‘The Fat Jew’ Josh Ostrovsky ridiculed amid plagiarism controversy
Comedian Josh Ostrovsky’s success did not bring a smile to the faces of his peers.
The Internet celebrity, best known as his alter ego “the Fat Jew,” has amassed a giant fan base of 5.7 million Instagram followers by posting jokes without crediting the original source.
Based on his success, Ostrovsky, whose Instagram biography reads “United States Creative Director of Internet Curatorial,” received many professional sponsorships, ranging from a book deal to his own rosé.
The frustration with Ostrovsky’s joke recycling hit a boiling point last week when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that he signed to CAA, one of Hollywood’s top talent agencies.
Comedians Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Ian Black, Timothy Simons and others mocked the comic on their social media accounts.
To me, what makes @fatjew so funny aren't the stolen jokes he posts, but THE WAY he posts them.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) August 16, 2015
My favorite Jane's Addiction song is "Been Caught Aggregating."
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 15, 2015
If @FATJEW gets mad at any of your tweets making fun of him, just tell him that you were aggregating them.
— Timothy Simons (@timothycsimons) August 16, 2015
Now I kinda feel bad because @FATJEW didn't steal from me. I gotta step up my instagram game
— Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) August 16, 2015
Writer Maura Quint wrote a detailed Facebook and Twitter post, which Oswalt subsequently shared with his 2.3 million followers, urging people to stop following the Fat Jew on social media, calling him a leech and a virus.
“He is making a living off of the hard work of other people. The people he steals from are struggling writers, comedians, etc.”
Most of us here know @fatjew is shit, but your FB friends might not. Help them. I wrote this, use or write your own! pic.twitter.com/FFgPpiEtVC
— (maura) (@behindyourback) August 15, 2015
Kevin Kelly, a man from Los Angeles, published a Storify post listing 50 jokes allegedly stolen and posted by the Fat Jew, along with the original source for each.
On Tuesday morning, one of the posts could be read as Ostrovsky’s response to the controversy surrounding him. He shared an apparent milestone on his Facebook page for having “stopped giving a f--k.”
“I needed to let everyone on Facebook know about this milestone event,” a caption to the screenshot reads.
