Moments before American Eagle employee/Tumblr creator David Karp appeared on last night’s The Colbert Report, he blogged that “this is going to be a disaster. YOLO.” It wasn’t that bad–the visibly nervous Mr. Karp made it through the six-minute interview without twirling off the side of his chair.
It opened with Mr. Karp humbly shrugging off Mr. Colbert’s suggestion that he’s already successful (a $1 billion purchase can have that effect) saying that he has “lots to prove.” You know, like profitability, which didn’t concern him just a few months ago. It’s apparently now “very important” to him. And to new Yahoo overlords too, we’re guessing.
After a few more minutes of niceties regarding the origins of Tumblr, including that story about why he dropped out of high school that we’ve all heard a million times, the conversation shifted to porn.
“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room on Tumblr. Let me paint a picture of the elephant: it’s on its back and its legs are spread,” quipped Mr. Colbert. “It’s porn central.”
Mr. Karp said Tumblr contains everything–for better or for worse–but assured that pervy porno browsers will have an enclave to watch videos on. “We’ve taken a pretty hardline on freedom of speech, supporting our users, creation on whatever that looks like,” he mumbled, “But it’s something we don’t want to police.”
YOLO, indeed.
[hulu id=s7h9pt_qkvhqs9cekjmxya width=512]
