Youtubers Participate in the London Mayoral Election

The London Mayoral Election was going to be held last year on the 7th of May, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to May 6th, 2021. The elections had some unusual candidates: a pair of YouTubers. No one was completely sure if they were serious about the position or if they were simply searching for new ways to promote their Youtube channels.

The first applicant, Max Fosh, presented himself with the goal of gaining more votes than Laurence Fox, another candidate. To achieve this, he wrote, "Don’t believe everything you see on a bus" in his car and proceeded to follow Fox’s bus around the city. He did not beat Fox and claimed he hoped to encourage more young people to vote by being a part of it.

In the meantime, Niko Omilana, known for making prank videos, stated that “We did it for the vibes and we’ve engaged young people. We’ve shown that young people need to be represented”. His website declares that they are “changing politics”, but it is still unknown if he was being genuine about his campaign.

Both YouTubers spent 10,000 pounds to apply for the elections but earned some of the money back through the adverts on their monetised channels. They lost to Sadiq Khan, who was re-elected, however, Omilana ended fifth in the race.

Bibliography

BBC News (2021, May 19) Meet the YouTubers who stood for mayor of London. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-57177138

Steeples, M. (n.d.) Bailey Bombs 64/1 [Photograph] The Steeples Times. https://www.thesteepletimes.com/the-fog/64-1-bailey-vote-fosh/

Wikipedia Authors (n.d.) 2021 London mayoral election. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_London_mayoral_election