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Audio readings of TRANSlating Everything content and wacky discussions!
A wise man once offered advice to the random white people who show up in his YouTube comments.
He said that many collaborations meant to celebrate a person instead require an unfair cost of labor from the subject of celebration.
He said if you want to celebrate a person, then celebrate them.
The Mother of #Cornbreadtube (feat @TeeNoir) - Signified B Sides
Let the celebration begin.
Note: this article is also available as a podcast or video
Her name is Kat Blaque
Graphic elements from “Does Polyamory Make You Queer?”
Holy crap y’all!
Kat Blaque has been creating content on YouTube since the birth of the platform in 2005. Talk about an early adopter with a First Mover Advantage.
But as we’ve seen with anyone else who caught a trend and then faded into a cloud of obscure nostalgia, you don’t stick around unless you bring something extra.
Kat Blaque always brings more. Inspires her audience to reach for more. Helps us feel that even if we fall short, what we’ve done and who we are is already enough. What mattered was that we strived to be better for ourselves and for each other.
Enter YouTube And True Tea
Born in Lynewood, CA in 1990, Kat graduated from California Institute of the Arts and pursued a career in animation and illustration, but her work was undervalued and underfunded. Instead, her growing work as a public speaker and activist delivered the greatest promise for career longevity and potential financial solvency.
At the same time she earned her degrees and worked as an animator, she was also building her brand on YouTube with a channel that stands to date with a towering 459k subscribers.
Paraphrased from Kat’s Patreon, their content is aimed at encouraging people to think beyond the current scope they have. To consider that sometimes they might be wrong about their assumptions of other people.
Her aim is to create content that humanizes the many perspectives she embodies as a black woman who is transgender and has had a colorful life full of experiences that she’s had to grow from.
Her channel is all about learning, sharing, and growing—and doing that through thoughtful conversation and an open share of perspectives.
Y’all, her perspective on Dave Chappelle is the perfect double feature next to a separate video by FD Signifier: “Dave Chappelle Only Tells Half The Truth”
And if you just want the audio for The Closer, video #2 on the list below offers a free way to watch Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer and get Kat’s reactions the whole way through.
Top Ten Videos by Kat Blaque (ranked according to Views)
It is my sincere delight to present to you the top ten most viewed videos on YouTube by Kat Blaque. Make sure to keep scrolling at the end—she’s provided a lot of bonus content I couldn’t forget.
10: My Problems With The BDSM Community | 354,814 views | Premiered Jul 23, 2019
Description: The BDSM community is very white.
Kat Blaque: “Part of the issue “in quotations” is that if you’re somebody looking to get a nice bruise or something, most people are used to dealing with white women who are fairly easy to bruise.”
9: Watching Dave Chappelle's Full Special, Before Criticizing it | 360,515 views | Premiered Nov 13, 2021
Description: One of the big reasons I’m late making this video is because I don’t give a ****.
Note: Kat’s commentary begins at 1 hour 10 minutes. Before then, she is, as the title says, literally watching The Closer before commenting LOL. REALLY! The full audio runs in the background. This is now the only way I will watch the comedy special!!!
Kat Blaque: “Did I think that Dave Chappelle’s show was the most upsetting, you know, transphobic thing I’ve ever seen in my life?
No. Absolutely not.
But was it ignorant for no reason?
Yeah. Yeah it was.”
Follow-up from Kat:
Hiii!
So, in retrospect, I actually think his bathroom joke was a great example of what I'd say was a "good" trans joke. The complication of these types of videos is I'm reacting in the moment, so I'm not gonna really be able to always "get it". But as evidenced from how frequently I laughed at very fucked up jokes in this, I clearly don't have an issue with offensive comedy. However, there's so much to discuss and I will be making a follow up video with more opinions!
Until then, if you'd like to watch the FULL unedited reaction, you can catch it on my Patreon.
8: She was always sus... | 390,834 views | Premiered Jun 24, 2021
Description: Shannon fooled a lot of people, but not me.
Kat Blaque: “One of the things I’m not crazy about online, especially as a blogger, is that so many people expect us to all do things that are 100% consistent, and sensible, and rationale, and reasonable. But human nature kind of isn’t that way, you know?”
7: Trans Woman Redesigns Snowflake and Safespace | 409,582 views | Premiered Apr 9, 2020
Description: Marvel recently announced their first openly Non-binary character and decided to name them Snowflake. The announcement seemed to anger both long term Marvel fans and Non Binary folk alike. Some people seem to believe this is the representation many of us in the trans community were asking for and, well, I have a much different reaction.
