not reach as wide an audience because of it, and definitely not have the same amount of advertising behind it. What the creator did with presenting an obviously gay story while still appeasing the censorship regulations was just... an all-around masterclass in network trolling. She had a gay thing that was more or less... approved for all ages.

Todd: Ok, I'm not an anime person, but I do know that a lot of fans have tried to say that the show...

Clip from Yuri on Ice

Todd (VO): ...was censored to explain why it is like it is.

Todd: Other people have told me this is really dubious considering plenty of animes have had gay kisses. I can't really speak to that myself, but I can tell you... Uh, the whole idea of the time slot being the problem. [screenshot of Yuri on Ice info with the airtime highlighted] Yuri on Ice aired at 2:30 in the morning, so I don't think that was it. I almost don't wanna give him too much shit for this because I think a lot of people assume that this was the case, but it wasn't. Everything he said there is just conjecture, it's not real.

Radclyffe Hall[]

Todd (VO): 21. The case against lesbian author Radclyffe Hall was thrown out because men were uncomfortable talking about lesbianism

Clip from "Reclaiming the 'Q' Word"

James: Secondly, information about early lesbians kind of results in men not really being willing to talk about it. In the legal case of Radclyffe Hall, she and her book "The Well of Loneliness" depicted World War 1 ambulance drivers as being primarily lesbians. English courts were really not pleased with this depiction, but women who love women was such an uncomfortable topic for them that they threw her case out of the courts and just let her carry on in her happy life.

Todd: Fact check: [screenshot from Radclyffe's Wikipedia page showing...] Radclyffe Hall was found guilty of obscenity and all the copies of her book were destroyed. You can just go to Wikipedia and look this up. I don't know how you could possibly know who Radcylffe Hall is and then get this wrong.

Nazis Invented Body Standards[]

Todd (VO): 22... Jeez, this is one of the big ones. The Nazis invented our current body standards

Todd: This one's gonna take a bit.

Clip from "The Gay Body Image Crisis"

Todd (VO): Alright, this video is about how the Nazis had a body and fitness obsession inspired by old Greek and Roman statues.

Todd: Which is true, they totally did.

Todd (VO): And Somerton's thesis is that the Nazis' weird body thing influenced the entire rest of the western world, particularly through American soldiers who fought in Europe.

James: But like any time Americans go traveling in Europe, they make sure to bring home some souvenirs. Mostly... Nazi scientists- But also, they brought back body fascism.

Todd: Ok, this is obviously not something I'm an expert on.

Todd (VO): And this video, like a lot of his videos, is broad-strokes general history with no citations, so it's hard to look up on Wikipedia or wherever.

Todd: But, he does provide a little supporting evidence here, so I'm gonna break it down best I can.

Todd (VO): First, he says Americans enlisted in WW2 because they were jealous of Nazi buffness.

James: As the globe suffered from malnutrition due to the food shortages of the Great Depression, or fattened up because the only food readily available was nutrient poor and extremely high in carbs. Seeing these svelte, attractive Germans marching down the streets of Berlin in newsreels created an air of inferiority for many, especially in America. Which, in no small amount, contributed to the mass of sign-ups when America joined the war. Remember, America was attacked by Japan, not Germany, but American boys across the country signed up to fight in Europe. They had to show these "perfect Germans" that they weren't so tough.

Todd: I am wary of claiming things are wrong if I don't have that one killer fact that disproves it right in front of me, and I don't here. I'm gonna risk it and say it anyway. Uh, [image of meme about...] bullshit. That has to be bullshit, show me one historian that says that jealousy of hot German bodies was even remotely a motivating factor in enlistment. [screenshot of article "Alternate Service: Conscientious Objectors and Civil Public Service in World War II"] Only a third of the army enlisted voluntarily, most were drafted, and it's not like G.I.s could pick and choose which theater they fought in. [image from the 1930s of men eating soup] Also, people didn't get fat during the great depression. They didn't have processed foods back then, what do you think they were, like... eating Funions?

Todd (VO): Secondly, Americans were even more jealous when they saw the Germans in person.

James: How did this come about? Well, soldiers coming home from World War II had seen the ridiculous bodies of Nazi soldiers and Nazi propaganda, and the mythical bodies that Nazis held up as perfection, and thought "Oh, I can do better than that." And so a small subsect began trying to attain these bodies.

Todd: What the fuck are you talking about? I mean, this just doesn't make any sense to me. [image of a German soldier from World War II] A lot of actual German soldiers were starving, ragged teenage conscripts and I don't think our G.I.s really gave a shit how fit they were, they were trying to not die. They saw the Holocaust, James.

Todd (VO): Finally, he says that Americans were not jealous of the Soviets because they were wearing big coats.

James: There was a bit of a distraction once the Cold War started up, because the enemy didn't look like the Übermensch. Soviet soldiers were always shown bundled up in winter jackets, so seeing how fit they were was kinda hard. So it had far less of an impact on the psyche of the western army boys. But the idea of gorgeous male physiques started floating away from the military in the decades following World War II, [truly, what the fuck is happening in this video] since America was busy shipping off anyone without flat feet to fight wars in East Asia. Instead, it drifted toward the well-off, the rich, the bourgeoisie.

Todd: There's just so much going on in this video, I don't know where to begin. First, [image of soldiers from...] what were you trying to say about the wars in Asia? Were the Asian armies not in shape? But more importantly, like, [image of Russian soldiers] the Russians not being influential because they were always shown in winter jackets- Are you kidding me!?

Various clips of Russian fitness videos

Todd (VO): Was there any nation in history that has ever been more publicly, visibly jacked than the Soviet fucking Union!? They were not shy about this! They made a big fucking deal about it all the damn time! If anyone was going to affect our psyches, it was the goddamn Commies! The Nazis were hot and sexy, but the Russians were bundled up, shapeless blobs- It's just the most preposterous observation.

Todd: And just in general, the broad thesis about how the Nazis invented abs. [image of "Getting Physical"] I ended up reading a lot of stuff about the history of American fitness culture. That does not mean I read everything, history has many threads. I'm just saying, I didn't see anything that mentioned the Nazis, or veterans, or anything like that. The fitness movement began long before Hitler, [screenshot of article about...] even white supremacists being obsessed with exercise pre-dates Hitler. And I didn't see anywhere suggesting that the Nazis influenced gym culture in any way. [image of quote from "Getting Physical"] In fact, Eisenhower had to carefully design his government fitness programs to not remind people of Hitler. So it sounds to me like [image of Official U.S. Physical Fitness Program] association with the Nazis was a major impediment to getting people in shape, like you'd expect. And there's also, just, a ton of historical information in this video about changing beauty standards and stuff like that.

Clip from "The Gay Body Image Crisis"

James: In fact, softer, unfit bodies, to a degree, were considered more attractive because it meant that person had the money to buy lots of food. But the fat had to be well-distributed all around the body, not just the belly. Because belly fat was a sign that you probably ate a lot of cheap bread or drank a lot of cheap beer.

Todd: I cannot disprove it without knowing where he's getting it from. All I'm saying is, I would like to see a source.

