YouTube is the guardian of internet's history. It has countless old videos in its archives, regardless of whether it wants to or not. It is jarring to see YouTube act like a multinational corporation without a real grasp of its value. YouTube took the Ah fuck! I cant believe that youve done this meme and rejected an appeal from its creator. The company also claimed that the clip violated its violent or graphic content policy.
Paul Weedon, star and uploader of original video, said it best: Ah, fuck.
Weedon tweeted the information about the takedown and his unsuccessful appeal. He noted that the clip had been on YouTube 14 years and had racked up 12,000,000 views. There are still many re-uploads, along with the legitimately terrible content YouTube is happy to remove.
It was completely random," Weedon said to The Verge about the takedown. It has been online for 15 years, and it is a part of internet culture.
That's it then. It was a fitting end to an era. pic.twitter.com/UmZwwzrAjx Paul Weedon (@Twotafkap) September 29, 2021
Since it became viral in the mid-2010s the video has been re-used and re-mixed in many ways. Weedon has a unique relationship with the video. He wrote an article for Vice earlier this year about how the clip was one of many stunts he and friends did in the style of Jackass. He also explained how he sold the original rights to the video to Break.com, but isn't sure who owns it.
Weedon writes that virality was not something I had ever experienced before and isn't something I can discuss with my friends. You suddenly find yourself everywhere, and it is out of your control. Either you try to defeat it and lose it, or you embrace it and make money. After I had removed several videos from my YouTube channel, the last option was chosen.
Weedon is exploring the possibility to make a documentary on the meme. This adds insult to injury. According to Weedon, this takes things in a totally different direction. This tells a lot about the direction YouTube is heading. People seem to agree on Twitter that this video represents YouTube's past and that they have torched it.
Weedon claims he has all of the footage from the original meme shoot and that he and his friends are still trying to figure out how to tell the story. He says that we are still trying to figure out what to do with it. Although I regret stating that the documentary would soon be available in the teaser, it is something I am very sorry about. I was surprised at how impatient internet users can be.
We have reached out to YouTube and will update this story if they respond.
Update, Wednesday, September 29th at 6:13 AM ET: The story has been updated with comments from Weedon.
