Rafael Montes Barrera, 1/15 Week 9 - StampyZaza: A Grim Testament to AI's Power with Public Perception

 

A direct side-by-side of the original StampyLonghead channel (left) and the new StampyZaza (right) parody channel

Stampylonghead or Joseph Garrett is an English retired Minecraft Youtuber, actor, and author that was popularized by his hit Minecraft “Lovely World” series under the simple “Minecraft Xbox” name that began early on in May of 2012. I will also be addressing the original Stampylonghead as “Stampy.” What’s important to note is that the first 31 episodes of Stampy’s “Lovely World” series contained strong language as Stampy hadn’t yet discovered his young audience until around episode 32-33. He would then private and edit all 31 said videos to fit his child-friendly aim. The series followed a scripted overarching story that used Minecraft as a platform to host different stories and builds. Stampy would continue his popular series and youtube channel for nearly eleven years until the finale on the twenty-first of October in 2023. Within this timeframe, Stampy grew a large following and fanbase that basically grew up around Stampy and his content. Today, Stampy is revered for his child-friendly videos that inevitably invoke heavy nostalgia for long-time fans Yet, an up-and-coming channel poses a threat to his legacy. 

StampyZaza is a “parody” channel of Stampylonghead created on the eighth of September, 2024. Being fairly new, the channel currently has eight videos and even a merch line. Every one of these videos contain language and subject matter that are vastly more offensive and inappropriate to the original Stampylonghead channel. Evidently, the subject matter featured in his videos is enough proof. To summarize, the StampyZaza channel contains content that is Islamophobic, stereotypical, anti-semitic, and borderline extremist. Also operating on Minecraft as a medium, StampyZaza takes advantage of mods or downloadable coding to transform the once innocent and appropriate platform into a vastly darker image. This is possible due to Minecraft’s platform encouraging creativity most prominently with its building. It is unknown who operates the StampyZaza channel currently, but the channel most likely operates with human-led gameplay and acted-out interactions between several players just like the original, except with the use of an AI recreation of Stampylonghead’s voice and the AI recreations of several other individuals like that of Donald Trump. To make things worse, an account by the name of “StampyZaZaTwo” operates on TikTok with other accounts in the channel’s bio. Of course, aside from Tiktok’s possible U.S. ban, these channels have made way to further warp Stampylonghead’s legacy.

What's especially concerning are the reactions and perceptions of the StampyZaza channel. My first encounter with

the channel involved seeing StampyZaza's first (of two) videos concerning a rude rendition of "George Droyd" or

George Floyd, a victim of police brutality that sparked the BLM movement (Video 6). Upon take the bait and

clicking out of shock value, I was met with an AI rendition of Stampy's iconic voice. However, the AI is simply

advanced enough to sound real unless viewers watch later into the video to find mannerisms or speech that is

inconsistent. This isn't the majority, but many won't sit the full five minutes to decide whether the content is

really Stampy. However, two sides to the coin of StampyZaza's perception stand to pose both cause for concern

and hope.

After combing through comments and TikToks, I found a post from Stampy fans on the Reddit platform

spreading awareness about the harmful StampyZaza channel. The first and main post was created by a credible

top 1% poster on the Stampylonghead subreddit. Although currently locked, the reddit chain poses a large

discussion where people mainly address and therefore set what to do in order to take down the hate speech and

to protect as much of Stampy’s legacy as possible. What is concerning is that a number of people that spoke in

this chain outright ignored that the channel was harmful, and even endorsed it, saying that StampyZaza was

“funnier” or that people were simply getting “offended” on other people’s behalf. This is evident as in

StampyZaza’s comment section on Youtube, somewhat of an echo-chamber is created by those who support S

StampyZaza’s content. Whether ironically or un-ironically, they can be seen repeating speech from StampyZaza’s

AI voice like “long noses” (video 8) or “fent” (video 6). This not only reinforces hate-speech but amplifies it,

leveraging the shock and disbelief created by seeing someone of Stampylonghead’s credibility behave in direct

contradiction to the values the original Stampy stood for. 

What's clear is the ease with which AI provides for imitation. StampyZaza has long tarnished Stampy's legacy by misusing the once innocent Stampylonghead, highlighting a broader ability that will allow the warping of celebrities and their personas indiscriminately. Fortunately, many platforms offer check marks or certifications for authorized original channels. As seen on the subreddit post above, what actions viewers can take to support originals creators in situations like these are:

1. Report on Hate-speech

2. Block (avoid giving views outside of seeing channel statuses)

3. Watch the original channels/support the original creators