Markiplier and the LA gangs

Ah, Tumblr. Back in the height of its popularity, you couldn't go five feet without stumbling over a gifset or fanfiction of the site's heartthrob du jour. More often than not, this was one of the many YouTubers popular at the time, be it either of the two Nickelback rejects from Smosh, the endearingly Irish JackSepticEye, or the king of the dreamy gamers himself, Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach.

But like any Internet community, Tumblr is susceptible to misinformation. So it was in July of 2015, when now-deactivated Tumblr user and devout Markiplier fan watermelonjaeger posted this urgent warning:

There is a gang war in LA. The first gang to get to 100 kills, gets to take over that part of the city. You NEED to be careful, Mark. You could be at high risk because of your high status. PLEASE be safe, everyone in or around LA, and please reblog this to get it to the youtubers in LA.

I just worry about their safety.

markiplier stay safe! <3

It was seized on immediately by Tumblr's legion of Markiplier fans, perhaps too blinded by worry to consider the fact that the simple premise of a gang war being resolved by a mutually agreed-upon Team Deathmatch-style contest is completely ridiculous. The post ended up garnering over 60,000 notes (Tumblr's version of likes and shares), and although some were earnestly trying to warn Markiplier of the "danger," a fair few caught on to the ridiculous premise and made jokes of their own.

In the end, perhaps due to these valiant efforts, Markiplier went unslain, and even made a joke about the whole situation himself a few years later. The results of the Los Angeles Gang Civilian Murder Contest are still unknown.