Canadian vlogger and aspiring filmmaker Peter Chao has been making Internet waves over his YouTube videos, featuring his opinions on topics from Kanye West’s outburst at the MTV VMA’s to hot women, all while donning shades and a thick Chinese accent. He boasts over 20,000 subscribers and a YouTube ban on his record (where they suspended his original account supposedly over racist content). G4’s Attack of the Show even featured Chao in their segment, Who’s Who on YouTube. So what is so appealing about this semi-anonymous Internet celeb?
Honestly, I don’t know. I have a personal vendetta against vloggers (Read about your life? Sure! Watch you ramble in front of a camera? Uh…No thanks.) so the last thing I’d want to watch is some random Chinese Canadian guy talk about things on his mind.
But I will admit: he’s pretty funny. If I was a vlog watcher, I’d subscribe to Peter Chao in an instant. He knows exactly what YouTube viewers want (aside from make-up tutorials): an angry, in-your-face, testosterone dripping voice with a spot on fobby accent. And Peter openly refers to himself as a comedian, too–meaning everything he does and says is done tongue in cheek. For those of you offended by his Engrish, calm down. It’s a joke and somehow enhances (at least to me) his loud messages about hot women, all the haters out there and crazy mudafuckas.
On the other hand, I can’t believe I’m defending a young man who earns laughs by perpetuating Asian stereotypes. Can’t Peter do the same without the accent, or are people only listening because of the way he talks? How far can he go until he realizes that his fans are enjoying his rather offensive accent more than his actual jokes?
I personally don’t know, but they’re legitimate questions that deserve legitimate answers. So what say you, 8Asian readers. Peter Chao: friend or foe?
(FYI, his videos aren’t very work friendly. You’ve been warned!)
