Everyone knows that what you post on the Internet reflects your character and, in turn, the company you work for.
As a student media staff member, I have identified myself on my social media as someone who works for The Argonaut and our student radio station KUOI. Before I even started these jobs, I knew that whatever I post on my public social media reflected where I work and who I am as an individual.
A lot of the time, people are careful with what they post on social media, especially if it’s public, but sometimes they’re not. Recently, TikTok user Nathan Freihofer learned this lesson the hard way.
His username was _itsnate, and he had over three million followers on the app. Freihofer also identifies himself as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in his videos. After a video of a disgusting joke resurfaced, Freihofer’s account was deleted.
The joke was in reference to Holocaust victims. He stated “What’s a Jewish person’s favorite Pokémon character? Ash” and he followed up the so-called joke with “if you get offended, get the f*** out because it’s a joke. Don’t be a p****.”
Now I agree that humor is subjective, and sometimes we don’t all find the same things funny. However, can we all agree that jokes regarding genocide, pedophilia, acts or events that directly hurt a group of people on a daily basis should not be a laughing matter?
Right now, on TikTok, users have voiced their disagreement for Freihofer’s account being deleted, and him being ridiculed for the joke. Under the hashtag “freenate” there are 51 million views, so clearly people are upset.
Many think TikTok made Freihofer delete his account, while others think the Army did. I haven’t found clear information on which one is true yet. He could have made the decision himself. Either way, the account is deleted and it seems like Freihofer may have lost his large social media following.
Having that kind of following is a privilege, not a right. Yes, he may legally be allowed to say these things, but when he has an audience of this size he clearly has an influence over them. By saying things like this, it normalizes offensive behavior, which is not okay. These users need to stop acting like what happened is a tragedy.
There have been many statements released condemning this behavior from the Army. Many of the arguments on TikTok include that the Army shouldn’t be spending their time investigating this situation, and instead investigating other issues such as mental health support for soldiers and more.
While I agree this situation seems trivial compared to other issues, there still needs to be consequences for Freihofer’s actions. He clearly knows how he should act as a soldier and he knowingly went against that.
Also, because he is seen in uniform in many of his videos, he publicly represents the Army. The Army doesn’t want to be associated with that kind of behavior. The same thing would happen if anyone publicly represented the company they work for and they posted something that was so vile the company felt they had to suspend them.
There needs to be consequences for people acting like this, especially when they have a large audience. There are so many examples of people who have told disgusting “jokes” that directly benefit from the oppression and the mocking of minorities. People with different gender identities, sexualities and victims of horrendous acts have lived with discrimination for years. This joke and others like it create a culture where people think it is okay to say anything just because their favorite celebrity or internet personality did it.
The perfect example is Shane Dawson. He’s a YouTube personality who recently came under fire again for his “jokes” about pedophilia, bestiality and so much more. He even acknowledged in his last video that he felt disgusted by the fact that his audience thought it was okay to defend him for his constant use of the “n” word, blackface, racism and so much more.
Regardless if you think his apology was genuine or not, it is clearly an example of someone constantly doing these things, causing the normalization of this behavior and their audience being okay with it.
The difference between Dawson and Freihofer is that Freihofer did something disgusting like this once. Another difference is the fact that Dawson didn’t have a job outside of his life as a social media personality. He didn’t have anyone, like an employer, to check his behavior.
Freihofer should have taken a minute to think about the implications of posting something like that for millions to see as well as how his employer would feel about it. We should continue to hold people accountable for making vile statements.
Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HindbergNicole.