clowncel

English

Etymology

From clown +‎ -cel.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

clowncel (plural clowncels)

1. (incel slang) An incel who identifies with the Joker from the Batman franchise.
   • 2019, Caroline Cabe, "Inside Todd Phillips’ Joker and the Rise of the ‘Clowncel’, The Texas Orator, 22 October 2019:

     The thing about Joker that specifically appeals to clowncels is the heroic mirage imparted on the Joker.

   • 2021 March, Manuel Herrero-Puertas, “Super Whitman 1885”, in Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, volume 47, number 1, page 311:

     As for Joker, after the FBI warned of mass-shooting threats from so-called “Clowncels,” some theaters in the United States banned makeup and costumes during the screening of Phillips’s movie (Margolin and Katersky).

   • 2021, Aylin Kuryel, “Looking at and with images: Crowds in Joker, Joker in the crowd”, in Sean Redmond, editor, Breaking Down Joker: Violence, Loneliness, Tragedy, unnumbered page:

     There is a key difference here, however, in that clowncels seem to replace the self-pitying discourse common in incel forums with anger towards the rich and the powerful.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:clowncel.