Who are the Nelk Boys? The popular YouTubers who have lost 20,000+ subscribers since interviewing Bibi Netanyahu

For those who don’t live online, the name Nelk Boys might not mean much. However, for younger generations, they’re a well-known group of male content creators who have amassed a massive following over the past five years. The Nelk YouTube channel currently has 8.44 million subscribers. The group went viral after interviewing and endorsing Donald Trump just before the 2024 general election.

The Nelk Boys have found themselves at the center of an internet firestorm following the release of an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, filmed on July 8, 2025, during his visit to Washington, DC. The Nelk Boys themselves admitted they were unprepared and unqualified to interview the Israeli leader, who the International Criminal Court has indicted for war crimes.

Netanyahu was interviewed by two members of the Nelk Boys, Kyle Forgeard and Aaron Steinberg, who co-host the Full Send Podcast. The Nelk Boys are associated with the ‘manosphere,’ a group of creators who produce content aimed at a male audience and often endorse right-wing political ideas. However, as the interview with Netanyahu demonstrates, not all members of the internet movement are politically literate.

Who are the Nelk Boys?

Kyle Forgeard, 31, was born in Mississauga, Ontario, and started NELK over a decade ago as a prank channel. He has 2.5 million followers on Instagram and previously took part in the group’s interview with Donald Trump. He publicly supported the Republican candidate in the 2024 election. The second interviewer, Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg, was born in Denver, Colorado, and is also in his thirties.

The larger squad includes other content creators and influencers who help run various aspects of the Nelk brand, including Jason “905shooter” Pagaduan, Stephen “SteveWillDoIt” Deleonardis, Salim “Salim the Dream” Sirur, Sean Haney, and Arthur “Jimmy Gambles” Kulik.

Fans are outraged by the interview

The interview’s release comes amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where mass starvation is claiming hundreds of lives. The United Nations reports that a third of the 2.2 million residents have gone without food for days. The Israeli government is being accused of manufacturing the crisis, with thousands of tons of UN food aid sitting just outside the strip, blocked from distribution.

Quickly, the Nelk audience responded harshly to the video, with the vast majority of comments criticizing the laid-back, softball questions posed to Netanyahu.

How many followers has Nelk lost?

According to screenshots from the Wayback Machine, Nelk’s YouTube channel had 8.46 million subscribers in mid-June. As of July 26, 2025, that number has dropped by 20,000 to 8.44 million. The Full Send channel has also seen a decline, losing around 10,000 subscribers since earlier this month.

In an attempt to quell the backlash, the Nelk team admitted that some of the questions had been provided by Netanyahu’s staff—an admission that only intensified criticism. A video of Kyle’s comments was shared and roundly criticized by progressive commentator Kyle Kulinski

Many accused the pair of being out of their depth, violating basic journalistic ethics, and effectively producing propaganda for the Israeli government. The two were also seen responding to comparisons between their interview and the idea of interviewing Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust. However, the sincerity of their response has been widely questioned, given the scale of backlash from fans.

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