Latest news with #SeanClarke
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Strictly Come Dancing star George Clarke is revealed as secret nepo baby with a VERY successful dad
YouTuber George Clark was yesterday announced as the sixth celebrity contestant for Strictly Come Dancing 2025. But his showbiz roots go deeper than his online personality, because his dad the studio boss at an iconic British production company. George's dad is Sean Clarke, the managing director of Aardman Animations - the studio behind British institution Wallace And Gromit. Fans were shocked to discover his nepo baby status, writing on social media: 'This is blowing my mind!' Starting out at the company in 1998, George's dad Sean worked his way up, co-producing Early Man and the two Shaun The Sheep movies - and in 2019 was announced as the new boss of the whole operation. Usually kids look to their parents for inspiration, but Sean has previously admitted his son's YouTube success inspired him to make changes at Aardman. Speaking to The Times in June, Sean shared his desire to lead the animation company into the world of TikTok ahead of its 50th anniversary next year. He said: 'Over the last three years I've seen George's success as a YouTuber and it's been interesting to see the power of nurturing your community and understanding your brand. 'In the future we launch characters on TikTok and we don't have to overthink the backstory. 'They're just funny characters that people want to share organically and then once I can go to the market and say, "20 million people love these characters, now we want to tell some stories," it turns this thing on its head.' Before working at Aardman, Sean was working for Disney as their UK Licensing Director. In a nod to his father's role, George owned a white hamster called Gromit - who he previously revealed his family had to buy after he dropped him at the pet shop. Discovering his father's job, fans wrote: 'HES A NEPO BABY!?'; 'I can't believe this it's blowing my mind.' 'HANG ONNNNNNN…. George's dad owns the company that made Wallace and Grommit? Is this all well known?! I had zero idea!'; 'Not his dad being in charge of wallace and gromit.' YouTuber and podcaster George will enter the famous ballroom when Strictly returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this September. George Clarke, also known as George Clarkey, is a British YouTuber, podcaster and social media star known to millions online. Born and raised in the UK, George began experimenting with video content as a teenager, quickly discovering the power of humour and honesty to connect with people around the world. Since then he has built a thriving digital career with millions of followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, drawn to his authenticity and sharp comedic voice. He also co-hosts The Useless Hotline Podcast, which has proven so popular it has led to a series of live shows across the UK. Born and raised in the UK, George began experimenting with video content as a teenager, quickly discovering the power of humour and honesty to connect with people around the world On joining Strictly Come Dancing, George said: 'Never thought I'd say this… but I'm doing Strictly! Honestly, I've got no idea what I'm doing but I'm excited to get stuck in … and potentially fall over a fair bit.' The news was revealed on BBC Radio 1's Going Home Drivetime Show this afternoon. George has built up a huge following on TikTok with an impressive 152million fans and has 679 thousand on Instagram. He is also often seen teaming up with TikToker Max Balegde as the pair host their podcast together.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Strictly star and YouTuber George Clarke revealed as secret nepo baby
YOUTUBER and new Strictly Come Dancing hopeful George Clarke has been revealed as a secret nepo-baby. The 25-year-old star has built up a loyal following after debuting on TikTok and YouTube almost five years ago. 4 4 Over the last 12 months, he has seen his stardom rise and has become one of the UK's leading and most famous content creators. Now, he has been confirmed as the first TikTok star to take on the Strictly ballroom. But the social media star is actually a secret nepo-baby with a very successful father who is the driving force behind one of the largest film productions companies in Britain. George's dad is Sean Clarke, the managing director of Aardman Animations. Aardman are the makers of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep and Sean has worked his way up the company since 1998. Sean currently leads the entire operation, including all of the executive board and has even co-produced some of the studio's biggest releases - and has earned a pretty penny or two in the process. He first joined as Head of Consumer Products in 1998 - a year before George was born. Prior to that, Sean was working for Disney as their UK Licensing Director. His work at Aardman has seen him co-executive produce on Early Man, the two Shaun the Sheep movies and the half hour musical short Robin Robin. In a nod to his father's