This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Alayna Thomas. Find her on Instagram at @ratatoolie. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Social media has made it easier than ever for anyone to achieve fame. Tiktok furthered this, with the ‘for you’ page exposing viewers to a multitude of videos. Many of these creators and influencers gain fans and admirers; people who want to be them, be with them, or be their friend. However, some attract an audience that wants to see them fail and harm themselves. This audience makes fun of them. A creator or influencer with this audience is known as a lolcow.
Although lolcows can get earnings from views, sponsorships, and appearances, their audiences quickly take advantage of them and can encourage illegal and dangerous behavior. This is especially dangerous because many lolcows are disabled.
Defining the Lolcow
What is a lolcow? A lolcow is someone who is milked on the internet for laughs. This person is trolled, mocked, and harrassed by an audience. In other words, viewers laugh at the creator, not with the creator.
Many times, these lolcows take part in ‘cringy’ interests such as musical theater or making fan art of fictional characters. Other lolcows are bullied for their looks, with a notable community forming around lolcows who are overweight or obese.
However, the most defining characteristic of a lolcow is that they do not know they are one. A lolcow believes that their audience are genuine fans. They may believe that their audience has their best interests at heart, but that’s hardly ever the case.
Origins of the Lolcow
The term ‘lolcow’ originated on the websites 4chan, KiwiFarms, and Encyclopedia Dramatica. People who are a part of lolcow communities debate where the term came from, but these sites have much overlap.
The first person to be considered a lolcow is Cwcvilleguardian, better known as Chris Chan. Chan originally went viral in 2007 on the website Something Awful, when someone snapped photos of him at a gaming store called the Game Place. These photos eventually made their way to places like 4chan. Users made fun of him for his eccentric appearance.
Eventually, people found his fan art and comics dedicated to the character Sonic on the website Deviantart. This is what propelled him to official ‘lolcow’ status. People found his artwork childish and would make fun of it in forums. Encyclopedia Dramatica made a page for him, which documented everything he did.
Chan would react negatively to his internet fame, which only encouraged his fanbase to continue to make fun of him.
Eventually, the audience began to troll him. People would call him, pretending to be women who were romantically interested in him. He even had his identity stolen. By late 2010, Chan said they would take a break from the internet.
In August 2011, Chan returned as Christina Chan, revealing that she is transgender. This ramped up the harassment and trolling even more, continuing a decades-long saga that is documented fairly heavily on the internet.
In 2021, Chan was arrested after leaked audio showed that she had participated in incest with her mother. She was released in March 2023 and is still fairly active online, albeit not to the extent as before.
Modern Lolcows
If you are on Tiktok, you probably have seen a lolcow. I do understand that that app is massive, there are still so many creators that my friends know about that I don’t, and vice versa. However, there are a few lolcows that I do see pop up from time to time on my ‘for you’ page.
WorldofTShirts, real name Joshua Block, is probably one of the most prolific lolcow on Tiktok right now. Block used to go viral for his videos showing him singing Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind” while in Times Square and other parts of New York City. He also had a cheerful, upbeat demeanor and would talk about The Five Boroughs. However, now Block goes viral for his excessive alcoholism. Yes, you read that right.
Another very prominent lolcow on Tiktok is Tophiachu, real name Tophia Slydell. Slydell initially went viral for her appearance and her alleged fetishization of East Asian men. Her audience evolved from merely making comments on her page to doxxing and swatting her family, leading to her eviction and relocation to a chain motel.
A (recent) former lolcow that still gets talked about is Daniel Larson. Larson was led by his audience to believe that he was the president of the United States, the husband of actress and singer Grace Vanderwaal, and that hackers were after him. This behavior escalated until it lead to his May 2024 arrest, where he threatened to blow up the White House.
There are many other lolcows I could mention— ShawtyBae, Nova, Shamar MCCO, StichLover4Ever200, Elphaba— but you get it.
The Problematic Nature of Lolcows
Many, if not almost all, of the lolcows that I mentioned in this article have an intellectual or mental disability. This makes them more susceptible to harming themselves.
Recently, creator ShawtyBae went live on Tiktok. She was suffering from eye pain and asked her followers for advice. They advised her to squeeze lemon juice in her eye. And so she did.
This clear disregard for creators safety shows in more nefarious ways. I remember Joshua Block’s content before he turned 21 and before he started drinking. He used to do activities, try out different foods, and talk to viewers about different aspects of New York. But now? Every other post is a video of him drinking alcohol. There is even an account dedicated to tracking how many drinks he has a day.
This fascination with disabled people and those have different looks reminds me of the 19th century freak show. Instead of people lining up outside of dime museums, you can scroll through Tiktok until you find someone who is being exploited for their otherness.
Is it OK to Watch Lolcows?
Now, I am not going to act like I am perfect. There are some lolcows that I do watch at times, such as Amberlynn Reid. She is someone who I would see on Youtube when I was in middle school, so I do check in on her at times to see how she is doing. However, I never go out of my way to interact with her content and leave comments.
In general, it’s good to interact with content made by people who are different than you— it’s how you expand your worldview. I genuinely enjoy watching content made by influencers and creators who have disabilities, as it educates me about an experience that I do not have. However, we all must make sure that the content we engage with is not exploitative and that we aren’t engaging with that content in an exploitative way.
What do you think? If someone were to ask you: what is a lolcow, could you answer? Did I miss any important ones? Do enjoy watching lolcows? Why or why not? Voice your opinion in the comments down below!
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