Tangent About Co-writer Nick[]

Addendum

Todd (VO): A quick addendum that I am throwing in here at the last second.

Todd: Most of this video has been in the can since August, I've just been waiting for Hbomb to finish his.

Clip from "Plagiarism and You(Tube)"

Todd (VO): This little intermission is the only part I'm recording after seeing Hbomb's video. And having now seen it, I noticed that...

Todd: Well one, it's way better than mine.

Todd (VO): And two, Hbomb goes out of his way to spare and exonerate James' co-writer Nick Herrgott.

Todd: Now, I did not have anything that would exonerate Nick.

Todd (VO): I knew it was entirely possible Nick was feeding him bad information, but I wasn't gonna accuse him of anything. It's James' name on the channel, it's him saying the words, so I figured responsibility has to fall on Somerton. [clip of Todd exploring Somerton's Discord; sighs] However, Hbomb mentioned a Discord server that they had, and I may have gone digging in it. And I found something Nick posted last year.

Screenshot of Nick's messages

Todd (VO): Ahem, "I've been informed there's some misleading information presented in the fat Nazis video-"

Todd: Ooh, do tell.

Todd (VO): "We could have done more to elaborate on points regarding the fitness movement leading up to the Nazi's spincycle cult, sure. Wyma-" That's not how you spell Weimar. "Wymar did have a large fitness campaign that the Nazis sprung off of, I'm told."

Todd: Ok, that's just nothing. You condensed the narrative, I'm not gonna complain about that, you can't cover everything.

Todd (VO): "However, the association between the Americas co-opting Nazis' fitness ideology IS based on observation. TheJ-" JShark, that's James. "Perhaps in the future, we could do more to use language that would highlight what is an observational claim".

Todd: An observational claim? What does that mean? Well, let's scroll back a little.

Screenshot of another one of Nick's messages

Todd (VO): "A lot of the claims (at least that I make) are kinda based on just raw observation. I'm kinda fucking lazy and don't want to look things up so I just kinda take something and ruminate on it."

Todd: [beat] Are you kidding me!?

Todd (VO): What do you mean "raw observation"? [image of WWII soldiers] Did you go back in time and interview World War II vets? [image of two male athletes] Did you look at pictures of post-war body builders and just observe that they got their looks from the Nazis!? What could that possibly mean, Nick!?

Todd: I wasn't able to dig much more because Nick shortly thereafter nuked the server. [correction from Todd: It was apparently James that nuked the server, not Nick] But I did snag this from him...

Screenshot of Nick's message

Todd (VO): ...about how he'd want to go back and correct any mistakes if their essays were to be put in print. "We have to produce content very quickly-"

Todd: No you don't Nick, you absolutely don't.

Todd (VO): "And sometimes things we write in passing make it through to the final draft. Once or twice, I have not been able to find supporting evidence." Once or twice, huh? Cause I have a lot more than once or twice, Nick!

Todd: And one last thing; right before I lost access to everything, [screenshot of message about...] Nick defended himself from plagiarizing by admitting that he doesn't read anything or do any research. That's funny, Nick. I do a lot of research, especially for this video because I didn't wanna accuse you falsely. I poured blood, sweat and tears into the research for this video, and you saw fit to just present your daydreams as reality. Gotta admit, I find it a little galling. Like I said, the server got immediately nuked so I don't have any more. But I'm including this because...

Clip from "Plagiarism and You(Tube)"

Todd (VO): ...Hbomb was kind to Nick, but I am not. I don't think Nick is entirely to blame here at all; James was spreading bullshit long before Nick signed on. And it's James' channel, the buck stops with him. So I'm gonna keep referring to Somerton in the singular in this video. But for the record Nick: if you're listening to this, your name is on a lot of these videos too. You had a responsibility to be accurate, so you absolutely share in the blame.

Todd: [sighs] Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

NAMBLA Appropriated "Aladdin"[]

Todd (VO): 23. NAMBLA appropriated images from Disney's "Aladdin"

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: Animator Andreas Daja has admitted to drawing Jafar to be specifically a gay character, flipping the script on the older single woman preying on a young girl to the even more toxic image of an older gay man preying on a teenage boy. This was right around the time that the public at large became aware of NAMBLA, or the North American Man-Boy Love Association, so the timing was a bit problematic. The group actually used images from Aladdin in their messaging at the time, a bold move considering how litigious Disney can be. It's not shocking though, what with both the Genie and Jafar being obsessed with how Aladdin looks.

Todd: [sighs] This is just another claim which seems to come from nothing, or at least nothing I could find. Also, it sounds like he's saying they got away with it? No. No, if fucking NAMBLA [image of an evil Mickey Mouse] had stolen images from Disney, the mouse would eat them alive.

Todd (VO): For the record, the bulk of this Disney video, I'd say about two thirds of it, is sourced from [image of...] "Tinker Belles and Evil Queens" by Sean Griffin. So this is another one where you can just easily compare Somerton's video to the book and see what details he's added. Almost everything in that segment about Aladdin's gay subtext is from the book, except that NAMBLA detail.

Todd: I guess he could be sprinkling in tidbits from other sources, but I feel like I would have found it. That's why I don't believe this.

Gay Rights Activists Not Fighting Employment Discrimination[]

Todd (VO): Alright, 24. Gay rights activists in the '90s weren't fighting against employment discrimination

Clip from "Why Bad Gays Are Good"

James: The battles that rose out of the AIDS epidemic for gay people, were access to marriage and military service. When once, the queer community was focused on creating the best art and living lives worth telling stories about, the 1990s brought on a new goal: how best to fit in? So many of the gays left alive once the Clinton administration came into being were, to be frank, the boring ones; the gays who knew nobody and who nobody knew. And they rose to the top of the community, and therefore their priorities rose to the top of the community as well. And what did they want? Apparently, they wanted to join the army and have big gay weddings. General employment non-discrimination wasn't all that important to them, making sexuality and gender identity a protected class along with sex, race and religion wasn't that important to them. They wanted marriage and military, because they were the good gays, not the naughty gays who were sleeping around and dying of AIDS. Not the poor gays who couldn't make political contributions. They were the gays with families, and commitment ceremonies, and office jobs, and houses.

Todd: Hoo boy, [screenshot of Todd's tweets about the claim] this was the first claim that really got my attention, and it's the entire reason why I watched the rest of his stuff. Disregarding whatever else you wanna say about that passage... Yes, gay activists were absolutely fighting against employment discrimination and for protected status for sexuality. Those were the fights of the '90s, I heard about that shit all the time. [image of Philadelphia poster] There was a big giant movie about it. [list of all states where...] During the '90s alone, LGBT activists got employment protections passed in 17 states, [screenshot of article about...] as well as an executive order from president Clinton in 1998 protecting them on a federal level due to pressure from gay organizations. And um, this is drifting from pure fact-checking a tiny bit, but it is not true that marriage and military service was only a goal for rich, conservative gays. [images of a soldier doing push ups...] Rich people don't join the military, [...and two people signing a marriage certificate] rich people can hire lawyers to write civil union contracts in lieu of marriage protections, alright? Now, Somerton's only evidence for this is a single famous quote from Fran Lebowitz.

