Carl “Sargon of Akkad” Benjamin, a YouTube figure who rose to prominence railing against feminism during the GamerGate movement, will not become part of the European Parliament. Benjamin ran as part of the far-right UKIP party, a group almost exclusively focused on racist anti-immigration policies. UKIP did especially poorly, according to BuzzFeed, following their attempt to inject energy into the movement by recruiting loud voices from the Internet.
Benjamin was continually dogged and criticized for his past comments, including a tweet where he said he “wouldn’t even rape” UK politican Jess Phillips, a comment he and others tried to pass off as “satire.” Phillips had a short response to the news of Benjamin’s loss:
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During the campaign, police began investigating Benjamin following the discovery of a video where he said he might rape Phillips “with enough pressure.” Shortly after, YouTube announced it was demonetizing Benjamin’s YouTube channel, preventing him from profiting off ads that appear in front of his screeds. His channel has nearly one million subscribers.
“Ukip’s EU campaign has been overshadowed by Sargon of Akkad’s disgusting comments and rape jokes and things he has said in the past,” a UKIP director told The Guardian, after admitting how poorly UKIP had done. “That’s very much marred Ukip’s reputation.”
Benjamin was also the target of several milkshakes, a form of protest popularized during this round of elections largely aimed at divisive candidates, such as Benjamin and Nigel Farage.
In a video titled “exactly as expected,” Benjamin attempted to spin the election result as precisely what he anticipated, before doubling down on his association and support of UKIP.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
But without a voice in the European Parliament or a way to make money on YouTube, that might actually be a little presumptuous for Benjamin.
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