‘God and family’: Uce Gang talks gratitude, inspiration, and ambition

Social media star Uce Gang is probably one of the most recognisable Pacific influencers in Aotearoa.

Twenty-three-year-old Simeon Fiapule makes comedy videos about pop culture, real-life situations, food critiquing, or performing mundane tasks, all from a Pacific perspective.

He proudly represents South Auckland having grown up in Ōtara, Māngere, and Papakura with much of his content shot on home turf.

Uce Gang spoke on Island Time with his comedy veteran counterpart Tofiga Fepulea’i and the conversation brought out the slick Sāmoan humour the pair are respectively known for.

Uce Gang started off with words of gratitude, saying the ability to do what he loves is thanks to his family and faith.

“I left work and now get to do content fulltime and make money out of it. Thanks to God and my family for their support and I appreciate them for it.

“Some people will be like, ‘why are you on your phone doing stupid stuff online?’

“But luckily, my fams supports me.”

As a fulltime internet personality, he’s constantly on the move collaborating with other Pacific creators such as Torrell Tafa, Regan Roell, The Western Guide aka Aaron Pulemagafa, Tesi Naufahu, and JP Robertson.

Some of his more popular content is the “When the music video doesn’t match” series, where he and his group of boys are dressed up in gangster outfits lipsyncing to popular girl anthems like Taylor Swift or Cyndi Lauper.

“I’m more of a Katy Perry fan, but we just jam with the boys and pretend we like it,” he says.

Uce Gang is of the technological era where YouTube and the defunct video platform Vine helped pioneer the short form visual content creating space.

He said watching American YouTubers and Viners sparked his creativity and comedic ingenuity.

He has a million followers on Instagram, 1.7 million followers on TikTok, and on Youtube his subscriber count is at 189,000.

“Just waiting for the 180k in the bank,” he jokes.

He’s done notable work for corporations such as McDonald's, Uber, Hello Fresh, Call of Duty, New Zealand Rugby League, Spotify and more.

Uce Gang, his camera guy Alvin Kanehailua, and his manager Orion Tiatia make up his small but solid team producing, filming, and editing all his social media content.

They have travelled across Aotearoa, and earlier this year went to Australia and met up with Brazilian MMA fighting champion Alex Pereira.

He recently returned from Sāmoa where he attempted to Siva Afi (fire dance) and visited Vaimauga College in Apia where they filmed students in a chant-off competition known as “cheer ups”, an Athletics Day tradition.

“The kids are just hyped doing their cheer-ups,

“We were doing some content out there where we got to learn how to fire dance. I pretty much dropped the fire on the ground with the stick.

“We visited some schools, went to some swimming spots, and checked out the gyms. The gyms in Sāmoa are like you’re training in a sauna aye.”

Just over a year ago, he set a goal to lose 157kg in 100 weeks.

He’s currently 83 weeks in and down to 190.4kg from his starting weight of 257kg.

While he wants to tick a lot of boxes in life, Uce Gang says it all comes back to ensuring his dream serves his family and future.

“There’s more trips coming up where we’re planning to go shoot some content just to show the world that you can go anywhere.

“In the next five years I want to hit a million subscribers and just continue on this path that I’m on to try and be a content creator and also provide for my family.

“Just to put my name out there and who knows one day leave behind a legacy, you know.”

Watch the full interview with Uce Gang on Island Time below.