Carl Benjamin

 ( 1979 Births ) 

Hank Green, the founder of VidCon, issued a statement that the group's actions were clear "intimidating behaviour" and apologised for the situation "which resulted in Sarkeesian being subjected to a hostile environment that she had not signed up for". Patreon also investigated the claims of harassment, but determined that although they considered his actions "distasteful", Benjamin had not violated their code of conduct.

In March 2018, Antifa protesters broke into a scheduled discussion between Benjamin and Yaron Brook by King's College London's Libertarian Society at the school. Masked protestors attacked security guards, set off smoke bombs, broke windows and set off a fire alarm. The event organisers called the police, cancelled the event and evacuated the building. The organiser reported that two security guards were hospitalised.

Patreon banned Benjamin in December 2018, when he was earning over US$12,000 a month. According to Patreon, Benjamin violated the site's rules on hate speech by using "racial and homophobic slurs to degrade another individual". A number of users, including Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, and Dave Rubin, left the platform following the ban of Benjamin, with Benjamin and Rubin moving onto Peterson's service Thinkspot.

Harris stated that he did not "share the politics of the banned members," but objected to what he described as "political bias" on Patreon. As part of their explanation for why they dropped Benjamin, Patreon published a transcript of a YouTube video in which Benjamin stated that members of the alt-right were "acting like White nigger" because "Exactly how you describe black people acting is the impression I get dealing with the Alt-Right." He added that: "White people are meant to be polite and respectful to one another." Later in the video, Benjamin stated: "don't expect me to have a debate with one of your faggots." In response, Benjamin said that his targets were not black or homosexual, and claimed that the epithet "nigger" is not offensive in Britain, as it is in the United States. Benjamin also argued that the comments had been taken out of context.

In May 2019, YouTube suspended Benjamin's Sargon of Akkad channel from the YouTube Partner Program. In May 2019, Benjamin was suspended from Twitter. His account was reinstated in November 2022, a few weeks after Elon Musk took control of the platform.

In November 2020, Benjamin launched Lotus Eaters, a podcast platform, which takes its name from Lotus-eaters from Homer's Odyssey. In May 2024, former prime minister Liz Truss appeared as a guest on Tomlinson Talks, a show hosted for the site by Connor Tomlinson. In response, Labour MP Jess Phillips, about whom Benjamin had previously made a rape joke saying he "wouldn't even rape her", urged Rishi Sunak, Truss's successor as prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, to deselect Truss as a candidate.

In June 2018, Benjamin joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP), along with YouTuber Mark Meechan, better known by his online name Count Dankula, and far-right conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson. The trio's membership was described by political analysts as part of a shift to the far-right in UKIP under Gerard Batten's leadership. In the European Parliament's 2019 elections in the United Kingdom, Benjamin was second on UKIP's list for the South West England constituency. Benjamin was not elected, with his party getting only 3.22% of the vote in his native South West England constituency (a drop of 29.1% from 2014), and losing both of its seats in the region, as well as all twenty-two of its seats across the rest of Britain.

At a UKIP press conference announcing his candidacy, Benjamin again declined to apologise for his comment about Phillips, saying "a decent person doesn't laugh about male suicide" and that he would apologise if Phillips apologised for her position on men. Benjamin also stated that she was being a "giant bitch" for "laughing about male suicide", and so he was justified in being a "giant dick back". Phillips had previously critiqued the idea of a "men's day", but also said that male suicide is a serious issue.

In response to the controversy, the chairman of the Swindon branch of UKIP called for Benjamin to be deselected, which was rejected by Batten. Later in the campaign, Benjamin made additional negative comments about Phillips, saying he might rape her, but "nobody's got that much beer". He said this was a joke, and was empowering to victims of rape, because "it's a lot more empowering to not be controlled by jokes". The University of the West of England cancelled a hustings event for fears of disturbances, and both Gloucester Cathedral and Exeter Cathedral banned him a few days later from a separate election event it was hosting. In 2024, Benjamin apologised to Phillips for the joke, saying he had changed since he made it and did not want to be a corrosive force in British politics.

In February 2020, Benjamin launched the group Hearts of Oak with the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson and former UKIP members. Members of the group say that it is not a political party, but a "cultural movement" focused on "strong borders, immigration and national identity," "authorities privileging and protecting Islam alone", and "freedom of speech".