Sneako
Sneako | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy[1] September 8, 1998 New York City, U.S. | |||||||||
| Occupation | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2013–present | |||||||||
| Movement | ||||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channels | Sneako | |||||||||
| Years active | 2013–2022[4] | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.28 million[4] | |||||||||
| Views | 98.08 million[4] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: September 4, 2022[4] | ||||||||||
Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy[6][7] (born September 8, 1998) better known online as Sneako (stylized in all caps), is an American political commentator and online streamer. He initially amassed over 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channels before being banned for repeated community guideline violations. Balinthazy is known for his commentary on cultural and societal issues, often with a conservative slant. His content has evolved from gaming commentary to a more controversial "Internet Rant" series, where he discusses topics like feminism, masculinity, religion, and conspiracy theories.
Balinthazy is generally considered to be part of the "manosphere", an ideological movement that promotes masculinity, misogyny, homophobia and antifeminism.[8][2][3] His commentaries also encourage antisemitism amongst young males.[9][6] Sneako amassed over 1.28 million subscribers on his main channel[4] before his ban in October 2022.[6]
Early and personal life
[edit]De Balinthazy was born on September 8, 1998[10] to a Filipino mother and Haitian father with part Jewish ancestry.[11] He converted to Islam in mid-2023,[12] and lives in Miami, Florida.[13]
Career
[edit]De Balinthazy began uploading videos to YouTube in 2013.[3] His early videos were apolitical gaming and filming man-on-the-street interviews, often about dating, before briefly working for YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast.[14] His topics began to shift into right-wing trolling, such as asking White people on the street to say racial slurs for one dollar.[6][15] He would also host discussions on why men and women are not equal.[6]
In 2022, De Balinthazy was banned from YouTube[6] and Twitch, the next year.[16] The ban led him to the streaming website Rumble, where he is popular with young male viewers.[6]
In February 2024, Sneako participated in a sparring session with former UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. The session, which was filmed and widely circulated online, showed Strickland delivering a series of aggressive punches that bloodied Sneako's nose. Critics argued that Strickland had gone too hard against a non-professional fighter, and the video prompted debate about the ethics of sparring intensely with beginners.[17][18] Strickland defended the session and complimented Sneako’s resilience, stating that he would have stopped had Sneako gone down.[19]
He was banned from YouTube again in October 2024 after briefly being unbanned.[20]
In late November 2024, Sneako launched a new video series titled Project X (PRJX), which he posted exclusively on X (formerly Twitter). Filmed primarily in New York City, the videos featured interviews with strangers and commentary on social issues including pornography, masculinity, and comparisons between online careers and traditional employment.[21]
Political positions
[edit]De Balinthazy has been widely criticized for making misogynistic and antisemitic statements, including jokes about Adolf Hitler and remarks targeting Jewish people.[14] He is associated with online personalities such as Andrew Tate,[15] whom he has credited with improving his life,[22] as well as rapper Kanye West and far-right activist Nick Fuentes.[14]
In 2023, he defended sports fans who were recorded shouting homophobic and transphobic remarks at a game he attended, arguing that "they are children and obviously joking" and blaming pride flags in classrooms.[6] He later accused YouTuber MrBeast of "pushing kids into transgenderism" by supporting Ava Kris Tyson, a trans woman affiliated with the MrBeast channel.[23]
He has expressed disillusionment with electoral politics following the failure of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, stating by 2020 that voting "doesn't matter anymore."[14] He was involved in Kanye West's 2024 presidential campaign, where he collaborated with Fuentes to produce social media content.[6][14] During an appearance at the America First Political Action Conference, De Balinthazy predicted that Fuentes would one day become president of the United States.[24]
In June 2025, De Balinthazy tweeted, "I endorse Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor," citing Mamdani's stance as "the only non-Zionist candidate" and stating that "people are tired of the Zionism."[25] Following Mamdani’s reported win, he tweeted: "Zohran won because everyone is sick of Zionists."[26] His comments drew criticism from author Douglas Murray on Sky News Australia, who argued that such statements reflected anti-Israel sentiment and questioned their relevance to a mayoral campaign.[27]
In the same month, he conducted an interview with New York City mayor Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion.[1]
Discography
[edit]Singles
[edit]Music videos
[edit]- "Curry Freestyle" – Lil Pump featuring N3on and Sneako (2023)[29]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]- Unsubscribe (2020)[30]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Mays, Jeffery C. (June 16, 2025). "Banned From YouTube, but Welcomed by Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 21, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Whalen, Eamon (August 9, 2023). "Boy Problems". Mother Jones. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ a b c Tan, William; O'Connor, Clare; Cox, Peter; McRoberts, Clare (February 22, 2023). "Falling into the manosphere pipeline". U-High Midway. University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g "SNEAKO's YouTube Statistics". Social Blade.
