Inside Deadmau5 Top 10 Trolls Of All Time

April 13, 2025

If you know, you know that Joel Zimmerman, better known as Deadmau5, is electronic dance music’s most precious troll.

Deadmau5 is renowned for his unfiltered internet troll presence. The legendary producer and DJ is known to target fans, DJs, friends, and festivals. No one is safe, but we all love a good laugh.

10. Insomniac event fireworks

Deadmau5 trolls Insomniac Events: At Electric Daisy Carnival, deadmau5 comments on Insomniac Event’s budget use. Reddit user pointed out how Deadmau5 sarcastically commented on the fireworks stating something along the lines of “That is what a half a million dollars worth of fireworks look like

9. Joelcam (April 6, 2016)

The birth of the “Joelcam” came intending to troll fans via live stream. In Joel fashion, the producer would troll by sitting and staring at the livestream camera. Fans expected music production classes but received chaos instead. Classic.

8. McDonalds drive-thru live steam (2010)

Deadmau5 trolls fans by livestreaming himself wearing the mau5head, driving through a McDonald’s drive-thru. The troll master was playing “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” on FULL volume while acting completely nonchalant.

7. Cat memes via livestream

If you have made it this far down the list, it only gets worse. At certain times, Joel would tease fans to make them think he would host exclusive new music previews. Little did fans know that ten straight minutes of looping cat gifs would be displayed with elevator music playing in the background.

Haha @deadmau5 just wore my phone number on his fokin shirt on tv gotta retire this phone
— Skrillex (@Skrillex) February 12, 2012

6.Deadmau5 vs. Skrillex (2012)

When Skrillex made a direct statement targeting Deadmau5, Joel took it to the next level. Deadmau5 infamously showed up to The 2012 Grammys wearing Skrillex’s phone number on a black T-shirt.

5. Kanye and Piracy, sitting on a tree… (March 2016)

When Kanye West tweeted a screenshot of his computer, a piracy site was inadvertently revealed. Deadmau5 cracked his knuckles with an “It’s a showtime mentality” on this one. The electronic dance music producer tweeted directly at Kanye West: “What the [f****] @kanyewest. Can’t afford serum? Dick.”

4. RIP Trap Music

Despite festival trap music, Joel uploaded a YouTube video titled “How to make a festival trap in 30 seconds” to mock trap music’s predictable formula. All that was displayed in the video was a mashup of kick drums and air horn sounds.

3. David Guetta’s Infamous USB (2012)

Not only was this a dig at David Guetta’s “lack of live mixing”, but of the legendary queen herself, Paris Hilton. Joel once blasted Guetta for his USB stick falling out mid-set. Joel tweeted at the DJ stating “Even Paris Hilton could do that”.

@deadmau5 Communication is always best. You should have called me first, we could have cleared it up "privately." 😉 See you on the road.
— Madonna (@Madonna) March 27, 2012

2. Madonna (Ultra Music Festival 2012)

During Madonna’s intro to Avicii, Madonna asks the crowd “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?”. To which, Deadmau5 calls out Madonna via Facebook and Twitter, posting: “You’re a role model to 100’s of millions. You have a powerful voice, EDM could use your positive influence, not ‘Have you seen Molly?’ That’s just…. no.”

@deadmau5 @dancingastro did old MacDonald have a farm?!
— MARTIN GARRIX (@MartinGarrix) January 8, 2014

1. Press play DJs (Ultra music festival 2014-2025)

It’s no surprise that Deadmau5 likes to troll his fellow producer colleagues while inspiring them to join the conversation. When deadmau5 filled in for Avicii, he trolled Martin Garrix by playing a mashed-up version of “Animals” with “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”. Over a decade later, Deadmau5 repeated this troll at Ultra Music Festival 2025.