YouTube’s #ProudToBe Campaign Draws Out Homophobes

Who says the 1950s are over? Not YouTube commenters! That’s right, folks, the notorious cesspool that is YouTube’s comment section has reached a new low. (Okay, maybe not its lowest low, but certainly a new one.)

On June 21st, YouTube launched a new campaign from its Spotlight channel aimed at inspiring people of all identities and backgrounds to take pride in who they are. The centerpiece of the campaign is this lovely, surprisingly sensitive video:

Our hosts Ava Gordy and RJ Aguiar got in on the act, too:

Seems like a nice sentiment, right? Well, as of this writing, almost 200,000 people have disliked the original video. The comments are… hella gross. I won’t feed the trolls and quote their awful, awful words, but if you really want to know, just click through to the video above and you’ll see what I’m talking about. They range from the mild-ish (“I don’t shove MY non-oppressed identity in your face!”) to the downright horrific (“I am a literal Nazi”).

Thankfully, a few people have taken to Twitter to fight back against YouTube buttholes. Here’s a few of their tweets:

Good to know that not the ENTIRE world is a sh*thole — just most of the online part of it.

What do you think? Are you sick of hateful trolls, or ARE YOU a hateful troll? Let us know in the comments below or @WhatsTrending on Twitter!