Maza was born in 1988. His parents were immigrants from Cuba, and he has three younger siblings, a sister and two half-brothers. He attended Christopher Columbus High School, where he joined the debate club. The debate club gave Maza confidence to speak out and be himself, and he later described it as "the most meaningful thing that's ever happened to me". Maza graduated from Wake Forest University in 2010 with a BA in political science.
Career
Maza worked at Media Matters for America from 2011 to 2016, where he was a research fellow and created a video series on media criticism. At Media Matters, he was also the LGBTProgram Director, in which capacity he focused on rebutting what he described as anti-LGBT myths. During this time, he created his Twitter handle, "@gaywonk". He then began working at Vox Media, where he successfully proposed Strikethrough and began producing and hosting the series. Strikethrough was canceled in July 2019. Maza left Vox Media and, in February 2020, started media-critique channel on YouTube. In an interview with Business Insider, Maza voiced his dissatisfaction with YouTube while also stating that he "might as well flood its airwaves with leftist propaganda" by returning to the platform as an independent creator.
In June 2019, YouTube investigated conservative commentator Steven Crowder for repeatedly using racist and homophobic slurs against Maza over the course of multiple years in videos reacting to Strikethrough. Maza said that Crowder's fans have doxxed and harassed him as a result of Crowder's videos. Crowder responded that his videos are meant as comedy and that he is opposed to doxxing and harassment. Four days later, YouTube stated that Crowder's language was "hurtful" but did not violate its policies and would not be removed from the site. The decision drew considerable criticism and, on the next day, YouTube decided to suspend Crowder's ability to run ads or monetize his videos until Crowder addresses "all of the issues" with his channel.
Personal life
Maza is openly gay. In 2017, the LGBT newspaper Washington Blade named him one of the 20 most eligible singles in the Washington, D.C. area.
