If you’re into craftsmanship and alternative home owning, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the Wranglerstar YouTube channel more than once. For over a decade now, Cody Crone has taught his audiences how to build different types of home-useful devices while using hand tools and other easily accessible materials.
While Wranglerstar’s content remained entertaining and harmless for a long time, in recent years his audience couldn’t help but notice a shift in the topics he talked about in his videos, leaning into political content and conspiracy and doomsday theories.
This change of tone in Wranglerstar’s videos has brought up mixed reactions in his audiences, with some of them being supportive of his ideas while others negatively reacted to them.
So what’s going on with Wranglerstar and what’s the uproar about? What happened to him and why is he getting his content banned from social media platforms? What about his past controversies? Keep watching to find out!
What’s Going On With His Content?
Though homesteading content creators usually avoid drama and controversies, that hasn’t been the case with Cody Crone, the man in front of the YouTube channel Wranglerstar. Ever since starting his channel in 2010, the homesteader and expert in the outdoors has entertained his viewers with a wide variety of educational and original content, throwing in life advice here and there much to the joy of everyone.
Nevertheless, the switch his content has taken recently has enraged a part of his audience, but also worried many. The uproar about his apocalyptic panic and habit of warning people about supposedly upcoming disasters was documented in a Rolling Stone article from mid-2023, with the massive platform describing his content as ‘extremist’ and of a ‘prepper mentality’ and prone to ‘right-wing conspiracy theories’. It was also suggested that Cody was monetizing videos in which he taught people how to build bombs.
Despite the strong criticism about his videos, Cody hasn’t shied away from becoming controversial with his content. For example, in October 2023, he shared a video entitled “I don’t care anymore” about sensitive topics such as ‘foreign wars’ and asked for justice over the actions of ‘politicians and greedy businessmen’.
While Wranglerstar’s new brand of content could attract some new audiences, his attitude has also become known outside of his target audience in negative ways.
TikTok Ban
The controversy surrounding Wranglerstar’s content surpassed his audience to worry executives of big platforms. It all started in 2022 when Cody Crone expanded his brand to TikTok, easily gaining over half a million followers in less than a year by sharing some of his expertise in a short video format.
Nevertheless, Wranglerstar’s TikTok content wasn’t the same as his YouTube, to the point he shared videos teaching people how to build bombs by using an electric artifact and explosives. Another video also saw him building a helmet similar to that of an envoy from the United Nations (UN), with the argument that it could serve people to protect themselves against bullets.
During their research of Wranglerstar, Rolling Stone reported the aforementioned videos and others to TikTok, which prompted the platform to close the account altogether. According to the news site, there was no clear answer as to which policies Wranglerstar exactly violated on TikTok, except that he had done it ‘repeatedly’, according to a representative from the video platform. Later on, YouTube deleted a video of Cody’s homemade bomb.
Regarding the closure of his fastest-growing social media account, Wranglerstar affirmed that he wasn’t disappointed about not having TikTok anymore and took the incident as ‘God’s will’ preventing him from getting distracted.
Was He Fired?
Long-time followers of Wranglerstar remember that he often affirmed he worked for the US Forest Service, a job position he supposedly got after moving to the mountains of Washington State. The issue started in 2020 when he shared a video of his son wearing his Forest Service hat, which supposedly got him fired for violating one of the organization’s inner rules.
View this post on Instagram
The news of his firing was revealed by Wranglerstar in 2022, with him affirming that he still had no idea about who snitched on him. Nevertheless, the case also took the attention of Rolling Stone, which contacted the Forest Service only to be told that they didn’t have any records of Cody working there. While asking Wranglerstar for more information about his alleged period working with the agency, he answered that his involvement with them was a ‘training’ period over 2016 and 2017, hence why it would be hard for the Forest Service to find his records.
Whatever happened between Wranglerstar and the Forest Service, it’s somewhat understandable why he’s so intent on negatively commenting on the organization in many of his videos.
Other Controversies
All the controversy uncovered by Rolling Stone and spread on the internet by his detractors has negatively affected Wranglerstar’s image, but the truth is that for several years he had put himself in a tight place when it comes to content.
Back in 2013, Wranglerstar shared a video in which he affirmed that a coyote had tried to attack his dogs, and he had no option but to shoot at it. In the video, Cody reaffirmed his position on storing guns at home, regardless of how far away from civilization he lives.
This video awakened controversy in his audiences, who were divided between the disappointed ones at seeing him shooting at an animal, and others who supported him. While the latter group defended its defensive stance, the former alleged that it was unlikely that his big dogs, which Cody himself affirmed weighed more than 60lb, were in danger against the coyote.
Another one of Wranglerstar’s most famous controversies started with a video from early 2022, in which he teaches his audience how to build a male-male extension cord. This device was criticized because of the harmful and dangerous effect it could have on people using it.
Last but not least, Wranglerstar has consistently affirmed to have a dominative position over his wife. One of his most famous videos about this has him saying that he only wants ‘sex, sandwich, and silence’ from his wife.
Response to Backlash
While in the past Cody seemed more sensitive over the negative opinions coming his way, he’s decided to not erase that type of comment from his content anymore. As affirmed in a video from early 2023, he now considers that negativity an ‘ego check’ for himself.
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped the waves of backlash to increase and expand. On Reddit, there’s a subreddit called AntiWranglerstar which has thousands of members. As well the famous Rolling Stone from mid-2023 pushed some changes in Wranglerstar’s content, as he now adds a ‘comedy’ and ‘satirical’ disclaimer to his videos’ descriptions, seemingly in response to the news site’s indirect accusations about him allegedly sympathizing with extreme political movements and misogyny.
All in all, there’s a lot to be said about Wranglerstar’s current content and how it’s changed over the years, but there’s no denying that he’s more famous these days for his controversy than for his woodchopping skills.
