Pogo

Christopher Nicholas "Nick" Bertke (born: ), better known online as Pogo or Pogomix (formerly Fagottron), is a South African-born Australian YouTuber and musician who's known for his electronic music in which he samples sounds from movies, TV shows, and other forms of media.
==Content==
Pogo had uploaded his first video onto YouTube on July 18, 2007 called Alice, which sampled audio from the 1951 animated film, Alice in Wonderland. It is currently one of Pogo's most viewed video, garnering over 31 million views. 
Pogo's well known for creating lo-fi electronic music while also sampling audio from different media, such as Disney, Pulp Fiction, The Simpsons, Harry Potter, etc. He also edits clips from the type of media he's sampling from to form a music video. He will sometimes feature himself in the video, wearing different costumes and featuring special effects, such as "Data & Picard" and "Absoblume". While most of his music is melancholic, Pogo will sometimes make more comedic music and videos, such as the video "Trumpular", which sampled audio from the then 2016 presidential candidate, Donald Trump. 
The only exception to not sampling from pop culture was his Remix the World project, in which he sampled audio from real life and different cultures, such as languages or noises. Pogo began the project in 2011 after uploading the video "Gardyn", in which he sampled audio from his mother and her garden. He created a Kickstarter to help him travel around the world to gather audio. His original goal of $15,000 was surpassed to $25,299 by 1,178 backers.https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/663695822/pogo-presents-world-remix-tibet 
On his second channel Pogomix, he'll upload a variety of content alongside music, such as vlogs, reviews, behind the scenes, tutorials, etc. 
==Controversies==
===Anti-feminism===
On January 15, 2015, Pogo posted a blog post to his website titled "Why We Should Envy Women" where he said that women were able to have more rights then men, such as being able to commit crimes and discriminate other genders. He says that those involved in the feminist movement don't act mature and those that are treated like children will build a better relationship and have more sex. Though he does say humans naturally have a child-like side. He says that men should be responsible for women's actions and implement responsibility since he says women act like victims. 
Pogo then says that in order to be taken seriously, women have to take responsibility and act masculine. He says men and women naturally act like their stereotypes since it's part of the "Sociological Equilibrium" and that there's real no sexism and misogyny occurring.https://web.archive.org/web/20150124021002/https://pogomix.net/why-we-should-envy-women/ 
He would later post a video onto YouTube explaining his opinions on the feminist movement. The blog post and video garnered a mixed reception, with some praising the satire, while others called him out on sexism and misogyny. He would later make a Facebook post saying that the blog and video was meant to be a parody, as a response to Donald Trump's campaign and the alt-right.https://www.youredm.com/2018/05/31/electronic-producer-pogo-under-fire-for-vile-homophobic-misogynistic-comments/ 
===Homophobic statements===
Some fans of Pogo questioned his original YouTube username Fagottron, as it's a combination of the two words f*ggot and Tron. In 2016, he uploaded the video "Why I named my channel Faggotron", in which he truthfully said the reason why was because of his hatred for gays and homosexuality. He said he wanted an online name to express why gays were "an abomination", so he used the homophobic slur in his name. While he quickly skipped past this statement in the video, he expressed his approval for the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, in which a man killed multiple people at a gay nightclub. Though he also said he doesn't like people getting killed, but he does encourage the United States's homophobia and wanting gays to die.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7tGG_3W2Hs 
Pogo immediately gained backlash from fans, YouTubers, and media outlets for his extreme homophobia and death threats towards the gay community. Since Pogo lived in Western Australia, he was unable to be arrested since there are no anti-vilification laws in that state.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhXiu-IDk7U
 
He soon uploaded another video that same year titled "Simplicity is Divinity", in which he said that actual reason why he used to call himself Fagottron was because he claims in Western Australia that the slur is more light-hearted than it's homophobic connotations. Pogo says the video was a joke and the reason why he filmed it that way was to offend and make fun of the left-wing and SJWs, since he wanted to imitate conservative celebrites, such as Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan. He does say the video deserved to be criticized and that it was in poor taste, saying he has no actual hate towards the LGBTQ+ community. He also says he is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and bipolar disorder, which he claims affects his sense of humor.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-z56PHi44&t 
==Discography==
*Texturebox (2010)
*Wonderpuff (2011)
*Forgotten Fudge (2013)
*Star Charts (2014)
*Kindred Shadow (2015)
*Weightless (2016)
*Ascend (2018)
*Quantum Field (2018)
*Valley of Shadow (2020)
*Cultures (2020)
*Cosmoluxe (2022)
==Trivia==
*Pogo officially collaborated with Disney and Pixar in 2009, remixing audio from their movies Toy Story and Up.
*In 2011, he was arrested in the United States due to not having a work visa, which resulted in a travel ban to the country until 2021.https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/aussie-music-producer-nick-bertke-aka-pogo-jailed-banned-from-us/news-story/0d76595bed28e23448c8f4a7cd1f8630
*On January 14, 2020, Pogo's channel was hacked in where it was turned into a crypto channel, which resulted in the channel getting terminated. Though YouTube was able to recover the channel four days later.https://twitter.com/OfficialPogo/status/1217287323848544257?lang=en
*Pogo's video, "Gardyn" was shown at the Guggenheim Museum along with 24 other videos for YouTube's top 25 videos of 2011.
*One of Pogo's biggest musical inspirations is fellow musician, Akufen.
*He primarily uses FLStudio to create his music.
==References==
Category:Music YouTubers
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:South African YouTubers
Category:Australian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2007
Category:One million subscribers