A Critique of Red Letter Media’s Bigoted Content (See Staff Post)

[PhoncipleBone]

For years now, RLM has been given a pass because people find their content entertaining. Despite multiple instances of blatant sexist, racist and anti-progressive rhetoric, they remain widely referenced and enjoyed by ERA. When folks bring up their problematic commentary, it's often ignored or excused. Here are some examples of their bigotry, dating back to at least 2016:

Ghostbusters commentary. Almost the entire video is devoted to downplaying the seriousness of misogyny while displaying an immense amount of white fragility (ie you can't be a white man and not be called a racist or sexist if you dislike this movie).



(:15)

Jay: Hey, why does the scientist have to be a man.. that's sexist.
Rich: I think he's gunna mansplain us.

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(8:26)

[Bit about YT comments]
Rich: I still wouldn't bet on that horse.
Jay: Rich, what are you talking about, Sarah Jessica Parker wasn't in the Ghost Busters reboot.
[Horse neighing in background]
Rich: Gasp, you sexist!

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The Force Awakens Plinkett review: The Diversity Awakens. Claims that diversity is a forced corporate component that no one but cynical adults complain about. That kids don't care about it.



(1:28:55)

In a weird way, SW has always been kind of immune to the whole race and gender thing. [Points to a.. kid's commercial from the 70s to show that.. a black kid played with Obi-Wan?] I think only us cynical adults overthink all this stuff. If you're doing this diversity shit for the kids and for them to have role models or whatever.. I have a news flash for you: they don't give a shit.

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(1:29:46)
Calling Star Trek characters "a jap, a black"

(1:30:18)

The point is, Disney did a fine job diversifying things in TFA. But I think they wasted their time. The only ones who really care are people who are obsessed with diversity. The vast majority in the middle and especially kids shrug their shoulders.

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(1:31:06)

Keep the Malaysians out of Star Wars. Those dirty people ain't never done no good for nobody.

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(1:37:40)
[In regard to Rey not having sex in TFA]

So what's HER excuse? Did too much sand get in her vagina? Maybe she's a tomboy lesbian? And the other guy's [Finn] a gay? Wait is this guy a gay too [Kylo]? I know he's evil, but does his sex drive work?

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Rich Evans being blatantly racist, making fun of the way he thinks Asian people talk, while everyone laughs hysterically around him. He then finishes with "that's not racism, they talk like that!".




[Rich responding to the millions of people who participated in the women's march, having a conversation, posted his comments below. Calling women and protesters crybabies, protesting because they don't like that Trump won.]

I think at best it's useless, at worst it's harmful. Why are people protesting.. what are people protesting? When you look at this from the outside, it looks like people are just whining because Trump won and people don't like Trump. It looks very childish. It comes off looking like crybabies having a fit because their person didn't win the election. He fairly won the election. It comes off exactly as childish as when Obama won.. "I wanna see that birth certificate!". I think if you're on the left side of things, you should be looking on the inside right now. This crying about Trump.. once he starts actually doing something stupid in office, then you can drag out the protest signs and protest whatever thing he did you don't like. Right now it just seems childish. Instead of bitching about Trump, the left needs to take a look at itself. Hillary Clinton could not beat a ex reality star orangutan. There's a reason for that. The democratic side of things needs to get its own shit in order. The people you need to win over to get on your side are seeing crybabies. I would not make yourself look bad. And choose your million women marches more clearly and have a clear message about what you're speaking out against. Because this looks like nothing other than "wah we lost the election". Currently it's a reaction to nothing that has happened yet. The march isn't going to keep him from taking office. To me it seems like preaching to the choir and I don't think it's going to do anything useful. There are a lot of people who if they were saner would be on the fence, but they're going to pick an extreme because that's what everybody fucking does now. And you see something like this protest, and that's.. "god look at those crybabies".. I'm with Trump!

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There are countless other examples out there; this is only a portion of their toxic and bigoted commentary. It's time to drop RLM and stop giving them chances. This is who they are.

Rhetoric like this would not be tolerated by anyone on this forum, joking or not, and we shouldn't continue to promote those who say such rhetoric. And if it is just a joke, then why do the themes and values continue into their non-character reviews and casual conversations about what they truly believe?

 

[Theef]

Don't worry, their youtube thumbnails are enough to keep me away.

 

[L Thammy]

So, is this one of those things where they run off the assumption that everyone who talks about diversity is some uppity white college student and no one else exists or speaks?

 

[Deleted member 5666]

I have noticed the dog whistles for along while....but the livestream where Rich Evans went on a rant against the women march in DC and against feminism was honestly disturbing.

