YouTuber Elijah Daniel buys US town and renames it Gay Hell for Pride Month

An American YouTube star has bought a tiny Michigan town called Hell and renamed it ‘Gay Hell’ to mark Pride.

Elijah Daniel, 25, announced the move on Twitter, posting a photo of himself standing proudly beside a ‘Welcome to Gay Hell’ sign.

He explained it was a protest against US President Donald Trump’s ban on American embassies flying the rainbow-coloured LGBTQ+ flag during Pride Month.

In a tweet to his 628,000 followers on Monday, Mr Daniel wrote: “Ahead of pride month Trump’s administration put a ban on embassies flying pride flags.

“So as of today, I am now the owner of Hell, Michigan. I bought the whole town.

“And my first act as owner, I have renamed my town to Gay Hell, MI."

He ended with: “The only flags allowed to fly are pride.” Although, he reportedly discovered later that banning residents from flying the American flag would be illegal.

Mr Daniel, who is openly gay himself, said his aim was to "trick" his young audience into paying attention to politics.

"The idea is they click my tweet and then see the news behind it. It's the way I get my audience interested," he told the BBC.

Vice-President Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian who opposes same-sex marriage, defended the rainbow flag ban as the "right decision".

The 25-year-old YouTuber grew up near Hell to a "very religious family", and said the town’s name was taken seriously by many in his community.

In 2017, he made headlines when he became mayor and “outlawed” heterosexuality.

The prankster announced at the time that he would establish "new vetting measures to keep radical heterosexuals out of our town”, which has a population of around 70 people.

When he found out Hell was for sale, Mr Daniel told Sky News: “I was like oh s***, I’ve gotta buy this now”.

The town had reportedly been on the market for some time, with an asking price of around £800,000.

Mr Daniel has already begun promoting his new acquisition, tweeting: “Gay Hell, Mi has everything. A library, a place to lock your love in Gay Hell, and even a WEDDING CHAPEL TO GET GAY MARRIED IN HELL!”

The comedian, who got engaged to his partner Sam in January, said Gay Hell was a place he wanted to "run all year round", not just for Pride Month.

He has stressed the stunt was meant to be "over-exaggerated and fun", but he said he also wanted to send a message to children growing up like him that "it's OK to be gay".

His initial announcement, which received more than 228,000 Twitter likes in under 24 hours, has been widely celebrated on social media.

Fans have posted memes and well-wishes, and even attempted to get the town’s name changed on Wikipedia.

However. Mr Daniel has admitted to receiving a number of threatening messages, too.

He has brushed off the criticism as “nothing out of the ordinary”, tweeting: “UH OH! THE HETEROS ARE UPSETERO AGAIN!”