Prince Rupert high school student, Jericho Fortune, has received the YouTube Silver Play Button for reaching 100,000 subscribers for his channel GTAGAMER222.
Producing original animation and edgy voice acting has helped grow his subscriber base from 10,000 in 2016, to the 100,000 milestone he reached this year. Next up is the Gold Play Button, once he surpasses one million subscribers.
He’s described his channel as edgy, but some viewers may find the content rude and offensive.
“I’m actually really proud of it that I’ve actually reached this far in my YouTube channel,” Fortune said while on break from classes at Charles Hays Secondary School.
Fortune created the channel in 2014 with a friend to put together videos of gameplay — GTA stands for Grand Theft Auto — and over the years the channel has morphed into his own wacky animations.
“I also have a series called ‘Baby the Ballerinas Life,’ it’s about robots doing some weird stuff, somewhat edgy,” he said.
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At first, he only had a few subscribers, but once he started creating animation the snowball effect began. Fortune picked up acting from the drama department at Charles Hays, and then he taught himself how to do 3D animation through online videos.
“I started off going on YouTube and finding videos on animation and how to make some, and yeah, I’ve also watched a couple of animation videos and some people who are voice acting,” Jericho said.
As of the end of April 2019, the Grade 12 student has more than 30-million views on his channel. When he received his YouTube Silver PlayButton in the mail he released a special unboxing video that garnered 1,370 views.
“You achieved this milestone with hard work, perseverance and probably a healthy sense of humour too,” said CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, in the letter that came with the award.
With his subscriber base, YouTube runs advertisements on his videos. Right now, Jericho said he has collected $23,000 in his YouTube money account.
He’s saving the money raised through his popular channel for college, where he plans to take acting and animation.
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Shannon Lough | Editor
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