A YouTuber decided to investigate how British people really see Americans by conducting impromptu interviews on the streets of London.
Creator Nathanial Drew admitted that ‘for as long as I can remember, I have had the sense that the British look down on Americans.’
As evidence, he cited a part of Prince Harry‘s memoir in which the royal admits that, as he was growing up, ‘people warned me all the time about Americans. Too loud, too rich, too happy. Too confident too direct, too honest.’
In investigating his hypothesis – namely, that British look down on Americans and American culture – Nathanial took to the streets of London where he interviewed passerby to try and gauge their opinions of their overseas neighbors.
YouTuber Nathanial Drew made a video about his hypothesis that British people ‘look down on Americans’ that consisted of interviewing passerby on the streets of London
One man mock-grimaced in doing an impression of a British person meeting an American
‘I always feel really terrible that everyone’s first attitude is, ‘Oh you’re from America, are you? Oh, okay,” said one man as he mock-grimaced.
A young American woman, asked how she feels ‘perceived’ by British people in London, responded ‘a big, stupid, bellowing oaf… genuinely. I always feel like I have to apologize for being American.’
An older British woman said of how she perceives Americans: ‘There’s definitely sort of a sense that there is a lot of difficult things going on in America and that America potentially could be quite a difficult place to live, especially if you’re of color or from the Middle East.’
Another woman mused: ‘They’re too extra. It doesn’t seem like it’s genuine.’
She later added: ‘I don’t think people are necessarily dumb, and I don’t think it’s a question of being dumb. I think it’s just that there’s this idea of like, ‘Yeah, being the best!’
‘To think that people in America, depending on where you are born, you can have access to care or not, it’s frightening!
‘And I don’t know how you can speak about being ‘the best’ when you can’t even make sure that everybody’s taken care of,’ the woman concluded.
Asked how he feels Americans perceive the British, one young man answered: ‘They kind of look down on us. I feel like Americans sort of think they’re on top of everything. And there’s always competition between the two.’
One young man Nathanial interviewed praised America for having ‘good music’
Another woman emphasized that she had ‘wonderful American friends’ who are ‘fantastic’
The man added that he felt British people are ‘more polite’ than Americans, as well as ‘more talkative’ and ‘more helpful.’
He conceded, however, that Americans are ‘nice,’ ‘funny’ and have ‘good music.’
Conversely, one man who had spent time living in the United States – in California, Alabama and Oklahoma, specifically – reflected of the similarities between the UK and the US.
‘Everyone speaks English. Everyone’s got the same sort of core values. I’m not necessarily a big Christian person at all, but we all come from this Christian-based countries… I personally don’t see many differences at all.’
Another woman was quick to emphasize that she had ‘wonderful American friends… they’re great, they’re fantastic,’ she gushed.
Contrary to Nathanial’s personal hunch about the matter, a recent poll from Pew Research Center found that only 38 per cent of people in the United Kingdom held an ‘unfavorable’ view of the United States as of spring 2023.
Views of Americans were worse in Sweden, France, Germany, Greece and Spain as 41 per cent, 41 per cent, 40 per cent, 40 per cent and 39 per cent respectively of people in those countries holding ‘unfavorable’ views of the US.
The nation with the most ‘unfavorable’ view of the US was Hungary, with just over half of those surveilled admitting to holding a negative view of the country.
