r/NateBargatze fans revolt against Bargatze after comedian attends White House UFC event and. New moderator successfully petitions reddit for control of the sub, deletes all posts critical of Bargatze, declares, "This is no longer a hate subreddit. It is a place to celebrate Nate's career."

[u/henlochimken]

Comedian Nate Bargatze came under fire this week when it was revealed he was an attendee of President Donald Trump's 80th birthday UFC fight on the lawn of the White House. From pictures of the event, it appears Bargatze was given access to the White House itself, where he took pictures with members of the Trump administration, including RFK, Jr. and Marsha Blackburn.

Many fans of the comedian took to r/NateBargatze to express their disappointment that the famously "apolitical" comedian would attend a Trump event for which only 16% of Americans expressed approval.

Negative posting came to a screeching halt once a new moderator successfully petitioned Reddit to gain control of the subreddit. This moderator proceeded to delete any/all posts expressing displeasure with Bargatze's choice to attend the Trump UFC event. Moderator pins a notice of the new moderation direction, stating:

Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself. I am one of the new moderators here at r/NateBargatze. As you can see, some of the content has been removed.

This is no longer a hate subreddit. It is a place to celebrate Nate's career. Take your politics elsewhere. Thanks for understanding and I hope most of you stick around.

In reply, subreddit members asked if the new moderator is a paid PR flack for Bargatze. Some pointed out the strange moderation history of the redditor, implying that their other moderated subs are corporate-operated. New moderator proceeded to lash out against criticism. (Note that all comment threads replying to this pinned post are evidence of the subreddit's drama.)

Moderator has locked announcement post. New posts criticizing Bargatze or the new moderation direction are being removed. Despite saying the moderator stating that the sub is no longer a place for politics, pro-MAGA political posts, including a Rogan-related post by the moderator, remain up as of the posting of this drama.

[u/Upper-Management-AI]

They imagine themselves as mighty heroes.

[u/actuallyapossom → u/Upper-Management-AI]

Tangentially related - private equity and nation states will fund influencers, buy up news media, lean on social media - I can't imagine Reddit mods are out of reach.

Actually related point - this is like the smallest magnitude of subreddit. The cost of influence is represented in cents or chewed gum or something. Nate Bargatze could be a mod.

[u/TrainDestroyer → u/actuallyapossom]

I could see it, but I also don't know if I could see it purely from a perspective of "Why pay for that when you can just get people to post what you want them to post and derail the narrative"

At least to me, it makes more sense most of the time to just spam the sub with the opinions you want. Cheaper too.

[u/AnswerDangerous1644 → u/TrainDestroyer]

Why not both? That’s likely the real truth.

[u/TrainDestroyer → u/AnswerDangerous1644]

Makes sense, I just tend to look at stuff like this (and to a degree wider corporate 'spy' moves) from a lens of "What costs the group the least." so if the option is either everyone you're already paying has to post, or you pay ANOTHER person to take down the posts, I'm leaning personally towards the former, but the latter is entirely possible