James: There's a reason that art became Ghostbusters and Cats in the 1980s [...Ghostbusters and Cats?] because all of the really talented artists were dying. The rulebreakers, ones who weren't afraid to shake things up. "Because of course, the first people who died of AIDS were the people who... I don't know how to put this... got laid a lot. OK. Now imagine who didn't get AIDS. That's who was then lauded as like - the great artists."

Screenshot of tweet discussing the quote

Todd (VO): And I have seen other people draw the same conclusion from it, possibly because they saw it first in Somerton's video.

Todd: I need you to all understand that this is not a serious historical analysis. [image of...] Lebowitz was just talking shit to make a point. That's her entire schtick, she's a shit-talker. [screenshot of quote from Fran] Furthermore, she was talking about the loss of a sophisticated theater audience, she didn't say anything about the priorities of post-AIDS activists.

Todd (VO): This is a snarky quote that's probably about some beef she had with a ballet director in 1996.

Todd: You don't have to read it and throw out thirty years of culture and activism, she's talking about the opera.

China Profit Cuts[]

Todd (VO): 25. China keeps jacking up their cut of the profits from imported Hollywood movies

Clip from "Hollywood's (Gay) China Problem"

James: At first, Hollywood was actually able to negotiate pretty good terms with the country. Something closer to a 40/60 split, with Hollywood studios getting 60% of the box office returns. But, as the Chinese box office began growing year over year, the Chinese government began to re-neg on those agreements. Forcing studios back to the negotiating table sometimes twice a year, whereas studios would sign decade-long contracts with American theatre chains. All of this led to today, where China reportedly keeps a whopping 75 to 80% of the box office returns, with studios getting as little as 20%. There's no public financial data for representing this because, again, studios like to keep how much their movies make and where that money comes from as secret as possible, lest they be forced to pay their fair share of taxes.

Todd: This is literally the opposite of what happened. Hollywood's cut of the profits has not gone down to 25%, it's gone up to 25%. [image of newspaper article about...] China used to take an insanely high percentage, and over the years, Hollywood has managed to chisel it down to just pretty high. As for the idea that we can't look at the numbers and confirm this for certain... Uh, yes... We absolutely can. [image of...] It's an international trade agreement, you can just look it up. Hollywood gets 25%.

Disney Princess Funerals[]

Todd (VO): 26. Disney princesses are marketed to funerals

Clip from "How Disney Tore Down the Owl House"

James: There is, after all, a sub-industry at Disney geared at marketing their princesses for themed weddings, and... funerals. Yes, funerals.

Todd: No, not funeral- [sighs] Alright. [image of Disney Marketing Mix graphic] This could only be considered true in the sense that Disney marketing permeates everything, so [image of a Mickey Mouse casket] there are people who would absolutely get Disney themed funerals if Disney was willing to sell it to them. But Disney is very much not willing to do that, the Disney corporation is extremely averse to associating its brand with funerals. [image of article "Can You Have a Funeral or Memorial at Disney World"] They do not allow memorial services at Disney parks, [image of an Elsa casket] and any Disney funeral decorations you can find are bootleg. [screenshot of...] There are some fake satirical websites that advertise Disney funerals. [image of Mickey Mouse standing over a casket] And if James saw those and took it for serious, then I will classify this as a mistake rather than a lie. But either way, there's just no way there is a, quote, "funeral marketing sub-industry" at Disney.

AIDS Patients' "Beauty and the Beast" Roses[]

Todd (VO): 27. Dying AIDS patients kept a "Beauty and the Beast" rose by their beds

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

James: The Beast is given the lifespan of a magical rose to find a cure to his curse, someone to love that will love him in return. And although missing the deadline means only that he'll remain a Beast permanently, the narrative contrives to have him at the brink of death just as the last petal falls from the flower. This messaging was adopted by many people hospitalized with the disease at the time. Those who knew they were near death would ask for a pink rose to sit on their bedside, a beautiful ticking clock counting down to when they too would be lost forever.

Todd: [sighs] God, this one video in particular, man. I just, ugh... Anyway, the source for this fact is... [image captioned "I made it up"] You know, who knows, question mark. I'm inclined to disbelieve it just because... Just, I mean, just because it's so ghoulish and horrible.

Todd (VO): To keep a symbolic ticking death clock by your bed.

Todd: A-Are you sure you're not thinking of just, like, regular flowers that you give to hospital patients? [image of "Tinker Belles and Evil Queens"] Again, this is one of the segments that's largely sourced from "Tinker Belles", everything he says about Beauty and the Beast's AIDS subtext is from that book, except this detail.

Bob Iger and the DCEU[]

Todd (VO): 28. Bob Iger was working on the DCEU because he hates Bob Chapek

Clip from "How Disney Tore Down the Owl House"

James: According to a former Disney executive, Iger has said that he didn't realize Chapek was such a novice when it came to handling complex issues like talent management and political battles, and that Chapek was arrogant and uninterested in other people's opinions. He is also not fond of the fact that Chapek is a crypto enthusiast who wants NFTs to become particularly important parts of Disney going forward. He's even started consulting with Warner Brothers on how to rebuild the DCEU, that's how much he wants Chapek to fail.

Todd: Alright, this video is from mid-2022, [screenshot of headline "Ex-Disney boss Bob Iger reportedly regrets trapping Bob Chapek as CEO"] when the Iger-Chapek feud was still running hot. The first reasons that Somerton gives for the feud, uh, are all pretty easy to confirm. The stuff about NFTs, [screenshots of headlines "Disney's Latest Job Postings Hint at Big Plans for NFT and Crypto Adoption"...] Chapek did have a lot of plans for Disney and the Metaverse, so it is fair to call him a crypto guy. [..."Former Disney CEO Bob Iger Predicts NFT Explosion"...] Unfortunately, so is Iger. [...and "Disney cuts metaverse division as part of broader restructuring"] That said, since this video, Iger has laid off the entire Disney Metaverse division, so retroactively, you could call that true. [image of DCEU heroes] But then there's that last claim about Warner Brothers, which I can't find at all. Considering all the attention that feud got and what a bombshell it would be if Iger switched studios, I think coverage of this would be pretty easy to find. [screenshot of headline "DISNEY SHSKEUP: Bob Iger Back as CEO, Bob Chapek Out; Board Cites 'Complex Industry Transformation' for Shocking C-Suite Shufle"] And, as we now know, Iger was working against Chapek, not by helping a competitor, but by getting Chapek removed and taking back the position. It seems unlikely that Iger would work for Warner Bothers if he was still invested this much in Disney's success, and again, there's just no evidence for it.

Major Industries Burying New Technology[]

Todd (VO): 29. Major industries spend most of their budget buying and burying new technology

Clip from "Nostalgia and Remembering the Bad Times"

James: The corporatocratic oligarchy of America influences the government to protect their interests. These interests include the hidden copyright vault in General Electric, Nokia, and Big Pharma in general, which each house the technology to throw us into a utopic age. Because their largest yearly expense is buying up patented technology developed at universities to make sure they never see the light of day in order to foster the consumer public's dependency on their existing, profit-driven products.

