Chances are, you already know who JianHao Tan is. In your mind, he is either that guy who makes “9 types of _____” videos that are super cringy, or he’s that guy who makes relatable funny videos.
Guy’s so famous that in a tweet that mentioned no one, everybody knew who the Tweet was talking about:
are singaporean youtubers not tired of the same secondary school content from 2013???????? damn
— aj (@JEDD1E) May 2, 2020
People complaining about JianHao Tan’s content isn’t a new thing. Just go on any platforms that Singaporeans browse, search for “Jianhao” and watch the rage go.
This trail of hate fuel? Even if the tweet managed to get more attention, this is just a normal day in Jianhao-hating land.
Which meant that Jianhao Tan could have just spent his Sunday as normal, using money to wipe away his tears over the thousands of hate comments generated every day.
But…
Jianhao Tan Responded
This is also the same group of people who say “Singaporean YouTubers only do types of listicals” but don’t watch anything else we upload lol https://t.co/Okbme85Aoe
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
And going into his Twitter replies it would appear that JianHao Tan didn’t just reply once.
It actually ends with an o https://t.co/rTKRTjRYaN
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
Am I tired of making sketches every week? Maybe. But not because I’m bored but because it’s difficult and requires so much time and effort. But as long as my fans love it, I will NOT stop. And they do; 4 million subscribers, biggest channel in SG ??
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
And I didn’t get to where I am today by getting hurt by little salty comments from haters who can’t help but to rip on my content cuz they can’t understand why so many people love it.
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
So if you really have a problem with my videos, just don’t watch it. I can’t help that I’m trending all the time or that everyone talks about me it’s really not something I can control ??
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
However, if sketches are not your thing and you obsessed with me and so DESPERATE to watch me do something else, check out our other channels. You will find some really meaningful content ? pic.twitter.com/OXqK9oXmUC
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
And this is why I don’t use twitter anymore. A lot of negativity down here. Do people like just come here when they are upset or unhappy?
— JianHao F² Tan (@thejianhaotan) May 2, 2020
Wow. Wait till he goes to Facebook, whereby everyone’s always angry.
One Twitter user had to remind Jianhao of the amount of traction the tweets managed to gain.
not op getting 4k rts and 6k likes but j*anh*o t*n only getting 20+ rts and 100+ likes, even with his army of 13-year-olds ?? (since my man here wants to talk about numbers and being on top and popular)
— freya (@freya312) May 3, 2020
Oof.
The last time Jianhao responded to a roast, he went on his IG stories. This time, he responded on the tweet and posted on IG stories.
Meme page Kiasu Memes For Singaporean Teens also posted the controversy, sharing IG stories from another user.
For those that don’t know what happened about the movie: Jianhao launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance their movie, which takes S$500K to make. More hate fuel came as people saw it as trying to take money from kids. Then out of the blue, he decided to cancel the crowdfunding and wanted to pay for the movie himself.
Some say his official reason “that fans shouldn’t pay for it” is true. Others say cause the crowdfunding didn’t get enough money. Who knows?
The Other Side
There are people who showed support for Jianhao too:
Class T1T5 is the best class!! They are my fave?
I found this Jianhao Tan's videos when i was just scrolling down on youtube and that was 3 or 4 years ago?? I forgot hahaha then i started to watch their videos and i guess that's a blessing. Duuuude!! I really love them swear?— Shan (@shnmrhmsr) May 2, 2020
Sir believe me I subbed all your channels and I really dont know even after repeating about all the channels in like all the videos why do they ask the same question again and again. Anyways good night sir, from a great fan.
— Samanway Ghose (@SamanwayGhose) May 2, 2020
It’s very easy to critique and tweet but when it’s time to produce and create, not every one can do it.
“The average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so”. Yes, that was a line from Ratatouille lol https://t.co/d6jGiMe672
— Aahbozz (@Khairul_Hafiss) May 3, 2020
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But what can we really learn about Jianhao from this debacle aside from popcorn viewing?
Well, not much. But there is one source if you really want to dig more into the psyche of Jianhao and why and how he creates the videos: Rice Media‘s article on the man, “JianHao Tan, The Greatest Showman in Singapore“.
Follow us on Telegram for more informative & easy-to-read articles, or download the Goody Feed app for articles you can’t find on Facebook!
So here’s a defence Jianhao made in that article about his listicle videos:
“If you watch all my videos, [you’ll realise] they’re not listicles. They’re short films but presented in a listicle form simply because this is YouTube.”
Initially not convinced by those words, the Rice Media writer went ahead to watch several of his videos… and actually found them to be quite engaging.
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Snippets from the article:
“It’s true: after devoting a considerable amount of time to the antics of class T1T5, I realised his videos have a recurring cast of characters, all of whom have fairly complex relationships with one another.”
“Okay. Most of us wouldn’t consider them short films. But definitely sitcoms, produced for the YouTube era. “
“While I don’t belong to the demographic towards which his videos are pitched, in the process of watching his videos, I stopped noticing the enumerating of whatever type of student the video purports to list and was—dare I say it—absorbed by the storyline.“
Don’t really want to spoil the rest of the Rice Media article for you, so click and read.
And lest you didn’t know, JianHao Tan didn’t just do T1T5. In fact, he has many other channels with meaningful or informative content – in one of his recent videos, he even interviewed a doctor to educate us about COVID-19:
And it’s indeed very informative.
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