They throw out blatantly sexist comments offensive language all under the guise of "jokes".

 

[TaySan]

Never heard of them before and thanks to this I'll make sure it stays that way.

 

[Deleted member 5666]

So, is this one of those things where they run off the assumption that everyone who talks about diversity is some uppity white college student and no one else exists or speaks?

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They have directly mocked women who hold feminist beliefs and have derided the women's rights movement. So it goes far beyond that with them.

 

[JasonV]

They are unfunny, insufferable trash.

 

[Khanimus]

They really started showing their ass afew years back, and people keep apologizing for them.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Glad I never found them interesting and worth my time.

Now I know it's trash and will steer clear.

 

[Deleted member 14377]

I'd like to say this OP will do something, but it wont. Every single thread like this is tired. People don't give a fuck as long as the content is good, be it games or film. And then we get "ur using ur iphone AHA! CHECKMATE LIBS!" or random asshats coming in and ignoring any and all discourse to simply state "I like thing! can't wait for next one!". And who can forget "uhhh there's more than one person on the teaaaaam".

That being said; great OP and I hope I'm wrong. It's tiring trying to open people's eyes to shit like this on here.

 

[Vas]

They are unfunny, insufferable trash.

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You don't like the Plinket prequel reviews? I thought they were mindbendingly entertaining. Not endorsing all viewpoints expressed by them, of course.

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

As someone who was at the giant Women's March in DC at Trump's inauguration, they can fuck right off.

I used to enjoy some of their videos, though I haven't watched many overall, so I never realized any of this. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, OP. I'm done watching any of their content.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

there is nothing anyone can do that they are not already doing to themselves

 

[Deleted member 5666]

They really started showing their ass afew years back, and people keep apologizing for them.

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What is crazy to me is their refusal to ever apologize or even acknowledge their hurtful and bigoted comments.

Rich Evans had the gal to tell feminists to let Donald fucking Trump "do his job".

 

[Deleted member 4260]

the RLM OT will not like this topic lol.

but I agree that they suck. I just find them obnoxious now. Their fanbase is even worse.

 

[Deleted member 26039]

It's a shame, I enjoyed their stuff in the past. Another unsubscribe.

 

[Icemonk191]

Agreed. It's clear what type of people they are. They're just a bunch of white dudes who believe that because they're white that gives them the right to say and do whatever they want.

 

[Deleted member 176]

damn rich sucks so much

 

[MinusTydus]

I only know of them from that stupid meme that gets (over) posted all the time. Didn't they also act like a bunch of fools about Brie Larson and Captain Marvel?

Fake Edit -- Yup, found it:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/in...ut-brie-larsons-comments-on-diversity.104953/

 

[JasonV]

You don't like the Plinket prequel reviews? I thought they were mindbendingly entertaining. Not endorsing all viewpoints expressed by them, of course.

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First year film studies analysis dragged out beyond any sense of being funny. But as you said, enjoying it isn't an endoresement.

 

[Trickster]

The laugh of that one guy is more than enough reason to not watch their videos.

 

[Surfinn]

I only know of them from that stupid meme that gets (over) posted all the time. Didn't they also act like a bunch of fools about Brie Larson and Captain Marvel?

Fake Edit -- Yup, found it:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/in...ut-brie-larsons-comments-on-diversity.104953/

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Yup. Brie Larson was a whole thing for them too.

 

[Marossi]

Good god, they are trash. I remember hearing about them from Game Grumps, I watched a video about them talking about Infinity War trailer and they were like "Hello? Who cares about Thanos, nobody gives a shit about this villain" and I immediately knew they weren't worth my time.

But this, this is on another level.

 

[RedMercury]

Yeah, they suck, I don't get what makes them so special as to where people can ignore the things they have said, I wouldn't call them special talents or irreplaceable.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

First year film studies analysis dragged out beyond any sense of being funny. But as you said, enjoying it isn't an endoresement.

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I wouldn't insult first year film students like that.

 

[Deleted member 5666]

I made a similar thread last year outlining Grace Randolph's history of racism in her videos which resulted in her videos being banned from being posted here. I feel RLM clearly deserves the same treatment.

 

[Cipherr]

Dont watch them, don't know them. Except I think Ive seen that one guys face in the gif with the endless trash thing? But I don't know this dude/dudes outside of that. Not surprised to hear it though. These types are everywhere on YT.

 

[Einchy]

You don't like the Plinket prequel reviews? I thought they were mindbendingly entertaining. Not endorsing all viewpoints expressed by them, of course.