Todd: I-I mean that's, that's, uh... I mean, that's just your classic crank [clip of the Pepe Silvia meme] tinfoil hat shit. Uh, there have been conspiracy theories since forever that, uh... Like, Pfizer has the cure for AIDS but they're sitting on it because treating it is more lucrative than curing it. I mean, that's pretty standard conspiracy theory stuff and I wouldn't have included that alone. But he also makes a more specific claim [image of a monthly expenses chart] that their highest expense is buying up new patents for technology and burying it, that appears to be a Somerton original, and... I'm sorry, where on earth could you possibly be getting that? I uh, I actually don't have any facts to rebut this claim, [image of...] I didn't go through Nokia's quarterly reports looking for their "Burying utopian technology" budget. Honestly, I don't think this one merits much research. Next.

Pirates Were Philanthropists[]

Todd (VO): 30. Pirates were philanthropists

Clip from "The Brilliance of Our Queer Flag Means Death"

James: Piracy flourished, to the point of not only being profitable, but developing an ideology. Existing primarily in the North and South American colonies, some of the more successful pirate captains took it upon themselves to fill in the gaps left by the English crown and finance well-needed social institutions. Pirate raids funded schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. I have heard pirates be described as primeval leftists, and... Well, that really depends on some people's definition of leftism. Prolific pirate captains such as Blackbeard and his contemporaries leaned into a kind of radical social rejection of conventionally-held bureaucratic government structures. Their actions advocated for liberation from that convectional society in lieu of personal freedoms.

Todd: Ok, pirates.

Todd (VO): Now, this was part of a larger segment about how some historians have tried to re-interpret pirates as [image of article "Piratical Actors: Origins, Motives, and Political Sentiments, c. 1716-1726"] rebels with a cause rather than just criminals. And Somerton correctly notes that it's a debatable interpretation, but it is a thing people say, that's fine.

Todd: The reasons why people say this though, he's just completely botched. [image of Pablo Escobar mural] Yes, many outlaws, cartels, and gangsters have given back to underserved communities throughout history, but pirates? What? [screenshot of New Yorker article "Bootylicious"] I read way more about pirates than one non-pirate enthusiast should have to trying to track this source down and [image of "The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet"] then I just gave up and found a historian to ask. (If you want to know more about the real guy "Our Flag Means Death" is based on, check out his book!) Thank you Mr. Jeremy Moss, If you would like to know more about pirates, he has a book about the true story of Stede Bonnet. Anyway, I asked him if pirates ever funded schools and hospitals, and he was like "Wow, wouldn't that be cool. But no." [image of The Pirate Code] The argument for pirates being proto leftists is their relatively democratic leadership structure. [image of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride] But the only funding they ever did was to their own criminal havens, [image of Captain Jack Sparrow] they were not robbing the rich to give to the poor. The expert I consulted also did not appreciate this part.

James: Pirates are a bit of a mystery in their personal lives, which is probably why they maintain such a hold on our media. Unfortunately, however, the golden age of piracy coincided with the golden age of English illiteracy. So what we know about them is largely left open to anti-pirate propaganda. What's left is mostly historic accounts from scholars who have risen in the ranks through academic institutions because they think following the rules is the coolest thing.

Todd: Yes, literacy rates were lower back then, but not that low, at least not according to the guy I talked to. He would like you to know that, while there are gaps in the historical record, [image of...] we do in fact have tons of first-hand accounts from pirates, pirate hunters, pirate victims, and various other eyewitnesses and reporting, not just second-hand propaganda. Also, he says historians are, quote, "treasure hunters of truth", [image of a man in a library holding a book] not rule-following weenies. Thank you, professor. And this part.

James: This is an era where the English were tossing around homophobic slurs at anyone they were even slightly annoyed by. However, the English rarely labeled pirates as being homosexual "perverts". I read this as the fact that many English pirates were former naval officers and soldiers. Given that the English colonial strategy was conquering the world by sending wave after wave of boys plucked out of discriminated underclasses, the British labeling pirates as homosexuals may have incited more British soldiers to mutiny than already did.

Todd: Yeah, the expert just didn't know what this was supposed to be a reference to at all. He called it "dubious".

Gay Panic Trial of John Parisie[]

Todd (VO): 31. The gay panic trial of John Parisie

Todd: Ok, this one is... kind of involved, so bear with me. [image of...] In 1968, John Parisie murdered Donald Jackson (sic) in Springfield, Illinois. He tried the- the gay panic defense; like, "Oh, I only snapped cause the guy made a pass at me and I couldn't control myself". You know. [image reading "Guilty"] It didn't work, he was found guilty, he got 40 years.

Clip from "The History of Gay Panic"

Todd (VO): Now, Somerton's description of the case is fairly accurate, or at least it has a source, until right at the end where he starts to go off.

James: When prosecutors cross-examined the psychologist, they managed to have him admit that gay panic was not a mental illness, nor was it part of psychiatric nomenclature. They were using junk science to justify a murder. The jury audibly booed the prosecutor with no intervention from the judge.

Todd: Ok, [image of...] I have the source that he's pulling from, which... I- I guess is, like, a transcript of some no-name podcast or something, I'm not sure. But there is no mention in there of the jury booing, none at all. And also, that's just ridiculous on its face. Juries don't boo, that'd be an instant mistrial. [image of a jury giving thumbs downs] Please find me any instance of this happening anywhere ever. [image of a man being sentenced] Also, the jury sided with the prosecutor, why would they have booed him for proving that gay panic wasn't a real thing? I don't understand what this detail is even supposed to mean. Anyway, Parisie appealed the verdict, and one of his arguments was that the judge [image of a judge banging a gavel] unfairly suppressed testimony about how the victim was in fact gay, which Parisie thought would have helped his case. Here's what Somerton says.

James: Parisie was convicted of manslaughter, but upon appeal, was set free. The appeals court stated that "By not allowing more witnesses to testify that Robert Jackson was homosexual, but allowing Jackson's wife to speak, the original judge allowed too much doubt to seep in. If the jury were completely convinced of his perversities, a full acquittal would have been likely." And so John Stephan Parisie was let back into the world, a world Robert Jackson no longer lived in.

Todd: So, it is true [image of Parisie v. Greer summary] that after fourteen years in prison, Parisie did win his appeal in 1982, partially because of the suppressed witnesses. However...

Todd (VO): This quote right here, the one where the judge calls the dead gay man a pervert, and said his perversions would have led to an acquittal. I am almost certain that this quote...

Todd: ...is completely fabricated. [image of the podcast transcript] It does not appear in the source he's pulling from, [images of...] and it does not appear in any of the court rulings, of which there were several. Uh, it's possible that I just don't know my way around legal documents well enough to find the source of this quote, but also just on basic logic, I don't buy it.

Todd (VO): The gay panic defense is used to get leniency, not acquittal. Somerton says that himself earlier in the video.

