The well-known Final-Fantasy-XIV YouTuber JoCat has announced that he will take an indefinite break due to ongoing harassment and threats. MeinMMO reveals the details.
The popular YouTuber for the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, but also for Monster Hunter and D&D, announced that he is stepping back from the public spotlight after being subjected to harassment since 2021 – because of a video.
Who is JoCat?
- JoCat’s real name is Joseph Catalanello
- He gained a large fanbase with his
A Crap Guide to Serie
and other content, often parodies, on his YouTube channel - He currently has over 1 million subscribers on YouTube
Popular video becomes the YouTuber’s downfall after reaching the wrong audience
Which video is it about? According to JoCat, the harassment is due to a specific video of his. It’s a gender-specific
parody of the song Boys
by Lizzo titled I Like Girls
.
Here you can watch the video:
The video features various popular female gaming and series characters. JoCat describes in this video how he likes pretty much everything about women, every characteristic – whether big or small, curvy or muscular. The video currently has over 11 million views.
Although many fans celebrate the video and praise it as an expression of Body-Positivity
, JoCat has gradually become a victim of harassment and threats, as he emphasizes.
He explains that the harassment has escalated from online threats to concerning packages being sent to his family’s home.
He says in his statement:
[..] It [the video] received overwhelmingly positive feedback from my audience, my colleagues, and my partner.
About a year later, it seemed to go beyond the target audience, and since then I have seen and received many assumptions about my character, my story, my beliefs, my relationships, and those of my partner, as well as threats of violence against me and my family, doxxing attempts, and mockery, even from people I respect and look up to. [..]
JoCat via jocat.net
He explains that a significant part of the harassment mainly took place on Twitter, where he could simply log off and ignore the haters. However, a considerable amount has also leaked into other areas of his daily life that are harder to ignore – private direct messages over Discord and Twitch, as well as suspicious packages sent to his family.
Although he is very grateful for what this job has done for him and his family, he simply does not feel strong enough to continue if it means having to accept this kind of burden. Maybe it makes him weak, but he rarely thinks of it differently.
At the end of his statement, he emphasizes that he never intended to upset anyone. His goal has always been to create things for which he feels passion and to have fun doing it.
You can find his full statement on his official website jocat.net.
This is what the community says: Under his YouTube video I Like Girls
, on X and on Reddit numerous comments from users are gathering. We have summarized some for you:
- DHTheAlaskan writes:
JoCat does not deserve the hate he gets. He is one of the very few positive influences on the internet.
- meerakat5034 highlights:
My smaller breasts sometimes give me the feeling of being less of a woman. […] When I stumbled upon this silly little video about a year ago, I really felt better. Going through the comments, I see that other women feel the same way. […] Thank you, JoCat. You deserve love, not hate, for what you have done here.
- Enlog writes on Reddit:
Damn. It is so damn awful to see someone as good and creative as JoCat being driven out of the platform he used to just make fun stuff, and for no good reason.[…]
- nachtalb5255 writes (via YouTube):
As a woman, I found your “I Like Girls” video very body-positive, cute, and sincere. It’s disappointing that a bunch of losers would harass you for a very cute video.
Currently, JoCat will continue his D&D project Heart of Elynthi
and JOmega. With JOmega, he advocates for trans rights and education by raising money for the charity Gendered Intelligence
through his stream while progressing through the Ultimate Raid TOP (The Omega Protocol) in the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.
And for every wipe, he himself donates an amount to the organization. The project has been running since March 2023. Once these two projects are completed, he will take a indefinite break
from publishing content.
The developer of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
was also driven away:
