A popular tech YouTuber has found herself at the centre of an online backlash after a brief 8-word post about Elon Musk.
Justine ‘iJustine’ Ezarik has been creating content on YouTube since 2006, just a year after the video-sharing platform launched and is still uploading content to her seven million subscribers to date.
The lover of tech was one of the first to upload footage of the original iPhone during the first week of its release. As time went on, her love for Apple products remained a major theme of her channel but now, it has expanded to things like Tesla vehicles and Cybertrucks.
One such video addressed the curious question “Will the Cybertruck cut a pizza?” whilst another addressed the large ‘hatred’ for the futuristic truck. But there are very few things you should mix politics with. And iJustine felt the wrath of online uproar after she posted a simple message about the head of DOGE Elon Musk.
“Hope Elon is enjoying his first Presidents Day,” the YouTuber simply posted on X.
One of the first replies called her out for getting political, writing: “Ugh! You were one of the few tech reviewers left who stayed out of politics…..until now.”
To which Justine replied: “Just wanted to wish our pres a happy day”.
Unhappy fans made their disapproval known by commenting: “well you just lost a subscriber” and “unfollowed”.
Another X user warned: “I wouldn’t have made that post, it decreases your reach significantly”.
Others came to the YouTuber’s defence arguing: “I don’t understand why people are upset with Justine. She is entitled to her opinion just like everyone else.
“I don’t have to agree with her on everything to still respect her opinions and abilities.”
Justine responded with: “I didn’t even say an opinion lol”
Elsewhere, she recently did a piece with People Magazine where she reflected on her early days of making YouTube content and how she got started with it.
“Years before [YouTube], I ran a daily random photo site all through middle school, high school and into college. And then when video became a thing, I was like, ‘Oh, this is so cool.’ So I had been posting everywhere,” Erzarik recalled.
“When I found YouTube, it was interesting because it was the first place that I saw comments and a bunch of responses from people. And it was weird because I was just uploading to show my friends.”
