Last week, VICE media uploaded a brand new season of Action Bronson’s hit series Fuck That’s Delicious onto it’s YouTube account.
To anyone who’s a fan of Action or VICE, you probably weren’t sure if that day would ever come. The last few years have been tumultuous ones for the seemingly perfectly paired couple. VICE media- the corporation who purposefully branded themselves as the rebels of journalism, the voice for fringe groups and hippies: Action Bronson- the habitually pot-smoking behemoth of a tattooed man who’s curiosity and authenticity translated obviously far beyond rapping.
There’s not much backstory detailing what exactly happened between the two. On the surface, it seems like a complete win-win. Action become a humongous personality through an already reputable platform (including now HBO), and VICE found their new star who’s videos resonated beyond their traditional scope.
Action abruptly took to Twitter to share his thoughts about the company, calling them “weirdo’s,” threatening to quit, and foreshadowing to some in-competencies behind the scenes corporately. It seemed pretty out of the blue, and it still does.
Anybody who types in all-caps is probably not a proper head-state.
While Vice never issued a public statement in regards to these fueled allegations, there have been complaints from multiple staff members at VICE about Bronson’s erratic behavior. A handful of staff gave anonymous quotes to a Spin.com reporter, claiming that he’s too loud, constantly causes a ruckus, and “He smokes pot all day long in the lobby of the fucking office. The whole lobby stinks.” (Full article here)
There’s two takes to every story, especially with the limited information on hand.
In defense of VICE, I can totally see Action being a complete annoyance in terms of negotiations or just general office etiquette. The guy is bizarre. He’s sensitive and emotional and he tends to casually go on these spiritual tangents that don’t seem to belong to the English language. Just a few months ago he appeared on Barstool’s KFC Radio where he threatened to throw host Kevin Clancy through a table over a line of questioning regarding his beef with Ghost-Face Killa. You never know what Action you’re going to get on a certain day and that’s a massive part of his appeal. His show is genuinely hilarious and it’s hard to take your eyes off of him in the most literal sense.
As for VICE, they’re a shell of what they once were- any disgruntled 30 year old man on Reddit will tell you that. It was founded on being the heartbeat of youth media, the punk-rock style reporting that was raw and unfiltered. I suppose organizations adapt with times and change direction. VICE had been for years gaining a reputation of being sexist, which stemmed particularly from their founder Shane Smith who stepped down after sexual misconduct allegations. Their new content is still sometimes genuine and it’s necessary and it represents meaningful voices, but it’s certainly strayed from their original mission and culture. They’re going to complain about somebody smoking weed who literally gets paid to do so? Somebody who is too “loud” in an office where video content is supposed to be churned out? Not just somebody, their biggest asset.
It was also kind of strange how right when this went down, VICE pivoted to extroverted Toronto-based chef Matty Mattheson to be the face of cooking and culture.
Wonder what vibe they were searching for? Does he resemble someone? No disrespect to Matty because he’s hilarious and his shows on VICE were the only content I consumed for a long time.
It’s a very strange story involving two strange entities. For the time being, I’m binge-ing all the new episodes I can get my hands on.
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