Revisiting Queer Portrayal in Popular Culture: The Historiographical Significance of Şokopop in Turkey

Launched as a YouTube channel and Instagram account in 2018, Şokopop quickly became a prominent popular culture phenomenon in contemporary Türkiye. Spearheaded by digital creator Ekim Acun, Şokopop delves into Turkish tabloid news from the 1960s to the early 2000s, reviving the bold and provocative landscape of past popular culture through contemporary digital media. The series offers a nostalgic yet ironic take on celebrity scandals took place in recent past of Türkiye. While the channel’s content spans various aspects of Turkish celebrity culture, its most striking discourse emerges in its representation of queer figures within the popular culture. This study examines Şokopop as a historiographical performance that reconstructs the media portrayal of queerness in Turkish popular culture between the 1960s and early 2000s. This research analyzes the narrative and formal characteristics of biographical episodes on prominent queer figures Bülent Ersoy, Zeki Müren, and Huysuz Virjin. Through textual analysis, it contextualizes Şokopop’s narrative strategy as a means of reclaiming queer representation in recent popular culture history.