FatJew, known as Josh Ostrovsky to his mother, has become an Internet sensation in recent years.
His Instagram account, which currently stands at over 5.7 MILLION followers, and his Twitter / Facebook profiles regularly see him post funny images and jokes that some believed he created himself. However, it's now become abundantly clear that FatJew didn't create most of these jokes and, indeed, plagiarised or "aggregated" a lot of these jokes himself.
Several high-profile comedians, including Patton Oswalt and Norm MacDonald, have branded FatJew as a thief and a plagiarist. Our view? He's a f*cking thief. If he doesn't credit a story or image or whatever, he's a thief.
Relax. So some turd got repped by CAA. He's not taking anyone's spot. Seen many fakes get elevated & when they can't deliver they go away
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) August 16, 2015
@thebenshow @FATJEW Theif!!!!!!!!!!
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 16, 2015
Anyway, FatJew's awfulness isn't just confined to shitty memes that get shared relentlessly on Facebook. Oh no. He's actually awful in real-life too.
FatJew recently sat down for an interview with Vulture and discussed the whole controversy surrounding his plagiarism Instagram account and, sure enough, there were some real tulips.
When asked if he understood why people thought he was passing his posts off as his own, FatJew came back with this. "I've consistently maintained that I'm a commentator. I'm a curator. I'm at the forefront of what's cool and what's hot and what's funny. It's complicated in that some of the stuff is made by me, some of the stuff is submitted, some of the stuff is found. It's a hodgepodge." Ugh. "I like to think I'm a trusted voice of pop culture, and that people understand that this is a mix of things — some of it is me, some of it is just me talking about it."
FatJew was then asked a pointed question, whether he believes he is a comedian or not. The response? 'No, I don't, honestly. I think of myself as a commentator, as an entertainer. I mean, my dad doesn't exactly know what I do. He tells his friends I'm an adult entertainer, which is probably not the best thing to tell them. It's all so new. For me, it's about commentary. It's about shining light on things that are chill and taking a piss on things that are ridiculous. I'm sort of a Renaissance man of pop culture. There are elements of comedy, but that is not the genesis of what I am. I'm a satirist. I'm a commentator. I'm a performance artist. I'm an idiot."
UGHHHH.
Just last week, FatJew signed a deal with major Hollywood talent agency CAA, which sparked off another round of articles, features and investigations into his plagiarising ways. In response, FatJew has said that he's going to go back through his Instagram account and either credit the original poster or delete the image itself.
As it stands, FatJew continues to charge $2,500 per sponsored post on Instagram. After all, his Instagram account continues to be extremely popular with people and brands seem eager to forego his controversies in favour of exposure to his 5.2 MILLION followers. That he gathered via unsavoury means.
Via Vulture