Eric Decker (born January 12, 1997), known online as Airrack (a

sensational spelling Sensational spelling is the deliberate spelling of a word in a non-standard way for special effect. Branding Sensational spellings are common in advertising and product placement. In particular, brand names such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (''cri ...

of his name Eric), is an American

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

vlogger A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...

known for his challenge and prank content, and for gaining a million subscribers in a year. He is also co-founder of Creator Now, an educational program for online

content creation Content creation is the contribution of information to any Content (media), media and most especially to digital content, digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some Medi ...

Early life

According to Decker, he first discovered YouTube when he was in

fifth grade Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...

and was inspired to film a music video for the

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

song "

Low Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...

". He later went to college but dropped out to start a wedding video production company. He worked there for four years before becoming a full-time

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

YouTube career

2019-2020

Decker launched his YouTube channel in July 2019. He became known for videos

gate crashing Gate crashing, gatecrashing, or party crashing is the act of entering, attending, or participating in an event without an invitation nor ticket. The person doing the gate crashing is known as a gate crasher or party crasher. Motivations for g ...

events, including Tomorrowland music festival, the VIP section of a Travis Scott concert, and an attempt to crash

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's wedding in September 2019. Creating vlogs, pranks and challenge videos, he gained 880,000 subscribers by December 2020. Aiming to reach a million subscribers by the end of the year, he partnered with creator startup Stir for a campaign for subscribers in which he stranded himself on a deserted island. Stir set up a website called Save Airrack which provided a referral system for fans to refer new subscribers to his channel for rewards such as thank you letters, the opportunity to feature in collaboration videos, and the ability to choose a design for Decker to have as a tattoo. He successfully reached a million subscribers on December 27 after having gained 250,000 subscribers within two weeks.

2021-present

Decker continued to create prank and social experiment videos into 2021, including a May video in which he hired over 50 bodyguards to convince people that he was a celebrity. In November 2021, Decker hosted a

MrBeast Jimmy Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known as MrBeast, is an American YouTube personality, credited with pioneering a genre of YouTube videos that centers on expensive stunts. His MrBeast YouTube channel had 112.2 million subscribers as ...

-inspired ping pong tournament called ''XTreme Pong'', which featured influencer competitors, a $120,000 prize and

crypto Crypto commonly refers to: * Cryptocurrency, a type of digital currency secured by cryptography and decentralization * Cryptography, the practice and study of hiding information Crypto or Krypto may also refer to: Cryptography * Cryptanalysis, ...

elements including

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...

s auctioned through

OpenSea OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace headquartered in New York City. The company was founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah in 2017. OpenSea offers a marketplace allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directl ...

. That December he participated in the third installment of

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show ''Creator Games'' for a prize of $1 million.

Zach King Zachary King (born February 4, 1990) is an American internet personality based in Los Angeles. He is most known for his "magic vines," which are six-second videos digitally edited to look as if he is doing magic. He calls his videos "digital sl ...

won the competition but later donated $55,000 of the prize money to a charity of Decker's choice, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, after Decker agreed to eat hot wings with a heat of 3 million

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. In January 2022, KTLA 5 reported on an unknown man scaling a building in

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

dressed as

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

. Decker claimed that he had climbed the building in an attempt to gain the attention of

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

so they would cast him as the character in their next Spider-Man film. He told

Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

that the stunt was "dead serious" and that he was "here to get a part — any part — in a Marvel movie and I will not stop until the mission is accomplished". In September 2022, Decker was a keynote speaker at the annual VidSummit conference where he spoke about the

creator economy The Creator economy or also known as influencer economy, is a software-facilitated economy that allows creators and influencers to earn revenue from their creations. Examples of creator economy software platforms include YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, ...

. That same November, he was invited to join

FaZe Clan FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional eSports, esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple game ...

by MrBeast. He hosted the

12th Streamy Awards The 12th Annual Streamy Awards was the twelfth installment of the Streamy Awards honoring the best in American streaming television series and their creators. The ceremony was held in The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on December 4, ...

on December 4, 2022, which was livestreamed exclusively to his YouTube channel. Decker reached 10 million subscribers in 2022, hitting the milestone in under three years. In January 2023,

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

collaborated with Decker to create the world's largest pizza, breaking the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

with a 13,990-square-foot pizza. The pizza's 68,000 slices were donated to local food banks in Los Angeles once the record was documented by Guinness. The pizza was used in Pizza Hut's

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

commercial for the return of its "Big New Yorker". Decker's gate crashing videos continued into 2023 with a May video in which he bypassed security at the

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by impersonating

Austin Reaves Austin Tyler Reaves (born May 29, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers and the Oklahoma Sooners. ...

. In September 2023, Decker signed with

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

Creator Now

In May 2021, Decker co-founded Creator Now, an educational program for online

, with One Day Entertainment managers Zack Honarvar and Kate Ward. It raised $3 million of funding from investors including

Upfront Ventures Upfront Ventures, formerly known as GRP Partners, is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. It is one of the largest venture capital firms in Los Angeles, with $2 billion in total raised funds. ...

Casey Neistat Casey Owen Neistat (; born March 25, 1981) is an American YouTube personality, filmmaker, vlogger and co-founder of the multimedia company Beme, which was later acquired by CNN. In 2018, he founded ''368'', a creative space for creators to col ...

Justin Kan Justin Kan (born July 16, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of live video platforms Justin.tv and Twitch, as well as the mobile social video application Socialcam. He is also the cofounder and former ...

, and

Jack Conte Jack Conte (; born July 12, 1984) is an American musician and co-founder and CEO of Patreon. He is one half of the band Pomplamoose, along with his wife Nataly Dawn, co-leader of the band Scary Pockets, and leader of the band Magaziine. Career C ...

Awards and nominations

References

{{Reflist 1997 births American YouTubers Living people English-language YouTube channels Prank YouTubers Sidemen Charity Match players YouTube channels launched in 2019 YouTube vloggers