- In 2018, a
YouTuber replied to a streamer's selfie with the tweet, "the face of allah." - Some Twitter users are accusing the gaming YouTuber and streamer of Islamophobia for the tweet.
- The YouTuber, known as
Schlatt or Jschlatt, has been involved in numerous controversies in the past.
The YouTuber "jschlatt," also known as Schlatt or jschlattLIVE, is being accused of Islamophobia by some Twitter users over a resurfaced tweet from 2018.
In the April 22, 2018 tweet, which is a reply to a close-up selfie posted by the YouTuber and
The 21-year-old American creator, who has not shared his real name online, currently sits at 2.75 million subscribers on YouTube and 2.2 million followers on Twitter. He is known for playing and streaming video games such as
The controversy surrounding Schlatt's 2018 tweet began to pick up steam on Monday, over three years later. Fans and detractors began to reply to and quote-tweet Schlatt's original post. Many said they found the comment Islamophobic for joking about the appearance of Allah, who is God in the Islamic faith. According to The BBC, depictions of Allah have long been taboo for the Muslim community, so as to avoid idol worship.
"I cant [sic] believe this even has any likes, like do people not realize how disrespectful this is?" the user @isleofgeorge tweeted. "Schlatt is gross."
Twitter user @scenedrm said the tweet was "disrespectful," as "speculating how Allah looks" is forbidden in Islam.
-ha1a (@scenedrm) June 28, 2021
More people discovered the 2018 tweet when the social-media drama account Def Noodles shared a series of screenshots of the original tweet and quote tweets on Twitter with the text, "THIS SHOULD'VE STAYED IN YOUR DRAFTS," on Monday.
-Def Noodles (@defnoodles) June 28, 2021
Still, many fans also came to the YouTuber's defense and argued that critics were blowing the comment out of proportion. @lezybian, who said in a tweet that they were Muslim, tweeted that there was "no humanly possible way this is offensive."
Being 'canceled' has become part of the streamer's brand
On March 21, the creator sparked outrage after he uploaded a YouTube video with a thumbnail of a poorly-drawn face with black paint scribbled all over it and the word "blackface" written above it. Many commenters called the image racist and accused Schlatt of minimizing a serious issue. He has also joked about mental-health issues before in videos, leading some to accuse him of ableism.
But fans defend him by saying the crude remarks are part of his "persona," and that everything he says is a joke.
Schlatt has been "canceled" for so many reasons over the past few years that the idea that he's "uncancellable" has evolved into an aspect of his own brand and even spiraled into a viral meme. There are YouTube compilation videos documenting mock "controversial" actions of his, numerous Reddit threads detailing his misdeeds, and even a Twitter account with over 16,000 followers - named "Time since jschlatt has been cancelled" - that is dedicated to tracking Schlatt's myriad scandals.
Still, his fanbase continues to grow: He's gained 120,000 new subscribers in just the last 30 days, according to data from SocialBlade, a social-media analytics website.
Schlatt did not respond to a request for comment.