Welcome to Millionaires, where we profile creators who have recently crossed the one million follower mark on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. There are creators crossing this threshold every week, and each of them has a story to tell about their success. Read previous installments here.
Aaron Goldenberg is a mean gay.
Okay, not really. But he plays one on TikTok.
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Like several other creators we’ve spoken to, Goldenberg is an actor by trade, and parlayed those skills into content creation when COVID shuttered auditions back in 2020. He’d always wanted to act, from his very first Christmas play as a kid.
“I very quickly was just one of those kids who was always in some kind of a drama class, whether it was at school or elsewhere,” he says. “Started doing community theater in my teens, and then as well as acting for student films at local colleges that had film programs.”
He started booking jobs in his early 20s, and after snagging roles in a couple indie films and commercials, he moved down to Atlanta for more opportunities in TV and film. Pre-pandemic, he’d been posting short skits on Instagram, inspired by gay actors like Johnny Sibilly and Jimmy Fowlie. So he had some experience with social media–but not enough to be prepared when the very first video he posted to TikTok brought in over 300,000 views.
“I had never, ever seen numbers like that. To me, that was an incredibly viral video,” he says. “I just assumed, oh, it’s going to be like this. I am just this incredible viral creator that everybody loves. I made a couple more videos that were very much in that same tone and the same deal with playing multiple characters and everything, and none of those went viral.” He played around with his approach to things, and finally “found my stride later that year with doing duets on TikTok, which I haven’t really done in a long time, but I found such joy and comedy in playing another character in somebody’s already well-written comedic POV skit,” he says.
Since then, he’s built his TikTok following to more than a million people (+ 279K on Instagram) with a big audience draw being his popular “Mean Gays” series, where he and co-creator Jake Jonez play a pair of judgmental, catty, passive-aggressive gay guys doing their best to sow drama everywhere they go.
Check out our chat with him below.
@aarongoldyboy Replying to @JaysJewels will they survive this? #gay #comedy #fyp ♬ original sound – Aaron Goldenberg
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: Very excited to chat! I’d like to start with, imagine somebody is reading this and they don’t know anything about you. Give me a little bit of a rundown about your background, where you’re from, and what led you to joining social media.
Aaron Goldenberg: Yes. My name is Aaron Goldenberg, and–I am going to start that sentence over. [laughs] So basic that my brain froze. My name is Aaron Goldenberg. I was raised in Miami, Florida, where I got into acting and theater and all that at a pretty young age. First started doing skits in church and Christmas plays and all that, but I very quickly was just one of those kids who was always in some kind of a drama class, whether it was at school or elsewhere. Started doing community theater in my teens, and then as well as acting for student films at local colleges that had film programs.
I just always knew that I wanted to act. In my early 20s, I booked a couple of independent films and commercials down in Miami, but I finally realized that, in order to get more opportunities with TV and film, I needed to move where there was more of an industry. I finally moved to Atlanta, which is where I live now. It’s been going really well here. Obviously, in March 2020, the world changed, and I was one of those many, many content creators who really had sort of their first burst of virality and an audience in an early pandemic.
I had been creating content for years. I directed a lot of short films or skits for Instagram. I wanted to be who I considered the viral gay people at that time like Johnny Sibilly and Jimmy Fowlie. I was watching their stuff for years. I was trying to emulate that tone and finally, was joining TikTok where I was able to get the numbers that actually grew an audience and then that transferred over to Instagram and I’ve been doing it since then.
Tubefilter: You said you had your first burst of virality. Do you remember what the first video that went viral for you was?
Aaron Goldenberg: Unfortunately, in a way, it was my very first video that I posted on TikTok. It was the one that went viral, as it happens occasionally. It was just one of those that had an interesting take on the pandemic and having to cook at home. I’m not sure that I could accurately describe it verbally, but just making fun of the fact that we’re all cooking for ourselves and nobody knows how. I think it got 300,000 views pretty quickly and I had never, ever seen numbers like that. To me, that was an incredibly viral video.
I just assumed, oh, it’s going to be like this. I am just this incredible viral creator that everybody loves. [laughs] I made a couple more videos that were very much in that same tone and the same deal with playing multiple characters and everything, and none of those went viral. Then I started trying some other things to limited success and finally sort of found my stride later that year with doing duets on TikTok, which I haven’t really done in a long time, but I found such joy and comedy in playing another character in somebody’s already well-written comedic POV skit.
Then I would just play the opposite person, whoever they were talking to, and I would write out my responses and everything. I did over 50 of those with various content creators and everything, but those started going viral again. Some of them ended up on BuzzFeed and some other publications. I just definitely found my stride in the sketch comedy realm of TikTok and Instagram.
