Jimmy Kimmel YouTube Gaming Controversy

Overview

The Jimmy Kimmel YouTube Gaming Controversy refers to the online backlash surrounding a skit poking fun at the video game streaming community aired on the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live in late August 2015.

Background

On August 28th, 2015, the Jimmy Kimmel Live show aired a comedy sketch parodying "Let's Play" channels on YouTube, in which gaming enthusiasts watch videos of other people watching video game streams (shown below). In the first week, the video gained over 900,000 views with more than 110,000 dislikes.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

Immediately after the skit was uploaded to YouTube, other YouTubers posted videos responding to the backlash. Videos by Scarce of FaZe Clan, Proto Mario and AlphaOmegaSin received 100,000 views, 30,000 views abd 21,000 views respectively in the first week (shown below, top left, top right, bottom left). Additionally, YouTuber Boogie2988, who released a video about the issue under his persona Francis. The video got 100,000 views in the first 24 hours, along with over 10,000 likes. Other YouTubers also posted negative comments about the skit, including Philip DeFranco, Nathaniel Brandy and Stonefox Media.

On September 2nd, YouTuber TotalBiscuit published a blog post^[2] about the incident. The following day, a post questioning why Kimmel's videos were getting downvoted was submitted to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[1] subreddit.

Jimmy Kimmel's Response

On September 2nd, Kimmel responded to the backlash in a segment in which he highlighted many of the most aggressive comments from critics. On September 3rd, the show aired another segment in which he reads additional angry comments from video gamers.

On September 4th, Kimmel featured Let's Players Makiplier and MissesMae onto his show in order to give a case for watching other's play video games on YouTube. The segment was then uploaded to YouTube the same day (shown below).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References