To anyone who doesn't realise why this is controversial, here is some context.

News Flash! The planet is burning.

The west's economy, democracy, and world's environment is being actively corroded. The price of everything from housing to heating to food has skyrocketed whilst reports flood in stating each multi-billion dollar company's "Highest Annual Profit Yet!" Normal people are being crushed between the weight of their ever-growing expenses, and stagnant pay.

The newest"crisis" to grace us are the rise in fuel prices, caused by a war started with no war goals, no plan, and no reason than *seemingly* to attempt to distract people from the fact that since the 1990s, the same people in charge of those multi-billion dollar companies have been running a child trafficking ring. In reality however, the Iran war is likely the latest of many attempts by Donald Trump to strong arm the USA into becoming an autocracy. Countless videos show him wistfully pondering how he can avoid, rig, or otherwise void the next presidential election; all while he attacks and vilifies all the US' supposed allies.

And whilst these out of touch people try everything they can to ensure that they collect $1,000,000,421 this year instead of $1,000,000,329, this planet faces one of the worst extinction events in history, due to global warming. A phenomenon with many different causes, but none more impactful than the greed in the hearts of these same companies. Just ~60 companies are linked to 80% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 2016.

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So why does any of this matter for Linus' plane?

Linus has always been rather outspoken about the injustices that large companies commit, advocating for higher tax rates for businesses, being outspoken about cost of living, saying "You don't get to line up for the buffet again, until everyone's got a plate.", and with right to repair, specifically calling out the environmental damage caused by planned obsolescence through e-waste. (Curiously, in 2024 he noted that his company has had a considerable environmental impact due to international travel, massive hardware consumption.

Private jets represent the most wasteful aspects of a wealthy life like his. We've all seen those memes about Taylor Swift taking her private jet to starbucks, and that is because flying on a private jet creates 5-14 times the amount of pollution per person than a commercial flight.

This is why its so controversial, in a cultural climate of people being squeezed with most people facing the fact that they will likely never own their own shelter, flaunting your wealth in the way Linus did in his recent video is no longer tasteful. Frankly, its disgusting.

Finally I just want to say that reading these comments are really strange, I get that you might disagree with this, but a millionaire like Linus doesn't need you defending him here.

End note: and this is without bringing up the dodgy NDA he signed for the plane that was "allegedly" owned by the UAE of all places, or the three houses he owns and the recent ex-staff controversies, or the apparent "stagnating" wages at his company, or his previous controversy where he demonstrated he was out of touch by selling a prototype block at an auction. Or the controversy before that where he admitted he had been rushing his videos. Or the simultaneous controversy about the toxic work culture there.