VICE News met with Bart Baker in Los Angeles, and his manager in Shanghai, to see if Bart’s path might be a way forward for other struggling RU-vidrs. WATCH NEXT: Exiled Chinese Billionaire Uses RU-vid To Wage A War On Corruption - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LkOsgh5kcgQ.html
It’s like he’s acting all high energy to hide the fact that he’s miserable. And his manager, omg - what a douche. They don’t care about him at all! Poor Bart
seriously, poor bart, really, hes tried so many different things to try to stay relevant and in the end he just cant. hes the guy that got popular for making dumb parodies of popular songs, nobodys gonna take him seriously. he really just needs to settle down and start living a normal life
Giovanni Tovar well duh, but well as humans, managers should pay them respect and decency.. at the bare minimum. Kinda scary that there are people like you out there who think this. Never be a manager lol
I love how the VICE reporter spoke English the whole time but when Bart’s manager said “if his fans find his old videos that’s his personal problem” the reporter switched into fluent Chinese like it was nothing, calling him on his bullshit lmao
I hope he does find his inspiration and dream soon again. Despite his parodies offending many, they were gifts to all of us when we needed humor in our lives, and now that he looks exhausted, he needs to find something that he’ll enjoy again. He’ll find a way; he’s Bart Baker after all.
His song translations are honestly pretty terrible though; as an ethnic Chinese (living in a democratic country), he uses literal translations and way too many syllables and it just ends up sounding like some bad parody from his original channel. If he wants to translate Chinese songs well, he’s going to have to learn the language.
He’s depressed because humans aren’t supposed to be sitting in front of a screen indoors all day pretending to be something they’re not.. social media career is unnatural despite being hugely profitable for some. It is depressing.
Especially when he’s being used for his followers. It’s so sad looking at how his life turned just because of some stupid restrictions on RU-vid which turned the whole platform into a prison for creators.
It probably mentally tiring having to translate chinese pops songs with poetry like lyrics into English each day. Plus it must be tiring to constantly have to be "on".
@@LeafRunner He isn't doing that. Just because he lives in China doesn't mean he likes everything they do. People who are patriotic to America don't try and say that school shootings are good. So shush.
Lmao hes a multi-millionaire. He'll be fine. Pretty sure the hundreds of millions of poor people living on less than a dollar a day and facing violence on a daily basis have life worse. Just look at his penthouse. The guy is clearly living it up.
PaiN ExoTiC money has nothing to do with being happy , you could have lots of money and be depressed you ever heard the saying “ money doesn’t make you happy ? “
@Kuno K*ssehår I said you were racist because you said Chinese people can be rude, and that China is greedy. Why would you assume something like that? I agree, money means a lot to China, but I definitely wouldn't say that China is ONLY after money. Maybe if you said most Chinese are after money, then I wouldn't have commented, but you're over here being stereotypical. Cuz I don't think every Chinese person is rude and greedy. Don't assume I know nothing about China, buster.
@@QuestionableSprite This was long ago... now he is even making propaganda about corona being from america and how good the CCP is . it's really sad I loved his witty parodies. Internet makes people go crazy.
@BoatsNHoesREDUX some of chinese who speak english commented on video about bart and knew about it, most of bart viewers in china are those who doesn't speak english
it's easy for you to say, but I don't think it would change a thing for creators. Think about the $$$ - advertisers are less interested in adult-friendly content and there's no point for google to stain their reputation by allowing explicit content on their site to be monetized. The moderation of youtube is there so that they can squeeze profit out of the well behaved content creators, they don't care about you.
Bethany Gabrielle He sold his soul to RU-vid and has just passed it to Chinese internet entertainment. All these “successful” vloggers are just plain narcists.
No, hes just a hard working person, all the parodies made you think he has fun personality but its his job, behind the scenes he has filming and makeup crew behind set, it took creativity, being pressured with time, dedication, time and probably not getting enough sleep.
You look at Paul brothers' and really think they really do it for passion? A lot of people work at places that they not necessarily like but it pays well & convenient for them. There’s nothing wrong or sad about it.
