The Rise and Fall of the McElroy Fandom

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[@ellepalabra6102]

Speaking as someone who is not a content creator by any means, but is an oldest daughter with two younger brothers, Justin's quote breaks my heart. To think that their fame has reached such heights that they can't just be a normal family anymore because their family is now a company and a brand is just so sad to me.

[@socktopus4399]

It's a good thing my best friend Sarah warned me about parasocial relationships.

[@justaduck3615]

POV: Your wine aunt has to babysit you for the day and she rants to you the entire time.

[@freyjathehealer5559]

I love the “my very trans co-writer who is trans…” part because it sounds like “The poison for kuzco the poison chosen specially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco’s poison. That poison?” 😂

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

Imagine saving up money at your dead end minimum wage job to go see your favorite podcasters live and the show is full of other fans trying to show they are the main character

[@wolfstar1253]

I feel like half the comments are “OMG I love the McElroys, I didn’t know people turned on them! What happened?” And the other half are “lmao I don’t know who these people are, I’m just here to watch the Canadian”

[@FunnyFany]

The sheer whiplash from "let's talk about the McElroy brand" cutting to "'Among Us' is a game--" broke my neck.

[@bobbybooshay5388]

I'm mostly used to people turning on e-celebs because they turned out to be secret klansmen, terf Karen's, or rapists. Hearing the McElroys are being mildly iffy businessmen or kind of pretentious is honestly a nice change of pace.

[@jackalobowaitthisnameistaken]

"Everybody who's dead shut up!" - me, when I drunkenly stumble into the cemetery at 3am

[@catm6289]

me: i know almost nothing about these men let’s see what she has to say

[@Soprie]

News to me:

[@Stereo6400]

as a guy in a wheelchair, whenever i meet someone i flash a quirky side smile, press my pointer fingers together, tilt my head and ask “y-y-y-y-your prob-b-b-b-b-b-b-bably w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wondering about the wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wheelchair, huh?” my eyes then proceed to roll back in my head as i recite the wikipedia entry about my genetic condition and it’s history in the classic british man text to speech voice for the next hour and a half.

[@DirgeCrowley]

"It must be nice to be on a podcast where it isn't obvious who the least popular host is" - Travis McElroy, Death Blart 2021

[@Donyoku]

I feel like every discussion of parasocial relationships needs to be accompanied by the clip of BDG saying "I'm not your friend and you have no say over what I do with my body"

[@WhaleManMan]

"why isnt this character named Taco a Mexican??"

[@Dreadpiratedad]

I once attended a TAZ live show where the brothers prefaced right off the bat that they wouldn’t be able to meet and greet after the show because of travel and having very young children. The crowd responded in a loudly disappointed way that made the brothers clearly uncomfortable, to the point that Griffin had to say something in their defense and I felt pretty embarrassed to be lumped in with a crowd that would try to make them feel bad for having families. (I also don’t know how to describe it the crowds response wasn’t just an “aww” but also not a full “boo” though I think I remember a few folks boo-ing)

[@hhhcontent3930]

As of 2023 I believe the McElroy brothers are more healthy people with a more healthy fandom.

[@kazoobard8589]

i think part of the reason BDG’s “you’re not my friend and you have no say over what i do with my body” got some backlash is because people found him through the mcelroys, and his explicit setting of boundaries was kind of a shock to some fans who were used to griffin your dm and best friend. and i know griffin was being somewhat facetious there, but the impact was still people seeing him and his brothers as friends

[@theoriginal42]

"I'm not gonna name them because they aren't paying me" is how we should all treat brands imo

[@yltraviole]

So, the real funny thing to me about the Taako-is-a-racist-name thing is that Taco is actually a legit, fairly common boys' name in the Netherlands. (I had a teacher named Taco.) If only the boys had known this, they could've just claimed that Taako is Dutch, lmao. I know this probably wouldn't actually have helped, but I would've loved it anyway.