Turkey Tom

Not to be confused with Zaptie, who Turkey Tom named his Twitter account after.
Tom Swansonhttps://ibb.co/ZJtWnGX (Bulgarian: Том Суонсън; born: https://web.archive.org/web/20220816150205/https://twitter.com/zaptiee/status/1559551946654113793), better known online as Turkey Tom or TomDark, is a Bulgarian-American YouTuber who mainly makes documentary style videos focusing on the histories of celebrities, lolcows, and other notable people online. 
Tom insists he was born in Maine (United States) although online sources have historically indicated he was born in Bulgaria.https://www.youtube.com/live/TtcJ3jJB-gs?si=QPAZmuGmgHmnez8F
He is part of the Half Baked Podcast along with Nicholas DeOrio and Lord Vega aka "Daddy Vega". The Podcast had been inactive since June 30th, 2022, however, they had a reunion episode on July 17th, 2024, focusing on allegations that Boogie2988 faked a cancer diagnosis.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkt9VLK6-to&list=PLi3iNKPVpWsP9ZOXD9TxQGr7SkGNArqq6 Across 33 episodes, the podcast featured notable guests such as Wendigoon, The Act Man, and SomeOrdinaryGamers. 
==Content==
On his main channel, Tom makes videos documenting the histories of various figures, as well as recapping controversies and giving his take on them. Sometimes, He even covers entire groups, such as the TF2 community.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcbbi5wfzOQ His videos are presented in a documentary format, and in his words, “Edutainment”.https://www.youtube.com/@TurkeyTom
He is also a voice actor. In the summer of 2019, Tom played Link in Baron von Brunk's stop-motion animation LEGO Zelda Cereal Commercial video.https://www.youtube.com/c/HalfBakedPodcast/about
===TomDark===
On the TomDark channel (originally named “Tom After Dark”), Tom primarily uploads edited versions of his livestreams where he gives his input on recent controversies, discusses other content creators, and comments on various other topics such YouTube kids content and dating apps.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J67sFsM9Pg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EdIGkbQcP4 He uploads nearly daily, as opposed to on his main channel.
===Slazo===
When YouTuber Slazo was accused falsely of being a rapist, Tom came to his defense, releasing two videos on the subject, and highlighting the misdeeds of the accusers.
===Zaptie===
One of Turkey Tom's biggest inspirations was Zaptie, a YouTuber who left the internet due to accusations of sociopathy and pedophilia thrown at him by his friends. Tom and Nicholas DeOrio would make videos on the situation, eventually proving Zaptie's innocence. This also led to the exposing of DeodorAnthony, ImAllexx, BionicPIG and Elvis The Alien. When Zaptie returned, the accusers tried their best to avoid discussing him.
==Controversies==
===Crtiticism of Mr. Enter===
In his early days, Tom would make videos heavily criticizing the controversial cartoon reviewer TheMysteriousMrEnter. In 2018, he made a video where about his Growing Around books, he insulted Enter by calling him an "incompetent fool who has no idea what he's doing". Tom also made jokes about him being a pedophile, which people took as an accusation. After Enter made his response video about his online harassment, Tom took the video down.
===Spechie Feud===
In his "TheOdd1sOut, Tim Tom, Spechie & Tabbes: Criticism Not Welcome" video, he talks about Spechie who was infamous in the past for her rude and spiteful videos, as well as her dismissal of criticism. Tom revealed that Spechie had blocked him on Twitter to provide examples of her rejecting criticism.https://youtu.be/3QMbzQA-xIk?t=476 Spechie responded, stating the reason Tom had been blocked was not for criticism, rather a tweet in which he said that Spechie had gotten, "really fucking fat lately", this tweet was not included in Tom's original video.https://web.archive.org/web/20180816195151/https://twitter.com/TurkeyTom/status/1018276366716940288 
===Slazo/Squizzy Situation===
During the Slazo situation, Tom accused Squizzy of being an animal abuser.https://twitter.com/squizxy/status/1150850097246134272 He later clarified his intent and explained why he had done so, but still regretted his actions and showed remorse. Squizzy would then talk about how she was suicidal, and Tom would take down his original video on the Slazo situation for a while. It is currently still up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GGmz-iYKlI&t=3s
===Racism and antisemitism accusations/Feud with Dangelowallace===
In November of 2019, Twitter user and YouTuber Dangelowallace accused Tom of using anti-Semitic remarks/imagery in his video on YouTube sponsors, which attracted antisemitic comments from his audience. The remarks in question included jokes made at the expense of Ethan Klein, who is Jewish, and a 20-second skit about the USS Liberty, an American research ship . Tom denied that any anti-Semitic material was used in the video.
