Anthpo Furry Party Controversy

Overview

The Anthpo Furry Party Controversy refers to backlash toward a video by YouTuber Anthpo in which he goes undercover as a furry to a furry convention and films himself and other furries at an orgy, aka a "furry party." The video was uploaded in mid-May 2024 following a year-long break from content creation for Anthpo. Anthony and the video itself inspired controversy for its tone, which was seen as mocking the furry lifestyle by many. In particular, the inclusion of censored footage of the furry party was met with criticism, with some finding it inappropriate and wondering if it was consensually included and filmed, as Anthpo does not clearly say whether or not it was in the video. Anthpo removed the footage from the video, claiming he did so after a furry involved in the party asked him to. He also set the video as a fundraiser for the Trevor Project and apologized via an X / Twitter post.

Background

On May 15th, 2024, YouTuber^[1] Anthpo, aka Anthony Po, posted his second video since May 14th, 2023, when he announced that he was retiring the channel. The video is titled "I Spent 200 Days Undercover as a Furry."

In the video, Anthpo documents himself going undercover as a furry named Sigma Paws for months with the hopes of going to a furry convention, getting invited to a furry orgy and documenting it. Much of the video is spent at the convention and discussing the furry lifestyle with other furries. He expresses a newfound respect for furries, despite also calling them "cringe."

Anthpo ends up getting invited to a group chat for a furry party after leaving business cards with his phone number on them around the convention hall that read, "If you're having an orgy, invite me." He then attends the furry party and said he purportedly got permission to film at the party and showed some censored footage from the event in the video, although Anthony purports that he only recorded clips of cuddling. The footage has since been removed from the video. The upload gained over 540,000 views in five days (embed unavailable, thumbnail shown below).

Developments

Criticism

Anthpo's video became the subject of criticism on social media over the following days, particularly from the furry community, with some expressing outrage over Anthpo's perceived mocking tone throughout the video and his choice to include footage of the party in the video.

On May 15th, 2024, X^[2] user @BarleyTheBurr posted a thread expressing his problems with the video, writing, "At no point during the video does Anthpo state that the people attending said parties knew they were being recorded, nor do they express that any videos taken during the party will be used for a YouTube video very much aimed at a non-furry audience," garnering over 4,600 likes in five days (shown below).

On May 16th, a post was made to the subreddit /r/youtubedrama^[3] about the video, garnering over 330 upvotes in four days, in which the user also expressed concerns and a wish to know if the footage was consensually recorded and shared.

Anthpo's Response

On May 20th, 2024, Anthpo posted an apology for the video to his X^[4] account (@anthpo), garnering over 2,500 likes in around an hour. In the response, Anthony claims one of the people involved in the party asked to be removed from the video, so he removed the clip. He writes that he did not record anything sexual, only cuddling.

He also claims his phone was "visibly set up" in the hotel room and that the recording was "mentioned beforehand." He also apologizes to the furry community for "perpetuating stereotypes" in the community and announces that the video is now a fundraiser for the Trevor Project (shown below).

Online Reactions

The video was largely met with criticism after it was uploaded in mid-May 2024. Most of the criticism was due to the inclusion of the censored furry party footage, with some concerned over whether or not Anthony got consent to include it in the video. Others found the video's tone problematic, believing that it mocked the furry community and perpetuated stereotypes about the furry community being overtly sexual and, essentially, a fetish (reaction examples shown below).^[5][6][7]

On May 16th, 2024, as the video was going viral, X^[8] user @wheatfielddoggy made a post about their inclusion in a dance competition seen in the video, seemingly not wanting to appear in the video (shown below, left). Later that same day, they posted an email to X^[9] from Anthony in which he promised to blur the user's face in the video, which he did (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References