Todd: And it's definitely not likely that Parisie would have been acquitted. Parisie said beforehand that he was gonna go, quote, [screenshots of the quote...] "roll a queer" because he needed the money, [...and an article about...] and when he was arrested, he was in possession of the victim's wallet, wedding ring, and car. Plus, the prosecutor debunked gay panic as made-up anyway. So even with the testimony, I don't buy that he would've been acquitted, [image of Abraham Lincoln "quote" reading "The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true."] a judge did not say that. Finally, I did consult with some lawyers about these court documents, [images of...] thank you Devin "LegalEagle" and @jewishlawyerlib on Twitter. And based on what they told me, I think the entire conclusion of this segment is wrong. [image of the podcast transcript] That's not Somerton's fault, the source he's using misinterpreted the case. But what actually happened was Parisie won the right to [cartoon of a court house with someone clicking a re-do button] a re-trial in 1982. Not his freedom, just a re-trial. However, [image of court record for...] the state appealed that ruling and a year later, the court changed its mind. Based on, like, minor procedural stuff, like Parisie missed a filing deadline somewhere along the line. So. [image of "There Are Noe Do-Overs"] The first appeal was overturned and the original guilty verdict stood, Parisie did not get his re-trial. And again, that's not Somerton's fault, his source was wrong.

Todd (VO): But the embellishments he added, those do belong to him, and they make the initial error much worse. [image of article about...] The prosecutor had argued that the victim probably wasn't even gay, and one appeals judge thought, "If you're gonna call this guy a liar, he has the right to prove you wrong."

Todd: If you think there were maybe some biased undertones to that decision... Uh, you know what, go ahead and make that case, but the decision was about the right to a fair trial, not whether it's OK to murder "perverts". He's once again fabricating evidence to support someone else's conclusion, which in this case wasn't even valid.

Stan Lee and Scarlet Witch[]

Todd (VO): 32. Stan Lee loves this Scarlet Witch moment

Clip from "The Scarlet Witch and Marvel's Gay Power Couple"

James: She wants to find out who she is on her own terms. The only label she does embrace is "mother", wrapping her arms around the children she never knew. This was actually one of Stan Lee's favorite moments in Marvel comics, along with the death of Gwen Stacy.

Todd: I wasn't gonna include this one. I looked, [image of "Avengers: The Children's Crusade"] and looked for Stan Lee saying anything about this particular comic, and I didn't find anything. [through gritted teeth] But that doesn't mean he didn't say it. [image of...] And it's not like Stan Lee wouldn't have said it, Stan Lee said that shit about everything. [image of Google results for Stan Lee praising things] He was not shy about praising Marvel products. I didn't see him praising any of the modern comics, but like I said, [image of ComixFans logo] a lot of those comic book sites from ten, fifteen years ago are gone now. So if it is a real quote, there's not really a way to track it down. So I was just gonna let this claim go. But then I took a second look and was like, "Wait, what did he say there at the end?"

James: This was actually one of Stan Lee's favorite moments in Marvel comics, along with the death of Gwen Stacy.

Todd: Yeah, alright. [screenshot of headline "Stan Lee Regretted Replacing Gwen Stacy With Mary Jane"] Stan Lee hated the death of Gwen Stacy. Hated it.

Clip from Comic Book Men

Walter Flanagan: What about when Marvel decided to kill Gwen Stacy?

Stan Lee: While I was in Europe, he killed Gwen Stacy! I didn't wanna kill her!

Screenshot from Wikipedia with quote about...

Todd (VO): That's what he claimed at least, and that might've just been him responding to the fan backlash, but he certainly never claimed to like it. He was very consistent about this.

Todd: That doesn't disprove the first part of the claim about Scarlet Witch. But for me, that was enough to move this from [images of Snopes icons for "Unproven" and "Unfounded"] unconfirmed to probably not true.

Janelle Monae[]

Todd (VO): 33. Janelle Monáe came out because you didn't understand "Pynk"

Clip from "The Harmful Drive for Queer Perfection"

James: Using Janelle Monáe as an example, listening to her discography, it is abundantly apparent that she was never in the closet. She made a song about how great vaginas were, and it was initially read as female empowerment. Nobody really got the message until she explicitly said the words "Hey, I'm kinda totally bisexual." And people wonder why we shove our sexuality in everyone's faces, because you will literally refuse to see us if we don't.

Todd: I was a little conflicted about including this one, I don't wanna accuse him of anything and then get it wrong. But this is one of the few times he's talked about something in my area of expertise, music, and he's said it more than once.

Clip from "The Campy Queer Sensibilities of Barbie"

James: Monáe, who attempted to out her/theirself as pansexual with a song about how great vaginas were while wearing high fashion vulva trousers, was misconstrued as making a generalized girl power anthem. To which she had to make a public statement clarifying that "No, it was gay shit", and that was all. Steven Tyler can make a song by the same name and everybody gets it, but when Janelle Monáe does it, it's all "Ooh, vagina monologues!" Girl, how much sexuality do we have to rub in your face to be acknowledged exactly?

Todd: So, hearing that multiple times from him, I have to ask... What the fuck are you talking about!?

Clip of Janelle Monáe - "Pynk"

Todd (VO): Ok, for the record, the song he's talking about is called "Pynk", off Janelle's third album, Dirty Computer. [image of Janelle's Rolling Stone cover] Two weeks after releasing this, [image of Janelle's cover of...] Janelle officially came out in an interview with Rolling Stone, those parts are both true. The part I don't get is the part where the meaning of the song was allegedly so misconstrued.

Todd: I am not downplaying straight people's ability to miss obvious queerness, I have comically little gaydar myself.

Todd (VO): But the idea that any-fucking-body missed this, I just don't know where he's getting that.

Todd: The normies did not miss the meaning of Janelle Monáe's music because the normies do not listen to Janelle Monáe's music.

Todd (VO): Janelle's never had a mainstream hit, never crossed over. [image of article "Artist of the Week, Janelle Monae" from 2010] And furthermore, their sexuality has been a topic of conversation since the first album and earlier. If you knew who they were, you almost certainly knew about the rumors, which went into [image of headline "Janelle Monáe doubles down on feminist self-love with her new music video for 'Pynk'"] overdrive after the "Pynk" video. People absolutely noticed it. [screenshot of Pitchfork's review of "Pynk"] No, not every site said "This is gay", because most coverage of new music videos is just glorified press releases and clickbait.

Todd: But that doesn't mean anyone missed it, or that the official coming out statement was [image of an article with "she has another rumor to confirm" highlighted] from Janelle being forced to clarify the obvious. There's no quote from Monáe or any other coverage I can find suggesting that.

Todd (VO): Also, she's never even confirmed that "Pynk" was intended as a coming out song, or said that that was the only valid reading. [image of the song's Genius description] Judging by her own description of it on YouTube, I'm not even sure she'd call a non-queer female empowerment reading a misinterpretation.

Todd: Now, I hesitated on bringing this up.

Clip from "The Campy Queer Sensibilities of Barbie"

Todd (VO): Because maybe Somerton saw some tweets or an article or something that didn't mention the queerness angle and he overreacted or he misconstrued how widespread the sentiment was. Which would be inaccurate...

