The Game Grumps Are Racist

I believe Arin Hanson and Leigh Avidan are racists, and "Game Grumps" as a brand should not enjoy the preferential treatment the internet has given to them. Other Youtubers(former host Jontron, and Pewdiepie) have faced backlash for sentiments and "jokes" bordering on senility, but that shit never seems to stick here.

But before we get into examples/receipts and all that, we do have to ask an important question:

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What Is Racism?
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This is the trickiest part. Whether or not they are racist depends on what you consider racially insensitive or harmful. A quick Google search defines racism as:

 "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior."

Most of the excuses I've heard in defense of them can be summed up as: "It's not racist!". Meaning they don't see any malice or even unintended harm in what Ego and Danny say, therefore it can't be a bad thing.

I consider much of their attempts at "accent humour" to be racially-insensitive under the pretense of comedy. I say this not just because of specific instances, but also the consistency of these instances. It happens too often to be coincidence. It is so unprovoked that it begins to seem like a nervous tic that they can't get rid of.

(ex.: Danny patting himself on the back for "not making a chink joke" during a playthrough of King's Quest VI. Yes, thank goodness he didn't do that thing he just did. But that won't stop him from calling his Asian friend "Chinaman". What a great guy!)

There was a time early on, years ago when they seemed aware of the consequences and would apologize, right before immediately saying something shitty again. It was a pattern that never seemed to break, until one day they decided to just... stop apologizing. Maybe because there ceased to be consequences.

And then they decided to get mad when people tell them to stop.


In an episode of their Castlevania: Dracula X playthrough, Dan references a time in his life when he was defensive when people called him out for bad behaviour. But he assured his audience that now, when that situation comes up again, he simply relents instead of risking further harm.

Cut to Mario 64 and A Link to the Past, where he angrily tells people to stop calling him racist for saying racist things. Like he's the victim.

(Note: in that same episode of Castlevania, Danny proclaims the old Gundam series was racist because one of the mechs is wearing what might be a sombrero if you squint hard enough.)

According to Danny Sexbang, this is worse than mocking Asian people's pronunciation and grammar. Every day. For five years.

They recently had a guest on their show: Rob Schneider. An actor who has also made a living playing ugly, mean-spirited caricatures of minorities. Their first guest was famed video game composer Grant Kirkhope. There is a downward trajectory there that I can only call "Shyamalan-esque". That did not happen overnight, or by accident. That is a long-running and deliberate acceptance of terrible attitudes and ideas.


"IT'S JUST ACCENT HUMOUR", Danny says(and this is parroted by his fans). To which I ask:

Where is the comedy in Accent Humour? What is the target of the joke?


A good example of accent humour would be "Big Spider is good for economy!". Because we're not supposed to laugh at that character because they don't talk with an American accent. The joke isn't "people talk different than me and therefore should be made the subject of fun". We're laughing at the absurdity of what the character said.

Not the fact that Jon said it with a vague middle-eastern drawl.


A lot of Danny-era Grumps jokes can be summed up as: "Fucking stupid Asians, listen to how they talk wrong!". That's as far as it goes. They replace the letter R with an L, which happens so often on Game Grumps that I don't even think I need to provide examples. Danny says that's "Lacist", and then the laugh track from Big Bang Theory plays. They're always just on the edge of doing a "ME SO SOLLY" bit. They know that reinforces some ugly perceptions of Asian people, and also is married too closely to a history of ugly anti-Asian propaganda. Imagery of buck-toothed, squinty-eyed Others meant to scare us in World War II. They do it anyway. Repeatedly.

There is no reason to impersonate that stereotype other than to mock the people being stereotyped. Mocking someone's speech is one of the simplest and oldest forms of schoolyard bullying, and yet they wear it like a badge of honour. There is no purpose to it other than to give a group of people a hard time, for their own amusement. It is NOT victim-less.


Another defense I hear a lot is: "It's just a joke!", which is kind of the problem.


Arin Hanson and Leigh Avidan think Asian people are a cheap joke. The same way Dave Chappelle thinks transgender people are a joke. They don't think of them as human beings, as people who suffer overt and subtle prejudice in their daily lives. They don't consider how Asian men aren't considered attractive, and thus don't get leading roles(or even equal pay). They don't consider how often Asian women are expected to all be the "Dragon Lady" or some exotic sexual conquest, and nothing else. They don't think of the constant micro-aggressions they endure every day, assumptions about who they are and what they can do. They've never stopped to consider how constantly belittling groups of people, to an audience of 4 million might influence the world in a bad way.

They've never considered the possibility that they weren't the first people to do that shit today. Whether it's intentional is beside the point, because you don't only hurt people on purpose. And even if someone from a marginalized group doesn't mind(or can't recognize) when they're marginalized, that doesn't give you a free pass to try it.

From the "Link Between Worlds" playthrough. Not racism, just putting this here in case anyone still thinks this guy is cool.

To refuse to accept the possibility you might be causing damage, even by accident is a selfish way to live. It requires ignoring injustices occurring to people today, because to you, that time when Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps "was ancient history". It depends on devoting yourself to a fantasy, where you are Good and therefore can never do anything Bad. It means never thinking about the targets of a joke until they're useful as targets. Something disposable.

Even when they openly consume content by Asian people, they don't acknowledge them as anything other than a punchline!


Racism takes many forms, and not all of them are obvious. It's not just wearing a white robe and burning crosses. It's not only slavery, or whites-only bathrooms and drinking fountains. It's not exclusive to lynching. It's not simply a thing that only exists in the hearts of Bad People, somewhere else. It's not something too distant to concern yourself with, somewhere far away from the fans who walk up to you at conventions and shower you with praise.

I mean, do they really think no one in an audience of hundreds or thousands at a convention cheering them on might be bad people? Or that they might be cheering for the wrong reasons?

63 million people voted for a white supremacist in 2016. But "Racist Bassist lololololo"

When faced with any criticism, it's a chance for growth. It's an opportunity to look outside of yourself, to gauge what effect your actions have on others and on the world around you. To assess what you've been and what you could be, and how to minimize the cost of your existence(or success).

Arin and Dan, and the rest of the Grumps, and Maker and all of their fans had years to do this. Every episode was another chance to be better, to confront this problem and to put in the effort to rise above it. They could have lived up to a set of standards. Instead of just saying they're not racist, they could have actually tried to be less racist.


They chose to call people the "Racism Patrol" instead.


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~A.H.