Sam Hyde

Samuel Whitcomb Hyde is an American right wing comedian, podcaster, boxer and a co-founder of sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme alongside Nick Rochefort and Charls Carroll.

Hyde is the co-creator and producer of series such as World Peace and Fishtank.

Hyde is known for his involvement in several public pranks and internet hoaxes, and incorporation of anti-semitic, racist, and homophobic rants in his comedy routines.

Hyde's transgressive style has garnered significant public controversy, and has been heavily linked with the alt-right.

Hyde was born in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1985, and was raised in Wilton, Connecticut.

He graduated from Wilton High School in 2003.

Hyde enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University for one year before transferring to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he graduated in 2007.

Hyde lampooned the American anime fandom in 2012 when he delivered a spurious presentation titled "Samurai Swordplay in a Digital Age" under the pseudonym "Master Kenchiro Ichiimada" at a convention in Vermont.

During the presentation, an MDE affiliate blocked the exit to bar attendees from leaving Hyde's hour-long performance.

Similarly in 2013, Hyde, while dressed in a maroon-colored sweatsuit and clad in hoplite-esque breastplate and greaves, delivered a prank TEDx talk titled "2070 Paradigm Shift" at Drexel University.

The talk, described by Forbes as a satiric impersonation of a "Brooklyn tech hipster," received significant media attention and praise from The Washington Post.

When asked about the intent of the prank, Hyde stated his dislike for TED talks, calling them "really self-congratulatory."

In 2014, Hyde started a fake Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the creation of a "pony dating simulator" for bronies, the adult male fans of the children's television show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

The Kickstarter page said the simulator would comprise "a journey that spans multiple continents" and include "deep RPG elements."

Devotees of the show who ostensibly took the project seriously pledged a total of $4,161 to the fundraiser before Hyde cancelled it.

Since 2015, Hyde has been frequently misreported as the perpetrator of numerous mass shootings and terrorist attacks by internet trolls on websites such as 4chan and Twitter.

The hoaxes, which typically included photos of Hyde brandishing a semi-automatic weapon and with a slightly altered name to appear more "authentic", reappeared so often on social media that The New York Times characterized "Sam Hyde is the shooter" as "an identifiable meme."

The first instance of the prank was the 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting.

In August 2016, Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace, a television program Hyde co-wrote and acted in along with the other members of MDE, premiered on Adult Swim.

Four months later, it was announced that World Peace would not be renewed for a second season.

Hyde alleged that the show was cancelled due to his vocal support for Donald Trump.

In a December 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter in the aftermath of his series' cancellation, when questioned if he held a bias towards minorities, Hyde replied: "No, I wouldn’t say that. I would say that I’m probably as racist or as biased as the average regular white guy or the average regular black guy."

In 2017, Hyde pledged $5,000 towards the legal defense fund of Andrew Anglin, the founder and editor of neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.

The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Anglin for allegedly organizing a "troll storm" against a Jewish woman in Montana.

When Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times questioned Hyde about the donation, Hyde asked Pearce if he was Jewish and went on to say that $5,000 was "nothing" to him.

Hyde also stated: "Don't worry so much about money. Worry about if people start deciding to kill reporters. That's a quote. For the reason why, you can say I want reporters to know I make more money than them, especially Matt Pearce."

Hyde has been open about his interest in boxing and helped train Jewish-Canadian YouTuber Harley Morenstein for IDubbbz's charity boxing event Creator Clash.

On August 27, 2022, Hyde made his boxing debut, defeating Australian social media star James "IAmThmpsn" Thompson during the 2 Fights 1 Night event.

In April 2023, Hyde launched his live reality TV web show Fishtank (also known as fishtank.live or as Fishtank LIVE), a 24/7 interactive reality show where a number of contestants cohabitate and interact with viewers in real time for six weeks.

The programme has been compared to the Big Brother television franchise due to its format, while others have compared it to the Stanford prison experiment after its content.

The show has featured a number of YouTuber guests (in the role of "Freeloaders"), such as Chris “Airsoftfatty” LaFon, previously featured in an IDubbbz video; right-wing political commentator and comedian Alex Stein; Greg LeCates (better known as Skitzy_VA), who initially played MrBeast on his first night; and Frank Hassle, best known for an altercation with fellow YouTuber Steven Williams (better known as Boogie2988), where a revolver was fired by the latter.

Season 1 began on April 18, 2023, with eight contestants.

Filming took place in Swansea, Massachusetts, where the house was swatted on the season's fifth day.

Season 2 started on December 18, 2023, with 10 contestants.

Filming took place in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

On January 26, 2024, two days before the season's finale, a homestay service known as FishBNB was announced.

On January 11, 2024, Jeff Mutter, mayor of Cumberland, announced that local authorities were investigating whether steps could be taken in response to local complaints regarding the show filming in a residential part of the town.

Three weeks later, ten chickens purchased from a poultry shop in Federal Hill were rescued by a local animal sanctuary on January 27 after reportedly being released in the house "for a comedy bit."

Patrick Cole, a spokesman for the Tiverton-based sanctuary, claimed that the show's producers had discussed abandoning the animals before demolition work took place in the house, later contacting them for help.

Cole's claims were later denied by two members of the show's production, including co-creator Jet Neptune.