Todd: ...but maybe it's not a crime for a gay person to be hypervigilant about this kinda thing. [image of a man shrugging] Yeah, maybe, I guess. But this is a pattern for him, where he will invent a trend, or a controversy, or a backlash that just doesn't seem to exist.

Clips from...

Todd (VO): Like the Red White & Royal Blue thing I mentioned earlier, [...an Inside Edition interview with...] or the Dahmer thing, [...and from...] he's also got a Yuri on Ice thing. There's always a group of straight people, usually women, reacting to gay media wrong, and there's almost always no evidence of it.

Clip from "Neil Gaiman & Queering Fantasy"

James: Do any of you realize how many comments I still get on the Yuri on Ice video to this day aggressively arguing that the anime is bad representation because you don't see lips touching during the kiss. Then again, that video still gets comments from usually straight women — no hating, but still — who incessantly deny that there is any queerness, coded or otherwise, present in that series.

Todd: I deliberately have not accused him of lying about anything he says happened to him personally. His life is not my business and I'm not in a position to know that stuff anyway. But I'm gonna risk it one time here, so if you'll indulge me. [image of a "LIAR" stamp] Bullshit, no you didn't.

Todd (VO): You did not get a single comment about how Yuri on Ice is straight.

Todd: Speaking as a non-anime person myself...

Clip from...

Todd (VO): Literally the only gay anime I can name is Yuri on Ice, and literally the only thing I knew about Yuri on Ice is that it was gay. If I knew it, everyone else knows it; I'd more easily believe in people who thought Yuri on Ice isn't about figure skating. [screenshot of Somerton's YouTube comments] And naturally, if you look, there are no such comments like this under his video.

Todd: So in isolation, maybe the Janelle Monáe thing was just an overreaction. But combined, it all reads as deliberate deception. It's not like any of these were widespread myths or anything, he's the source of all of these, and I simply do not believe that this can be chalked up as a reasonable mistake.

European Peasants and Vampires[]

Todd (VO): 34. European peasants were paranoid about their friends and neighbors being vampires

Clip from "Vampires and the Gays That Love Them"

James: The European vampire's predatory nature and relegation to the shadows, which were inaccessible to God, was a free license to associate all things outside of the social norm and connected with evil. It's like McCarthy era "How To Spot a Communist" instructional videos. The villagers of Europe would keep an eye on their lords and neighbors, and cautionary fables of the vampire would help them identify deviant behavior, which they would then report to their local parish. Snitching, it's in white people's DNA.

Todd: No. No, that's not vampires, that's [cartoon of...] witches. You're thinking of witches. Medieval peasants hunted witches, [drawing of a woman being burned at the stake] that's why we call them witch hunts, not vampire hunts. [correction from Todd: The times of witch hunts was only a tiny bit of the tail end of the medieval era and mostly into the early modern period]

Todd (VO): Anyway, this comes from a whole video about vampires, and...

Todd: ...I actually have a vampire expert on-hand. [image of Vampire Reviews thumbnail] That's my friend Lisa, you should check out her YouTube channel.

Todd (VO): Anyway, this was my first chance to get an expert to fact-check him line-by-line instead of just relying on my own amateur research. And according to her, Somerton's entire video is just a mess of slop.

Todd: Like, he goes into it more about how people were paranoid about vampires in their midst because of the religious, traditionalist fear of sex and sexual deviance.

James: The monster, the sexual deviant must be brutalized. It's no surprise that many vampires are found out due to their lurid sexual overtones. So naturally vampires are, from an anthropological viewpoint, an excellent symbol of a society's collective fears of who exactly is an other.

Todd: From an anthropological viewpoint? That's not true at all. It's only true from a literary viewpoint because [image of "The Vampyre"] vampires weren't sexual until people started writing books about them in the Victorian era. [image of an early comical vampire depiction] Before that, they were just scary monsters like the boogieman, that's also how we know that no one was narcing on their neighbors for being vampires.

Todd (VO): Elisa also had a ton of shit to say about how his descriptions of all the movies and TV shows he talks about are nonsense.

Todd: I didn't make this video to talk about sloppy media analysis, but yes, a lot of his descriptions and plot summaries in this video and all his others are just factually wrong.

Off the top of my head:
* He thinks the MC in Cabaret was a Nazi ("The Dangers of Blissful Ignorance."). The MC is not a Nazi.
* He doesn't like Forrest Gump because of its "refusal to acknowledge how much luck Forrest Has" ("The Campy Queer Sensibilities of Barbie"). What the fuck do you think this movie is about, you fucking dumbass?
* He thinks Game of Thrones' final seasons were a mess because it had too many plot twists ("How Spoilers Are Ruining Everything"). He complains about "a quantity of twists, turning points, revelations, exposition dumps, sudden entrances, twins separated at birth, waking up and it was all a dream." I have no idea what he's referring to.
* He thinks "Glass Onion" is "camp"? ("Barbie")

Todd: And Lisa wanted me to point this one out in particular so, ahem.

Todd (VO): The 1992 "Dracula" movie reconnected Dracula to his inspiration, Vlad the Impaler.

James: First, there's Nandor, who's indicative of the kind of Vlad Tepes vampire. Which, though he may have been a distant inspiration for Count Dracula, reconnecting Dracula to the warrior mythology wasn't something that would be done until Francis Ford Coppola's incredibly faithful retelling of the story.

Todd: Dracula is [image of Gizmodo article about...] not Vlad the Impaler in the original book, alright? That's a misconception that developed much later, [posters for Bram Stoker's Dracula...] and it wasn't Francis Ford Coppola that brought it back. [...and The Dracula Tape] That had been around since the '70s.

Clip from Bram Stoker's Dracula

Todd (VO): Also, the 1992 Dracula is not, quote, "incredibly faithful to the book". Mina in the book is not Dracula's long-lost love, for example.

Todd: I-it's just a lot of shit like that.

Todd (VO): He also says that Gary Oldman was the first fuckable Dracula.

Clip from "Vampires and the Gays That Love Them"

James: Again, the significant element here is how readily Coppola depicts a Dracula who fucks, whereas Dracula has been more prominently depicted as a reclusive, humanoid monster. From Nosferatu, mmm, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Salem's Lot, The Last Voyage of the Demeter. This figure has almost exclusively been painted white, and shown with clownishly monstrous features. But Coppola creates a monster for whom the audience looks at and completely understands what Mina's so horny about.

Todd: I didn't need Lisa to tell me that one's wrong. I can think of [image of several examples of...] far more Draculas who fuck than Nosferatus. Like I said, I'm trying to leave his interpretations of fiction out of this video, but I am gonna include this one last little stupid thing about Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles", just cause I thought it was funny.

James: And make no mistake ["make no mistake"], Rice makes a point of exemplifying that vampires without a pulse cannot develop an erection. However, feeding on one-another is unmistakably depicted as a sex act.

Todd: Lisa gave me way more information about this than I needed. But suffice it to say that yes, [image of "The Vampire Lestat"] Lestat and company do have a pulse and they do get erections. In fact, because of some ambiguous wording, [image of Usenet post about...] there's some fandom debate about whether they have permanent erections. So literally the opposite of what he said there. The entire video is crap.

