JonTron
JonTron | ||||||||||
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Born | Jonathan Aryan Jafari March 24, 1990 Rancho Palos Verdes, California, U.S. | |||||||||
Occupations |
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Spouse |
Charlotte Claw (m. 2019) | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
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Years active | 2010–present | |||||||||
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Subscribers | 6.59 million Polaris | |||||||||
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Last updated: April 4, 2024 |
Jonathan Aryan Jafari (/ˈɛəriən/) (born March 24, 1990), better known online as JonTron, is an American YouTuber, comedian, and media reviewer. He is best known for his eponymous YouTube web series JonTron, where he reviews and parodies video games, films and other media.
Jafari is the co-creator and former co-host of the
Early life
Jonathan Aryan Jafari[3] was born in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on March 24, 1990, to Afshin and Irene Jafari.[4] He is of Hungarian descent on his mother's side, and Iranian descent on his father's side.[5] He attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School from 2004 to 2008.[6]
Career
Early career
Jafari created a
JonTron
On August 31, 2010, Jafari created a YouTube channel called JonTronShow. He stated that he chose the name JonTron because it was "reminiscent of technology" and that the show was originally going to be called JonTron 2.0.
According to Jafari, in an episode of Game Grumps, JonTron began achieving notability after a post on Reddit featuring Jafari's review of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game DinoCity reached #1 on the website.[13] In 2011, Jafari created two now-defunct spin-off Let's Play channels. The first, "JonTronStarcraft", has two videos of Jafari playing Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft. The second channel, "JonTronLoL", has four videos of Jafari playing the MOBA game League of Legends.[14] Both channels have fewer than 25,000 subscribers. JonTronShow reached 1 million subscribers in May 2014.[14]
In 2013 Paul Tamburro of
In May 2015, Jafari released a spin-off
Jafari occasionally uploads videos in which he comments on matters that he finds important, which are usually related to gaming. This occurred most recently in 2016, with a video made in response to Blizzard Entertainment shutting down private servers of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Jafari mostly criticized the shutdown of one of the most popular private servers, Nostalrius, which was a copy of the 1.12 version of the game.[18] Jafari's video helped to raise awareness on this subject, and lead to thousands of signatures on a Change.org petition.[19]
Throughout 2019 and 2020, Jafari has continued to broaden the range of media covered on his show, instead of solely traditional video games. Notable examples of topics are
JonTron is largely credited with public awareness of Flex Tape and Phil Swift, and its transformation into an internet meme. The original video[21] on the subject has received over 66 million views as of October 2021, and the sequel[22] has over 26 million, and features a cameo from Swift himself.
NormalBoots
NormalBoots was created in late 2010 by Jafari and Austin "PeanutButterGamer" Hargrave to act as a hub where Jafari and Hargrave could post content and receive advertisement revenue.
Game Grumps
Jafari met animator Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, of whom he had been a fan since the early 2000s, when the latter messaged him on YouTube shortly after his review of DinoCity grew popular.[13] The two eventually became close friends, and in July 2012, Jafari and Hanson announced they would be starting a Let's Play series titled Game Grumps through videos on both their channels. On July 18 of the same year, Jafari and Hanson uploaded their first serials of Game Grumps: Kirby Super Star, Mega Man 7 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.[28] On the Game Grumps channel, Jafari and Hanson played games together, typically ones that were retro or nostalgic in style, and commented over them with their own comedic inputs. On June 25, 2013, it was announced that Jafari had left Game Grumps in order to focus on JonTron, and was replaced by Ninja Sex Party singer Dan Avidan on the same day.[29] The announcement was met with backlash by certain fans for its sudden and unexpected announcement without any lead-up, as well as the channel announcing the debut of the spin-off series Steam Train on the same day that Jafari's departure was disclosed.[30]
Collaborations
Jafari has collaborated with multiple YouTube channels, including Ethan and Hila Klein's channel h3h3Productions. From October 2015 to August 2016, Hila Klein was a producer for JonTron. He has made an appearance on James Rolfe's Let's Play series James & Mike Mondays.[31] He made a cameo appearance in Angry Video Game Adventures. Jafari was a featured vocalist in an episode of The Gregory Brothers' viral webseries Songify the News. At the same time, The Gregory Brothers remixed Jafari's review of the bootlegged game, Titenic, and it was released on iTunes.[32]
Jafari has done
In 2013, before his departure from Game Grumps, Jafari and Hanson appeared in a promotional video produced by
In November 2016, Jafari released an album called Love Is Like Drugs with The Gregory Brothers, which reached number two on the
Other work
