Proving anyone can be famous, Vlad & Niki YouTube brats were in NJ

In “Dead Poet’s Society,” Robin Williams delivered the line “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

True.

Then there’s whatever Vlad and Niki do.

Two young boys who immigrated from Russia are somehow among the most successful YouTubers. Now 12 and 10, they began making videos at 5 and 3 that became wildly popular, and I’m not sure how.

I have kids younger than them. So this isn’t a matter of me being out of touch. I understand the intrinsic educational and entertainment value of classics like “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” I appreciate modern kid programs like “Bluey” and “PJ Masks” where there are lessons woven in. Forgive my get-off-my-lawn take on Vlad and Niki.

Read More: Kids Empire is opening at the Freehold Raceway Mall

But it’s vapid nonsense.

Like the one where Vlad and his mom argue over hot and cold and the kid in full brat-mode hurls ice balls at his own mother.

This overacted, overdone brand of gibberish has somehow garnered 147 million subscribers on YouTube as of this month. This age of so-called influencers and YouTubers has left me unimpressed, and it feels like a bad subplot in the movie “Idiocracy.”

Every Vlad and Niki video I sampled was just camera mugging, dumb special effects, and failed attempts at being in any way entertaining. Yet at one point, each of these videos put out was earning the family over $300,000.

If you haven’t experienced their genius videos, here’s a sample.

Vladislav and Nikita Vashketov just did their very first public appearance, and it happened at the American Dream mall over the weekend.

They showed their videos on a big screen, and you got to take part in a Q&A session with the boys. And only pre-selected families got to take a picture with the YouTubers. If there were a big crowd, I would weep for America’s future.