Toronto's Joker

Submission 6,644

Part of a series on Joker. [View Related Entries]

About

Toronto's Joker refers to TikToker Michael Stamatakos, who goes by the moniker "Toronto's Joker" on TikTok. The man is known for his distinctive face tattoos and for repeatedly going on the run from the police after he was initially arrested on charges of arson and illegal substance possession. In July 2024, a black-and-white video of Toronto's Joker getting arrested in a garage by police went viral for its unexpectedly cinematic quality.

Online History

Michael Stamatakos aka Toronto's Joker first gained notoriety online after videos of him mocking the police on TikTok went viral in October 2023. One video showed TikToker @torontosjoker posing in front of a news report about the police looking for him, while another showed him sticking out his tongue in front of a police car. The account has since been deleted on TikTok, however, the videos can be accessed via reupload to YouTube^[1] (shown below).

Online Presence

On October 29th, 2023, YouTuber and commentator Ray William Johnson posted a video about Toronto's Joker and the crimes that landed him in the police's spotlight.^[2] The video covered Stamatakos's history of arson and armed robbery, gathering over 6 million plays and 700,000 likes in nine months (seen below, left).

On December 20th, Toronto's Joker was finally apprehended by the police after a nearly two-month pursuit. The TikToker^[3] posted a video showing himself shackled to a hospital bed before his account was deleted. TikToker @freshdailytoronto posted about the Toronto man's arrest on December 20th, 2023, gathering over 300,000 plays and 5,000 likes in six months (seen below, right).

2024 Swatting Video

On July 12th, 2024, the Toronto Joker was arrested while livestreaming on TikTok. Black-and-white footage of him being swatted began making the rounds later that day, showing a shirtless man standing with his arms spread out as the garage door opens to show heavily armed police raiding him and pointing their weapons at him.

A reupload of the stream from July 12th can be seen via repost by X^[4] user @TRIGGERHAPPYV1, who gathered over 37 million plays and 97,000 likes in three days (seen below).

On July 14th, 2024, X^[5] user @RawbertBeef quoted the aforementioned video, writing, "The camerawork, the composition… excellent shot" and gathering over 130,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). Meanwhile. X^[6] user @jeremylovesyall asked that same day, "why this look like la haine?" comparing it to the French 1995 Mathieu Kassovitz film La Haine (seen below, right).