Jacksepticeye [Seán McLoughlin], a famous long-running YouTuber, is under fire for comments he made during a live stream. During his live stream of the game Moldrise, Jacksepticeye mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying to one of the characters, “You look like Charlie Kirk. You wanna get Kirk-ed?”
Many are justifying his statement by saying that it was a joke. It is not uncommon for YouTubers and streamers to make dark, edgy jokes, but many are saying that this is not a joke at all. Getting “kirk-ed” is not a joke; it is a threat of personal violence for the crime of disagreeing politically with someone, which is why comments like those should be taken very seriously. And Jacksepticeye was specifically implying that it is justifiable to kill someone in the game because they resembled Charlie Kirk. That is taking a real political killing that happened only a year ago and turning it into a slang word to describe assassinating someone indiscriminately. Additionally, his statements indirectly imply that he supports the killing of Charlie Kirk.
People, however, are not simply pushing back on Jacksepticeye because of his joke; it is also due to the total hypocrisy of his claims.
Several years ago, Jacksepticeye was on the other side of this joke, and made a public statement when people online and in his comment section repeatedly mocked his own father’s death. He stated, “To any of you who posted memes about it and posted negative stuff about it, you are absolute scum.” Yet, here he is today mocking the death of another father and husband, who was killed for having open and respectful discussions with college students. Additionally, when one of the YouTubers who helped Jacksepticeye get his start, PewDiePie, was getting canceled for saying the N-word on stream, he chose to turn his back on him. These past situations have left many calling Jacksepticeye a “hypocrite” and “loser” who should have known better.
Jacksepticeye personally knows how it feels to have someone ridicule and parody his father’s death, so for him to go and do the same thing to a man who left two small children behind is incredibly short-sighted and impossible for many to brush off.
It is no secret for any who watch his videos that Jacksepticeye is a leftist who has been overly involved in American politics—despite not being a US citizen himself—but this has hit a point that many are calling psychotic. Ultimately, it harkens back to the blatant double standard between the right and the left. Jokes at the left’s expense are seen as inappropriate and cruel, while the right is fair game enough to kid at the expense of a murdered man. People on the right weren’t seen making jokes at George Flyod’s expenses without major pushback, with some at risk of having their livelihoods destroyed.
The left likes to claim to be the side of tolerance and compassion. Yet, time and time again their supporters reveal the other side of that tolerance, where they openly support or mock the murder of those on the opposing side of the political spectrum. The irony here is that Jacksepticeye has stated that he wanted his channel to be a “safe space,” except for Charlie Kirk, of course.
He has removed the comment from his official YouTube video, but many still see this as the beginning of the end of his career. Currently, he has not addressed the situation, which has led many to theorize that he is trying to make the controversy disappear quietly. But at the moment, while the controversy spreads across the internet, that doesn’t seem likely to happen any time soon.