Scroll To Top
News

Protesting Trump Policy, YouTuber Buys Michigan Town and Renames It 'Gay Hell'

Protesting Trump Policy, YouTuber Buys Michigan Town and Renames It 'Gay Hell'

Gay Hell

Hell will now freeze over due to the Michigan's winters. 

We're all going to Gay Hell ... Gay Hell, Mich., that is.

YouTuber Elijah Daniel is resisting our current administration in the silliest way possible: trolling them by acquiring the small town of Hell, Mich., and renaming it Gay Hell.

The 25-year-old says his first act as owner of the town is to only allow LGBTQ Pride flags to fly, after the Trump administration banned embassies from flying them on flagpoles earlier this month.

"Ahead of pride month Trump's administration put a ban on embassy's flying pride flags," Daniel tweeted. "So as of today, I am now the owner of Hell, Michigan. I bought the whole town. And my first act as owner, I have renamed my town to Gay Hell, MI. The only flags allowed to fly are pride."

This isn't the first time Daniel has presided over the town of Hell, which is about 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor and has a population of approximately 70 people. In August 2017, Daniel paid $100 to become the mayor of Hell for a day when he banned heterosexuality as a joke in response to Donald Trump's restriction on travel to the U.S. from a slew of Muslim countries.

At the time, he took to Twitter and wrote,"I love straights, but my #1 priority is the safety of my town. Until the heterosexual threat has been reviewed we cannot allow them to enter."

But this time Daniel is trying to make much more a statement, urging his fan base to become more politically active through humor. The comedian and musician, who has more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, told CNN the new purchase is "getting my audience involved in politics by doing it in a funny way."

Daniel says he can't disclose how much he paid to be mayor for two weeks as he is in the process of purchasing the town permanently. According to the Detroit Free Press, the town is a five-acre commercial property and was on the market for $900,000 in 2016.

"I'm just from Michigan, and every time we drove past we knew that town, oh that's Hell. I just thought turning it into Gay Hell would be funny," Daniel said of his decision to rename the town.

"It's been pretty good for my fans," he explained. "A lot of upset Trump fans, but that's nothing new to me."

30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Alexander Kacala