A few days later, Wallace leaked DMs from over the previous year showing Tom repeatedly using the N-word in a racist and derogatory manner, and commenting on how his higher Patreon tiers were for "Jews with deep pockets". Though Wallace did not initially have a way to verify the DMs, Tom admitted they were genuine. He denied any racism accusations, claiming they were edgy jokes, that the DMs were "a year old [though some were more recent as of writing]," and that "saying the N-word does not make you racist."
===Pyrocynical situation===
On October 29, 2020, Twitter user Ivory alleged that Pyrocynical had groomed him when he was 15 years old. According to the user, Pyrocynical had sent them drawn NSFW and fetish media. It was mainly wildly dismissed by many creators in the commentary community such as Diasel Patches, PrisonMateLuke, and Sensitive Soci3ty and the allegations were initially considered to be false. More evidence was provided on October 31st, 2020. DMs of the alleged incident in which the accuser Ivory had exchanged Discord messages that were sexual in nature with a now deleted account which was found to have formerly belonged to Pyrocynical by cross referencing the deleted user's ID with Pryocynical's old Discord account. A TwitLonger and Imgur link containing Twitter DMs that occurred between the accused and Pyrocynical's girlfriend, Ida, were also posted. The evidence was heavily debated, with YouTubers taking different sides, some pointing out inconsistencies, such as how the accused never contacted authorities and used the word "grooming" incorrectly, while others claimed since Ivory's age was in their social media profiles Pyrocynical knew he was contacting a minor, and pointed out the messages contained Pyrocynical inviting Ivory to come to a convention in the UK, claiming a meetup between the two of them could potentially be sexual. On November 10th, 2020, Pyrocynical addressed these allegations via a Reddit post on his subreddit, dismissing them and providing additional information, claiming ‘He never once disclosed the fact that he was 15 at the time these exchanges commenced.’ and showing they remained in contact with him until September 2020. At the time of the Reddit post, Pyrocynical's YouTube channel had bled over 20,000 subscribers due to the controversy. 
In response to both the original statements made by Pyrocynical and the Twitter user, Turkey Tom uploaded a video on December 1st, 2020, titled "Pyrocynical's Lie: Setting The Record Straight," in which he claimed that Pyrocynical had lied about not knowing his accuser's age. Five days later, on December 6, Turkey Tom published a Google Document titled in which he set out to prove his stance with regards to the allegations, covering several of the arguments that both Pyrocynical and his defenders had made. This Google Doc has now been removed by Google for violating the platform's terms of service. Four days later, on December 10, Turkey Tom uploaded a video titled "The Pyrocynical Files (+New Leaks)." While at first, reception to Turkey Tom's videos had been mostly positive and many commentary channels and their audience now believed Pyrocynical was at fault, public perception changed yet again when Pyrocynical released a full statement on his YouTube channel responding to Turkey Tom and calling dishonest and claiming that he painted a false narrative about the situation. In the video Pyrocynical encouraged his audience to not harass Ivory, and that although the messages were real he was unaware of Ivory's age. Pyrocynical's video was received well, with him regaining his footing in the YouTube community, and many subscriber's that he lost. Turkey Tom then made a response a few days after Pyrocynical's response, that received backlash as many had sides with Pyrocynical at this point, the video sits at over 13,000 likes to 112,000 dislikes as of May 2024.
Many called for Tom to apologize to Pyrocynical for leading the charge against him and publishing the "Proving Pyrocynical's Guilt: Debunking Every Argument" Google Doc. In an interview with Brittany Venti on September 13th, 2022, Tom stated, "I don't think people have forgotten and the video will stay up forever and there's nothing you can do about that" and "I wanted to do the right thing and I said what I believed in... that definitely cost a little bit but I think that was the last time I planned to stick my neck out for someone on the internet." In a edited and reuploaded livestream posted on January 3rd, 2023, titled 'Responding To Sneako... (Turkey Tom)' Tom says that he didn't apologize and that 'he never will.'
===Discord Pedophile Situation===
In Late June to Early July of 2023, Tom was given backlash for supposedly "harboring" an alleged pedophile in his server due to his mods' supposed incompetence. In response Tom removed all chat channels from his public Discord server, only having voice channels for people to call into his livestreams to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
==Return==
Turkey Tom's last video about Pyrocynical was posted on December 23rd 2020, he took a considerably long break after the backlash he received from the situation. On March 2, 2021, Tom announced his return back after a long silence, uploading a video just 3 days laterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2dpYw2GNyE&t=16s.
