A computer programmer known online as Toad has found himself at the center of a heated free speech controversy after being terminated from his job following a viral ukulele performance that divided internet users across the country.
The former employee, who had worked at his company for ten years, posted a ukulele cover of Kanye “Ye” West’s controversial song “Heil Hitler” on social media platform X, apparently not anticipating the firestorm that would follow his musical rendition.
The video quickly gained significant traction online, accumulating approximately nine million views in a short period before receiving a “sensitive content” warning from the platform.
The video was subsequently banned from being reposted and the link to the original content was broken by the platform’s moderation system, according to Toad’s statements, despite X’s reputation under its current ownership for reduced content moderation.
Toad, who describes himself as a “prolific ukulele artist,” shared his frustration in a follow-up video posted to X addressing the situation.
“I was doing what I usually do, having fun messing around… [the video] unexpectedly completely blew up to about 18 million views,” he claimed, though reports indicate the actual view count was closer to nine million.
In the same video, Toad described the swift backlash that followed his viral moment.
“People started coming out of the woodwork… threatening to cancel me, threatening to remove my livelihood,” he explained with apparent disbelief.
He added, “And that is exactly what they’re trying to do… my employer immediately fired me.”
The content creator, who Rift News says reportedly once ran as a Libertarian Party presidential candidate, characterized the situation as “being canceled over saying something that you’re not allowed to say.”
Following his termination, Toad announced plans to relocate from Massachusetts, referring to it as “this God forsaken hellhole,” and mentioned potential legal expenses related to his situation, though he did not specify what legal action he might be considering.
His podcast co-host on “Tower Gang,” Clint Russell, quickly organized financial support through a GiveSendGo fundraising campaign, which has collected over $8,000 as of publication time.
Russell publicly supported his colleague on X, stating that “a man who had a 10-year career as a computer programmer was shown, cancel culture is alive and well.”
He personally contributed $500 to the fundraiser, calling Toad his “piece of shit friend” while encouraging others to donate so Toad “can continue to say racist and retarded shit on the internet and get away with it.”
The fundraiser description takes a different tone, portraying Toad as “an autistic man with a big heart, a gentle spirit, and a deep love for his ukulele,” suggesting he was terminated simply for being “unapologetically himself” rather than for the specific content he chose to cover.
The song at the center of the controversy, “Heil Hitler” by Ye, was released last week and contains provocative lyrics including the chorus “All my n*ggas Nazis, n*gga, heil Hitler.”
Resist the Mainstream previously reported that popular podcaster Joe Rogan discussed the song on a recent episode of his show “Joe Rogan Experience” with comedian Tom Segura, calling it “kind of catchy” while acknowledging, “I don’t think antisemitism is good.”
Rogan suggested that censoring such content might inadvertently support Ye’s claims about coordinated efforts to silence criticism of Jewish people, stating, “If you ban it, then people want to hear it more… it kind of supports what he says, which is that there’s this concerted effort, if you talk about Jewish people, that they’re going to remove you from everything.”
During the same conversation, Rogan referenced Ye’s diamond-encrusted swastika necklace, making a controversial joke: “You know a Jew sold him that,” adding, “The Jewish have been controlling diamonds for a long time.”
