History Main / JerkassFacade

* ''Anime/DragonballZ'': Goku acted this way towards Uub during the final episode to bring out his aggression. In reality Goku is kindness incarnate, and was just [[{{Troll}} trolling]] Uub so he'd show his true power. He apologizes after the fight is over.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': On her first day of preschool, Helga was being laughed at by the other kids because of the attention Arnold was giving her. So to stop the torment, she started bullying the other kids, [[LovingBully including Arnold]], in order to stop them from bullying her.

''Anime/YuGiOh'' Seto Kaiba appears to be this. He is constantly acting as a Jerkass to others, mostly to hide his own inner fears caused by his trauma of living with his adoptive father, Gozaburo Kaiba.

''[[Anime/YuGiOh]]'' Seto Kaiba appears to be this. He is constantly acting as a Jerkass to others, mostly to hide his own inner fears caused by his trauma of living with his adoptive father, Gozaburo Kaiba.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Mr. Cat has straight out admitted to Kaeloo that he has a sensitive and vulnerable side which he hides by being a jerk to everyone else.

** Chapter 547 of the manga reveals that Yashamaru never really hated his nephew Gaara, but was actually ordered by the Kazekage to tell him so. In reality, Yashamaru loved Gaara and the person he actually hated was his brother-in-law, the Fourth Kazekage, who was responsible for making the order to seal the Shukaku into Gaara and causing the death of Karura, his wife and Yashamaru's older sister.]]

* Ethan Edwards from ''TheSearchers''. Fighting in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar US Civil War]] traumatized him so much that he sought solace in giving up his humanity and wallowing in his hatred of the Comanche - who have massacred his sister's family, gee, why do you think he'd hold that against them? But when he gets a chance to prove it by [[spoiler: killing his niece who's been adopted by the Comanche]], he doesn't do it. [[spoiler: She's been kidnapped and raped by a Comanche warrior]]-- in Ethan's mind it would be better to [[spoiler: die rather than live with that shame]]. The fact that he doesn't [[spoiler: kill her]] proves that he fits this trope. In fact he is infuriated that [[spoiler: she has apparently gone native, adopting the ways of the people who killed her parents and brothers and raped and murdered her elder sister. What else could she have done? but to Ethan it feels like a betrayal.]]

* Rizwan from ''SuikodenTierkreis'' continuously abuses her daughter Manaril to use her power to read [[MacGuffin False Chronicles]], which result is used to develop the Magedom's technology. [[spoiler: Considering how the Magedom works, she has to do this in order to survive, and in the end, she cares for her daughter all along.]]

His reasons might be because he is afraid to get intimate with other people because he simply assumes that the person will either die or betray him just like everyone else he has ever gotten close to. It might be because the person is being stalked by horrible demons, TheMafia, TheGovernment, or some other dangerous and unstoppable entity and does not want to drag others into it. In more light-hearted media, maybe he just feels he has a reputation to uphold as a [=Jerkass=]. So rather than letting anyone get close to him, he behaves like a completely obnoxious douche bag to scare them all away from wanting anything to do with him.

* Clip from ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' has a facade so thorough, that some characters wonder if it even is one, but Clip is genuinely conflicted about the death of his entire hometown and Rake's abandonment of his people.

* TheodoreTugboat, of all characters, in the episode "Bumper Buddies". Foduck playfully bumps him, not realising that it hurts so Theodore avoids him. When Foduck asks if they're still friends, Theodore's answer is "Foduck, I am not your friend anymore." TheNarrator then says "I'm still not sure if Theodore meant it, he just didn't want Foduck to bump him anymore.".

* This is a common comical persona for many WebAnimation/YouTubePoop makers, most famously {{Deepercutt}}.

Contrast BitchInSheepsClothing and JerkWithAHeartOfJerk. See also ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies, DefrostingIceQueen, ThinkNothingOfIt, DontYouDarePityMe. May secretly be a ZeroApprovalGambit. Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/{{Mother3}} The [=Jerkass=] known as Fassad.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' pretends to be a bloodthirsty monster of an Ogre so that he can be left alone. Moreover, despite being [[GoodIsNotNice fairly abrasive]], he [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold risked his life to save Donkey, Fiona, and a colony of refugees]]. Granted, he is a more justified example than the most.

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': [[DoctorJerk Taiga Hanaya]] has plenty of an actual [[DarkAndTroubledPast bad attitude]], but deliberately makes himself even nastier to keep people away in ZeroApprovalGambit. [[MoralityPet Nico]] sees through it very quickly and even calls him out on that in [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech #28]].

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kirito pulls this to as a part of his ZeroApprovalGambit to stop aggression against Beta Testers. It works, with only Asuna and Agil realizing what Kirito was doing. To quote the guy himself...

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kirito pulls this to stop aggression against Beta Testers as part of his ZeroApprovalGambit. It works, with only Asuna and Agil realizing what Kirito was doing. To quote the guy himself...
--->'Kirito': "A beater... I like it. That's right. I am a beater. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers."

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kirito pulls this to stop aggression against Beta Testers as part of his ZeroApprovalGambit. It works, with only Asuna and Agil realizing what Kirito was doing. As stated in Progressive, he turned himself into a scapegoat.

** Franziska von Karma is a lot like this. She bears the onus of carrying the von Karma name, which to her mind means nothing but flawless success -- except that she doesn't see herself as the genius prosecutor she's expected to be. This makes her put up a strong front and claim that any kind or selfless thing she does is all in her own self interest.