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Lifestyle
Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University

Salad Fingers wasn’t just strange, it was art. Here’s how it's still influencing the ‘weird part of YouTube’ 2 decades on

Netflix
Screenshot of Salad Fingers and the corpse Kenneth in Episode 7, Shore Leave.

The words “Salad Fingers” may not mean anything to some readers, but for others they will trigger nostalgia, some very discomforting memories - or perhaps a “weird” combination of both.

Salad Fingers and his perturbing love of rusty spoons is an uncanny animated pioneer of viral YouTube videos. This creepy character came into being just before the arrival of YouTube, but went on to become the embodiment of “the weird part of YouTube”.

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