Smosh Your Ableism (Ableism in Smosh)

All questions in this article are rhetorical unless explicitly stated otherwise

Brief mention of specific ableist words

A few weeks ago I posted about some ableism I’ve noticed on Smosh channels.

I didn’t go into depth about each one so I thought I would now. Also, I want to discuss other examples of ableism I’ve witnessed from them.

Slide 1 is a trigger warning for ableism.

Slides 2-5, 8-9, and 11-17 are all people pretending to be physically disabled.

• Slide 2 is a screenshot from a “Try Not to Laugh”. Ian [Hecox] is attempting to make Spencer [Agnew] laugh. Ian comes out wearing a headset and with a fake hand or 2 and a fake foot. He “answers” the headset by saying “Speedy Jim’s Plumbing and Prosthetics” therefore insinuating that his hand(s) and foot are meant to be prosthetics. There are real people in this world who need and use prosthetics. Each of those people are the only ones that/who know what it’s like for them personally.

• Slide 3 is from the same “Try Not To Laugh” episode/video as slide 2. It is a screenshot of Olivia [Sui]’s bit to make Damien [Haas] laugh. I’m currently not sure what to say about this bit that I haven’t already said, so I’ll just say what I said for Ian’s bit in slide 2 also applies here.

• Slide 4 is a screenshot of Amanda [Lehan-Canto] during the second time Smosh played “All Rise” in a video. Here she is pretending to have had one of her arms ripped off (throughout the entirety of the case she pretends to have one or both of her arms ripped off). There are many people in this world with one or zero arms on their person. Their existence is real, valid, and not something to make fun of.

• Slide 5 is a collage of two screenshots of a TNTL Duel. Amanda pretending to find a prosthetic leg then Tommy [Bowe] entering (with one of his legs bent behind him) and asking for the leg. Again, Tommy is literally pretending to be physically disabled. He is pretending to have a prosthetic leg (which, based on him bending is leg back, he doesn’t have).

• Slide 8 is a collage of two screenshots of Chanse [McCrary] pretending to have gotten a “leg transplant” in a TNTL Proptart for Smosh’s 20th birthday. I’m not entirely sure if “leg transplants” are a real thing, but I’m honestly assuming not. (Upon further research, it appears leg transplants are a real thing - for people that are missing both legs as a result of amputation - so Chanse is explicitly pretending to be physically disabled by missing both legs.) On top of that, though, he uses the rocket prop as a leg. Therefore doubling down on his ableism.

• Slide 9 is Chanse once again pretending to be physically disabled. This time Amanda is the one who pitches him not having a leg. (Whose exact idea this was behind the scenes I don’t know.) What I do know, however, is (1) Chanse comes out using crutches because his character lost his leg and (2) Chanse’s character dumped his partner (Amanda’s character) because he became disabled.

• Slides 11 and 12 are from the exact same TNTL bit and there are two things here that I want to talk about. (1) Katie [Marovitch] is pretending to have the need for crutches. She is pretending to be physically disabled. Whether Katie knows what it’s like to need crouches I don’t know, but I do know she doesn’t know what it’s like to need and use them now. ; (2) Angela [Giarratana] is acting as a friend(?) of Katie’s character. In these screenshots it’s shown that Angela’s character cuts in front of Katie’s character in the conga(?) line they’re in. My issue with this, I feel, is pretty simple: an able-bodied person being so impatient and entitled that they just go in front of a physically disabled person without asking if it’s okay. This happens often in real life to real physically disabled people (I’ve personally had it happen to me multiple times). It’s not okay to joke about treating another human being as less than.

• Slide 13 is a screenshot of Olivia using a crutch in a “blind pairs” edition of “Try Not To Laugh”. The ableism here is quite obvious in my opinion: Olivia (in character) is using a crutch - a mobility device - which she doesn’t “normally” (for lack of a different word).

• Slide 14 is a screenshot of Amanda in a TNTL “blind pairs” bit. What happens is more audible than visual, but in the screenshot Amanda is shown with her tongue slightly out. That is because she fakes a lisp in this bit. She fakes a speech impediment. And considering speech impediments are disabilities, Amanda fakes a disability she DOES NOT have.

• Slide 15 is a screenshot from a TNTL “blind pairs” (I don’t remember if it’s the same one as slide 13 and/or 14 or not). Ian comes out with a tall cane (a shepherd’s hook?). Throughout the bit Ian shakes and relies on the cane/hook. (This is ableist as opposed to Angela’s bit that occurred alongside Olivia’s in slide 13 because Angela didn’t once rely on her cane/hook to stand and/or walk when she doesn’t usually rely on physical support to stand and/or walk.)

• Slide 16 is a collage of two screenshots of Amanda pretending to use one cruch. In this bit she actually acts like she needs it then stands up and stops relying on it. So whether Amanda is playing herself or a character in that moment, she fully shows she is acting as a disabled person.

• Slide 17 is a screenshot from a “Try Not To Laugh: Genre Rollercoaster” (aka each person in the stool chooses a genre each bit has to fit into). Pictured is Amanda and Damien playing zombies each reaching for a fake hand. Not having one or two hands on your person and instead having a prosthetic or fake hand is a physical disability. So, zombies or not, Amanda and Damien are pretending to be physically disabled.

Most of these people are playing physically disabled people because none of them are being/playing themselves. In none of these examples are any of these people explicitly saying “this is the story of me being disabled for [however long]” and/or

Disabled people are human beings. We exist. That isn’t a joke.

