TJ Kirk

TJ Kirk

Kirk at a Drunken Peasants fan meetup in Toledo, Ohio, in July 2016
Personal information
Born Thomas James Kirk III
(1985-02-20) February 20, 1985
Pasadena, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Residence Bellevue, Washington, U.S.
Occupation
YouTube information
Channel TheAmazingAtheist
Years active 2006–present (YouTuber)
Genre Social criticism
Political criticism
Criticism of religion
Black comedy
Subscribers
  • 1 million (TJ Kirk)
  • 143 thousand (DrunkenPeasants)
  • 86 thousand (TJdoeslife)
Total views 350,000,000 (combined)
Subscriber and view counts updated as of May 31, 2017.

Thomas James "TJ" Kirk III (born February 20, 1985), previously known by the pseudonym Terroja Lee Kincaid, is an American YouTube personality, author, religious critic, social critic, political critic, and Internet talk show host. His channel, formerly known as The Amazing Atheist, rose to prominence through Kirk's criticism of religion from an atheist and anti-theist perspective.

Kirk has since expanded his focus to a variety of political and social issues, ultimately leading him to drop the "Amazing Atheist" label in April 2017. He is politically left-wing[1] but often criticizes aspects of the left including social justice warriors and third-wave feminism.[2] He has been cited as one of the "most controversial YouTubers" by WatchMojo, who described his content as "brutally provocative."[3]

Kirk currently has over 1 million subscribers on his main channel, and more than 350 million views in total. Since 2014, he has also been one of the hosts of The Drunken Peasants Podcast,[4][5] a prominent YouTube news podcast focused on current events and interviews.

Early life

Kirk was born in Pasadena, California, though he was primarily raised in the New Orleans area of Louisiana.[6] His father was Thomas James Kirk Jr. (July 1, 1946 – January 3, 2008), who operated several fraudulent higher education organizations and served three years in U.S. federal prison following a plea deal.[7] At the age of sixteen, Kirk dropped out of high school with aspirations of being an author.[8]

Kirk began posting videos on YouTube in November of 2006.[8] His younger brother, Scotty Kirk, assists with his YouTube content and is a co-host of The Drunken Peasants. His ancestry includes Czech, French and Scottish.[9]

Media attention

As early as 2007, Kirk gained recognition by news sites for having warned about the mental instability of Finnish 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who would eventually be responsible for the Jokela school shooting.[10][11] In 2013, Kirk was featured on CNN, where he was brought on to discuss the "rise of atheism in America" with Christian apologist William Lane Craig.[12] He was mentioned by news media once again in 2015 when the perpetrator of the Trollhättan school attack was found to be a fan of Kirk and other similar YouTubers.[13]

Kirk's podcast, The Drunken Peasants Podcast, gained increased recognition in 2017 when Breitbart, CPAC and Simon & Schuster severed their ties with Milo Yiannopoulos based on his controversial comments from an episode in 2016.[14][15] In addition, Kirk has made two appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience, one in January 2016 and another in March 2017.[2][16]

Controversy

In 2011, a series of sexually explicit videos were leaked of Kirk, the first involving a banana and later another involving hot oil. Kirk later made a response video on his Amazing Atheist channel called "Bananagate 2011", where he expressed no regret in his actions and stated "The things I did, I did because I enjoy them. I was not ashamed of them when I was doing it in private, I see no reason to be ashamed of it now that they are public."[17]

In 2012, Kirk was widely criticized for incendiary comments he made on Reddit to a self-described rape victim.[18] Science blogger PZ Myers condemned these posts and went on to debate many of Kirk's past claims about feminism, writing that "this kind of thing has always been part of his YouTube schtick."[19] After the incident, Kirk apologized to the Reddit user in a private message and later made a public apology.[18] Kirk addressed the issue further in a 2014 video entitled, "Rape, Feminism, and The Amazing Atheist," in which he again apologized for the incident and explained the context in which it happened.[20]

References

  1. ↑ Kirk, TJ (2017-03-18). "Darn. Still a cuck.". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  2. 1 2 Rogan, Joe (January 12, 2016). "Joe Rogan Experience #746 - TJ Kirk". Joe Rogan Experience. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Top 10 Controversial YouTube Channels - TopX". WatchMojo.com. December 3, 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Rogan, Joe (March 15, 2017). "Joe Rogan and T.J. Kirk on Milo Yiannopoulos". Joe Rogan Experience. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Jeff (March 17, 2017). "Joe Rogan, TJ Kirk discuss how their podcasts led to Milo Yiannopoulos’ downfall". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Kirk, T.J. (November 9, 2016). ""I have lived there. I was born there, in fact. But I don't need to live there to simply go look at the numbers."". Twitter. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Associated Press (September 25, 1996). Minister indicted on fraud charges involving church-run university. Dallas Morning News
  8. 1 2 Cody Weber (2011). ""Amazing - Special Edition"". The Amazing Atheist. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Amazing Atheist, YouTube.
  10. ↑ Singel, Ryan (November 8, 2007). "YouTuber Warned of Finnish Gunman in June, But No One Listened". Wired (magazine). Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  11. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany (10 November 2007). "Schulmassaker in Finnland: Warnung vor Amoklufer schon im Juni". SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  12. ↑ "The Amazing Atheist on CNN". CNN. February 7, 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  13. ↑ Farrel, Paul (March 15, 2017). "Anton Lundin Pettersson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Pakman, David (February 7, 2017). "Milo Yiannopoulos Caught Defending Pedophilia, Career Implodes". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  15. ↑ Hensley, Nicole (February 20, 2017). "Video shared ahead of CPAC shows Milo Yiannopoulos appearing to speak fondly of relationships between men and 'young boys'". New York Daily News. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Rogan, Joe (March 15, 2017). "Joe Rogan Experience #932 - TJ Kirk". Joe Rogan Experience. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  17. ↑ Kirk, TJ (2011-10-31). "BANANAGATE 2011". The Amazing Atheist. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  18. 1 2 Eördögh, Fruzsina (2012-02-09). "The Amazing Atheist quits Reddit after rape comments". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  19. ↑ Myers, PZ (2012-02-08). "The not-so-Amazing Atheist self-immolates". Free Thought Blogs. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  20. ↑ Kirk, TJ (2014-07-29). "Rape, Feminism, and The Amazing Atheist". YouTube. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
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