YouTube Shorts, the vertical video section of YouTube offering short-form content, is chock-full of clips that feature white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, despite his being banned from the platform for hate speech violations.
YouTube has a history of failing to remove Shorts that feature Fuentes and his white nationalist and extremist acolytes. Based on a Media Matters review, at least 25 YouTube Shorts featuring Fuentes have over 10,000 views.
Several of these are cuts from Fuentes’ appearances on shows from the misogynistic manosphere, an online community of websites, bloggers, and influencers promoting extremist gender politics. During Fuentes’ various appearances, he and hosts praised Adolf Hitler and made antisemitic comments.
Fuentes recently gloated about his impact on viewership of YouTube Shorts:
Here is a breakdown of select Fuentes Shorts that can be found on YouTube:
In a Short from his appearance on Valuetainment Money’s SOSCAST, Fuentes refused to say that Hitler was a “bad guy.”
“If we’re going to say Hitler bad, then I am going to say Churchill bad. … If we look at him as a product of his time in that moment, you know, we have to judge him with those things in mind, that’s all.” This Short currently has more than 275,000 views.
During another Short, Fuentes argued that because he has “Jewish friends” and has had Black speakers at his events he could not be a white supremacist. The Short currently has around 64,500 views.
In a different Short, Fuentes complained about women working outside of the home, being “promiscuous,” and being single mothers, saying that these constitute it a “selfish lifestyle.”
Fuentes also said in another Short, “The priority for women should be to get married and have kids.”
“I don’t think they should go to college,” he continued.
In a Short cut from his appearance on the misogynistic Fresh & Fit podcast, Fuentes said, “You can’t date whores. … Because whores don’t become housewives.”
Some of the Shorts featuring Fuentes may violate YouTube’s Terms of Service against hate speech, which prohibits “content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups” based on a number of protected categories, including race, ethnicity, sex, gender, and gender identity and expression.
YouTube shares revenue with creators who post Shorts, meaning that some creators could profit from content featuring Fuentes. Media Matters has previously reported on YouTube Shorts allowing misinformation and racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ content on its platform.
Fuentes appears to drive engagement on manosphere podcasts and has previously bragged about his impact on viewership of the content in which he is featured. Fuentes' success comes after previously calling for a “holy war” against Jewish people and making numerous antisemitic comments, including denying the Holocaust, repeatedly praising Hitler, and giving the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute.
