The TikTok User Who Was Suspended for a Holocaust Joke Is Back on the Platform
After making an inappropriate joke about the Holocaust, TikTok user Itsnate was temporarily banned from the platform. Here’s an update on him now.
Sep. 17 2020, Updated 1:16 p.m. ET
Posts on TikTok can have real world consequences, and no one knows that better than Itsnate. Nathan Freihofer, who goes by Itsnate on TikTok, was banned from the platform after he posted a joke that was deemed inappropriate. Nathan was also serving in the army when the post was discovered. After his superiors learned about his comments, they announced that Nathan would be investigated.
What did Itsnate say on TikTok?
The posting that kicked off the controversy was a joke in which Nathan suggested that a Jewish person's "favorite Pokémon character" is Ash. The video continued with Nathan suggesting that anyone who was upset by his comments was taking them too seriously.
"If you get offended, get the f--k out, because it's a joke," he said in the video. Ultimately, it seems TikTok itself was offended by his post, and suspended him from the platform.
After he posted the video, Nate's regiment of the Army also released a statement condemning his comments.
"We are investigating reports of a Soldier assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps allegedly making vile remarks on a social media video," the XVIII Airborne Corps said.
"The statement made in the video is completely inconsistent with our values. We will review all facts and take appropriate action."
Update: Was Itsnate discharged from the Army?
Although he was apparently investigated by the Army for his comments, Nathan was ultimately allowed to remain on duty. He was recently asked on Instagram about whether he had been discharged.
"lol I’m still on the army don’t believe media," he wrote in response.
It seems that, in spite of his comments on TikTok, not much has changed for Nathan. He stopped posting online for several weeks, but he's returned now, and his millions of followers couldn't be happier.
Fans of Itsnate are posting about his return.
After disappearing for the first two weeks of September, Itsnate began posting again on Sept. 15. Since then, he's been posting fairly regularly, and his followers and fans have been thrilled about his return.
“Itsnate is back on TikTok and I’ve never been so happy in my life," one person wrote on Twitter.
“Y’all itsnate is back on tiktok. My life is complete,” another wrote.
Currently, Nathan has 3.2 million followers on the platform, so it makes sense that many were upset when he disappeared for several weeks. It seems Nathan's primary audience isn't concerned about him making Holocaust jokes that some see as offensive. They just want him to keep posting more videos. In fact, in the weeks when he wasn't posting, other TikTok users were sharing videos about how much they missed him.
When he returned, it became clear that some users thought he had been banned from the platform forever. He didn't release any statements apologizing or explaining his situation, and so users were left to wonder where he had gone. Ultimately, though, he came back, and it seems like he didn't face any long-lasting consequences for his actions. He didn't post for a couple of weeks, and his following increased because of the controversy.
