YouTube Stars Who Ruined Their Career With A Single Video
The following article includes mention of mental health and suicide, and allegations of sexual assault.
YouTubers are placed on pedestals by their subscribers, but that same rabid fanbase has the ability to tear down what it has built. The video platform has always been a fickle and volatile place, though the stakes are so much higher today than they were in the early days of the website. When it comes to the top creators, there are millions of dollars at stake, which is why the online stars have to be extra careful with the content they're putting out.
The life of a YouTuber can be a fast-paced one, however, and the constant need to keep the views up can sometimes lead even the biggest names astray. So what happens when a YouTube star makes a mistake? That depends on the nature of the mistake. If said creator has a dedicated fan base, they can sometimes weather the storm and survive controversy, but some videos are so offensive that they kill careers on the spot.
Nobody was interested in Pogo's 'social experiment' video
Nick Bertke rose to YouTube fame under the name Pogo. He became known for his trippy remixes, taking music and soundbites from famous movies and crafting them into his style of electronic tracks. His music videos have been viewed millions of times and have even been promoted on the official YouTube X, formerly known as Twitter, account. But unfortunately for Bertke, a video he recorded back in 2016 came back to haunt him. In the summer of 2018, said video reemerged and brought his successful career on YouTube to a grinding halt.
In the NSFW video, Bertke expresses wildly homophobic views and uses deeply offensive language, referring to gay people as "an abomination" and championing the 2016 massacre at gay nightclub, Pulse. "I've always had a very thorough dislike of homosexuals," Bertke said in the shocking video. "I've never liked a grown man acting like a 12-year-old girl. I've always found that to be quite disgusting."
Why would anyone think that sharing such extreme views on YouTube was a good idea? In a now-deleted quasi-apology video, Bertke claimed (via The Verge) that he was simply conducting a social experiment of sorts. "It has never been my intention to hurt people or to offend people," he said. "I feel very strongly that it's been very naive behavior on my part." He was well on his way to surpassing a million subscribers at the time of the incident, but, unsurprisingly, his career has stalled since.
Latasha Kebe's Cardi B takedown video sparked a major feud
Question marks have been raised over the authenticity of Cardi B's feud with Nicki Minaj, but the former's beef with YouTuber Latasha "Tasha K" Kebe is very much the real deal. The gossip vlogger made a video about the rapper that backfired big time — Cardi B sued for defamation. Kebe (who has made a few different videos bashing Cardi B) has called the "Money" singer a prostitute, claimed she had herpes, and that she does drugs, The Blast reported. The rapper asked for unspecified damages and demanded that every video Kebe has ever made about her be taken down, but the YouTuber fired back with a lawsuit of her own.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Kebe claimed that she was the one who has been defamed, pointing to the fact that Cardi B called her a "h**" and a "dumb a** b***h" on social media. According to the rapper, Kebe's suit is nothing but "a transparent attempt to garner media attention and retaliate." Kebe claimed that she has been on the receiving end of "gang-related threats" since the drama kicked off. She also claims that she's had to move out of her home as a result, and that she's losing subscribers and advertisers, impacting her financially.
Sam Pepper ultimately pranked himself right off YouTube
Prank channels used to be massive on YouTube, but (like reality TV star-turned-YouTuber Sam Pepper) they're old news. Pepper was once a star on the platform, gaining millions of views for his pranks. His videos often pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, but in 2014, the Brit finally crossed the line. He uploaded a video called "Fake Hand A** Pinch Prank" in which he touched unsuspecting woman in an inappropriate fashion. The backlash was swift and heated. The YouTuber claimed that the prank was part of a larger social experiment meant to "highlight the difference between abuse towards a man and abuse towards a woman" (via BuzzFeed News), but people weren't buying it. "If you're a horrible person, just claim it was a social experiment, then it's everyone else's problem if they're offended," fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley tweeted.
Pepper went on to claim that the video was staged, but it was too late — his career was in tatters. Multiple women came forward claiming they had been subjected to sexual abuse from Pepper off camera. In an ill-advised attempt to bounce back, the Brit uploaded a video in which he pranked Vine star Sam Golbach by pretending to abduct him and his friend. In that video, "KILLING BEST FRIEND PRANK," Pepper staged an execution, leaving Golbach in clear distress. It backfired spectacularly. He was branded a "disgrace to our YouTube community" by Cole Ledford. Unsurprisingly, Pepper is YouTube history.
