Comedian and TikTok star Stanzi Potenza created more controversy than laughs with a recent video portraying prejudice against “clankers.” This pejorative term for anything you might call a robot grew popular in July, and the jokes made some people historically targeted by prejudice uncomfortable then, too.
Featured VideoThis particular video by Stanzi hit too close to home for Black Americans, some of whom accused her of dying to say a slur.
Stanzi’s anti-clanker skit
On August 20, Stanzi (@stanzipotenza) posted one of her typical solo sketch comedy videos with a caption reading, “POV: you’re a clanker in 2050.” The skit shows Stanzi as a waitress in the American South who realizes that her next customers are robots and responds by insulting them and kicking them out.
Advertisement“Well, well, well, look what the Roomba dragged in,” she says. “Didn’t you see the sign outside? We don’t serve clankers here.”
@stanzipotenzaDon’t worry I have robot friends
♬ Dark Western – Gary O’Slide
“What are you two called, Nuts and Bolts?” she continues. “We only serve human food here, wirebacks. We don’t have none of your oil or microchips or whatever it is you rust buckets eat.”
The video goes on in that fashion until Stanzi’s character threatens the bots with a wire-wrapped bat. She then congratulates herself for ejecting the two “walking USBs” from the restaurant.
AdvertisementThe new anti-bot slur: Clankers
The term “clanker,” used to describe anything from generative AI to those customer service phone menus, went viral on X with a July 20 post by @tekbog. The popularity of the joke using that word sparked discussions on both the increasing hatred of AI and the propensity for certain humans to invent and embrace slurs.
“The internal white disposition to say slurs, make slurs, even in jest,” @Liriminal pointed out.
Advertisement“To make this as you being a waitress in a diner themed after a ‘specific’ time in history with certain sentences is so..” added @cremmedelafemme.
TikTok skits similar to Stanzi’s popped up in record time as the anti-bot slur spread. One by @thebrookboys depicted a father plagued with “robophobia” acting hostile toward his daughter’s new robot boyfriend. In certain parts of the world, a scene like this might still play out for men of color who dare to date white women.
@thebrookboys This bout to be the biggest fear for all Dads in year 2050 😂😂 #meme #clanker #robot ♬ Bell Sound/Temple/Gone/About 10 minutes(846892) – yulu-ism project
Just a few weeks ago, the backlash to this slur was dwarfed by those who jumped at the chance to use it. Both anti-AI sentiments and long-standing frustrations with companies replacing human help with automated systems that often work poorly seemed to fuel this fervor.
AdvertisementWhile this anger doesn’t seem to be dying down at all (people are still mad at Will Smith for that alleged AI video), Stanzi’s video hit a different nerve.
“ITCHING to be racist again”
Stanzi’s clanker TikTok video didn’t gain as much traction as some of her other work, but a repost on X gained over nine million views. The response there, however, was largely negative. Users of color, and especially Black folks, failed to find the humor in a white woman acting out what could have been a scene straight from the 1950s had a few words been changed.
AdvertisementUser @playingeasyy remarked that “roleplaying actual 50s racism with f*cking robots is egregious in so so many ways.”
“SOME of #them are ITCHING to be racist again but cant really do that without dealing with the consequences so they just start making racist ‘jokes’ towards a fictional race so they won’t get as much hate,” said @stellermeowmeow.
Some accused the people making videos like this of being over-eager to spout the new slur.
Advertisement“White people got a little too excited to be talking like this man,” wrote @MonkeyDrinkPP.
The backlash soon leaked back over to TikTok, where the top comments are now overwhelmingly critical of Stanzi’s choices.
Advertisement“No. You’re not too woke,” @randomtonberryonline reassured readers. “This is a white woman making light of very real travesties and atrocities in the middle of an administration hellbent on returning to the time where those atrocities can be done without consequence.”
“I am sorry but this is literally so weird,” read one of the comments on the video, below another reading “No way you wrote this, planned it out, got dressed, filmed it, edited it, and at NO POINT in that process that ‘hm. what am i really projecting here.’ really? No critical thought whatsoever?”
One of her invented slurs made even her fans cringe.
Advertisement“Stanzi I love you but this feels bad,” said @moodengnugget. “Like especially wireback… as a Mexican American I won’t lie it kinda bugs me to see these jokes tossed around.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @stanzipotenza for comment via TikTok.
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