The Hitchcock Thing[]

Todd (VO): And we're gonna end this portion with One last one for the road. This is maybe not incorrect exactly, but it is a question I have. Has anyone heard of this Hitchcock thing?

Clip from "For the Love of Gay Nuance"

James: Subtlety as a staple of Japanese storytelling extends not only to modern media, but also the mythological cycle. The very way in which ancient Japanese historians recorded their legends.

Todd (VO): Ok, so this is an example of just, like, the kinda general, broad things that he says that I don't think is right, but I don't know how to fact-check exactly.

James: However, as I mentioned, audiences conditioned to expect American media to be very blunt are, at the same time, more cynical and unwilling to read into the subtext of a given property.

The whole point of this entire video is how Japanese storytelling is subtle, but western audiences expect everything to be spelled out for them.

James: European theatrical conventions also focused exclusively on an actor's ability to deliver lines, and what the lines themselves say. The responsibility of the actors was not to show this via acting, but telling via dialogue. They couldn't really afford to show, don't tell until film came along.

Todd (VO): And this went on right through the movies of the 1960s.

James: This led to a trend in films to reach for grand spectacles instead of nuanced character dramas. Enter Cecil B. DeMille and his biblical epics. It wasn't until the '60s that acting, plots, and direction styles shifted to a more natural, humanistic level of expression. The film version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a marked shift in popular styles of film-making toward a more subtle style of realistic nuance.

Ok, obviously this is all just very sweeping generalizations, and I'm not sure it's even broadly true. I've certainly seen tons of Japanese things I would not call subtle, and I wouldn't really call Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? subtle realism either. [posters for A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront] The movies I've always heard listed as the major shift in styles was Brando's stuff from the '50s. But anyway, that segment ends with this.

James: Compare and contrast to a Japanese performance art like Kabuki, which has markedly less dialogue and which the audience is more encouraged to read into how a given performer is carrying themselves; their gestures, their expressions, how they move, why they move. A single look can mean just as much or more than a Shakespearean sonnet. That's why a lot of western audiences really don't get why people love things like ballet and fashion.

Todd (VO): Ok, I'm realizing I really should've looked harder into this section. Like, what he's thinking of is Noh Theater, not Kabuki. Kabuki is like, [image of a man in Kabuki makeup] the opposite of subtle. And also, an artform being non-verbal is not the same thing as being subtle, that's like calling a boxing match subtle. [sighs] I'm sorry, I'm too researched out to talk about this anymore, here's the point I was trying to get to.

James: If the creator wants me to know about something in their media, they will tell me what is important. Hitchcock famously got around this by showing you something important three times, but not necessarily talking about it even once. That way it's hard to miss, but he's not spilling the whole mystery for the viewers that are actually paying attention.

Todd: Again, I ask...

Todd (VO): Has anyone heard of this Hitchcock thing? I haven't, Google didn't help.

Todd: Ok, on top of the lies I already shared, there are a couple wrong claims in there that I know for certain are just honest mistakes, but they are wrong enough that I feel the need to correct them just for the purposes of accuracy. I mean, if we're gonna fact-check, let's fact-check. Here we go.

Bonus Claim A: Katharine Hepburn[]

Todd (VO): Bonus Claim A: Katharine Hepburn didn't believe gay people existed

Clip from "Where the 'Bury Your Gays' Trope Comes From"

James: Ken Geist, the biographer of director Joseph Mankiewicz, claims that Mankiewicz and Spencer Tracy spent the greater part of an evening in Boston explaining homosexuality to Katharine Hepburn. But she flatly refused to believe that such people existed.

Todd: James got this claim from [images of...] "The Celluloid Closet" from 1981. [..."Pictures Will Talk"...] That book cited another book, [...and "Tracy and Hepburn"] and that book cites a third book. That's a memoir from 1971 by one of Hepburn's friends. I glanced through it online, [image of Todd searching "gay" in the book with "No matches were found" displayed] I couldn't find this supposed incident, maybe I missed it. And according to a later book, [image of "Kate"] this entire memoir might just be bullshit anyway. Look, this is all a bunch of trashy gossip from old Hollywood and I don't really take any of these sources very seriously. But the idea that [image of...] Katharine Hepburn, who many people in her life said was lesbian or bi, had rumors about it all her life, would joke about it, had so many gay friends. The idea that in her 50s, she was outright denying the existence of gay man sex... I think we can just dismiss that outright.

Bonus Claim B: "Birds of Prey" Deleted Dick Pic Subplot[]

Todd (VO): B: There was a deleted dick pic subplot in "Birds of Prey"

Clip from "For the Love of Gay Nuance"

James: I've followed the production of Birds of Prey pretty closely, so I knew that Warner Brothers actually sent this thing back for reshoots at least once, because they decided late in the game that a certain plot point was a bit too risqué for them. You see, originally Ewan McGregor's Black Mask was 100% confirmed to be gay in the movie, and the reason that he was after the Burtinelli diamond wasn't for the money, but because it contained data inside of it. Data that when read, would reveal him in compromised positions... And his dick pics. Black Mask, or Roman Sionis was a bit of a kinky bottom, you see, and heaven help the woman who let that info leak out to the rest of Gotham's underworld. But, Warner Brothers got cold feet and called for reshoots, simplifying the plot and vaguely straightwashing Roman and his serial killer henchman/dom top Victor Zsasz.

Todd: That claim comes from, again, [image of the Detective Chinatown 3 video from...] Grace Randolph. And again, [images of the original tweet...] Grace Randolph is a giant bullshitter. [...and the director's response] The director called her out to her face for making that claim up.

Todd (VO): Also, the idea that Black Mask and Zsasz were supposed to be gayer than they ended up as in the final cut.

Todd: As far as I can tell, the only source for that [image of video from...] is Grace Randolph again. So take that with a grain of salt also.

Bonus Claim C: J.K. Rowling Says Draco Is Pro-Trans[]

Todd (VO): C: J.K. Rowling says Draco is pro-trans

Clip from "The Real Hogwarts Legacy"

James: It was probably after this that Joanne actually headcanoned an adult Draco Malfoy into going around Diagon Alley shops and vandalizing them with messages of supporting trans rights. She literally did that, look it up, she did that, she did.

Todd: I did look it up, [image of article about...] that was a viral hoax from last year. [image of the Clickhole article] It was a series of fake tweets that started out as a joke on Clickhole, and people started spreading them around like they were real, they're not.

James: Look it up, she did that, she did.

Conclusion[]

Todd: Ok, I kept those out of the main list because those are mistakes. They're bad mistakes that I think he should've caught, but if all I'd seen was mistakes, I wouldn't have said anything. I don't like drama, I don't like hurting people, I think callouts are ugly and that you need a really good reason to do them. Especially in this case, since this guy's probably in a lot of trouble already [image of Hbomberguy] cause of Harry's video. And for the record, when I talk about [clipart of "What is plagiarism"] Somerton "pulling things from sources", I hope it's clear what I mean.