Kat Blaque: “I’ve consulted the muses, and I think we all agree that this ain’t it, Chief.”
6: The Polish Knock-off of Fifty Shades is… | 410,744 views | Premiered Oct 16, 2020
Description: Kidnapping, but romantic??? Why yes, I AM lost, bb gorl!
Kat Blaque: “So even though ONCE AGAIN Massimo said that he wouldn’t touch her until she gave him permission…he touches her.”
5: Why is "LeftTube" So White? | 532,814 views | Premiered Jun 4, 2019
Description: While I have enjoyed the recent boom in Left-y content on Youtube, I can't help but notice how incredibly white it is. As a person of color who's been on the receiving end of a lot of harassment for speaking up for myself, it's hard to swallow how well received the same things I say
Kat Blaque: “Now once again, I am drinking some box wine because I’m just a rich bitch like that.”
4: Adoptee Addresses Myka Stauffer "Rehoming" Her Autistic Child | 571,245 views | Premiered May 29, 2020
Description: My parents adopted me when i was a child and I would be so hurt if I grew up to knew that, even the parents that adopted me, didn't want me for reasons I couldn't control.
Kat Blaque: “I know that some people look at their families these days as businesses, but that’s not the way you should ever look at your family.”
3: Survivor Reacts To Groomer's Confession Video | 584,542 views | Premiered Nov 18, 2021
Description: Glendon Cameron is a man on Youtube who makes content about how to become a millionaire. He's also a man who personally identifies with R Kelly who argues that the women he groomed are far from victims. He uploaded a video to his Youtube channel discussing why R Kelly's innocent and the positives of having sex with teenagers.
Kat Blaque: “I don’t care how many men I wanted to **** when I was underage. None of them should have said yes.”
2: Actual BDSMer Watches Fifty Shades of Grey | 1,417,911 views | Premiered Aug 13, 2020
Description: I watch Fifty Shades of Grey and tell you where fantasy meets fiction! I miss the person I was before I met Christian Grey... This movie was... an experience, I'll say.
Kat Blaque: “When she asks Christian Grey why he did what he did, he says that he’s incapable. ofleaving her alone. Which is romantic! It’s romantic, of course.”
1: THE DARK SIDE OF BUZZFEED | 1,549,751 views | Premiered Jul 2, 2016
Description: This is a topic that I didn't think I'd ever discuss. I think it's time we discuss Buzzfeed and some of the things that some people may not know about the inner workings of not just Buzzfeed, but most media companies. This is a video about why some of your favorite Buzzfeed talents are no longer working for Buzzfeed and some of my own personal experience with the company.
Kat Blaque: Buzzfeed regularly leaches content from websites like Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, and claims them as their own. This is the byproduct of creative quotas the Buzzfeed producers have to maintain in order to secure their employment.
Bonus videos
Here are two bonus videos. They’re essential viewing not just because Kat’s videos are one of the only resources for nuanced conversation about these topics.
They’re also just really, really good.
Bonus #1: The REAL Reasons Men Like Trans Women | 329,172 views | Premiered Dec 17, 2019
Description: Please see the title.
Bonus #2: You Need Dysphoria To Be Trans? | 308,513 views | Premiered Oct 29, 2019
Description: I think sometimes we try to define others through our own feelings and I don't always believe that makes a lot of sense.
True Tea With Kat Blaque Today
Articles/Videos featuring Kat Blaque
YouTube celebrity Kat Blaque discusses her life, intersectionality and technology (2014)
What People Accusing You of ‘Playing the Victim’ Need to Know About Activism (2016)
Kat Blaque on speaking up | #CreatorSpotlight - YouTube Creators Program (2016)
Ohio Wesleyan’s Sisters United to Perform ‘Butterfly Confessions’: Feminist YouTuber Kat Blaque to Facilitate Community Discussion (2017)
After Being Outed, Kat Blaque Became a Role Model for Trans Youth (2017)
Kat Blaque Says YouTube Removed Her Video About the Hypersexualization of Black Female Bodies (2018)
YouTuber Kat Blaque on Pride, identity, and what it means to go viral (2019)
Kat Blaque’s unapologetic authenticity drives her success as a creator (2021)
Other Links
Side channels: Kat Blaque 2.0 and Kathryn
Kat Blaque’s Nebula
Kat’s Instagram
Kat’s HuffPo
Kat’s LinkedIn
The end (of the article)
For our previous celebration, please see: “Ranked And Profiled: Top Ten Most Viewed Videos By Jessie Gender”
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