JonTron
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JonTron | ||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | Jonathan Aryan Jafari March 24, 1990 | |||||||||
Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
Spouse |
Charlotte Claw (m. 2019) | |||||||||
Children | 1 | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channels | ||||||||||
Years active | 2010–present | |||||||||
Genres | ||||||||||
Subscribers | 6.55 million[2] | |||||||||
Views | 1.39 billion[2] | |||||||||
Network | Ellify[1] | |||||||||
Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: April 18, 2025 |
Jonathan Aryan Jafari (born March 24, 1990), better known online as JonTron, is an American YouTuber. He created the 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 Let's Play webseries Game Grumps, and co-created the video game entertainment website Normal Boots. As of April 2025[update], his YouTube channel JonTronShow has 6.5 million subscribers and 1.39 billion views.[3]
Early life
Jafari 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,[citation needed] and its transformation into an Internet meme. The original video[21] on the subject has received over 72 million views as of June 2024, and the sequel[22] has over 29 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.[23][24] Soon after its creation, Indie Games Searchlight and Cold Morning joined the group. In June 2011, the YouTube channel Continue? joined, while in August of the same year, Underbelly joined. In October 2011, Cold Morning left, and in June 2012, Underbelly left. However shortly after each departure new YouTubers joined, with The Completionist joining in November 2011, and Did You Know Gaming?, joining in July 2012. The site was closed down in November 2012, as Google AdSense offered better revenue options for the content creators.[25]
NormalBoots was relaunched on January 24, 2014, so that the members could upload videos that weren't "YouTube-friendly". Jafari alongside the remaining members of NormalBoots, apart from Indie Games Searchlight, came back, with two new YouTubers joining, ProJared and Satchell Drakes.[26] On May 17, 2017, the group announced that they were going to reconnect due to the creators drifting apart. A new YouTube channel was created to unite the creators. During this time Jafari decided to leave to focus on his own channel but would still remain as a founding member.[27]
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, along with comedic commentary.
On June 25, 2013, Jafari left Game Grumps in order to focus on JonTron, and was replaced by Ninja Sex Party singer Dan Avidan on the same day.[29] Some fans criticized the sudden and unexpected announcement, 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 voice-over work for Did You Know Gaming?, covering episodes on The Legend of Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, and games of Disney franchises. He has covered the development of Star Wars for their spin-off series Did You Know Movies? on fellow YouTube channel, The Film Theorists.[33][34]
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 A Hat in Time, a video game by Gears for Breakfast.[41]
Political views
Partisanship
In an interview with
2017 comments
![]() | This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (December 2023) ) |
Jafari discussed politics on a livestream hosted by
Shortly afterwards, many outlets criticized his statements, specifically questioning his claim about crimes committed by wealthy black people.[23][47][48][49] The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League described Jafari's claim about Mexican Americans as a racist myth and conspiracy theory.[50][51][52] In response to this, Jafari stated that the Southern Poverty Law Center is "the worst" and sarcastically described them as "the most unbiased institution of all time".[53] There was also backlash within his fanbase, with partners noting a loss of subscribers.[43][54] Kotaku reported that many of Jafari's longtime fans felt uncomfortable with these views and could no longer support his content.[55] Jafari posted a statement on YouTube on March 19, addressing some of his controversial arguments from the stream.[42][56] On May 18, 2017, NormalBoots announced that Jafari would not play as an active member anymore, though he would still play as an honored founder of the group. They stated that this was a "mutual understanding" and that he had not been kicked out.[27][24]
In response to the controversy, an update to the game
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.[65][66]
Jafari is married to Charlotte "Bear" Claw; the ceremony took place on October 23, 2019.[67] On Christmas Day 2024, the two revealed that they are having a child together.[68] On April 16, 2025, their son William Albert Jafari was born.
Filmography
Web series
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010–present | JonTron | Himself | Official YouTube Channel |
2012–13 | Game Grumps | Himself | 636 episodes; co-host; also creator and theme music composer |
TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise | Sniperwheel | 3 episodes | |
2012–16 | Did You Know Gaming? | Himself | 12 episodes |
2014 | With Lyrics | Wii Shop Channel customer | 1 episode |
Nostalgia Critic | Himself | 4 episodes; Nostalgiaween intro | |
2015 | Songify the News | Himself | Episode 8: Of Murder & Catfish |
Did You Know Movies? | Himself | Episode: Star Wars On-Set Secrets | |
2015–16 | James and Mike Mondays | Himself | 3 episodes |
2016 | Smart Guys | Guy | Episode 3: "Recruitment" |
2018 | HowToBasic | Himself | Episode: "Face Reveal" |
OneyPlays | Episode: "Oney Plays Newgrounds Games with JonTron" |
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.[69] |
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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- ^ ZeroManAlpha (July 7, 2013). "JonTron confirms that he has moved to New York for 'business reasons'". r/gamegrumps. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ @jontronshow; (December 25, 2024). "My gift to myself this year is decades upon decades of pre-meditated debt 🥰 Special thanks: my wife @mrs_tron69 A Very Merry Christmas to one and all! 🎄🎄🎄" – via Instagram.
- CraveOnline. Archived from the originalon December 11, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
External links
- JonTron's channel on YouTube
- JonTron at IMDb