On a bright afternoon this spring, I made my way down King St. in downtown Toronto on my commute to work. Suddenly, I noticed an entourage of black SUVs pulling up in front of a cafe. A large group of men filed out, security and women in tow, rambunctious and causing a commotion.
I instantly recognized them as the Nelk Boys. As the realization hit, I heard whispers from nearby pedestrians: “I think they’re YouTube pranksters.”
Nowadays, that is only half true.
After launching a wildly successful lifestyle brand and orchestrating a radical image shift, these same men are now fraternizing with U.S. President Donald Trump and welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu onto their podcast. How did a crew of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) pranksters end up here?
From Pranks to Propaganda
In the early days of their YouTube channel in the mid 2010s, the Nelk team of Kyle Forgeard, Jesse Sebastiani, Lucas Gasparini and others filmed prank content, popular at the time. They secured a large Canadian audience through their region-specific references and hockey slang — lots of “bud,” “eh” and “chirp” — and filmed almost exclusively in the GTA, often collaborating with other local pranksters.
Their biggest hits were their fake employee pranks where they would pose as staff at big-name stores like Walmart while acting outrageously — usually rudely — towards customers. These videos quickly racked up millions of views on YouTube with youth audiences.
Over time, the group would eventually whittle down to just Forgeard at the helm. Gasparini defected early on to pursue a career in plumbing, and Sebastiani quietly cashed out his stake in the company in 2022. But by that time, they were already a known brand, having expanded beyond the original trio into a bloated entourage far removed from the tight unit they once were.
As their popularity surged towards the end of the 2010s, Nelk branched out beyond pranking. Stemming from an extreme sports phrase the group borrowed and helped popularize, they began to sell “Full Send” branded clothing and merchandise. Replicating Supreme’s hype-based scarcity strategy, their merch drops proved massively successful among college-aged men involved in party culture. Products like branded flags, beer bongs and beer shot-gunning tools were often sold out within minutes.
As their wealth and numbers grew, Nelk’s image evolved into a blueprint for a version of idealized masculinity: partying, money, fame and maintaining a pack mentality. Their core audience of young, impressionable men followed along, eager to replicate Nelk’s lifestyle and success.
From here, Nelk could’ve taken a number of different paths.
But looking at the company they kept, their full send into right-wing politics wasn’t surprising. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White became a close ally, followed by manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate and, eventually, Trump.
Their usual pranks were replaced with high-stakes gambling at Las Vegas casinos, partying with celebrities in L.A. and private-jetting across the country on a weekly basis. By the early 2020s, Nelk’s image had evolved from what young men were doing in their own lives to a life they could only dream of.
Aligning with Trump
In November 2020, Nelk featured Trump on their main YouTube channel, @nelkfilmz, for the first time. As Trump attempted to secure the youth vote ahead of the election, UFC President Dana White leveraged his personal relationship with him to invite the Nelk Boys onto Air Force One to go to a Trump campaign rally. While they had never met in person before, the Nelk Boys’ admiration for Trump was apparent when they were welcomed on board and subsequently appeared on stage at the rally like old buddies.
Before long, their relationship turned into one of mutual public advocacy. Nelk echoed Trump’s untrue claims of the 2020 election being rigged and alluded to conspiracy theories that fed into the narrative held by the rioters on Jan. 6, 2021. While they weren’t directly involved in the riot, their legitimization of that rhetoric made it clear: they weren’t just Trump fans but active participants in his political messaging machine.
In March 2022, Trump appeared as a guest on Nelk’s Full Send podcast, which hit five million views in 24 hours before being taken down by YouTube for violating platform guidelines.
“We removed this video for violating our election integrity policy,” YouTube explained in a statement, “which prohibits content containing false claims that widespread fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.” Trump responded to the decision on his social media platform Truth Social, saying: “Our country is going to hell!”
By this time, Trump and his campaign runners had obviously recognized a clear advantage in aligning with influencers who command the attention of young men. As he ramped up his 2024 campaign, he made a point of associating with internet personalities like Nelk and Joe Rogan. On Air Force One in 2024, Trump even dubbed Nelk “the modern-day Johnny Carson.”
“I think [Trump’s] pretty much adopted us at this point,” Forgeard said in an April 2025 Fox News interview.