He likes China is what his slave owner said. Cmon we all can see that the white dude is a grifter. Money is his only culture and language. This is just too funny to even be sad.
@@yeehaw6507 yes. I'm not from mainland China. I'm born Chinese in Malaysia. But my ancestors was originally from China. That's why I say "their" instead of "our"
@@fulltimehololivestan yeah. I'm glad that Chinese here grow up here rather than mainland china. The amount of problems there like (eating dog/cats) (scam are common) and oppressive government is just tiresome to hear. Love ❤️ from a fellow malay here.
Ceiling yeah like etika was mentally unwell and his the people around him couldn’t do enough to save him. With Bart though, he’s a guy that’s already not happy with his life as evident from the RU-vid vids and coming down this path he’s probably ended up in a contract in which he’s nothing more than a propaganda machine for clicks, and he’s aware of it, that’s probably tearing this man up from the inside out. But honestly what a turn of events, I remember watching this guys parodies all those years ago and I could have never even dreamed that he’d end up cornered into a life like this. I don’t like his humour looking back at it but man do I feel bad for him.
Being themself on RU-vid has it limit......you see I love seeing jackpsepticaye play game but I hate Logan Paul for recording dead body and posting it on youtube being themself on RU-vid has it limit on which genres......
damn this is embarrassing and hard to watch. I feel bad for him. why is he doing this? he could be a performer like Weird Al right?? there are lots of Western media celebs in China but most of them speak fluent Chinese and make their own content and are nothing like this cringe. Bart is wasting his talent here......it's sad.
Diarrhea well he got depression before the switch to china cuz he got broke due to youtube(couldn’t even pay off his crew). So now he can at least make some money and has no pressure from the youtube-algorithm. I don’t enjoy my work either, but I get paid plenty. Not everyone gets his favorite job while earning loads of money.
@happy mass shooting usa He is given songs to sing about the "Red flag flying high". He is told to lie about using and loving Huawei products. How you can't see what's going on there is beyond me.
@happy mass shooting usa If Bart felt that way on his own, sure. But he doesn't. They aren't "encouraging patriotism" in Bart but forcing it, knowing he needs the money.
This is kinda surreal, like from a horror movie or a sad comedy... I never thought I would see the crazy music parody guy turn into a depressed disposable fake Chinese influencer slave that works from home. Easier ain't always better
What broke me was the "jeesus" after the stream. He clearly hates what he's doing. Has nothing to do with "the eyes" that people keep on yapping about.
I can't help but think he makes a parody or a joke whenever he talks about his life online, I still haven't shaken out the thought this could all be another one of his jokes
lol, choices. sucks to suck, i don't feel bad for him because he knows where he is and what he's doing. disgusting, untalented sellout to corrupt china.
@@ohyeahminecraft He does RU-vid for a living, which isn't working out now, he made his choice, to go on with comedy, just on a different platform. Don't judge him for trying to go on with his life. You are clearly those people who never had hardship in life.
the manager straight up said that he was interested in Bart Baker because he had 10 million subscribers. That doesn't click in his mind that he shouldn't work with the Chinese.
Interestingly fam, that's actually a rather common tactic amongst the worst record producers/managers. Basically, you make your client feel "worthless", so that they don't have the confidence to leave you. It's like; "I am only able to work because I work for him, nobody else will hire me because I'm "not good enough." It's really sad.
Alexis is not short the translation is wrong , the guy said he’s not THAT handsome as in like not very very handsome but still can be considered handsome, furthermore the next sentence after was refers to him maybe being very handsome due to his 10 million followers
Fame and money change people. These two things completely change your life, you have also new "friends" who come with all that and they are maybe the worst part of it all. They are just here because you are "cool" now but most of them are hypocrites, the moment you STUMBLE they leave you!! You really need to be very very very strong mentally to survive in this world. And the thing is even if this lifestyle is very very hard, trust me not as fancy as it seems, it is almost impossible to get out. Once you tasted fame and money, no matter how depressed you can become because of it because it is very overwhelming, it will be hard to quit it. Bark Baker tasted this lifestyle, he swam in it but RU-vid was taking it from him so he did everything to not lose everything. Even going to China and doing something that makes him clearly miserable... That is truly truly sad. I remember I discovered him in 2010 or 2011... Now Bart Baker became a parody of himself. Which is ironic because if he didn't do parodies of people on youtube he wouldn't be in this situation. He made us laugh but all this success ... NOT a lot of people can handle and even the strongest struggle.
