YouTube channel Jubilee, known for its discussion-style videos, is facing a backlash online after recent show attendees self-identified as a fascist. The incident has rocked the internet, prompting online discussions for several days, and has also had great results. The man who identified him as Connor in the video says he was later fired from his job.
The episode, posted on Sunday, featured British journalist Medhi Hasan. MedhiHasan. Hasan held a show on MSNBC from February 2021 to January 2024.
Hasan had argued that President Donald Trump was “unconstitutional” as one of the topics of the conversation. During a roughly seven-minute discussion with Hasan, Connor spoke about his desire for US dictatorship, celebrating the idea of Nazi political philosopher Karl Schmidt, while saying that there was “a bit of persecution” of Jews during the Holocaust.
“Are you a Nazi fan?” Hasan asked the participants.
“I honestly don’t care at all about being called a Nazi,” Connor said.
Hasan then said, “You may need to change the name of this show as you’re more than a far-right Republican.”
“What can I say?” Connor replied.
“I think you’re going to say, ‘I’m a fascist.’ ”
“Yeah, I,” Connor said with a smile, as several others in the circle applauded.
In just two days, the YouTube video has earned 4 million views. The clip quickly began to spread online, sparking criticism that the channel and YouTube were platforming profascist content.
“Jubiley This is no longer a discussion. What these people have in their hearts is pure hatred. It’s insane for me to give these people a platform,” said over a thousand likes under the YouTube video!
The author, known for X’s username @mattxiv, has posted comments that have been viewed more than 500,000 times. YouTube did not respond to requests for comment.
Data from Google showed that searches for “Jubiley” jumped significantly on Tuesday after Connor announced he had been fired from his job.
Since then, Hasan has stated online that the scope of the guest’s opinions has not been fully communicated to him before appearing on the show.
“To be clear, I didn’t know they would actually be completely open fascists!” Hasan said of X.
In another reply, he responded to someone who asked why Hasan agreed to go to the show if “Jubiley invited a bunch of Nazis” and replied, “That’s not how the discussion was sold to me. I can see my shock when they start to express their opinions openly.”
Connor later claimed he was fired for taking part in the video. In an interview with the right-wing online social media brand TheriftTV, Connor said he was fired. Therifttv is looking for a new job that has already received over $30,000, so they have launched a fundraiser to help him. Connor did not respond to requests for comment.
“Unfortunately, voicing a completely legal traditional right-wing political view has real consequences,” reads the campaign description of AdverEndgo, the Christian crowdfunding site that has become the go-to platform for controversial crowdfunding campaigns. “This is a complete display of culture and political discrimination.”
In what appears to be Connor’s Telegram channel, many people gather behind him in his arguments, and among other disliked comments about Hasan, Hasan writes, “I had nothing to say because you were right.”
The YouTube video is part of Jubilee’s web series “Surnound”, with one guest sitting in the middle of a circle, with around 20 people with opposite perspectives “surrounded.” The web series features famous political influencers such as Candance Owens, Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro as key debates.
This show works by making an argument to the main guest and starting the argument by rushing to the chair facing the person in the middle to the person. Anyone who touches the chair first can participate.
Anyone sitting in a chair can participate in the discussion until the people surrounding the chair decide to vote for the participants. Those who want the person in the middle to be voted can raise the red flag, and if enough people raise the flag, they will be kicked out of the discussion and replaced by others in the circle.
This is not the only virus that has become a controversial participant. Several other “surrounded” videos have sparked controversy in the past, with users claiming that the channel provides a platform for biased views. One of the most viewed videos on the channel was Kirk’s discussion surrounded by “25 liberal college students,” which accumulated 30 million views.
In an interview this year, Jubilee’s media CEO Jason Lee addressed these concerns and said the channel would host people with controversial views and give audiences the ability to “listen to subtle perspectives.” He added that the show is trying to limit misinformation by incorporating fact checks throughout the video. Jubilee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Is this dangerous to the platform or is it dangerous to have a certain voice or perspective?” And the way I respond is that if two individuals can’t sit together in the same room and have a conversation, then it feels like we live in a more dangerous world,” Lee said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that the conversation will be productive or that everyone will change your perspective, but I think it’s very lacking.”
The video, featuring Hasan’s argument with Connor, features only one fact check, due to the claims Connor made about the number of people killed by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
Jubilee videos span a variety of topic areas. Currently, the channel recruits people for its “surrounded” series, including “conspiracy theorists,” “conservative Christians,” and “anti-capitalists,” and is part of a larger trend in debate-style internet content.