Clip from "Evil Queens: A Gay Look at Disney History"

Todd (VO): But you know, exaggerating the accomplishments of Bob Iger is... I'm aware that that doesn't vitally need to be corrected, it's not vaccine misinformation or anything like that. So I didn't know if I was gonna publish this, I still don't honestly.

Todd: Um, but if you're hearing this, I did decide to do it. And the reason is... The truth matters.

Clip from "For the Love of Gay Nuance"

Todd (VO): Like, I'm not doing this just to hurt the guy's reputation. If I wanted that, I could've just picked out the worst examples.

Todd: But I listed them all out one-by-one for a reason.

Clips from "The Gay Body Image Crisis"...

Todd (VO): Like yes, some of these claims are actually pretty serious: They're offensive, like the things he says about gay Nazis, [...and "Hollywood's (Gay) China Problem"] or they're defamatory, like the things he said about Disney or China.

Todd: But quite honestly, all of these false claims are offensive to me. Every last one of them, even the stupid ones. [clipart of someone copying work] Plagiarism is a crime against its source, but lying is a crime against you, the audience. [image of "When I purposely spread misinformation over the internet" meme] Having a platform and actively using it to spread misinformation is literally the opposite of what you're supposed to do, the same way that doctors aren't supposed to kill their patients. [several example of...] I see people repeating the things that they got from him that he just made up, and it infuriates me. It's an abuse of anyone who watches him, and he's done it over and over. I've deliberately not speculated why he does it. Some of these claims you can see his angle behind it, others I just have no idea. But also, I don't really care. The point is that whether or not he had an agenda, people use his videos to build their own agenda, and bad information builds bad narratives.

Image of one of Somerton's YouTube comments

Todd (VO): I can go to his comments and see him incepting his audience with his stupid fake facts and leading them to stupid conclusions. [image captioned "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."] Like yes, I wouldn't wanna be fact-checked like this either, I know I've said incorrect things too, mistakes happen and you have to allow for that.

Todd: And maybe some of his claims are just mistakes too, but all of them? Absolutely not. A lot of these go well beyond even extreme negligence.

Clip from "The Scarlet Witch and Marvel's Gay Power Couple"

Todd (VO): You cannot accidentally write an entire fake narrative about Marvel abusing its writers when that's the exact opposite of what happened. That's not just carelessness.

Todd: I realize we're just YouTubers and it's the wild west out here. But if there's any kind of ethical standards for this job, then he has violated them severely. Like, I didn't even include everything, I left out a whole bunch of minor stuff.

Clip from "The Queer Sensibilities of Cinema"

James: Batman '89 was, briefly, the highest grossing movie of all time.

Todd: That's not true.

James: The sequel was even supposed to feature a gay couple, which Snyder fought for but was overruled by the studio, at which point, he left the project.

Todd: That didn't happen. [screenshot of headline "Zack Snyder reveals his unmade sequel - and it was a gay love story"] But it is kinda close to something that did happen, so I left that one alone.

Clip from "Disney's Silence on Gay Youth"

James: Because a fun fact that lives in my head rent free is that at its peak, roughly 70% of the Roman empire's population were not Roman citizens, they were slaves.

Todd: Not even close, 30% at the highest.

Clip from "How Spoilers Ruin Everything"

James: It seems we're living in the golden age of television, commonly credited to have begun with Breaking Bad.

Todd: No. No, no, [image of article "When the 'Golden Age Of Television' Began"] that's The Sopranos. The golden age of TV started with The Sopranos. Sometimes a couple other shows are named, [promotional image for...] but it sure didn't start with Breaking-fucking-Bad. Also, I don't know anything about [thumbnails for Somerton's videos about...] anime, or video games, or Korean comics, and I didn't even watch all his videos, so there's tons I might have missed. I'm just one guy with an internet browser.

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

Todd (VO): And for the record, if you watched any of his videos, heard any of these made-up facts and believed them, I don't blame you, I did too. [clip from "The Gay Body Image Crisis"] It's really easy to miss (I didn't think once about "Nazis invented abs") when it comes buried in between other peoples' better material and crowd-pleasing political points.

Todd: [sighs] So what is the conclusion here? [sighs again] I don't know. I think there's a lot of trust in the video essay sphere. [screenshot of article "Majority of teens get news from social media and YouTube"] Like, you hear all the time that for a lot of people, especially young people, YouTube, and Twitter, and TikTok are their main sources of information. And I think this highlights how there's no quality control. [image of the view count for "Make It Big: The History of Gay Adult Film"] A million people have heard this guy say that a gay porn studio invented Skype. And as far as I can tell, no one has called it out even though it's very easy to check.

Todd (VO): I'm not saying his videos are all lies, or even mostly lies. But the frequency is not the point, it's the severity. His lies are so bad that it should taint his work forever, you cannot trust a single thing he says.

Clip from "Make It Big: The History of Gay Adult Film"

James: Lowering the barrier of entry to gay porn via the internet is believed by sex educators to be one of the biggest influences on the spike in homosexuality and bisexuality among the general population.

Todd: Is that true? It might be, I don't know. I didn't know how to check that one. But until you find something that backs it up, you have to assume that it's fake, right? Everything he says is tainted, that's how it works. If he was writing for an outlet with any credibility to protect and one of his claims made it to print before he was caught, he'd be fired immediately.

Clip from Shattered Glass

Charles Lane (Peter Sarsgaard): You're fired, you've lost your job.

Todd: Alright, alright, alright, don't flood me with counter-examples. Yes, I know mainstream outlets aren't great about accuracy either, I'm not trying to overstate how much they care about it. But in theory, at least, [image of a 1950s writer's room] there are methods of accountability, there are editors, there are fact-checkers, there are bosses who can fire you.

Clip from "Why Bad Gays Are Good"

Todd (VO): And there's just nothing like that for a YouTuber. No one scrutinizes you for accuracy, they only scrutinize you if you say something offensive to them. [screenshot of a post criticizing Somerton] The only thing I've ever seen him get called out for was the whole "boring gays died of AIDS" thing, because it offended a lot of people. All the rest, nothing.

Todd: The only reason I found all of these is because his claims were buckwild enough for me to look for more. [image of the Reddit comment] And I only noticed that because I saw a stray comment from someone better informed than me pointing one of them out. And I was only watching him at all because he's committed much more obvious crimes that someone else spotted and told me about. [video of Todd scrolling through "video essay" results on YouTube] How many more Somertons are out there on YouTube who haven't been noticed? How would we even know? No one's fact-checking us. And even if people were, it's just an uphill fight. [image of the Winston Churchill quote...] Like they say, "A lie gets around the world before the truth puts on its pants" (Churchill didn't say this). [image of tweets about...] Like, I see people fighting misinformation on Twitter, and it's just a horribly losing battle. And that's why this makes me as angry as it does. How could you willingly want to make the ecosystem of misinformation even worse? So what do we do about this? [sighs] I don't know. What do we do about this guy in particular, I don't know that either.

Clip from "Gay Happiness and Mainstream Media"

Todd (VO): I just hope he's never treated as an authority about anything ever again. Don't listen to him.

Todd: He lies. He's a liar. [sighs] Thank you for listening.

Thank you to the many friends who helped me with the fact-checking