YouTuber Ice Poseidon and his road trip crew had an encounter with a black
family at a Denny's who accuse them of making racist comments. You're watching
What's Trending, I'm Shira Lazar. Be sure to like this video and subscribe for more
social media news daily. Ice Poseidon and about a dozen of his friends
have been traveling around the U.S. in an RV and live streaming their
adventures. But one of their adventures almost turned violent when the crew was
in a Denny's making racist jokes within earshot of African-American diners. Ice
Poseidon, whose real name is Paul Denino, called his friend Asian Andy a white
supremacist at the table. At which point everyone in the Denny's starts looking
their way.
Denino
also turns his Make America Great Again hat backward toward the
African-Americans behind him. While this is going on, Asian Andy pitches a
series of racist jokes to the crew, which to his credit, Ice Poseidon seems
to think is not a great idea.
Then when the family gets up to leave, a confrontation escalates.
So why did Ice Poseidon refer to his friend Andy as a white supremacist? Here's why.
Just last week Asian Andy got in trouble for a stunt in an Bber where viewers of
his live stream would pay to say whatever they want through his phone.
In an interview with CBS in Los Angeles, Andy did not
apologize, but he did understand why the Uber driver got upset.
So it's possible that this is what Ice Poseidon was referring to in his white supremacist remark.
Later, as the RV is
leaving the Denny's, it's unclear if the crew is really scared that they're being
followed, or if they're playing it up for the camera. Either way, Ice Poseidon
makes another questionable comment to the camera.
The incident didn't become a full-blown media controversy until author and
social commentator Tariq Nasheed posted a clip with the comment: "Suspected white
supremacist youtuber Ice Poseidon and some of his alt-right affiliate
buddies were in a restaurant in Los Angeles making slick little racist
comments out loud around Black customers, and they ended up getting G-checked." Ice
Poseidon didn't appreciate the video getting reposted and responded: "Remove
this tweet where I will have to start the legal process of sueing for slander."
They had a little back and forth on Twitter that ended with neither side
really giving an inch, but we don't think that legal action is forthcoming anytime
soon. Ice Poseidon's road trip is heading to Austin, Texas for Dreamhack, which
begins on Friday, June 1 and boy does he have a crew. This is like the
sexist racist all-stars. In his crew are Playboy model Marie Brethenoux, streamer
Hyphonix, and former YouTube star Sam Pepper. YouTuber EBZ is also part of the crew,
though he was not in the Denny's at the time of the incident.
And since EBZ is black, a lot of Ice Poseidon's fans are pointing to him as
evidence that he is not a white supremacist. @DownWithMondayz says: "So Ice
Poseidon is a racist yet he's always hanging around with POC like
Asian Andy, EBZ, Dankquan, Mexican Andy and many more?" But it's not quite that
simple. Association with any person of color doesn't make you not privileged.
Take for example this video from 2017 where the Ice Poseidon crew meets up
with the black guy who asks white people he encounters to say the n-word.
Let's be clear, just because this guy thinks it's okay doesn't mean
it's okay and it's not a justification for offending a ton of people. So what do
you think? Should this YouTuber apologize for his video, or was this
blown way out of proportion? Let us know in the comments below and be
sure to like and subscribe for more of What's Trending.