Once he returned he began uploading every day for a week, ending with a video about how LeafyIsHere thought he was Zaptiehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDwYPnuWrhg. He made several videos on controversial YouTuber FuturisticHubhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7S06wicdgo&t=1shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1epnD7ufQI, which ended up being some of the most viewed videos on his channel and resulted in FuturisticHub sending him several threats, saying things such as Tom's face was "going to end up worse than the old people in Midsommar"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eyup6VpW8AMCk91?format=jpg&name=900x900. He would also be one of the first to make a video on John Swan's recent controversy. He would then change his character stills, now wearing a black hoodie.
==Personal life==
Tom is of Bulgarian descent.https://web.archive.org/web/20210411194807/https://twitter.com/zaptiee/status/1381332979545350146 On his video, "The Crypto Degenerates", he stated that he was born in Bulgaria. In the TomDark video "INSANE REALITY SHOW (danger...)" he says he has a younger brother.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPexHBiPpSA&t=116s
In an interview with Destiny posted on May 6th, 2024, he revealed his parent's weren't supportive of him pursuing YouTube as a career and said he would be kicked out of their house if he didn't go to college. Stating "I was mad. I was miserable. I put all my time into making YouTube videos, I remember there was this 48 minute video I made about MaximillianMus and I wrote, recorded, edited, and posted that video within 48 hours. I was up all that time, I was going crazy in my dorm, I was skipping classes, and I think I had like 6 finals or something and I think I skipped like 3 or 4 of them because finals week coincided with November/December ad revenue. I remember one month I made $11,000 and another month I made $17,000. I remember I drove home from school and told my parents I was dropping out, they didn't believe it, they were livid." Tom attended college for a year before dropping out, reiterating disinterest in assignments and trouble relating to classmates, focusing his efforts on his YouTube channel, researching topics, and managing editors. 
==Quotes==
* "took the advice of my comment section and definitely spent a lot of time “beating it” while I was gone (8-14 times a day)"
* "Saying the n word does not make you racist"
* "As a fan of Bowblax, I decided to make some fanart in his honour. His response was normal at first. But he quickly grew hateful"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm5o93yFPlU&ab_channel=TomAfterDark
* "Fantano didn't just understand his demographic, he was his demographic"https://youtu.be/1a3V7YKCASE?t=174
* "As EmpLemon would autistically scream at you, Fantano was well versed in memes"https://youtu.be/1a3V7YKCASE?t=185
* "I would never ever want this guy as a friend. When push comes to shove, time and time again, he is anything but a good one".
*"homie you added me to a call where a man shoved a paper up his ass and you do that often" (MaximillianMus: Yeah, so?) "you are a degenerate ahaha"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGM0Xck0ldM&t=63s
*"Wikitubia is notorious for misinformation. They once claimed that I accused Dream of saying the n word, when in reality, I just wanted him to say it"https://youtu.be/ucr0rcyS5yA?t=710
*"If 'maturing' means encouraging censorship and making somebody lose their entire livelihood just because they called somebody unattractive online then I'll be staying a kid for quite a long time"
*"What the... FUCK?! They overfilled my water bottle at the water factory. Serious shiz. I spilled it all over me. Damn.. I spilled it ALL OVER ME!!!!!!!!!!!"
*"I am gonna smoke a loli on my blunt."
*"Yo, I'm gonna sing you a swan song cause my last name is Swanson."
==Trivia==
*Turkey Tom's name comes from his summer camp counselor when he brought a turkey sandwich and when the summer camp counselor asked what type of sandwich it was, Tom replied with turkey and they responded with "a turkey sandwich for Turkey Tom".https://youtu.be/llbylKT8XVc?t=158
*Tom is a fan of several industrial rock, metal, and punk rock groups. In particular he likes Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and A Day to Remember.
*Tom drinks a lot of Monster energy drinks.https://web.archive.org/web/20210406195159/https://twitter.com/zaptiee/status/1379522031281074176
*Tom is known to be critical of Wikitubia, occasionally pointing out inaccurate information on pages on his Twitter. Often, this leads to said edit being erased or changed.https://web.archive.org/web/20211110214338/https://twitter.com/zaptiee/status/1458541702587637767
*He has a cat.https://web.archive.org/web/20210826205702/https://twitter.com/zaptiee/status/1430694792195870724
*His favorite Bakugan is a rare contrarian pick, "Siege"
*During the Kendrick Lamar and Drake diss track battle, Tom said he never listened to a single Kendrick Lamar or Drake song.
*He has stated this his fan base used to consist of people who act like Elliot Rodger, Dylan Klebold and Adam Lanza, but now he thinks his fan base is made up of "e-girls" who wear excessive makeup.
==Subscriber milestones==
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Animation YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2015
Category:Bulgarian YouTubers