Tubefilter: I certainly speak to a lot of people who start on TikTok and then go over to YouTube and do really well, but Instagram seems to be trickier for people to break into. I’m curious how things worked out for you there in terms of how quickly you grew, how quickly you figured things out. What has Instagram been like for you?
Aaron Goldenberg: Instagram Reels definitely changed everything for me. I was really close with Stanzi Potenza. If you know them, they are also a comedy content creator. We both were having success on TikTok and limited success on Instagram. I think, at the time, we both had around, maybe I had 10,000 and they had 20,000 followers or so. We were just keeping in touch with what we were trying and seeing success with. They started posting a Reel every day and would sometimes notice that the reaction was gradual, the views were gradual. They would maybe get only 5,000 views that first day, but then in two weeks, that video would blow up. It would get into the algorithm and they would get 300,000 views or something or a million and then they would get 50,000 new followers. They just grew so quickly by doing that.
There was a period of time where, for me, I was trying to post a Reel every single day. Life happens, and sometimes I wasn’t able to do that, but I would definitely be posting several times a week. Again, just trying to narrow down what my niche was, I can definitely look through my library on any platform and look at an old video and say, that doesn’t really fit my aesthetic, or I can see why that video didn’t do so well, or I can see why the videos after that suffered for a little bit just because the algorithm gets confused when you stray too far.
I would say amid the success, I’m still figuring things out. I’ll post a video that I think is bound to just change the world and go viral and do extremely well, and then it gets 50,000 views which, at this stage, with how many followers I have, is a bit of an underwhelming number. It’s just sort of a learning curve consistently. Then the algorithm’s always changing too.
View this post on Instagram
Tubefilter: Tricky to keep up with it?
Aaron Goldenberg: Yes. I would just say consistency in the type of content and when you’re posting and what hashtags you use is going to be key, and your audience will find you.
Tubefilter: Gotcha. Is content your full-time thing right now?
Aaron Goldenberg: No. It has been in past times, but just through life circumstances, and as I said before, I’m an actor. I am actually working at two restaurants right now.
I think a lot of people that I talk to at times are surprised by that, especially when they see numbers on TikTok. My following right now is 1.1 million. In the past, when certain people have over great views or over a certain amount of followers, I just imagined they make so much money all the time. I understand why people would think the same thing with me, but I’m also just out here trying to make money and pay my bills like everybody else. Obviously, there’s a hope that certain acting gigs will have a bigger payday or be a more consistent job like recurring character but, right now, I’m working at two restaurants and creating content when I can.
Tubefilter: Yes, I was going to ask about your content production schedule. How often are you able to film? How long does an average upload take you from start to finish?
Aaron Goldenberg: The last one that I did with Jake, which was “the mean gays and their one lesbian friend,” it probably took us about two hours to film the writing process, maybe a total of an hour. Then, it took me a few days to edit just because I was working doubles at the restaurants for those next couple of days, but I knew I wanted to post it on Sunday because that’s historically been a pretty well-performing day. Yes, this one took longer than usual just because I was doing some other work outside. I would say maybe a total of five or six hours from start to finish with writing and then filming and editing.
Tubefilter: Got you. Perfect. I know you’ve been in some series recently. I know you’re in an HBO series. I’m curious, do you feel like your social presence has any effect on castings? Do you have people tell you, “Oh, I’m tuning into your show”? Do you feel like your two worlds are together or are they separate?
Aaron Goldenberg: There’s definitely overlap in a way. Even when I was on set for The Righteous Gemstones for HBO, one of the main actors recognized me from online content, which was really cool to be, I think, validated in that way. Just that this actor who I admire and who has a great body of work also was familiar with what I have been putting out there for the last couple of years.
I will say I think the following and all that has had a lot more impact thus far on lower budget projects that are trying to get funding or trying to prove that they’ll have an audience. Even when I do get hired for those types of jobs, they’ll use my name and my social media numbers to say, “Hey, we’ve got this guy who’s got this many followers. This movie will make money. People will go watch it. Please, give us funding.” Whereas one of my first jobs that I did a couple of years ago was for a show called Echoes on Netflix, my scene ended up being cut, but I was talking to one of the producers, and I just mentioned, “Hey, I’m happy to for free put out some content advertising the show when it comes out.” I was trying to be helpful, but also sort of schmooze with the producer, and he as nicely as he could said, “Netflix has a production budget, it’s okay. They have a PR budget. We’ll be fine, but thanks for offering.”
The show ended up being in the top 10 for, I think, two months or something so, clearly, they were fine. I think there’s a part of me and maybe it’s ego that wants to be cast purely just because they believe I’m right for the role and not just because they think that they’ll have more viewers because of my following. I booked a pretty big role for a pilot which didn’t get picked up, so it hasn’t come out or anything. I booked that in early 2022.