- ^ @Sneako (December 30, 2018). "30k to 100k in two days. I've been doing Youtube for six years. You can literally do ANYTHING if you work hard" (Tweet). Retrieved April 25, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Feinstein, Naomi (September 18, 2023). "Kid Yells "All Gays Should Die" During Encounter With Far-Right Streamer at Marlins Game". Miami New Times. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ Petrizzo, Zachary (November 29, 2022). "Racist YouTuber Joins Kanye West's Campaign". Daily Beast. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ Hodapp (2017), p. xv; Lumsden (2019), pp. 98–99; Jane (2018), p. 662; Marwick & Lewis (2017), pp. 9, 13
- ^ Ritchie, Vander O.B. (November 6, 2023). "How Education Is Failing Young Men". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ Bhattacharya, Richik (March 21, 2023). "Who is Sneako? Tracing the career of controversial streamer who was permanently banned from YouTube". Sportskeeda. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
- ^ "Sneako did a DNA test & reveals he's 13% Jewish". X. March 7, 2025. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
- ^ Chakraborty, Nilotpal (January 9, 2024). "Sneako and JiDion Find Themselves Entangled in a Fiery Debate on Religion Even as Fans Appear Divided". The SportsRush. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
- ^ Feinstein, Naomi (September 18, 2023). "Kid Yells "All Gays Should Die" During Encounter With Far-Right Streamer at Marlins Game". Miami New Times. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Merlan, Anna (August 14, 2024). "The heterodoxy: are 'free thinkers' like Joe Rogan driving young men to the right – or just confusing them?". The Guardian. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
- ^ a b Miller, Lisa (March 14, 2023). "Tate-Pilled - What a generation of boys have found in Andrew Tate's extreme male gospel". New York. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ Thomas, Eleni (July 2, 2024). "Twitch finally reinstates Sneako following unexpected ban last year". Dexerto.
- ^ "Video: Sean Strickland batters, bloodies Sneako in sparring session". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "Video: Sean Strickland brutalizes controversial streamer Sneako in sparring session". BJPenn.com. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "Sean Strickland's craziest moments ranked". TalkSport. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "Sneako banned from YouTube again within 24 hours of unban". The Express Tribune. October 21, 2024. Archived from the original on June 21, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
- ^ "Adin Ross praises Sneako's viral content on X while addressing his own streaming career changes". The Express Tribune. June 18, 2025. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
- ^ Dahir, Ikran (December 30, 2022). "Andrew Tate's Hustlers University 2.0 Has Made At Least $11 Million In Just One Month". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ Billson, Chantelle (March 27, 2024). "Internet star claims MrBeast 'pushing transgenderism' by supporting Ava Kris Tyson". PinkNews. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
- ^ "White supremacist Nick Fuentes: 'We will make Jews die in the holy war'". The Jerusalem Post. July 18, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ "Sneako on X: "I endorse Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor"". X (formerly Twitter). June 24, 2025. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "Sneako on X: "Zohran won because everyone is sick of Zionists"". X (formerly Twitter). June 25, 2025. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "Douglas Murray shames YouTube star for supporting 'anti-Zionist' Zohran Mamdani". Sky News Australia. May 2024. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
- ^ "N3on, Lil Pump & Sneako - Curry Freestyle". Album of The Year.
- ^ Cole, Alexander, ed. (October 26, 2023). "DJ Akademiks Forced To Sit Through Sneako, N3on, & Lil Pump's Ridiculous Song". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
- ^ Millican, Josh (June 23, 2020). "Trailer: Unsubscribe (Horror Film That Used Loophole to Become #1 in America) Now Streaming". Dread Central. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
Works cited
[edit]- Hodapp, Christa (2017). Men's Rights, Gender, and Social Media. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-49-852617-3.
- Jane, Emma A. (2018). "Systemic misogyny exposed: Translating Rapeglish from the Manosphere with a Random Rape Threat Generator". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 21 (6): 661–680. doi:10.1177/1367877917734042. hdl:1959.4/unsworks_57132. ISSN 1367-8779. S2CID 149078033.
- Lumsden, Karen (2019). "'"I Want to Kill You in Front of Your Children" Is Not a Threat. It's an Expression of a Desire': Discourses of Online Abuse, Trolling, and Violence on r/MensRights". In Lumsden, Karen; Harmer, Emily (eds.). Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91–115. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_4. ISBN 978-3-03-012632-2. S2CID 182589139 – via ResearchGate.
- Marwick, Alice; Lewis, Rebecca (May 15, 2017). Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online (Report). New York: Data & Society Research Institute. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