film legacy, nepo-baby George even owns a pet mouse called Gromit and regularly pays tribute to the movies in his TikTok's. Strictly officially reveal Apprentice star for 2025 show - hours after he leaked show appearance on Insta Under a recent TikTok clip about the Clarke family's involvement with Wallace and Gromit, one fan laughed: "This how I found out George is a nepo baby lol." As another penned: "Fr? Bros rich af already." George was revealed this week as one of the stars who would be taking a spin around the BBC dancefloor. He is best known for hosting The Useless Hotline podcast alongside Max Balegdeh. It was recently revealed that the social media hunk was romancing lingerie model Yasmin Amelia after letting slip the pair were an item during a late-night live stream. Earlier this year he took part in the second series of the Netflix show Inside, fronted by BGT judge KSI, alongside Whitney Adebayo and DDG. 4
Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Times
New AI rules could spell end for Wallace & Gromit
Wallace & Gromit's future is in jeopardy, the studio behind the British screen favourite has warned, if ministers press ahead with controversial new artificial intelligence rules. Sean Clarke, managing director of Aardman Animations, said the Bristol-based animation company would struggle to produce more content if the government allowed tech companies to freely use copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models unless creative industries 'opt out' of the process. 'If it was an opt-out system, I struggle to think how we would be able to do any more Wallace & Gromit because of the money we would have to spend on trying to police it,' Clarke said. 'We've worked incredibly hard to create value in the intellectual property and it's just being diminished.' • Wallace & Gromit studio boss: We're betting on TikTok for growth The employee-owned company behind Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run already spends about £300,000 a year on copyright protection. 'It would go through the roof if we had to then put a team into place to deal with every single platform that decides to use our copyright to opt out,' he said. Campaigners have sharply criticised the government's proposal, which would allow AI developers to scrape copyrighted material for training purposes unless creators take action to exclude their works. Book publishers called the approach 'untested and unevidenced' and Baroness Kidron, a crossbench peer, said she was very disappointed. Sir Elton John described the government as 'absolute losers' and said he felt 'incredibly betrayed' over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws. Over in the US this week, Disney and NBCUniversal became the first Hollywood players to take a legal swing at Midjourney, a generative AI company that they claimed had stolen their copyrighted characters. Aardman said the changes could strike at the heart of its business model, of which rights are a critical part for financing and brand development. 'When I go out to raise money, we're raising money against rights. They're already non-exclusive because they've been given access to multiple different platforms,' Clarke said. The Aardman 'lifer', who has been at the company since 1996, compared the situation to software licensing: 'Can you imagine the furore if I said, 'You need to opt out of me using your licence for free'?' He added that Aardman had started to see some platforms use its productions via AI. The studio said AI also threatens the merchandising arm of the business. 'A lot of what you do in animation is you raise money with regard to those rights being seen on T-shirts and different things. 'If you make it easier for people to type in 'create me a Wallace & Gromit T-shirt' … you can just create it, print it, sell it. We've got to then chase down all of those people. It is really scary and I hope the government's listening.' Although Aardman supports innovation and is excited generally by the future of AI, Clarke said the lack of global alignment made enforcement harder. 'If the US also decides to take that stance, then it just means those platforms set up in the US, and then we still have a similar issue.' Aardman Animations was founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. After graduating they moved to Bristol, where they created Morph for the children's programme Take Hart. Nick Park, director and animator, joined in 1985 while he was working on a student film, A Grand Day Out, the first Wallace & Gromit tale. Shaun the Sheep marks its 30th anniversary this year. A government spokesman said:'We recognise how pressing these issues are and we truly want to solve them. As you would rightly expect, we are taking the time to consider the 11,500 responses to our consultation, but no changes to copyright law will be considered unless we're completely satisfied they work for creators. 'The technology secretary has also been clear the government does not have a preferred option, all options remain on the table and next steps will be set out in due course.'