I was having dinner with the writer and the producer and I just brought up TikTok in passing, because I assumed that they knew and I assumed that was part of the reason why I got cast. Both of them were like, “Oh, are you on TikTok?” I at first thought it was funny, because, like I said, I thought it went in into the decision but it, again, was just such a validating moment like, oh, they really believe that I was the right person for this role and it had nothing to do with my social media following. That being said, the shorter way of saying it is, yes, if social media opens doors, which it definitely has, and it’s continuing to, I am all here for that as well. I don’t brush it off as invalid just because somebody maybe became aware of me through TikTok or Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Tubefilter: Got you. What would be your final form of being on social media and being an actor? Do you see yourself balancing these two going forward?
Aaron Goldenberg: I would definitely love to be able to keep creating. At the same time, I would love an excuse to put out videos once every two months because I’m so busy. I’m so grateful to the audience that’s chosen to follow me and I have so many followers that I’ve connected with in the DMs that are just so sweet. I enjoy making content and making people laugh and would love to do that but also maybe there’s a stage in the future where I’ve got a social media team that helps me make the videos and does all the filming and editing and I can just act in them and then go back to set or whatever the case may be. Yes, I would love to be so busy that creating content is difficult online.
Tubefilter: One thing that’s kept you busy is your Mean Gay sketches. That’s more collaborative. How does the process change for those kinds of videos?
Aaron Goldenberg: Honestly, the process is only different because not only do I have to coordinate schedules with Jake but, typically, we have at least one other person, either in the video or behind the camera. It’s just a matter of finding time when everybody is free, and then deciding where we’re going to film, but they’re some of my favorite things to spend time working on. I just love the characters so much and I love how the fan base has really latched on to them and I have such fun with the writing as well as the acting. We’re always laughing and joking around and breaking character as we film and it’s just honestly one of the things I’ve had the most fun doing and I hope we continue doing it for a while.
@aarongoldyboy Replying to @Camille ♬ original sound – Aaron Goldenberg
Tubefilter: What else has been your favorite part of this whole being-online experience?
Aaron Goldenberg: Probably interacting with followers out in the wild, whether it’s just somebody saying hi at the gym or– There was one experience recently that was pretty meaningful. I was at a gay club in LA and I saw this guy with his boyfriend. He came up to me and started typing on his phone. One of the things that I decided to do during the pandemic was to learn American Sign Language, and I just had a feeling that he was Deaf and that’s why he was typing, so I signed to him, “Hey, are you Deaf?” and he said, “Yes.” I said I know sign language, so just to see his eyes light up and then to get to have that interaction with him for the next few minutes.
He also told me at that moment how helpful it is when I put captions on my videos which sometimes I forget to do and I always feel so bad but he said that is so helpful for me but then it helps me to be able to share it with other people too. Yes, just being able to actually meet people in real life because sometimes the social creating process can feel very lonely or just in a bubble.
Even when people comment something like “oh my god I just spit out my coffee, I’m rolling on the floor,” I’m not there for that, so I don’t see that and I don’t feel that. Getting to actually hear and see a real-life human be able to share their joy or to say how my videos have made their day better. Yes, it kind of completes the content creation experience which again can just feel very solo and isolating and lonely at times, so I really love interacting with followers.
Tubefilter: I wanted to circle back to this: Did the strike affect you significantly?
Aaron Goldenberg: Oh yes. 2022 was by far my most successful year in the acting industry just in terms of how many jobs that I had booked, the size of the roles. I was really looking forward to 2023 continuing the momentum and not only maybe coming back on some of the shows that I had worked the previous year, but just continuing to audition and build my resume and build my demo reel. Even from the beginning of the year, things were pretty slow I think in anticipation of the strikes and then the strikes themselves put basically a stop to all filming. Whereas I was feeling this momentum in the industry, it was a real community-felt halt for everybody.
I know that I’m not alone in what my experience was but it was really discouraging, and I felt like casting directors are going to forget me or forget what I can do. I’m going to have to start over. I’m never going to be on set again. I was having those types of feelings and thankfully, I’ve been able to work through them and talk with other friends in the industry and just realize that we were all feeling the same things.
I’m really glad that we negotiated and got a much better deal with SAG-AFTRA than we had before. Now, it’s just a matter of the industry picking up again slowly but surely. I’ve had a few auditions that I was really excited about this year. None of them have resulted in a booking yet. I actually literally 10 minutes ago got another audition, so I was just reading through the scripts before we hopped on. Yes, just getting back into the swing of things.
Tubefilter: Any other cool plans or goals or projects you’re working on for the next year or so?
Aaron Goldenberg: There are a few future projects I can’t discuss just yet, but next month I’ll be acting in/co-producing a horror comedy film starring Jenna Kanell (from The Terrifier), multiple upcoming TV appearances, and a super cute family friendly Christmas movie called Festival of Trees later this year. My character in that is very Mean Gays-coded.
