Nelk

Last updated

Nelk
Nelk logo.jpg
Personal information
Origin Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
OccupationOnline Entertainment
Website www.fullsend.com
YouTube information
Channel
Location Miami, Florida, U.S.
Years active2010–present
Genre(s) Pranks, lifestyle
Subscribers8.17 million [1]
Total views1.72 billion [1]
Network Full Send Entertainment
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers2019
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg1,000,000 subscribers2020

Last updated: 8 Sept 2024

Nelk (stylized as NELK), also referred to as the Nelk Boys, [2] is a Canadian-American YouTube channel and entertainment company. Originally known for their prank videos, vlogs, and their brand Full Send Entertainment, they have since shifted to promoting right-wing political causes. [3] [4] The group's founders, Kyle Forgeard and Jesse Sebastiani, have been referred to as "two of the most recognizable personalities for young people in North America". [5]

Contents

History

In 2010, Kyle Forgeard created the YouTube channel, at the time called NelkFilmz, along with other founding members Braden Macdonald, Niko and Marko Martinovic, and Lucas Gasparini. In 2014, Forgeard met Jesse Sebastiani at an MTV Canada conference, who would soon after become a prominent member of the group. [6] All four besides Forgeard ended up leaving the group at some point thereafter.

On September 8, 2021, Nelk uploaded the first episode of their "Full Send Podcast", exclusive to YouTube and Apple Podcasts. [7] In February 2022, Forgeard was officially added to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for social media influencers. [8]

In October 2020, members of the group met with President Donald Trump on Air Force One during one of his 2020 presidential election rallies. [9] They were also seen to dance to the "Y.M.C.A." song with President Trump onstage following his rally. [10] They met Trump again in July 2021 at UFC 264, and he appeared on the Full Send Podcast in March 2022. [11] The episode went viral, receiving 5 million views in 24 hours, at which time it was removed by YouTube. Following the podcast, Full Send Podcast became the second most popular podcast in the US on Spotify. [12] Nelk supported Trump's campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election, during which Forgeard spoke at a number of campaign rallies. [13] [14] [15]

Content and brand

Nelk's videos, in addition to pranks, are themed around North American college culture. The group's videos combine vlogs of their party lifestyle with footage of their actual pranks. Nelk is known for popularizing and later trademarking the slang term "Full Send" (stylized as FULL SEND) which Forgeard defined as meaning "any activity you do, give it your absolute best". [16] The group has also popularized a number of other terms, including "Rona Season," a reference to the group's constant consumption of Corona beer. Sebastiani has referred to the group's trademark words as "Canadian-influenced slang". [17]

Nelk operates the Full Send clothing brand. The clothing is sold in one-time Supreme-style "drops", where each style of clothing has limited availability and is only available once. [18] Once the entire drop is sold out, no Full Send clothing can be purchased until the next drop, when new styles will become available. Nelk sells almost $100 million worth of apparel every year. [19]

Nelk owns a hard seltzer brand called Happy Dad, [20] [21] which is produced and packaged at Minhas Breweries & Distillery in Monroe, WI. [22] [23] In 2023, Happy Dad became a top five hard seltzer brand according to IRI data. [24] The group hosts a podcast called the Full Send Podcast. [25] Notable guests have included Donald Trump, Mike Tyson, Elon Musk, Andrew Tate, O. J. Simpson, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and others. The podcast was created in partnership with Shots Podcast Network.

Subsidiaries

SubsidiaryType
Full SendMain brand
NELKMain YouTube channel
SalimtheDreamYouTube channel
SteveWillDoItRumble channel
Full Send PodcastPodcast and YouTube channel
Full Send GolfYouTube channel
Full Send MMAYouTube channel
FullSend.comMerchandise and exclusive content website
Happy DadHard seltzer brand
Full Send SupplementsHealth and Fitness Supplement brand
Full Send MetacardNFT
The Dream SquadInstagram brand
Girls Love ArtistsMerchandise

