Casey Neistat

About

Casey Neistat is a prominent YouTube vlogger known for his videos which often combine issue advocacy and stunts. He is also the co-founder of the social network Beme.

Background

Neistat was raised in Connecticut, and worked as a bike messenger before beginning to work with his brother, Van. The two began making films for the artist Tom Sachs before creating their own films independently.^[2]

Online History

Rare for a prominent YouTuber, Neistat and his brother, who formed a production company called the Neistat Brothers, began creating viral videos before the video streaming service was invented. His first was in 2003, when he found that the battery on his original iPod had died after 18 months of use. After being told by Apple customer service that the battery was irreplaceable and that he should just buy a new iPod, Neistat created a film around his defacement of Apple advertisements with the slogan "iPod's Dirty Little Secret." Neistat hosted the film on a site of the same name, and purportedly received over 110,000 downloads in its initial 48 hours. Apple eventually changed its policy in regards to the iPod's battery as a direct result of the video.^[4]

The Neistat Brothers created and optioned a television show to HBO and it premiered in 2008, but it only lasted one season.^[3] Casey Neistat's second viral video hit came in 2010, when he attached one of the first GoPro models to his bicycle helmet and rode through the bike lanes of New York City, making observations about how dangerous it is to ride by staying in the bike lane, even when it was blocked by someone double parking, causing him to crash into the many obstructions. The film received acclaim for its humor and received mainstream press in publications like the Guardian^[5] and the New York Times.^[6]

Neistat has made many other viral videos, including ones that focused on the streaming service ChatRoulette, his grandmother's history and life, and subway emergency procedures. He has also directed several structured and free-form commercials. On March 25th, 2015, Neistat began recording daily vlogs. In early 2016, during the Winter Stom Jonas, Neistat recorded a video of himself snowboarding through the streets of New York City while being dragged by a car; the video quickly became his third most popular of all time, with over 11 million views in three days.

Beme

In 2015, Neistat announced that he was cofounding Beme,^[7] a video sharing social network where the user only shares videos that are captured with the away-facing camera, without the ability to preview or review. Similar to Snapchat, after the user views a shared Beme, the message is gone forever; however, if they would like to respond, they can record a real-time selfie while they view the message, allowing the original creator to see their reactions. Beme has received both praise and criticism, with some finding the method of interaction conducive to authenticity, while some finding the authenticity that results to be "boring," as one writer wrote in Wired.^[8]

Clinton Endorsement PSA

On October 11th, 2016, Neistat uploaded a video titled "Who I'm Endorsing for President," in which he states he will be voting for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming United States presidential election. Additionally, he urges viewers to "call out" other notable YouTubers who refuse to speak out against Donald Trump and accuses them of being "partially responsible for handing him the reigns of power" (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained upwards of 3.3 million views and 178,000 comments.

That day, YouTuber boogie2988 posted a video responding to Neistat's PSA, which criticized Neistat for urging his viewers to "call out" vloggers who do not wish to discuss the election (shown below).

Meanwhile, posts praising Neistat's video were submitted to the /r/EnoughTrumpSpam^[16] and /r/caseyneistat^[15] subreddits. Also on October 11th, YouTuber IDubbbz posted a tweeted referring to Neistat as "the rock-breaker" and calling him a "moron" (shown below).^[14]

On October 12th, YouTuber Philip DeFranco posted a video describing Neistat's video and accuses him of inciting a "hate mob" against other YouTubers (shown below, left). Meanwhile, YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson published a response video titled "Stupid Hipster Hillary Millennials," which juxtaposed clips from Neistat's videos with criticisms of Hillary Clinton (shown below, right).

Also on October 12th, YouTuber Scare uploaded a video titled "Casey Neistat Conspiracy," in which he highlights a 2005 photograph of Neistat posing with Clinton and a clip of Clinton thanking the Neistat brothers during an acceptance speech, noting that some YouTubers were speculating that Neistat was paid by the Clinton campaign to make the YouTube video (shown below).

Burger King Advertising Stunt

On January 23rd, 2019 Burger King liked three of Neistat's tweets that were posted in 2010. Neistat took notice and tweeted^[17] a screenshot of the tweets and the question "why?" (shown below). The tweet gained 286 retweets 13,651 likes that week.

Later that day, Burger King^[18] tweeted "some things from 2010 are worth revisiting--like your old tweets. and funnel cake fries. get them now for a limited time." (shown below). The tweet garnered 359 retweets and 4,513 likes.

On January 29th, after realizing he was being used in an advertising stunt, Casey Neistat posted a video to YouTube outlining the events and asking Burger King to give to charity for exploiting him. The video accumulated 520,376 views and 58,000 likes within a day (shown below).

That day, Burger King followed Casey Neistat on Twitter, he posted^[19] a screenshot to Twitter (shown below). The tweet gained 97 retweets and 7,441 likes.

Online Presence

Neistat joined YouTube in 2010 and as of January 27th, has over 2 million subscribers to his main channel.^[9] He also has two other channels, Casey Neistat Snapchat Stories^[10] and Casey Neistat Classics,^[11] which have over 81,000 subscribers and 79,000 subscribers respectively. Neistat has over 709,000 followers on Instagram,^[12] and 359,000 followers on Twitter,^[13] as well as an unknown but substantial following on Snapchat.

Search Interest

External References