- 2 days ago
The dark side of internet fame has left many skeletons in YouTube's closet... Join us as we explore the most shocking controversies that time has nearly erased! Our list includes racist tweets, child exploitation, cryptocurrency scams, false death claims, and criminal charges that rocked the platform but somehow faded from public memory.
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00:00I am so freaking scared to do this. I am terrified.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're exploring the most unsettling, shocking scandals and crimes involving YouTubers
00:10that have been forgotten about by the public for one reason or another.
00:14Anybody on earth can upload a video to YouTube. There's no way of knowing the source. There's no way of knowing the intent.
00:21Laura Lee's tweets.
00:22In the hall of shame of YouTuber apologies, Lee's 2018 attempt is a low light in the series.
00:27All the hardest things I've ever done.
00:30However, while many remember the apology, not everyone remembers the reason for it.
00:34Lee's ex, formerly Twitter history, was uncovered, showcasing tweets she'd made that were racist and fat-shamed people from 2012 and 2013.
00:42I am so sorry. There's no excuse.
00:46On top of being criticized for her apology video being perceived as disingenuous and seemingly positioning herself as a victim,
00:52the beauty YouTuber had her products pulled from stores and companies, such as BoxyCharm, cut working relationships with her.
00:59Due to the backlash to her first apology video, Lee released another.
01:02She apologized for her apology video and, due to less theatrical crying, was much better received than the former one.
01:08And I am truly sorry. I have changed so much as a human being in the past six and a half years.
01:14Daddy-O-5.
01:15In 2015, Michael Martin created Daddy-O-5 to showcase his family online for fun.
01:20What's up, Team D-O-5?
01:24Okay, so, the kids just got back home.
01:27I didn't record this morning, but I'm recording now and the kids just got home.
01:30Yet, that enjoyment soon went awry.
01:32Practical joke videos soon took center stage over vlogging, becoming more extreme as his children were subjected to stunts and encouraged to torment each other.
01:40This soon sparked outrage from the media.
01:42The family is now in counseling, but the children say they miss making the videos.
01:46Well, you'd be like, Dad, when are we making the next video?
01:49You know, when are we gonna make the next video?
01:50It was just something that I really look forward to.
01:53As well as two of the children being removed and taken into the care of their biological mother.
01:57Martin and his wife, Heather, were criminally charged for neglecting minors.
02:00In 2017, after agreeing to an Alford plea, the duo received five years of probation.
02:05The family attempted to make comebacks on YouTube multiple times, each resulting in the channel being banned.
02:10But that hasn't stopped them from staying in the business of producing online prank videos for YouTube with the three kids that they still have custody of.
02:18The Save the Kids token.
02:19In 2021, influencers, including several FaZe clan members, RiceGum and Sam Pepper, announced the Save the Kids cryptocurrency token.
02:27My name's Frazier.
02:28My name's Jarvis.
02:29I'm Tico.
02:30I'm RiceGum.
02:31I'm Nikon.
02:31And I support Save the Kids.
02:33Despite having a similar name and logo to the charity Save the Children, the token wasn't connected to them.
02:38The plan was that if a kid's token was traded, a percentage of that money would go to charities supported by Binance.
02:44Like, for every sale or buy, a certain amount of that is given to a charity.
02:49However, that didn't happen.
02:50According to an investigation by CoffeeZilla, the code that prohibited whales, accounts that can hoard tokens, was charged at the last second before launch.
02:58As such, the project was accused of being a pump-and-dump scheme, as the token price dropped significantly while influencers sold their collections.
03:05Due to his involvement, FaZe K was kicked out of the group.
03:08After I got kicked, that's when things really got crazy for me, because, you know, a few people knew about it before, but when I got kicked, it was like, this is big now.
03:17This is huge.
03:17Gabby Hanna vs. Jessie Smiles
03:19In 2019, after Hanna's past behavior was brought up on social media, the scandal exploded when Jessie Smiles Vasquez released a video about her former friend.
03:28This video is just going to touch on a very small portion of why we're not friends anymore, and I'm only going to bring up the parts that are relevant to this situation.
03:35In 2013, Smiles accused Vine star Curtis Lepore of assaulting her while she was concussed.
03:41In 2014, Lepore took a plea deal, and the charge was later downgraded to a misdemeanor.
03:45At the time, Hanna allegedly made problematic tweets dismissing Smiles' events.
03:50Gabby has, and always will, paint me as someone who is crazy.
03:55I am the liar, I am the attention-wanter.
03:58Despite that, Hanna and Smiles became friends before drifting apart.
04:01After Hanna's behavior was publicly showcased, she was classified as an assaulter-apologist by the internet.
04:06She and Smiles then traded videos to put across their side.
04:09However, it backfired for Hanna when she referred to Smiles as her narcissistic abuser, drawing further outrage.
04:15Her first video, Gabby Hanna Needs to be Stopped, was a preemptive strike because when I DM'd that girl, she saw all of the information that I could use against her.
04:25If you actually go and look at the information and evidence that she uses in her video, you'll see that it's actually a lot more damning for her than it is for me.
04:34Austin Jones.
04:35After growing to fame as a YouTube musician who covers songs, especially a cappella versions, Jones' career took a hit in 2015, when he was accused of, and later apologized for, asking minors for inappropriate videos.
04:47I've recently come under some fire on social media for mistakes I've made in the past.
