An American TikToker has received a furious backlash from Welsh people after posting a video claiming that Wales is "not a country" and simply does whatever England tells it to do. TikTok user Nate, who has 35,000 followers on the video-sharing platform, sparked outrage by telling people to stop referring to Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland as countries and comparing them instead to American states.
The bizarre clip, which has been viewed more than half a million times, also sees him claim that the state of New Jersey has more of a right to be a country than any of the constituent nations of the UK apart from England. During the 30-second video Nate claims that Wales cannot be considered a country as it doesn't have its own independent army, its own currency ,or seats at the United Nations.
Its population of around 3.1m, despite being larger than the likes of Albania, Namibia, and Jamaica, also makes it more of a state than a country, in his eyes. He explains: "Quick PSA to British people. These are not countries. Whenever other people hear you call these things countries they're laughing at you okay? Especially Scotland and Wales.
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"Scotland has no army. Wales has no army, they have no currencies, they don't have seats at the UN. What happens is England tells these places to do things and then they do them. It's kind of like New Jersey. These are kind of like states. Except New Jersey has more of a right to be a country because it has more people than Scotland and Wales combined."
He adds: "It's just the facts. Stop calling them countries. And then don't even get me started on Northern Ireland. That's just ridiculous."
Unsurprisingly Nate's comments provoked an angry response from Welsh TikTok users who told him that he "didn't know what he was talking about". Others encouraged him to visit Wales and Scotland himself and explain his theory to locals, sarcastically telling him that he would "make a lot of friends".
"I would love this man to walk into a Glasgow pub or a Welsh coal miners' pub and say the same," wrote one, while another added: "I dare this boy to say this in Scotland or Wales". Another user was even more direct, commenting: "Please repeat this in Wales or Scotland, you will be picking your teeth up with broken fingers."
Others were left baffled with Nate's logic with one person writing: "This hurt my head. An American just told me that the country I live in isn’t a country". They were left questioning his education, commenting: "Let me guess, you got an F in geography," and: "Tell me you're schooled in the USA without telling me". Another referred to a famous quote, adding: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Many stood up for Wales though. "Not only do they have their own language but their history and heritage predates the USA," wrote one while another asked: "How is New Jersey more of a country than Wales? We were in the World Cup!". A third summed it up nicely by writing: "Trust me, Wales is a different universe compared to England."
However the barrage of criticism fired his way was not enough to deter Nate from his way of thinking. He posted a follow-up two months after publishing the original video having allegedly received hundreds of comments every day telling him how he is wrong.
He stuck to his guns in the second video and told viewers: "I still believe Scotland and Wales are not real countries." Addressing both countries' rich histories he said: "The Basque people have more history than Scotland and Wales do combined. They are an autonomous community in northern Spain. Scotland and Wales are communities in the UK but they're not autonomous either."
He added: "I know what a constituent country is, okay? It's something that is only used in the UK and Netherlands. I refuse to use your weird language to make [Welsh and Scottish people] feel better about being trapped in the UK. Sorry, I'm not going to do it.
"You are states, you are provinces, you can even say you are autonomous divisions – I don't care. But you are not countries."
Hundreds of people again took to the comments to express their disbelief with users asking: "Are you okay?" and: "Is this really the hill you want to die on?". A third wrote: "My brain can't comprehend how he thinks he is right," while another added: "This is possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard."
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