YouTube channels

YouTube ChannelSubscriber Count
NELK8,120,000
Full Send Podcast2,000,000
Nelk 21,300,000
SalimTheDream813,000
Full Send Golf206,000
Full Send Podcast Clips191,000
Happy Dad116,000
Money Buys Happiness105,000
Full Send MMA46,700
Full Send Metacard26,700
One Night With Steiny62,300

Rumble channels

Rumble ChannelSubscriber Count
SteveWillDoIt639,000

Most-viewed podcasts

GuestViews
Elon Musk 21,838,883
Mike Tyson 13,095,066
Donald Trump 8,737,528

Members

Current and recurring members include Kyle Forgeard, Stephen “SteveWillDoIt” Deleonardis, Salim Sirur, Gabriel Poncio, Aaron "Steiny" Steinberg, "Jimmy Gambles" (Arthur Kulik), [26] and "Cousin Jay" (Jordan Nwanne). [27] Nelk Headquarters is located in Newport Beach, California. [28] Nelk also has an offshoot location in Miami, Florida under SteveWillDoIt LLC. The group previously resided in Ontario, Canada, and Los Angeles. [29]

Jesse Sebastiani was a founding member of the group. Prior to joining Nelk, was known for his self-published documentary, Saved by the Status, [30] and his role in the MTV show Careless Teens . [31] Years after joining, he expressed his displeasure with his and the group's lifestyle. In a tweet posted on January 29, 2020, he wrote, "I hate fame... I've lost almost everything I use to love about life." [32] He eventually became less active in Nelk videos, and in late 2020, he began primarily working on the Full Send brand. In 2022, he officially took distance from the group, bought out of the company, and started his own brand called “Sunday”. [33]

Other former members of the group include Niko and Marko Martinovic, Lucas Gasparini, and Jason Pagaduan. Niko and Marko, who are twins, were members of Nelk in the early development, but left in 2015 to pursue YouTube independently. Gasparini left in 2017 citing concerns of his association with the channel's content, which consisted of public misconduct which would affect his career outlook, as well as the pursuit of educational studies as a plumber. [34] He then returned in 2021 joining the rest of the team in Los Angeles. [35] Pagaduan, who was known by his Instagram handle "905shooter" or simply "9-0," was withdrawn from the group in October 2019 for behavioral misconduct from sexual harassment allegations stemming from Pagaduan sending direct messages of a graphic and sexual nature to fans, as well as not meeting standards. [36]

Nelk Boys

MemberHometownRole
Kyle ForgeardMississauga, Ontario, CanadaNelk Co-Founder and Owner

Co-Host of Full Send Podcast

Stephen "SteveWillDoIt" DeleonardisOviedo, FloridaMember; CEO of SteveWillDoIt LLC
Salim "Salim the Dream" SirurSan Jose, CaliforniaMember; CEO of SalimTheDream
Aaron "Steiny" SteinbergDenver, ColoradoCo-Host of Full Send Podcast
Arthur "Jimmy Gambles" KulikMississauga, Ontario, CanadaContent Creator

Crew

MemberHometownRole
Gabriel PoncioAlmores, BrazilExecutive Assistant
Jordan "Cousin Jay" NwanneSacramento, CaliforniaLead Videographer

Former

MemberHometownRole
Jesse SebastianiOrangeville, Ontario, CanadaNelk Co-Founder
Jason "905shooter" PagaduanMississauga, Ontario, CanadaLead Videographer
Lucas GaspariniMississauga, Ontario, CanadaContent Creator

Corporate

MemberHometownRole
Kyle ForgeardMississauga, Ontario, CanadaOwner
John Shahidi Orange County, CaliforniaPresident of all Ventures
Sam Shahidi Orange County, CaliforniaCEO of Happy Dad Hard Seltzer
Austin "AusGod" ErmesOshawa, Ontario, CanadaDirector of Content/Lead Editor
Drew HillMississauga, Ontario, CanadaNelk Manager

