This viral comedian’s ‘clanker’ skit has ignited debate over robot slurs

A TikTok comedian has sparked debate after riffing on the viral term “clanker,” which in recent months has surfaced as an insult for robots, AI systems, and those who rely on them.

The term, originally from Star Wars, spiked in searches in early June, according to Google Trends. As it spreads online, people are questioning whether it’s just a harmless joke or an insensitive slur.

Comedian and TikTok star Stanzi Potenza fueled the discussion in late August with a skit in which she role-plays a Southern waitress. The caption of the now-viral video reads: “POV: you’re a clanker in 2050.”

“Well, well, well, look what the Roomba dragged in,” Potenza says in a Southern drawl. “Didn’t you see the sign outside? We don’t serve clankers here.”

She goes on to call the robots “wirebacks” (a term many say is uncomfortably close to a slur used against Mexicans in the U.S.) and adds: “We don’t have none of your oil or microchips or whatever it is you rust buckets eat.”

The video, which has been viewed nearly a million times, struck many as echoing real racial slurs and stereotypes. “It feels out of touch; taking actual slurs and turning them into silly robot slurs is not . . . great,” one commenter wrote.

The skit was also reposted to X, where one user wrote: “Roleplaying actual ’50s racism with fucking robots is egregious in so so many ways.”

Others defended Potenza, arguing critics were being too “woke” and that the video actually “makes fun” of racism.

Potenza isn’t alone in riffing on “clanker.” Another TikTok comedian, Samuel Jacob, posted a similar video days later with the caption: “If the 2050s become like the 1950s (but instead it’s Robophobia).”

His skit features human-robot segregated bathrooms, a schoolyard bully, a thug provoking street violence, and a cop arresting a “clanker” named George Droid. “Always taking it too far,” one commenter wrote.

Fast Company has reached out to Potenza and Jacob for comment.