Hate Me Now

When you look at that face and watch this video, do you instantly think "#2 most viewed director on YouTube Canada this week"? Do you think "#11 most subscribed to of all-time on YouTube Canada"?

I doubt it.

Regardless of what you or I think (and regardless of how most of his videos are rated lower than 3 stars), Pruane2Forever is one of the hottest people on YouTube right now. 148 videos deep, he's ranted about everything from fights at his school to 50 Cent's..."product-line expansion".

Why?

I've seen this guy's videos pop up on a variety of message boards, usually under the context of, "LOL look at this loser!" I saw one or two, didn't get it, and moved on. I thought that was it. Before this, I had no idea this guy (who lists himself as having the name "sexman") had 148 videos, over 30,000 subscribers and had a YouTube channel that had been viewed almost 2 million times. So what makes this kid so popular? Is he just popular because people like to laugh at him?

It's too easy to say he's popular because he captures the essence of what society deems as "nerdy". The "Revenge of the Nerds" caliber nerdy. The pale skin. The braces. The whiny voice. The barely intelligent ranting about whatever he feels like talking about. But is that really it? I dug a bit deeper. I watched a variety of videos of him sitting in his bedroom, talking up a storm about a variety of topics as well as watching a few of his skits. I don't get the appeal at all. I don't even find them funny in an ironic way.

Do people really see value in this guy's opinion? Or has the Internet made this guy an Internet celebrity for all the wrong reasons? I don't think this kid is going out of his way to be humourous. The look isn't intentionally there to make us laugh at him. The voice I don't think he's putting on for show. I get the feeling that he's just a kid that takes his opinion very seriously, and while he has the eyes and ears of the world on him, they don't really care about anything he has to say.

Maybe he has us all fooled (or at least me). Maybe it is all an act. Maybe he's another Lonelygirl15 and has actually been collecting cheques from Eminem's record label to hype up his latest single. In any case, Pruane2Forever's standing at the top of YouTube is further proof of the expression below holds true today. Or something like that.

image from uniquities.co.uk