04:51Well, it got significantly worse in 2017, when his Illinois home was raided by the police, resulting in his arrest for possessing indecent content of minors.
04:59He told them they were trying out for modeling opportunities or he could get them more Instagram followers.
05:05Allegations soon emerged that others involved in Jones' career covered up or dismissed the 2015 accusations, despite the evidence.
05:12In 2019, Jones pleaded guilty to possessing the offensive material and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
05:17He'll also have to register as an offender for life.
05:19The judge splitting the difference, sentencing him to 10 years behind bars.
05:24The 2014 musician abuse allegations.
05:27The 2010s were bad for the public image of popular musicians on YouTube, especially those signed to DFTBA Records.
05:33And I could make you fly away, but I could never make you stay.
05:40Tom Milsen, best known for ukulele pop songs, was accused by a minor of being in an abusive relationship with them when he was an adult.
05:47He didn't address the scandal until a 2019 apology video.
05:50I actually need to take responsibility for my actions, and I want to do that.
05:57I want to make it right, and I want to fix it.
05:59Musician Alex Day, also known as Naromom, had similar accusations.
06:03He admitted in a blog post about consent that he had manipulative relationships with women.
06:08Several months later, after over 14 women came forward with allegations against him, Day released an apology video,
06:14which didn't land too well as he monetized it and verbally attacked critics as militantly liberal and intolerant.
06:19I don't feel like my defense will even be listened to, because as the perpetrator, it will instantly be made invalid.
06:26Both Milsen and Day left YouTube.
06:28Seven awesome kids.
06:30After finding success on YouTube with seven awesome kids, Ian Reilich created an empire with several spin-off channels,
06:35earning nearly 20 million subscribers between them.
06:38Guys, look, I got my braces off!
06:42I've still got mine.
06:43The videos, typically focusing on girls and teenagers, had cast members vlogging about their lives.
06:49However, all the success vanished in 2018, when Reilich was arrested at a hotel near Florida's Walt Disney World.
06:55Reilich, a citizen of the United Kingdom visiting here on a visa, denies the allegations.
07:00He was accused of assaulting a minor, who was hoping to work as a cast member on his channels.
07:05In 2019, the disgraced producer pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
07:09Due to his plea, Reilich's channels were terminated by YouTube.
07:12Now he'll sit behind bars for the next two months, after a judge today accepted his guilty plea.
07:18Mike Lombardo.
07:19Focusing on his own original songs, Lombardo became an early success in YouTube's history,
07:23with his piano-infused pop music, resulting in DFTBA Records signing him.
07:27However, after releasing one EP and one LP with the company,
07:31allegations emerged that Lombardo had been exchanging intimate photos and videos with underage girls.
07:36DFTBA Records moved quickly to drop him and scrub his music from their website.
07:40Months later, Lombardo was arrested.
07:42As part of a plea deal, the disgraced musician pleaded guilty to receiving prohibited content from several minors.
07:48As a result, he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014.
07:51The truth about Lonely Girl 15.
07:53In 2006, YouTube viewers were enamored with teenager Brie Avery and her channel, Lonely Girl 15.
07:58Hi guys, um, so this is my first video blog, um, I've been watching for a while, and I really like a lot of you guys on here.
08:10The early videos were of her vlogging about her everyday life, as other people, such as Daniel Barlow, got involved.
08:15However, for some watching, something was off.
08:19They believed the channel wasn't a vlogging account for Brie, but something scripted.
08:22Well, it turned out they were right.
08:23Eventually, a trio of web sleuths tracked Brie to Amanda's office at Hollywood's esteemed creative artist agency.
08:32People suddenly assumed Lonely Girl was some sort of Hollywood project.
08:35The truth was, even the creators weren't sure what they had or what they wanted.
08:40The channel was devised by a team of people, while Brie was played by Jessica Lee Rose and Daniel by Yusuf Abu Talib.
08:46After the creators admitted that Lonely Girl 15 was scripted, the videos became bizarre, as the story featured supernatural elements.
08:52But you're not handling it!
08:54I'm handling it right now!
08:55No, you're not! You're just sitting here when we should be taking Emma to a hospital, Jonas!
08:59You can't take her to a hospital, okay? The order's gonna be looking for her everywhere!
09:02She has lost so much blood!
09:04Beyond a brief return in 2016, Lonely Girl 15 concluded in 2008, and made its way into YouTube lore.
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09:25I'm JayStation's hoax.
09:27In 2020, through his JayStation channel, Jason Ethier made a shocking announcement in a video.
09:32We're gonna say our last goodbyes to Alexia.
09:36He stated that his partner, Alexia Murano, had passed away after a car crash.
09:40While many fans were devastated, others felt something wasn't right, as Ethier plugged his second channel and merchandise.
09:46It got weirder when he released more videos about Murano, including contacting her with a Ouija board.
09:51However, it soon emerged that Murano was alive, and this was a publicity stunt.
09:56Alexia was never dead at all.
10:01Let me tell you guys exactly what happened with all these my girlfriend's dead videos.
10:06She then broke up with him, and accused him of assault, for which he was arrested.
10:14Due to YouTube demonetizing his main channel, Ethier used his secondary one to avoid it.
10:18However, that caused the platform to terminate all of his channels in 2021.
10:22Every time something good happens in my life, it's always, like, taken away from me.
10:28What other disturbing and forgotten YouTube scandals did we miss?
10:31Let us know in the comments.
10:32Let us know in the comments.
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