Jafari played Banjo-Kazooie in June 2014 on a Twitch stream, to collect donations for Teach For America's GoFundMe campaign. Jafari stated that if the $25,000 proposed goal was hit, he would reprise a cover of Katy Perry's song "Firework" originally recorded for his 2011 review of DinoCity. The full version of the cover was uploaded to Jafari's YouTube channel on February 14, 2016.[38]
In 2016, Jafari was featured as a character alongside other NormalBoots collaborators in the dating sim and visual novel Asagao Academy.[39][40]
Jafari has provided voice-over work for
Political views
Partisanship
In an interview with
2017 comments
This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. |
Jafari discussed politics on a livestream hosted by
His comments were followed by a backlash within his fanbase, with partners noting a loss of subscribers.[46][52] Kotaku reported that many of Jafari's longtime fans felt uncomfortable with these views, and could no longer support his content. [53] Jafari posted a statement on YouTube on March 19, addressing some of his controversial arguments from the stream.[45][54] On May 18, 2017, it was announced by NormalBoots that after Jafari's comments, he would still play as an honored founder of the group, however he would not play as an active member anymore, and that this was a "mutual understanding", and that he had not been kicked out.[27] In the wake of controversies surrounding NormalBoots member Jared "ProJared" Knabenbauer in May 2019,[24] fellow member Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil claimed in a YouTube comment that Jafari's departure had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding his statements, stating that Jafari felt that he could no longer contribute to the group, due to the extended time it took for him to make videos, and that he had been planning to leave for several months. Khalil also stated that the group made the announcement a few weeks after the controversy, and that they nonetheless chose to make a statement regarding Jafari since certain members, including Khalil and Jafari themselves, were born to immigrant parents.[55]
Jafari recorded voice parts for a minor character in the game Yooka-Laylee. In response to the controversy, an update was issued the same day as the game's April 2017 release, to remove and replace Jafari's voice.[56][57][58][59][60] The game was reportedly flooded with requests for refunds following his removal.[61] Jafari was kept as a voice talent in A Hat in Time, another game which he had been involved in, despite the controversy, which resulted in mixed reaction, with some people claiming to refuse purchasing the game if he was included in the game.[62] In November 2017, Jafari appeared on a podcast with h3h3Productions. While he was featured on the podcast, he spoke further about his statements, stating that he should not have gone into the subjects he went into without any prior preparation, and claiming that while he did not hold any racist views, he wishes people could "[talk] about these things without witch hunting each other".[63]
Personal life
In July 2013, coinciding with Jafari's departure from Game Grumps, he announced that he had moved from Los Angeles to New York City.[64][65] As of 2022, Jafari's Twitter page has listed his location as New England.[66]
Jafari is married to Charlotte "Bear" Claw; the ceremony took place on October 23, 2019.[67]
Filmography
Web series
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010–present | JonTron | Himself | |
2012–16 | Did You Know Gaming? | Himself | 12 episodes |
2012–13 | Game Grumps | Himself | 636 episodes; co-host; also creator and theme music composer |
2012–13 | TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise | Sniperwheel | 3 episodes |
2014 | With Lyrics | Wii Shop Channel customer | 1 episode |
2014 | Nostalgia Critic | Himself | 4 episodes; Nostalgiaween intro |
2015–16 | James and Mike Mondays | Himself | 3 episodes |
2015 | Songify the News | Himself | Episode 8: Of Murder & Catfish |
2015 | Did You Know Movies? | Himself | Episode: Star Wars On-Set Secrets |
2016 | Smart Guys | Guy | Episode 3: "Recruitment" |
2018 | HowToBasic | Himself | Episode: "Face Reveal" |
Video games
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club | Jon | |
2017 | Yooka-Laylee | Space Outhouse | Replaced with another voice in day 1 patch.[68] |
2017 | A Hat in Time | Receptionist Bird |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | 2.0 | Injured Spec Op (voice) | Television film |
See also
- List of YouTube personalities
References
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- ^ Alexander, Julia (December 5, 2017). "JonTron addresses anti-immigration remarks and fallout in new interview". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 15, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
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- ^ JonTron [@JonTronShow] (January 10, 2014). "As a New York City resident, 'Bridgegate' is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Thank you politics. Never stop" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Jafari, Jonathan. "JonTron (@JonTronShow)". Twitter. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
- ^ JonTron [@JonTronShow] (October 23, 2019). "I got to marry the love of my life this weekend. Thanks @Chazoo92 for making me an eternally lucky man!! 💍💖✨ https://t.co/MNOorNpI4h" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022 – via Twitter.
- CraveOnline. Archived from the originalon December 11, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
External links
- JonTron's channel on YouTube
- JonTron at IMDb