No disability is a costume you can put on and take off, no disability is a joke you can start and stop telling.

Slides 6 and 7 are language used.

• Slide 6 is a screenshot of Courtney [Miller] in a “Dread” episode. The host mentions there’s a ramp and Courtney’s response was “handicap accessible”. While I appreciate her recognizing and acknowledging that being accessible for wheelchair users, I do not appreciate the language (the word “handicap”) used. That word (and others like it) has been and is used in place of saying “disabled”. And while some people are okay with the use of that word, it’s better to just say “disabled” when talking generally and not to and/or about someone you know for a 100% fact uses that word. Physical disability is not a bad thing. The word “disabled” is not automatically something to avoid.

• Slide 7 is a screenshot of Shayne [Topp] hosting “Beopardy” and the card he is currently reading says “Originally a Kingslayer who crippled a child, this villain went on to become a beloved knight.” I’ve never seen whatever show or movie they’re talking about so I’m not sure if that child self-identifies with the word “cripple”. If the person does not self-identify with that word, it’s not okay to use. There multiple other words you can use instead (I actually recently published an article on just that). If the child does self-identify with the word “cripple”, the least that could (have been and be for future reference) be done is a trigger warning before that word is shown and/or said for people bothered by that word. I know that word being on the card is more whoever wrote the card’s fault than Shayne’s (if Shayne didn’t write it), but I firmly believe Shayne also didn’t have to read that word aloud.

I honestly am not sure how to classify slide number 10.

Slide 10 is a TNTL bit featuring Chanse, Shayne, and Amanda. Chanse’s character seems to be leading an exercise class of some sort attended by both Shayne’s and Amanda’s characters. Amanda’s character seems taken off guard when Chanse’s character announces she’ll be doing the “modified version” of the workout. Chanse also told her “if you can’t keep up, there’s water in the back”. Then said she has “bad wrists” and “bad ankles”. Immediately this bit reminded me of my gym teacher when I was 14 years old who told me to only do 30 laps when everyone else was supposed to do 90+ because I was the only physically disabled person in the class. Then I quickly realized this bit is FULLY making fun of people who exercise “differently”. And, in turn, disabled people (ESPECIALLY with the “bad ankles” and “bad wrists” comments). Disabled (either physically and/or not physically) people are HUMAN BEINGS who EXIST in the world and we do not deserve to be made fun of without explicit consent.

I also want to talk about things not mentioned or shown in that post.

First of all: language.

I recently published an article on this, but I want to talk about Smosh specifically.

Most - if not all - people at Smosh say “crazy”, “insane”, “dumb”, “idiot”, “blind”, etc. And I feel that’s important to talk about. Each of those words have ableist roots and connotations. Acknowledging this and replacing language can be done (look at Angela fully calling the word “crazy” “the bad C word” - more on that in another article).

Also, I mentioned their “Blind Pairs” edition of “Try Not To Laugh” a few times and I want to talk about that.

What they call “blind pairs” is the people doing the bit being unaware how each other is dressed and/or what they have planned. On top of that, this is supposed to be funny - a “success” for each person performing is the person in the stool laughing. So what they call “blind” is people being unaware in hopes of making someone laugh. “Blind” is supposed to be funny?

Second of all: captions.

I’ve posted multiple times on Instagram about this, but I thought it was time I did more.

I’m tired of not being able to watch a video because the captions are either auto-generated or excluded all together. And auto-generated or not captions are so varied and inconsistent that I have no clue if I’ll be able to watch a video until after I click on it. (Some examples: a recent video from Smosh Games (“Smosh vs. Aliens: The Movie”) had captions not auto-generated available ONE MINUTE - almost or basically immediately - after posting, the newest Smosh Pit Theater (“Acting Out Your Unhinged Fanfiction“) had auto-generated captions for 12 HOURS after posting, and, honestly, it could take less or more time than that - no matter the channel.)

Human beings who don't need captions are able to watch these videos right away. Why treat HUMAN BEINGS that need captions differently? Why are WE forced to wait? (Genuine questions for anyone at Smosh.) Smosh (particularly Angela Giarratana - more on that later) is a place of comfort and joy for me - when I can understand videos. I shouldn’t have to choose between being excluded from joy and being included - no one should.

Third of all: some ableism not mentioned in my Instagram post.

In addition to slide 4, Angela pretends to have ripped off Amanda’s arm. She then pretends to rip off Amanda’s other arm.

Also, Arasha [Lalani] says something that rubs me the wrong way. She says, “He lost his arms, man. He can’t lose a case either”. This is obviously playing into Amanda faking being disabled. But I also read this as pity. I see this as pitying a disabled person. Pitying a human being. I understand empathy and sympathy (sometimes I can’t remember the difference), but pity is different. Pity for a disabled person is ableist and not okay at all.

Along with slide 6, Angela creates her character to need a CPAP machine and hypoallergenic clothes. Now, I have no idea if either one of those things are true for Angela - and I do not need her to confirm and/or deny them. I need her/you and everyone else reading this to know that pretending to be disabled is not okay. Ever.

I am not saying any of these people have ever had any mal intent and I fully expect every single human being to mess up and make mistakes sometimes, but I also believe it’s incredibly important to hold people accountable.

I also understand Smosh is nowhere near the only company or YouTube channel with this ableism. I’m not saying they are. It’s just one I’m familiar with and what I’m talking about currently.

In another article I will highlight and go into depth about the good I’ve seen on the channels.