Sarkeesian singled out Benjamin as a serial harasser of hers, calling him a "garbage human." VidCon founder Hank Green issued a statement that the group's actions were clear "intimidating behaviour" and apologised for the situation "which resulted in being subjected to a hostile environment that she had not signed up for." Patreon also investigated the claims of harassment, but determined that although they considered his actions "distasteful", Benjamin had not violated their code of conduct. A group of YouTubers who had frequently criticised Sarkeesian in the past, including Benjamin, filled one half of the first three rows of the audience and filmed Sarkeesian as part of a targeted harassment campaign against her. Īt VidCon 2017, media critic Anita Sarkeesian appeared on a panel discussing online harassment directed towards women. One Los Angeles Times opinion columnist called the incident "alarming to see copyright law used to stifle debate in the public square".
Black mirror wiki carl bloom how to#
The Guardian said it was offering "advice on how to engage with Guardian content without breaching copyright." The video was restored later the same day. Benjamin contested the claim against the video which used substantial portions of The Guardian 's video. In June 2015, YouTube took down one of Benjamin's videos when it received a copyright claim from The Guardian. That year, Benjamin said that he had named his channel Sargon of Akkad "because I'm a lover of history and the lessons it can teach us". Inside Higher Ed said his videos on the topic advanced a conspiracy theory in which he argued members of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) were actively plotting to influence video game development, saying DiGRA "became co-opted by feminists to become a think tank by which gender ideologues can disseminate their ideology to the gaming press and ultimately to gamers." He also complained of "gender ideologues". īenjamin's YouTube channel drew attention during the Gamergate controversy in 2014. In 2016, in response to politician Jess Phillips's complaint that she frequently received rape threats from men online, Benjamin tweeted to her: "I wouldn't even rape you." Criticism of this comment-and a later remark in which Benjamin said he might rape Phillips but for the fact that "nobody's got that much beer"-dominated press coverage of his European Parliament candidacy. He denies this description of his politics, instead calling himself a " classical liberal".
Benjamin has been described as politically "right-wing" and "far-right" by multiple outlets. Since Gamergate, he has focused on promoting Brexit and criticising feminism, Islam, identity politics, and what he views as political correctness in the media and other institutions. A former member of the Eurosceptic right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP), he was one of its unsuccessful candidates for the South West England constituency in the 2019 European Parliament election.ĭuring the Gamergate controversy, Benjamin promoted the conspiracy theory that feminists were infiltrating video game research groups to influence game development. Carl Benjamin (born 1979), also known by his online pseudonym Sargon of Akkad, is a British anti-feminist YouTuber and political commentator.