Joey Carbstrong

Joseph Dominichttps://youtu.be/Y06vAlxzgwM?t=1488 "my middle name is Dominic named after my grandpa" "Joey" Armstrong (born: ) better known online as Joey Carbstrong is an Australian media personality and vegan animal rights activist. Armstrong joined YouTube on October 11, 2013, and is currently residing in the United Kingdom. He was born in Adelaide, Australia.https://www.laenviro.com/blogs/news/joey-carbstrong-a-vegan-activist-who-turned-from-a-criminal-to-a-vegan
His YouTube channel mainly consists of vegan advocacy in many different forms, he often makes reaction videos, public stunts, advice videos, and many other kinds of videos about veganism and vegan advocacy in general.
==Criminal life==
After dropping out of school aged 14, Armstrong fell in with the wrong crowd, eventually turning to more serious, hardcore, organised crime gangs and dealing drugs to support his own habit. He originally started out with cannabis, eventually turning to alcohol and methamphetamine at 15, ecstasy and hallucinogens at 16, and then heroin, cocaine and benzodiazepines. He had various blue-collar jobs including at a car factory and as a building labourer, before receiving welfare at age of 22 as his drug dependency worsened. By this point he had gained a lengthy criminal record which included three assaults. He spent 18 months under house arrest. An arrest in September 2011 was the result of police discovering a concealed, loaded shotgun which Armstrong was bringing to a drug deal. Multiple weapons and additional ammunition in his hotel room were also discovered and he spent six months in jail. Discussing his gang related crime, he said: "I still had compassion in my heart but it was clouded by the environment that shaped me and people around me."https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/09/peaceful-vegan-activist-joey-carbstrong-compared-dairy-farmers/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/fb-5334835/Who-militant-vegan-Joey-Carbstrong.html
While holed up in prison he had "an epiphany" and became determined to turn his back on the criminal world. He says: "I began seeing my life with new eyes. I'd seen all the other prisoners in there and didn't want to be there, I wanted to leave the gangs." 
Armstrong turned to the teachings of Dan McDonald, an American advocate for raw food and fasting who formerly had a drug problem. Following his release from prison he then went "full vegan". He says: "I'd always said that it's hypocritical to say you love animals – save the whales, dolphins, dogs – but then have a piece of an animal that's suffered and had a bolt gun to the head on your plate. I was a walking hypocrite…I decided to align my actions and my morals." In May 2023, he released a video to celebrate his completion of ten years of being sober.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ANl6a1iqoM
==History==
Armstrong made his first YouTube video in April 2015 with the intention of inspiring people with a similar journey to his to change as he had. Much of his early activism was inspired by vegan activist Gary Yourofsky.https://www.joeycarbstrong.com/history He began making consistent video content every day (most of his earlier content he's made private) but his earliest influential video series began in September 2015. He collaborated with a youtuber named Martin and he made his first ever street interview video. This birthed a series called "Joey vs the Public" which was the first animal rights focused street outreach series that was filmed and posted on social media. Martin had a vegan street interview called "Drunk Opinions" before this series in July 2015, and Armstrong says it really inspired him to take this concept to the next level.
==Social media==
===Youtube===
Armstrong has over 34 million views on his YouTube channel, 905 videos, of which two have over 1 million views, and six have over 500K. His most viewed video is called "Dairy Farmer DESTROYS Vegan Activist!" in which he briefly debates a dairy farmer, this video currently stands at 2.4 million views.
===Others===
Armstrong has 172k followers on Instagram and around 2,900 posts. He has a Twitter account with over 1,350 tweets and around 13K followers. His Facebook account has 237K followers. In addition he has a Tiktok account where he reuploads clips from his videos, on his Tiktok account he has 17K followers and 400K likes. He has 500 Patreons and gets $2,483 every month from Patreon.
==Trivia==
*He has a "Vegan" tattoo behind his right ear.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipwqaxlArGo
*He used to work as a traffic controller.
*Famous vegan activist Ed Winters got inspired to start activism because of him.
==External links==
*Interview with Joey Carbstrong conducted by David Ramms.
*Joey Carbstrong interview on the The Simply Vegan Podcast.
==References==
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:Reaction YouTubers
Category:Australian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2013