Like Karen Smith from Mean Girls says, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”. Unlike Karen Smith from Mean Girls, Pink Guy says “Every day, we wear pink”.
Filthy Frank, a Youtuber and internet meme “troller”, is known for his comedic but controversial videos on Youtube. With more than 7 millions subscribers, he has created a platform caricaturing the ridiculousness of some behaviours such as racism, misogyny and ignorance. In his Youtube channel TVFrankFilthy, there’s also Pink Guy whose signature fashion style is a pink suit (pretty self-explanatory isn’t it). Pink Guy is often seen walking around New York city scaring its citizens.
Joji, a half-Australian half-Japanese musician, is known as a “sad boy” singer. We recognize his music by his dark and melodramatic sounds. His popularity rose after he joined 88rising, an American mass media company promoting the new generation of Asians in hip-hop. His most popular song called “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK” received more than 200 million views on Youtube and was Miller’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit.
Would you believe me if I say Filthy Frank, Pink Guy and Joji are the same person?
Hard to believe that the man wearing a pink suit and wiggling like a grilling bacon on an elevator floor is the same person that sang about a failing love relationship on a melancholic ballad. People who know Filthy Frank and Joji separately would’ve never thought that those two are the same. As a huge Joji fan myself, I was surprised when I found out about his previous personas. Their personalities are so distinct and different; it was hard to believe they were the same person. But it is a fact. Filthy Frank, Pink Guy and Joji are all aliases from the same person: George Kurusonaki Miller. Miller started his Youtube career back in 2008 when he posted his first video on Dizasta Music’s Youtube channel called “Lil Jon falls off a table”. Who would’ve thought that that was the beginning of his crude and obscene comedic career as a youtuber.
Who Is Filthy Frank/Pink Guy?
After his first Youtube video, Miller came back three years later, in 2013, with a character called Filthy Frank who rapidly got recognized by his terribly offensive and taboo sense of humor. Indeed, his videos go from “Racists Words in Japanese” where we learn… well, racist words in Japanese, to “Worst Animal Rights Activist” where he bathes with dead animals. His videos are on another level of comedy that not everyone enjoys and hence he would receive a lot of hate.
The same year Filthy Frank was created, Pink Guy was born. Like mentioned earlier, he is known to be wearing a pink suit. He was the founder of the Harlem Shake dance that broke the internet overnight in 2013. In the years following the dance breakout, Pink Guy released multiple songs with ridiculous and controversial titles such as “Finna Bust a Nut” or “Kill Yourself”. Nonetheless the unusual song titles with offensive lyrics, Miller is actually a talented music producer. He even went as far as releasing a full 33 songs album called Pink Season.
Both characters embodied and carried the early 2010s memes. You have probably seen many Pink Guy memes, it’s hard to ignore him and his suit. People who don’t understand them would think Miller is a terrible person. Indeed, Miller would receive an enormous amount of hate on Twitter and Youtube. The hashtag #jojisoverparty was once trending on Twitter when K-Pop fans found out Joji’s past personas. He was controversial, and he knew it. He, himself, wrote on his Youtube Channel About page, “Filthy Frank is the embodiment of everything a person should not be. […] This terrible offensiveness is a deliberate and unapologetic parody of the whole social media machine and a reflection of the human microcosm that that social media is.” One thing we should all understand and that Miller emphasizes a lot is that Filthy Frank and Pink Guy are just characters. Characters that caricature controversial subjects to raise awareness on the ridiculousness of some ideologies. Because of his purpose, many of Miller’s fans call him a legend.
From Pink Guy to Joji
2017 is when Miller decided to retire from his comedic career and focus on what he loves most, music. His personality switch was abrupt. The Miller we know now is totally different from the Miller we knew eight years ago. Because of his past, people at first didn’t take him seriously as an artist. He would still get hate comments after quitting the Youtube industry. However, in an interview with First We Feast where Joji answers questions while eating the hottest chicken wings, he mentioned how he understands the reactions he receives as an artist because of his past. However, he then added that “If you like it, you can tag along. If you don’t, fuck it.” In other words, he made dark humor videos because he thought they were funny. He currently makes music he believes is good. If you don’t like it, move along. He is one of the few artists that was able to make a music career after his Youtube career. He was able to break through the controversial world he built. That just shows how talented he is. We have quickly learned the real Miller: not as Filthy Frank, not as Pink Guy, but as Joji.
6:35 : sandy's party 
ok what the HECK this just completely changed my life. i’ve only recently started actively listening to joji’s music and somehow i didn’t do a deep dive (or really any research for that matter) into the artist when i got into their music, but reading this just made me feel like everything i’ve ever known is a lie. i had NO idea that filthy frank and joji are the same person!! it’s so interesting to think that consuming either filthy frank’s original content or joji’s music in a vacuum without the knowledge that they’re the same person is likely to have such a large influence on how you respond to and consume this media.
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