Over the past few weeks, your feed might have been haunted by videos about a very specific archetype: a tattooed, mullet-headed white guy dating an Asian woman, living in Bushwick, and (probably) running a DJ collective no one asked for.

The internet has a name for him, "Safe Sleazy," and it all spirals back to a meme about the IDubbbz-Conner Genre of Man. But behind the viral memes joking about annoying and niche subcultures is an obscure internet figure with his own baggage of weirdness. Here's a look at Pilleater's videos about Safe Sleezy's extended Bushwick universe.

Who is the iDubbbz-Kurtis Conner Genre of Man?

The iDubbbz-Kurtis Conner genre of man describes a style trend among older Gen Z and millennial men: curly mullets, mustaches, visible tattoos, ironic or vintage fashion, and a vaguely "artsy" vibe. Think Portlandia extra NYC creative director who DJs in his off-time.

The meme started on June 17, 2023, when X / Twitter user @custardloaf posted side-by-side photos of YouTubers Kurtis Conner and iDubbbz, lamenting: "so so so sick of seeing this genre of man."

The post exploded, earning over 72,000 likes. In response, YouTubers iDubbbz and Conner posted a photo of themselves captioned: "We are NOT a genre. We are real people with real feelings," leaning into the joke and giving it more ammo.

What Does Safe Sleazy Mean, and Where Did the Name Originate?

Safe Sleazy is a meme-character born out of Pilleater's Instagram videos, which often take the form of slideshows narrated by an AI voice. The videos depict a "Bushwick white guy" archetype and draw heavily from YouTuber Kurtis Conner's look. Safe Sleazy is defined by his mullet, tattoos, DJ gigs, creative ambitions, and crucially, his Asian girlfriend.

The name "Safe Sleazy" likely riffs off the older Safe Edgy meme, which mocked internet users who hold generally woke opinions but still like to crack jokes about ethnic stereotypes.

Pilleater went on to expand the "Safe Sleazy" lore with videos about Safe Sleazy cheating on his girlfriend with other Asian women, branching into other hipster archetypes in places like Philadelphia and California.

Who is Pilleater and What Does AxA Mean?

While many first met Pilleater through his viral "Safe Sleazy" videos, internet sleuths quickly dug up a much stranger history. Under the name Joe Nally, Pilleater was an active poster on communities like /r/Hapas subreddit, advocating for what he called "AxA" or Asian-Aryanism, a bizarre, pseudo-ethnostate theory for mixed white-Asian people.

Despite being white himself, Pilleater has written books, blogged, and even made YouTube videos pushing this fixation on Asian women. This odd obsession casts a weird light over his otherwise funny Safe Sleazy series, suggesting the memes are maybe. a little too personal. As of mid-April 2025, parodies and callouts of Pilleater ("Japanophile Joe," anyone?) have started gaining traction too.

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For the full history of Pilleater's Safe Sleazy Videos, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.