YouTube has continued Big Tech’s crackdown on Donald Trump’s lies around the 2020 presidential election by pulling his video podcast appearance with pranksters the Nelk Boys.
The former US president sat down with the NELK Youtube channel at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss a wide range of topics including Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, showtunes and his golf game.
However, the video was pulled from YouTube over “content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of the U.S. 2020 presidential election,” according to a notice from the service, which the Full Send Podcast shared Thursday.
The video, however, still attracted 5 million views in 24 hours, according to one of the NELK collective, Kyle Forgeard.
After the video was deleted, Trump went on Hannity and likened the removal of his video from YouTube to the way Russian state media censors news about the invasion of Ukraine.
Both Twitter and Facebook booted Trump from their platforms after the Capitol riots last year, noting his posts incited violence.
YouTube also barred Trump from uploading any new videos.
“This is what they do in Russia, you know, if you look at Russia … the people in Russia don’t even know they’re fighting a war with Ukraine,” he said.
In Trump’s case, the private tech companies have banned the former President because he does not follow their safety guidelines. Whereas in Russia, the Kremlin has shut down all independent media outlets that do not agree with its “special military operation,” otherwise known as the country’s war on Ukraine.
He said on Hannity, “I told [the NELK boys]: ‘Don’t worry, it will be taken down, because I’m doing it,'” without giving further specifics.
The podcast
On the show, Trump mentioned there was “zero chance” Russia would have invaded Ukraine had he been President at the time, citing the pull out of forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 as a military blunder which gave Putin the confidence to invade Ukraine.
When asked what his golf handicap was he noted he should play more, but he’s “won many, many club championships.”
He also discussed his “high aptitude for music”, before revealing his go-to party-starter is Y.M.C.A. by Village People.
The videos have not been removed from Instagram.
Who are the Nelk Boys?
NELK, otherwise known as the Nelk Boys, is a Canadian YouTube channel, which usually make prank videos themed around North American fraternity culture.
The company is run by the group’s founders Forgeard and Jesse Sebastiani, who both interviewed Trump in the video taken down by YouTube.