Culture

That Homophobic Aussie YouTuber Has Apologised For Celebrating The Pulse Nightclub Attack

by Max Koslowski  3 June 2018
Pogo YouTube

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Perth-based YouTuber Pogo (real name: Nick Berkle) shared his thoughts earlier in the week about exactly why the Pulse nightclub attacks were good. The 10-minute rant drew a huge amount of backlash, and now the popular YouTuber has apologised.

“I’m deeply sorry to the people who have been hurt by the 2016 video that has surfaced. I thought I was being edgy and satirical when in hindsight I was just being a total idiot,” Pogo said in an apology published to his personal website.

“My behaviour was terrible and it has offended a lot of wonderful people. The web deals with enough hatred and for me to have trivialised that from my position was childish and irresponsible. I’m so sorry to my friends, fans and everyone in the LGBT community.”

Pogo continues:

“I know this has offended a lot of people beyond repair, but please know this is a low point in my life and I want to take responsibility for my mistakes. Please feel free to shoot me an e-mail with any thoughts or questions you may have.”

The video has been taken down from Pogo’s official channel. On his second channel, Nickmix, Pogo published another ten-minute video which further apologised for his actions.

“It’s been very naive behaviour on my part. If I’m going to tuck my tail between my legs and admit anything, it’s that these posts, these ideas, these things I’ve made for the sake of being edgy, have not contributed to any productive conversation.”

 

He went on to defend against claims that he was sexist and homophobic, by saying that as a music producer, he deals with women and the LGBTQI+ community a lot.

“I attract a lot of people of the opposite sex — a great many people I talk to everyday on Facebook Messenger are women. Many of my supporters and friends are gay,” he said.

People.. weren’t happy, with either Pogo’s initial video, or his apology.

Pogo is probably better known for his mashup of films like Alice In Wonderland and Fantasia — but some of the fans that loved him for his songs are starting to question whether they should listen to his tunes.