Where Are They Now? Here's What Filthy Frank Has Been Up To Since He Hung Up His Pink Guy Costume To Become 'Joji'

Few transformations in our "Where Are They Now" series have been as dramatic as George Miller's metamorphosis from Filthy Frank and Pink Guy to Joji.

Once the king of shock humor on YouTube, Miller cultivated a devoted following with his deliberately offensive alter ego and pink bodysuit-wearing sidekick. His crude antics and boundary-pushing comedy spawned viral sensations and inescapable memes that defined mid-2010s internet culture.

Then, in late 2017, Miller abruptly stepped away from his digital personas, leaving fans wondering what would come next. The answer surprised almost everyone.

Today, the creator who once wrapped dead rats in tortillas and pioneered the Harlem Shake has reinvented himself in ways few could have predicted.

As we examine Miller's journey from internet provocateur to lo-fi pop star, one question remains, "What does life look like after you've abandoned the character that made you famous?"

Who Is George Miller, and When Did He First Start Posting As 'Filthy Frank' Online?

George Miller, also known as Joji or Filthy Frank, was born in Osaka, Japan to an Australian father and Japanese mother. He attended school in Kobe, Japan, which is where he also posted one of his earliest known YouTube videos.

The clip shows him breakdancing as a young middle schooler and was posted to one of his many early YouTube accounts, @2cool4u92, way back in October 2006.

Miller began posting as Filthy Frank after he moved to the United States for college in 2011. On his channel "DizaztaMusic," which up until this point had only hosted blurry skits with his international friends in Japan, Joji began posting as a potty-mouthed, bespectacled nerd, obsessed with saying the most "anti-PC, anti-social and anti-couth" things he could think of.

In fact, those are the words Miller used to describe himself on the official Filthy Frank channel he created in 2013 after his original page got flagged by YouTube content moderators one too many times (shocking, we know).

Filthy Frank is "the embodiment of everything a person should not be […] He behaves and reacts excessively to everything expressly to highlight the ridiculousness of racism, misogyny, legalism, injustice, ignorance and other social blights."

Miller "behaved excessively" alright. In an internet history spanning 2011 to 2016, Miller as Filthy Frank posted satirical rap videos, unhinged rants, Steve-O style extreme challenges and kicked off untold meme trends.

The "filth" in Papa Franku's name was literal. He had a tendency toward the gross and extreme, and he didn't shy away from, say, describing the experience of having explosive diarrhea in unhinged detail or even wrapping a dead rat in a tortilla while inexplicably dressed as Guy Fieri.

But no matter how crudely Filthy Frank's sniveling self behaved on camera, no one on his team was any match for the character that solidified Frank's place as Sir Francis of the Filth — Pink Guy.

Who Is 'Pink Guy,' And What Are Some Of Filthy Frank's Biggest Memes?

"Pink Guy" is an entity Miller created to deliver some of Filthy Frank's greatest musical hits, and also his wildest YouTube moments.

The lycra creature first made an appearance in the video "ME SINGING ADELE," posted back in 2012, but he made a real splash in a video in which Miller donned a costume to kick off the massive Harlem Shake trend in 2013.

Even if Pink Guy wasn't the best at belting out chart-topping hits (or even speaking coherently), something in his psyche clicked into place when it came to rapping.

Miller inadvertently showcased his real musical chops when he made his early Pink Guy videos, with his debut 2014 album Pink Guy acting as a bizarre yet catchy mix of rap, electronic and straight-up nonsense, packed with lyrics that ranged from the hilariously stupid to the deeply, deeply offensive.

Then came the 2017 Pink Season album, a 35-track monstrosity that somehow charted on the Billboard 200, proving that even meme rap could edge its way into the mainstream.

This album gave us gems like "RiceBalls," "I Will Get A Vasectomy" and "PLEASE STOP CALLING ME GAY," all of which sound like they were written by a deranged internet goblin with GarageBand and zero shame.

In September 2017, Filthy Frank released his book Francis of the Filth, which was dedicated to the lore behind his cast of clowns.

In classic Frank fashion, Pink Guy had one last hurrah when he asked Frank if he was "selling out," saying, it "Seems Kinda Gay To Me."

Beyond Pink Guy, Filthy Frank also gave us iconic memes like "It's Time To Stop," a green-screen format in which his angry self waddles into frame holding a comically oversized clock and yelling, "Where are your parents? Who are your parents? It's time to stop."

Additionally, his skits spawned iconic meme formats like "Know Your Place, Trash" and "Confused Screaming," as well as fan-made edits like "Nick Fury Looks at Pink Guy" and "Bane vs. Pink Guy."

What Did Joji Think About His Internet Personas?

Miller has commented on his thought process behind his internet personas many times throughout his career, with one notable anecdote appearing in a September 2015 interview with Anthony Fantano's The Needledrop in which he said, "He’s so over the top with his s---, it's impossible to take it seriously and that's the point. I'm kind of making fun of racism and all that by being overly racist with this character … the fun part is when people don’t get it."

Miller has also made it clear that music was his first passion, and his internet persona only came after. In a 2017 interview with Complex after Pink Season hit #70 on Billboard charts, Miller said:

"I just love making music and doing nasty s---, so I combined the two […] I thought the best way to get [my music] out there was through a character that's kind of zany and wacky."

Miller's affinity for music and production becomes obvious in any given "comedy" music video he put out on his channel, before one fateful day in 2017 when he hung up the Filthy Frank persona and Pink Guy costume once and for all.

When Did George Miller Give Up His Filthy Frank and Become Joji, the 'Sad Boy' Musician?

In December 2017, two days after he published his book Francis of the Filth, Miller made the announcement on the official Filthy Frank Twitter account that he was done with comedy videos, citing his health and his general disillusionment with the Filthy Frank brand.

In 2016, Miller signed with record label and media company 88rising to start uploading his music to their channel, revealing his softer and more introspective side to fans who only knew him as a brash internet troublemaker.

In September of that year, Joji released the song "Slow Dancing in the Dark" as the lead single off of his debut album, BALLADS 1. Joji since expounded on his new moniker by clarifying that "Joji" isn't a character like Filthy Frank and Pink Guy. "Joji's just me."

It seems as though his fans embraced "just" him more enthusiastically than he could have ever hoped. The music video for "Slow Dancing," released in 2018, has gathered over 400 million views in six years, rivaling the total views garnered through his whacky internet antics.

Joji has since gone on to make a real name for himself as a music producer and artist, performing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, going on a North America and a Europe tour and releasing two more albums, Nectar (2020) and Smithereens (2022).

In fact, Joji was so successful at forging a new path after giving up his "filthy" YouTube that many of his newer listeners were shocked to learn of his past in 2020. Talk about a glow-up.

Where Can I Find Joji or Filthy Frank Online Today?

George Miller can be found on his Twitter / X account and Instagram page under the name @sushitrash, but he's largely gone offline in recent years.

He's still been touring after the release of his 2022 album Pandemonium, with live videos of his shows showing him singing to excited crowds every few months.

Here's a look at a recent performance at Head in the Clouds Festival (HITC) in New York from back in May 2024.

As for Filthy Frank, Joji's made it clear that he's not interested in developing the character any further, and that he's said all that can be said about his chaotic internet alter ego.

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For the full history of Filthy Frank, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information. To see the rest of our "Where Are They Now" series, you can find them all here. Stay tuned for next week's editorial!

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