As Nelk continues to support Trump during his second term, he has ordered mass deportations and is aggressively attacking civil liberties and freedom of the press. Rather than distancing themselves from Trump, Nelk has doubled down on their support by continuing to endorse him as part of their public image. The group currently sells Trump-themed merchandise on the Full Send website, including a T-shirt with his now infamous “Fight!” photo plastered on the front.
Nelk has also made their opinions clear regarding Canadian politics, finding themselves as part of a crop of Canadian online figures who have gone on to become popular right-wing celebs, like Gavin McInnis and Lauren Southern.
Forgeard has previously vocalized his distrust and criticism of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claiming in a November 2023 interview with Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5 that Trudeau’s lockdown policies should never have been enacted and that he contributed to Canada becoming a “borderline communist” country. In the same interview, he disapproved of the arrest of Chris Sky, a fringe figure known for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, claiming that “PC bullshit” has gone too far in Canada.
The differentiator between Nelk and others like Southern and McInnis is that they have branded themselves as political figures, which Nelk hasn’t done. Instead, they’ve drifted into the same orbit through platforming politicians on their shows and social media.
A New Low: The Netanyahu Interview
On Jul. 21, the Nelk Boys posted an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the midst of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which most observer groups characterize as a genocide. Netanyahu rarely gives interviews in the West, let alone an hour-long sit down, effectively giving interviewers Forgeard and Steinberg an exclusive.
But Nelk didn’t ask any hard questions — just nods, laughs and softball prompts about his favourite fast-food burger. Soon afterwards, online political commentator Hasan Piker criticized Nelk’s interview and invited Forgeard and Steinberg to his show. Forgeard told Piker, “If we ever get the opportunity to have a controversial guest on, we’re never going to turn it down.” He admitted, “Sure, we’re probably not the best at asking questions. We’re not the best journalists. But in my opinion, it’s up to the viewer to form their own educated opinion.”
Piker asked whether they would run a neutral interview with Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler, to which Forgeard said he would. Nelk later revealed during the interview that they received a script of pre-approved questions from Netanyahu’s team, but claimed they didn’t fully stick to the script. Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian comedian, appeared on the Nelk Boys podcast days later to criticize the pair for being unprepared and helping disseminate Israeli propaganda. Forgeard admitted he should have “grilled [Netanyahu] 50,000, 100,000 times harder.”
While outside critics were quick to pounce on the decision to give Netanyahu a platform, it’s doubtful anyone within the group would have challenged Forgeard or Steinberg over their ignorance.
That absence of internal pushback isn’t accidental — it’s a feature of the tightly controlled, loyalty-first dynamic that defines Nelk.
Echo Chambers of Bro Culture
Nelk has carefully constructed itself over the years to perfect their version of internal hierarchy. Forgeard, now the brand’s owner and CEO, surrounds himself with loyal yes-men — just watch any recent video. In a way, it’s similar to Trump’s inner circle. The strategy is simple: build an empire where dispute doesn’t exist and where your worldview remains unchallenged. This group dynamic encourages conformity, not defiance. If you obey, you’re in on the lavish lifestyle; if you question it, you’re out.
That dynamic bleeds into the audience too. Fans don’t just watch — they emulate. They aim to mimic the Nelk lifestyle, values and politics. What emerges is a version of masculinity that’s brash, uncritical and self-assured; one that likens equality with weakness and views valid criticism as “cancel culture.”
As I stood watching the Nelk crew pile back into their SUVs on King St., I couldn’t help but wonder: do they realize their role in shaping North American politics? They may have started as relatively harmless pranksters, but they’ve transformed into a cultural force. They’ve shaped political leanings, amplified conspiracy theories and handed Trump access to a new, eager group of voters. American youth have shifted significantly to the right politically from 2020 to 2024, coinciding with Nelk’s most popular era.
When I think about the men who still idolize Nelk, I think of men who peaked during the “glory days” of high school, clinging to that brand of masculinity. I also think of men who never have gained the confidence that comes from having their own glory days, thinking that this sort of lifestyle could help give it to them. This insecurity, I think, explains a lot of the recent surge in popularity of right-wing ideologies among young men. For those who are unsure about their place in the world, the most tempting offer is to latch onto the side promising confidence, dominance and tradition. Nelk sells that fantasy — and young people are buying.
There are a few creators like Hasan Piker who are offering an appealing alternative, but it will take a lot more to turn the tide.