Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.
Recently, I stumbled upon youtuber Machiazelli (AKA Mac) Kahey's YouTube channel, MacDoesIt. I was immediately drawn in by how he unapologetically portrayed himself. All social media influencers have a 'persona', but Mac's feels genuine (and chaotic as hell). His series of videos on reacting to homophobia are massive hits with millions of views per video and it's no wonder why. Watching Mac react to homophobic propaganda is nothing short of HILARIOUS. His quips will leave you aching with laughter. But one thing that must not be overlooked is how he uses his humour to navigate difficult-- one could say 'controversial'-- conversations.
Homophobia is Hilarious...
Seeing bigoted people regurgitate homophobic comments and slurs is disheartening, but watching a gay man simply laugh off these comments is strangely empowering. For one, it breaks the ice. Comedy makes us feel more at ease like there's not a care in the world. Secondly, it completely disarms the arguments of the bigots, for hate speech isn't so strong if it's laughable. But what about religion?
And? What about it?
Religion is so often evoked when discussing homosexuality. And things get heated when religion walks into the conversation because we all must hold on so tightly to our beliefs. Mac, who was raised with a Christian background acknowledges this, but he chooses to leave religion out of the conversation, at least to a certain extent. In several of his "Reacting to Homophobia" videos, Mac makes it clear that he supports freedom of religion, which is a basic human right after all. However, he also emphasizes that he does not tolerate people who use religion as a tool to discriminate against others. You can be religious if you want, just don't bully others with your beliefs. This should be common sense, but not everyone seems to think this way as is evident in the fact that 'religious homophobia' is one of the most recurring forms of homophobia in Mac's "Reacting to Homophobia" series.
Reacting to Racism as a Black Gay Man
After seeing the success of his "Reacting to Homophobia" videos, Mac also began reacting to racism in the US. Unsurprisingly, the video series employed a similar format to the "Reacting to Homophobia" series and also became very popular. Though originally recorded and produced during America's Trump era, Mac's "Reacting to Racism" videos are still relevant today for the same reason his "Reacting to Homophobia" videos are. Hatred and bigotry have never gone away and marginalized groups are acutely aware of this fact. The severity of racism and homophobia may decline over time, but it doesn't ever seem to just disappear. I'd argue it just evolves to become more implicit in our socio-political systems. That's why Mac's videos are so important-- we all need to just laugh if off sometimes!
On a more serious note though, Mac's content is important because it acts as an intersection point for 'blackness' and 'gayness'. Those of us from African countries are aware of the narrative that homosexuality is 'un-African'. In the US, there is also a narrative that homosexuality is not 'black'. Darker-skinned black people are the ones most impacted by this narrative. It's not always in your face, but it definitely exists. It's the reason why we barely have LGBTQIA+ content that focuses on the lives of dark-skinned black people in mainstream media. Most of the gay content out there is about gay, white men. By reacting to racism and homophobia as a black gay man, Mac draws attention to the black gay experience.
To be clear, the black gay experience in and of itself is not a monolith. Everyone is unique and Mac is not representative of all black gay people. What I'm trying to say is that Mac's content highlights an important aspect of the 'black gay experience': to be black and queer means you are vulnerable to two forms of discrimination. While your 'African-ness' might be denied as a result of your 'queerness' in Africa, in America, your 'blackness' might be denied because of your 'queerness'. This certainly makes life challenging, but thank the heavens we've got Mac to help us through these dark times.
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A previous version of this post contained a broken link which has now been restored effective 1/24/2024. Several grammatical errors have also been revised.
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