This man is sad, he's tired. I don't know from what but his whole personality seems depressed. He almost seems tired and relieved at the same time if that makes any sense. It's almost like he knows what china really thinks of him. "Look at his white blonde boy trying to speak Chinese, funny!".
Who cares , it was his own choice , like it was his own choice to become a RU-vidr, when your channel fails, you can't go to companies looking for employment saying I have 10 years of parody making experience
The man looks broken 😕 he's part of my middle school years and he deserves the happiness that he once gave us all. Not by selling his soul to a Chinese corporation
@@sweetea777 Jennie is a blackpink member. A well known Kpop group. There's this company names YG that's controlling them. When jennie went Live on Instagram one of her fans asked her to clap If she hated YG, and she clapped secretly.
@@heywudup7118 Yeah I remember that one. But I watched his parodies much earlier before that, back when he was making fun of Justin Bieber/1D and such.
Extra Pac-Man not all black men do though, just because you saw people protesting in the media it doesn’t mean that everyone is getting involved with BLM, some black people just want to live, but they are the quiet ones who aren’t protesting
I think she's trying to say how bart would steep so "low" as to go to a different platform, China, just to earn some revenue. This is just my interpretation but meh.
@@maur3318 almost exactly. What I'm saying is, most entertainers (at least) work to make themselves AND the audience satisfied and happy because they get money, the rest is happy and it's their source of income. But once they hit rock bottom, they'd do anything to earn money to LIVE so yeah, that's my point of view.
shane's docuseries really aren't that good and most of the time is filler content. his interviewing skills are too clouded by his own bias and empathy that i really think something like this should be done by professionals.
That was very shocking how can you really insult someone like that, better yet he just lives his life as he can, he looks like he's locked in his own world.
Word by word translation: 也没有觉得他有多突出的亮点 don't really think any advange that is so outstanding 要说帅，也没有觉得很帅吧: speaking of handsome, don't really think he is that handsome (as a star) Decide whether it's translation's problem yourself. At least to me it sounds quite euphemistic.
@@NARUTO-mr3gb but this is a leap too big! I understand that he has done it for money, but it's just... I don't know it just feels off by a million miles!
Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Bart Baker the funny? I thought not. It's not a story RU-vid would tell you. It's a Tik Tok legend. Bart Baker was a comedian of RU-vid, so funny and so witty he could use the Platform to influence the viewers to create... money... He had such a knowledge of the RU-vid adsense that he could even keep the ones he cared about from losing ad revenue. The old side of RU-vid is a pathway to many videos some consider to be unnatural. Anyway...Bart Baker became so powerful... the only thing he was afraid of was losing his adsense, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught RU-vid everything he knew, then RU-vid killed him in his sleep. It's ironic he could save others from Tik Tok, but not himself. - Sheev Palpatine 2020
can we talk about that whole sad environment? everything around bart looks depressed, even his dog :( this man made me laugh every time with his parodies, i just wish him the best.
Dude looks like a guy who's just hustling to make a living, when it shows him being enthusiastic it looks more like "yeah this is kinda fun but how the hell did it come to this". This is rough to watch. All these people contributed so much to the site and RU-vid just abandons them. RU-vid really is disgusting.
@@dyliscairofoon9678 hmm that would make sense I guess. He just needs 10 mins and his revenue would go up, but he'll have to make like 3-4 parodies to reach that 10 min mark and the money won't be worth the hardwork anyway
His parodies were also not family friendly and time Consuming he can't pump out content that fast. Actually Bart and the other company died out together. I don't remember their name
Why? He’s pushing out Chinese propaganda freely. He sold himself out to them; changed what he looked like for propaganda. Don’t feel sorry for him. Be disgusted in him.
