| “ | I'm brown, I wear a turban, old white ladies are scared of me. | ” |
―JusReign | ||
Jasmeet Singh Raina (born: November 4, 1989), known as JusReign on YouTube, is a Canadian YouTuber of Punjabi-Indian descent. He makes a variety of videos often revolving around indian culture and stereotypes, ranging from comparisons, rants and parodies to random funny videos, which almost always feature his brother Anmol and friend Rupan Bal. He is most prominently known as a YouTube personality, and one of Much Digital Studios' original creators.
His most popular series, Desi Mom, features JusReign with Rupan (RupanBal on YouTube) as his mom. "THE SWAG SONG" is one of his more popular works and he is known by many as one of the finest YouTubers of this genre and has risen to fame with his ability to utilize comic timing.
He is also a known figure on the video site Vine. Prior to the website's shut down in January 17, 2017, he established over a billion loops on the app. He also has a vloging channel called jusvlogs.
Career
Jasmeet’s upbringing and his South-Asian roots have provided material for his viral videos. Most of his work contains pop culture parodies, while others provide commentary on race, and his struggles with racism.
Singh appeared in two movies in 2015, one of which was filmed in India. He was also the red carpet correspondent for the Much Music Video Awards in the same year. He also made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in a creator edition of the show's Mean Tweets segment in June, 2016.
Early Life
Jasmeet was raised in Guelph, Ontario in a Kashmiri-Punjabi Sikh family. He has stated that his family came from modern-day Pakistan before the Partition of India. When he was 5 years old, his father started paying a maestro to teach Jasmeet and his younger brother, Anmol, Indian classical music.
He studied at the University of Guelph, where he originally studied to become a doctor to appease his parents' wishes. Eventually, the sketches Raina was creating on the side went viral and his parents accepted that their son had found success and have since been supportive of his YouTube career.
Turban Controversy
On Monday, February 22, 2016, Jasmeet was forced to remove his turban at an airport in San Francisco an hour before boarding a flight to Toronto. Jasmeet has a Sikh background and wears a turban for religious reasons. After being told to either remove his turban or book another flight, Raina complied, removing his turban in a private room.
After completing the security check, Jasmeet asked if security officials could provide him with a mirror so he could reapply his turban in private. But TSA agents refused, suggesting he walk across the terminal to a public restroom − his head still uncovered − and use a mirror there. Jasmeet noted in his video on the matter the experience was an embarrassing and sensitive ordeal, and that a simple fix, like adding a mirror to the private screening area or providing him with a handheld mirror, would have been more respectful.
The incident led to backlash on Twitter and garnered international headlines in Cosmopolitan India, Seventeen, New York Daily News, and BBC Asia. While a TSA spokesperson made a statement explaining the screening processes for religious garments, they did not apologize directly for the incident with Raina. After the incident, Raina took his frustration over the issue over social media, which sparked a media outrage over TSA racial profiling in general.
Trivia
- Jasmeet played the tabla, which he had grown to dislike to play as he stated in his "Draw My Life" video on YouTube. He once argued with his teacher to the point where he got a tabla thrown at his face.