My Real Thoughts About YouTube

Hey everyone. If you want to know what's been on my mind lately, I'm about to share it with you.

YouTube is a double-edged sword to me. On one hand, it's the platform I've been filming on since day one that all of you amazing fans discovered me on and I owe thanks to it for that. On the other hand though, it's also caused problems for me and my fans and I don't like that.

YouTube welcomes people to broadcast themselves and bring their own show to their platform while ironically attacking people for doing just that. I've had several ridiculous restrictions and deletions of my videos over the years for extreme reasons that don't even apply, and I've always been vocal whenever this happens.

The most recent example: if you all remember, I ended up meeting a fan of mine back in March of this year and we filmed a brethling match together for my channel at his request. After initially clearing the video as acceptable content, a few months later I got a notification from YouTube saying my video had been age-restricted and completely demonetized for allegedly containing sexual content. I appealed the frustrating decision and was instantly denied. Coincidentally this happened in June, which is known to the gay community as Pride Month, which YouTube claims to celebrate.

I emailed YouTube Support and was told my appeal had immediately been denied because a human employee had already made a final decision on it. This was odd since YouTube gives you the opportunity to appeal... so what's the point then? When I contested the accusation of "sexual content," it was clarified to me by a support agent that the employee had viewed the sports match between this fan and me to be "sexual groping and fondling" instead of wrestling, which was totally ridiculous and homophobic to me.

This fan was the first openly gay person to be featured on my channel. He wore a rainbow unicorn cat t-shirt, short shorts with rainbow cuffs, and a pink cat mask in the video because he's proud of his sexual identity, as he should be. However, a homophobic YouTube employee had come across the video and attacked it in an open act of intolerance. According to the ad certification I received after their decision, they further claimed that this video contained "full-body nudity and highly sexual acts being performed." We are both clearly wearing clothes in the video and we are not having sex; it's literally a wrestling match. By abusing their power and selecting this non-applicable decision, they removed all ads from the video and age-restricted it to viewers over the age of 18 as if it was pornography... all because the guy is openly gay and wrestling with another man in it.

YouTube as a company claims to stand with all people and communities but at the same time they have people like this working for them who harm their reputation by making hateful decisions like this and standing by them upon appeal. The person who made this decision got paid for it by YouTube and they likely still work for the company, which means they will continue to be paid by YouTube/Google to attack people for their identity like they did with one of my fans. As all of you may remember from a vlog I posted a while back, this isn't the first time I've run into intolerance from YouTube/Google employees due to them interpreting some of the comedy videos I film with my male friends to be "sexual" and it likely won't be the last.

Similarly, YouTube now requires their creators to monitor the comment sections of their videos or else face possible repercussions. In other words, if my fans leave comments telling me how much they admire me or express their personal interests about the videos I upload, YouTube employees will punish me for it by restricting or removing the videos with these comments on them because they will assume the video must be sexual since it's receiving comments like that. Regardless of their misguided attempts to censor people, I appreciate all the adoring comments I receive.

My videos don't get a lot of comments because some of my fans are afraid to say something that could get their account or my channel in trouble. How sad is that that this company has instilled fear in both creators and fans alike with this petty policy? I like hearing from people who admire me, my body, my talents, and the types of videos I film. It's ridiculous that my videos and channel could be punished because someone wants to publicly express their appreciation of those things. Isn't that the purpose of being fans and being allowed to leave comments on videos you like?

I don't even make that much money on YouTube. Despite filming for going on six years now and having some videos that have tens of thousands of views, I have never made $100 in one month from YouTube. I'm currently sitting at about $50 a month from ad revenue, which is peanuts considering how much work and dedication I've put into it. The real financial support comes from my fans who pledge to my Patreon, pay to watch my behind-the-scenes extras, and commission me for personalized videos. That of course makes perfect sense since I'm filming videos for my fans and not YouTube's employees and their advertisers, though I do try to keep their guidelines in mind whenever I upload. Instead, I film videos for my fans that I like to film and I know they like to see.

I've made attempts to try to appease YouTube's employees so they don't attack me or my fans any further for nonsense reasons which at the end of the day are rooted in homophobic hatred. These people will never understand the bond that I share with you, my fans, but as long as I'm making a connection with you, that's all that matters to me.

Despite YouTube's history of attacks, just know that I'm still here for you like I've always been, and I'll always be here to film the personal commissions you want to see which I do outside of YouTube. The casual fun I film with my friends on and off YouTube isn't even pornographic in nature so there really is no other explanation for it other than homophobia.

I will continue to upload videos on YouTube as it's been my choice platform from the beginning that I've put six years of dedicated work into, and I will also continue to have behind-the-scenes extras for fans to pay to watch as well as the opportunity for fans to commission me and my available friends for personalized videos. I don't want to lose my channel or anything, but I need to tell all of you how I really feel because I know inside that what's happening isn't right.

Don't let hatred divide us because it's their very intention to do so. We need to stand together and continue strengthening ourselves and the communities out there who need it. I stand with all the communities who love and support me regardless of who you are or what you're into as long as it's harmless. I appreciate every community out there who's my fan, including the hardcore fans of the weight lifting, breath-holding, stomping, wrestling, and everything else I film that you love so much.

Regardless of what a few hateful people of a large company will try to do, I will always be here for my fans. Let's put the haters on ignore and continue making history together!

- Primal 💚