Full Send Podcast

MemberHometownRole
Kyle ForgeardMississauga, Ontario, CanadaLead Podcast Host
Aaron "Steiny" SteinbergDenver, ColoradoPodcast Host
Salim SirurSacramento, CaliforniaOccasional Podcast Host
Gabriel PoncioAlmores, BrazilProducer and Portuguese Translator

Dream Squad

MemberHometownRole
Salim SirurSacramento, CaliforniaChief Executive Officer
Jordan "Cousin Jay" NwanneSacramento, CaliforniaLead Videographer

CEO of Girls Love Artists

Nick NayersinaChicago, IllinoisContent Creator
Tyler ChafeeSan Jose, CaliforniaBird Coordinator
Jason MejiaLos Angeles, CaliforniaEditor

Full Send MMA

MemberHometownRole
Shawny "The OG" MackLas Vegas, NevadaHead Reporter
Sean "Sugar Sean" O'Malley Phoenix, ArizonaAmbassador
Dana White Las Vegas, NevadaHonorary Nelk BigBoy

Throughout Nelk's career, they have been the subject of various legal issues and controversies. In January 2015, Nelk posted a video titled "Coke Prank On Cops" in which they told police officers in Los Angeles that they had "coke" in the back of the car, leading the officers to think that they were referring to cocaine when in reality they were referring to Coca-Cola. In May 2016, the video became a subject of controversy. [37] The group received a warning, and the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement informing the public that the prank was illegal and warning potential copycat pranksters against doing so. [38] The video has received 49 million views and is currently their most viewed, having almost three times as many views as their second-most viewed video.

In January 2019, Sebastiani was arrested during a prank in which he walked into a Barnes & Noble store with fake blood smeared on a white jumpsuit and asked workers for books on covering up a crime scene. He was charged by Columbus, Ohio police department, and found guilty of disorderly conduct in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas. [31] In August 2019, Nelk participated in a "spin the globe challenge", and ended up in Europe. In Ireland, Nelk planned a meetup in a public park, but failed to notify the local police. The meetup got out of control, with large mobs of fans swarming the area in an unsafe manner, causing the meetup to be cut short. [39] Afterward, Jason Pagaduan was removed from the group. In February 2020, Nelk moved into a residence in Los Angeles, California which they refer to as the "Full Send House". Salim Sirur and Cousin Jay also joined Nelk at this time.[ citation needed ] In May 2020, Forgeard, Deleonardis, Sirur, along with several other members were arrested for disturbing the peace while filming a prank at a Target store in Mississippi. They were later released on bond. [40]

In September 2020, the police department in Normal, Illinois announced an investigation into Nelk after they hosted a flash mob of about 200 people on-campus at Illinois State University in violation of COVID-19 regulations. [41] [42] Following this, YouTube announced a decision to totally demonetize the Nelk YouTube account in addition to most of their specific videos, so that no money could be earned from YouTube. They attributed the decision to the platform's Creator Responsibility Policy, which mandates that creators do not engage in “on- and/or off-platform behavior [that] harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem," claiming that Nelk had harmed YouTube users by hosting a group of people and thereby violating COVID-19 regulations. [43] Chris Koos, the town's mayor, also stated that he intended to pursue legal action against Nelk. [44] A week later, police in Seaside Heights, New Jersey broke up a gathering of about 1,500 people at a house being rented by Nelk, which violated New Jersey's COVID-19 restrictions. Nelk, despite no intentions to draw a crowd, was eventually kicked out of the house by the landlord and 8 fans were arrested. [44] Governor Phil Murphy called the event "knucklehead behavior". [45] [46]

On March 23, 2021, Nelk was unable to upload a video due to suggestions by their attorney in relation to an arrest warrant filed against Forgeard in Texas. [47] That same month, CBS reported that Nelk was responsible for a series of physical assaults at a group meet in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 15, 2021. [48]

Awards and nominations

Streamy Awards

The YouTube Streamy Awards, or commonly referred to as the Streamy's, are presented annually to recognize and honor excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing.

YearCategoryNominated workResultRef(s)
2021 Creator ProductHappy Dad Hard SeltzerWon [49]

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