Pornhub/Warner Bros. PicturesApparently, clowns are sexy. Specifically, the Clown Prince Of Crime – if we’re to listen to Pornhub, that is.
That’s right, a mere four days after the highly anticipated release of Joker, the film has reportedly sparked a rise in searches on the free porn site related to the supervillain.
Hey, each to their own, right. And if a make-believe criminal mastermind who inflicts endless amounts of pain on to people as a result of society’s horrible treatment of him is what gets people off, who am I to judge.
See if the film tickles your pickle by watching the trailer below:
Regardless of whether it’s your kind of thing, TMZ have shared Pornhub’s findings, which claim there were more than 741,000 searches involving the word ‘joker’ in the first four days following the film’s release last week.
That’s some going, if I do say so myself. Apparently, the biggest surge came on Sunday (October 6) when the porn site saw a massive 291,628 searches for clowns getting frisky.
The trend is similar to the one that came after the release of Suicide Squad in 2016, when Pornhub metrics showed searches for Harley Quinn spiked considerably.
In fact, Margot Robbie’s character is still the most searched for movie/game character on the site, with more than 10 million searches last year alone. Which, seeing as Harley is the Joker’s equally twisted lover, is quite fitting.
Warner Bros. PicturesWhile some people have been getting down and dirty to the Joker – or, erm, versions of him – others have simply been visiting the cinema in their hordes to see how Todd Phillips’ vision came alive on the big screen.
So much so, in fact, that the film recently overtook Venom to deliver the largest October domestic opening ever with an estimated $93.5 million, topping the previous record set just last year ($80.25 million) by quite some way.
It’s not hard to see why people have been drawn in, either; focusing on the backstory and intricacies of Gotham’s most infamous mastermind, the Joaquin Phoenix-led film provides an origin story for a villain who – up until now – has not been given one.
Putting an entirely different spin on previous depictions of Batman’s arch-nemesis, the story instead provides an insight into why he transformed into the villainous Joker in the first place.
Warner Bros. PicturesSpecifically, the film tells the story of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), a failed stand-up comedian who – after being constantly beaten down by society – uses his pent-up anger and frustration to unleash havoc on Gotham City.
Which doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of thing you’d want to search for on porn sites, but again, each to their own.
Joker is out in cinemas now.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).