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I found those really funny but all their skits they'd do in their review show (I'm blanking on the name right now) have always been painfully unfunny. I started skipping all of that and just listening to the review. As the years went on, though, I ended up growing out of their really cynical and obnoxious commentary on, well, everything.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

You don't like the Plinket prequel reviews? I thought they were mindbendingly entertaining. Not endorsing all viewpoints expressed by them, of course.

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Every time someone who doesn't like the prequels, tells me to watch those reviews, they can't be bothered to tell me themselves why they don't like the prequel.

That's enough for me to avoid them.

 

[TheKid]

I didn't know they were popular, I ran into their videos once a few years ago and they were insufferable

 

[Osan912]

One quibble is any examples lifted from the Plinkett reviews are moot because he is an intentional asshole character. But yeah I think most of the ire should be directed towards rich. Jack is clearly uncomfortable in most of these occasions.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

I made a similar thread last year outlining Grace Randolph's history of racism in her videos which resulted in her videos being banned from being posted here. I feel RLM clearly deserves the same treatment.

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Or at the very least all threads about them to have red text letting people know their past behaviour

 

[Ryan.]

Yeah, they suck, I don't get what makes them so special as to where people can ignore the things they have said, I wouldn't call them special talents or irreplaceable.

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Because it's funny to post gifs like this when it's relevant to the conversation!

 

[Cat Party]

Never watched one of their videos. Now I never will. Thank you OP for collecting these examples.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Because it's funny to post gifs like this when it's relevant to the conversation!

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I honestly never knew that's one of those guys for RLM.

 

[Sephzilla]

As someone who found them entertaining and defended them in the past, I'm done defending them. They're inexcusable now.

I'd be okay with making them a banned source on Era.

 

[Strat]

Ugh. How does Jack deal with that shit? He seems like a legit guy.

 

[Sanjuro]

Yeah, they suck, I don't get what makes them so special as to where people can ignore the things they have said, I wouldn't call them special talents or irreplaceable.

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Because they provide enjoyable content? I don't subscribe to a ton of people in YouTube, but I haven't found too many others.

Ugh. How does Jack deal with that shit? He seems like a legit guy.

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Jack isn't really perfect either. He just is pretty easy going in personality.

 

[deftones r cool]

I'm past the point in my life where I want to sit around watching some fat white dudes talk about movies.

Prequel reviews were funny, and Best of the Worst was cool.

I'm not one who needs to be on the same side as my entertainers morally, I enjoy GG Allin's music ffs, but Red Letter Media just can't hold my attention. My friends love 'em though, but I can't be bothered.

 

[Deleted member 4260]

I also really don't care for their cynicism towards everything. Really tiring.

 

[thepenguin55]

Wow. A YouTube channel of middle aged white dudes being shitty & cynical about shit? I HAVE to see this! What a rarely represented & interesting thing.

Red Letter Media was a thing I heard about for years but between the name and dumb as shit thumbnails I decided that I was good...

 

[CenturionNami]

A bunch of angry neckbeards that want to hate everything new. No thanks.

It's so clear they hate the new Star Wars films because they don't degrade women anymore.

 

[Ashlette]

I agree. And they're just not that funny. I recall laughing at only two of their jokes back in the day.

 

[Vas]

I found those really funny but all their skits they'd do in their review show (I'm blanking on the name right now) have always been painfully unfunny. I started skipping all of that and just listening to the review. As the years went on, though, I ended up growing out of their really cynical and obnoxious commentary on, well, everything.

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I liked the review part of it, but I didn't care for the Plinkett is Crazy skits inbetween, really.

 

[Deleted member 28076]

People don't give a fuck as long as the content is good, be it games or film.

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It's not even a matter of whether the content is good, because RLM has never been funny or insightful, and their film criticism never rises above a Rotten Tomatoes user review. It's about the parasocial relationships people build with these hosts, which is why their move after the prequel reviews was a show where two of them casually offer blasé takes on movies in conversation right after they've seen them, and now their new most popular show is all of them watching old tapes on a couch. This is why it's so much harder to break than a typical entertainer fandom.

Era beats its chest about how progressive they are but they are just as terrible on this front as everyone else.

 

[Deleted member 5666]

If anything people really need to watch the Twitch video. Rich Evans goes on a non-jokey sexist tirade against the womens rights movement and feminists in general.

 

[Twenty7kvn]

The first time I ever paid attention to them was their black panther review, got about 10 mins in and clicked them off stopped paying attention to them after that.

 

[Lashley]

They're entertaining but there are moments that make me wince, like their hatred for Brie Larson.

 

[Halbrand]

I never liked RLM

 

[Cpt-GargameL]

Saw like 2-3 of their videos in the past. Not a fan. This helps too.