Ethan Klein, a left-wing YouTuber, was suspended by the Google-owned platform on Friday after telling viewers to bomb the NRA meeting, a comment that was immediately followed by the YouTuber walking it back and calling it a “joke.”
Klein made the comments on the H3 podcast, amid a discussion about the Uvalde school shooting in Texas and the subsequent annual NRA conference.
Protesters hold a rally at Discovery Green Park, across the street from the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting held at the George R. Brown Convention Center Friday, May 27, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
“So there was a big protest outside the NRA meeting, which was good. Do we have any insight into what they are actually talking about there at the NRA meeting, that’s today, in Texas? Someone should bomb that building.”
Amid nervous laughter from Klein’s co-hosts, the YouTuber then tried to walk the comment back.
“I got a little carried away there, nobody bomb the building, all right? I take that back, thank you. It’s a — I took it a little too — I got a little passionate there, let’s roll it back…Rewind time. Let’s protest that building. Let’s bomb it with emotional protest.”
Early in his YouTube career, Klein was associated with the moderate, anti-leftist community on YouTube, criticizing fellow creator Casey Neistat in 2016 for his partisan comments about Donald Trump, and saying YouTubers weren’t qualified to opine on who to vote for.
“The way Casey talks about Donald Trump is that he almost implies he’s some kind of Adolf Hitler, and implies if you don’t vote for Hillary, you’re going to be liable for whatever Holocaust he has up his sleeve” Ethan continued. “He almost paints him as an inhuman demon, which is just so unproductive”.
“Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to Casey. I’m just a YouTuber. How does that qualify me to tell you who to vote for” he concluded. “And here’s Casey saying ‘if you don’t vote for Hillary, you’re responsible for the Holocaust part 2. It’s like tone it down dog. Get off your fucking white horse. You just make fucking vlogs”.
Ethan concluded the video hinting that he was going to vote for a third party candidate, adding: “Don’t let people bully you and make you feel like shit because you want to be in the middle. More people should be in the middle”.
In recent years, Klein has shifted in the direction of parroting the Democrat party line. In addition to his attacks on the NRA and gun rights advocates, Klein falsely accused Donald Trump of “inciting an insurrection that killed 6 people.”
While Klein’s channel was given a one-week suspension by YouTube, some YouTubers pointed out that the Google-owned platform behaved more leniently to the left-leaning creator compared to others.
“Why was LeafyisHere 5 mill sub YouTube channel banned for bullying but Ethan Klein calls for a terrorist attack on US soil & only gets a YouTube strike?” asked Keemstar, another popular YouTuber.
“I don’t support deplatforming,” said CountDankula, a popular dissident comedian and frequent target of the radical left whose channel was completely stripped of revenue in 2019.
“Yes I am certain Ethan wasn’t serious. But Twitter and Youtube bannings are like when a kid with a rich daddy kills a family during a DUI and only gets probation, but some random guy gets 2 years for 10g of weed. We all notice and we all know why.”
“Be right wing and make videos criticizing anyone and you are already walking on thin ice. The hammer could come down any day. But be trans and left wing and you can literally threaten to minecraft Twitch HQ and still get your channel back. We notice this stuff.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election. Follow him on Twitter @LibertarianBlue.
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