Ajit Pai is knocking Martin Shkreli off his throne.
The embattled FCC Chairman has earned the ire of the internet after leading a charge to peel back Net Neutrality, with everyone from internet giant YouTube to a Star Wars hero coming out against him. In doing so, Pai has overtaken the spot so-called “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli once held as the internet’s most-hated person.
For those who missed the memes this week, Pai peeled back internet protections despite a giant outcry to keep in place the Obama-era Net Neutrality measures. Despite this backlash, Pai teamed up with the controversial right-leaning website The Daily Caller to put out a condescending video called “7 Things You Can Still Do On The Internet After Net Neutrality.” In the video, Pai posed with a lightsaber and danced to the “Harlem Shake.”
It did not go over well. Harry Bauer Rodrigues, the producer of the “Harlem Shake,” threatened legal action against Pai for using the music and even got YouTube to briefly take down Pai’s video. Star Wars star Mark Hamill spoke out as well, the Huffington Post noted, saying that Pai was “profoundly unworthy to wield a lightsaber.”
Harlem Shake creator files copyright claim against Ajit Pai’s net neutrality video and succeeds in bringing it down for seven hours https://t.co/nc647zTDCr
— IP… Frequently (@ip_frequently) December 17, 2017
In doing so, many across the internet have taken measures to ensure that Ajit Pai is forever known as “the most hated man on the internet.” While there is no official title as such, the always-inventive folks on Reddit are doing their part to make sure search engines agree. There have been several front-page posts with pictures of Ajit Pai and phrases like “most hated man in America.” Their bid to make sure that Pai’s picture is seen when those searches are registered.
It seems to be working so far. The Verge referred to him as “the internet’s most hated man,” and searches for “most hated man” show a picture of Pai in the top line of results, knocking out Martin Shkreli. He is also rising in searches for “most hated man in America” and “most hated man on the internet,” though Shrkeli still holds the top for those searches. So Pai still has some work to do.