@Deer Lord Ain’t that a bit far? He sings and translates songs into Chinese, some of which are patriotic songs. Is this really considered selling yourself and producing propaganda? You wouldn’t bat an eyelid at similar American songs with pro American lyrics and messages, nor would you bat an eyelid at celebrities getting plastic surgery and doing much more dramatic makeovers, whereas he just dyed his hair. He works for a Chinese company because RU-vids volatile polices made his videos unprofitable and he himself said depressed him, what’s wrong with that? Now let me ask you, are you sure there was no bias in your comment?
I miss the old days when i would check out all the latest songs only to see Bart's parody of it. They were and still are the best parody videos on RU-vid.
Wow this really hit me in a strange unfamiliar way. I used to love him. He was one of those guys you loved and would check up on every once in a while and binge all the stuff you missed. The great music videos, funny parody things... it was all cool. He was the only guy other than weird Al who could SUCCESSFULLY do parody songs and have so many people enjoy them.. who knew he would be HERE. He looks so sad.... I hope he’s okay. This guy has a spot in my heart and if this is really what makes him happy then I’m happy he’s found his niche... but I really feel like he’s lost :(
mel mel Same,It’s sad seeing him like this I used to watch him when I was 7-9 maybe even 10 years old.I was so happy and exited but seeing him like this makes me sad
euphoria i mean since he stopped making income from youtube he had to do something else. Not completely his fault. He should have pursued a career related to filming, though. He was good at that.
Yep poor bart just to make a living he sold out to china and is going to die from air pollution. If they dont kill him for him his past vidoes. ikk dont know how much they care about satrie, parody.
@JC Denton Well I wouldn't consider Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, and others cringy or probably overrated. They aren't the that good but they good compared to others. Idk alot of artists are overrated and cringy but there is barely anything good these days.
Exactly why superwoman, Liza, the Paul brothers, etc get more opportunities, money and ads. RU-vid plays favourites like you wouldn’t BELIEVE. I saw an article about Pewdiepie (the most subscribed to individual) and his pay being really low (for his estimate) because of youtube.
Elizabeth V I don’t think money was the problem. I think it was depression, as with many big RU-vidrs. Seems like he may have moved to something even worse though. I guess he has to use his talent and do what he knows.
I don't see how his stuff could be used as propaganda, the chinese government doesn't need Bart Baker for propaganda lmao, he seems in it for the money and that's it
This guy, Bart Baker, was my childhood. There are so many happy memories I spent with my friends watching his parodies. It's depressing to know that the person who made me so happy when I was younger is like this now
Pffff wtf are you all smoking this dude is moving to fucken China my guys, you don't just move to a whole different country of communism and laws without some sort of financial promise or incentive. Especially if he's from America, but I'm positive although not his preferred audience and platform he is at least happy with the money and the reason why he's even doing it.
@@roselavarez9114 Dogs reflect their owner's mental state a lot of the times. My dog gets stressed when he feels I'm stressed. The dog knows Bart is definitely not ok
I mentioned in another comment that his dog is so cute, but yeah...he also looks genuinely sad/worried/stressed around his owner. I wonder if he went to China with Bart
Bart Baker was one of my favorite youtubers, I remember the lyrics to very much all his parodies, and a few days ago I started wondering what happened with him...is really sad, I never thought he would end up like this
you took the words right of my mouth, that's excatly what I was telling my 16 yr old brother. Going to university and getting a stable job is soo important, you can always do youtube and your other hobbies on side.That's why the rich stays rich, because on average rich People have 7 streams of income, you can never rely on just one income source especially if it's something that you can lose over night like youtube money.
@@theretroguyy5399 the fact that kids want to be youtubers makes me laugh, like kid you ain't gettin famous with your 144p fortnite gameplay recorded by your iPhone5s
Paola Ramirez no, however it is fact that youtube has became soft and fragile after Susan take it and made some new regulation, a lot of content creators got demonetised because of swearing and it just proves that the platform has become fragile and anti free speech
@@cy4466 They always have. They're publicly traded. If you don't like it buy a shit ton of stock in Google. Businesses aren't here to put you over their investors.
