#Metalgate emerged in late 2014 as a movement within the heavy metal community, largely inspired by the tactics and rhetoric of #Gamergate. It centered on the pushback against what many fans perceived as an influx of social justice politics and external cultural criticism into the genre from outside journalists and activists. Proponents of #Metalgate argued for the preservation of metal’s traditionally transgressive and apolitical nature, while critics viewed the movement as an exclusionary gatekeeping effort. In meme culture, it is frequently represented through themes of elitism versus 'tourists' and the defense of subcultural autonomy against perceived mainstream sanitization.