One video made Logan Paul 'the most hated person on the planet'
The most famous example of a YouTuber doing irreparable damage to their career with a single video is Logan Paul. He caused major uproar in 2018 when his millions of young subscribers potentially saw footage he uploaded of a man who had taken his own life. Paul and his entourage decided to take a trip to Aokigahara (a.k.a Suicide Forest) to film a video while in Japan. The wooded area on the slopes of Mount Fuji is notorious for suicides, and, as fate would have it, Paul and co came across a recent victim. Instead of turning back, they filmed the body. The backlash was instantaneous.
"In less than 24 hours I became the most hated person on the planet," Paul later said. "I had made an inexcusable mistake, completely destroyed my image, lost every professional relationship that I had, became the internet's favorite meme and, most importantly, had my eyes opened wide to the consequences of my actions. I felt every ounce of disappointment and hate directed at me."
Much of that hate came from other YouTubers, but a number of mainstream celebs (most notably actors Aaron Paul and Sophie Turner) weighed in, too. Paul still has a massive YouTube following, but before the Suicide Forest video he was getting friendly with Dwayne Johnson and appeared to be on the verge of a Hollywood breakthrough, but he shot himself in the foot big time.
Dear Nicole Arbour: Bullying isn't cool
NBA cheerleader-turned-YouTube comedian Nicole Arbour has been pushing the boundaries of bad taste for years. In 2015, the internet pushed back. The Canadian content creator posted a video entitled "Dear Fat People," which appeared to mock overweight people for views. "Fat-shaming is not a thing," Arbour said in the controversial video, adding, "Fat people made that up. That's a race card with no race. I'm not saying this to be an a**hole, I'm saying it because your friends should be saying it to you." Angry responses followed in both in the YouTube community and mainstream media. "There are a lot of reasons why people are overweight or obese," Whitney Thore, the star of TLC's "My Big Fat Fabulous Life," told ABC. "This idea that shaming us will make us behave better is just ludicrous."
Numerous outlets reported that Arbour was fired from her role as a choreographer on the anti-bullying dance film, "Don't Talk to Irene," as a result of her harmful video, though she refuted these claims at the time. Whether she was fired from the film or not, one thing's for sure — "Dear Fat People" killed any chance she had of taking her comedy mainstream. And if that didn't do it, her widely mocked "women's edit" of the Childish Gambino hit, "This Is America," most certainly did.
This prank video ended it all for Arya Mosallah
According to Acid Survivors Trust International (via The Sun), "the UK has one of the highest rates of acid attacks per capita in the world," which is why a prank video posted by teenage YouTuber Arya Mosallah caused widespread outrage in Britain in 2018. Mosallah's video "Throwing Water On Peoples Faces PT. 2" led to his channel being permanently shut down. He didn't mention acid in the video, but Mosallah's actions resembled an acid attack, and the fact that it was filmed in London (where the majority of acid attacks have taken place) triggered countless people. In a statement, London's Metropolitan Police Service said that they had been "made aware of a man carrying out stunts that may cause alarm or distress to members of the public" and urged anyone who had been a "victim of this man's irresponsible behaviour to contact police."
When Mosallah spoke to the BBC about the incident, he admitted he was thinking about nothing but views. "What YouTubers like to see is views," he said. "Honestly, they don't care about the dislikes or the comments, nothing like that, as long as they get the views they want." His channel had over 650,000 subscribers when YouTube yanked it. He's been forced to start from scratch, but his channel has since been deleted. Seems like the joke was on him.
Will Brooke Houts's YouTube career ever get out of the doghouse?
Accidentally uploading raw footage to YouTube is something only amateurs do, right? Wrong. In 2019, up-and-coming YouTube star Brooke Houts brought her career to a grinding halt when she accidentally shared an unedited video in which she hits her Doberman puppy, Sphinx, a total of three times for playfully jumping up at her as she attempts to film. She also appears to spit at her dog, though she flat out denied this in a lengthy apology posted to X. "I understand how it could look like I did [spit]," Houts said. "Did I get in his face and take unnecessary actions towards him? Yes I did, and that was not the way I should've handled the situation. Did I spit on my dog? No."
The Los Angeles Police Department told Business Insider that its animal-cruelty task force was "looking into the matter," but the department later informed BuzzFeed News that Houts' actions "didn't rise to the level of animal cruelty." PETA wasn't quite as willing to let the YouTuber's behavior slide, however. The animal charity took to X after seeing the shocking video, urging YouTube to terminate her channel. "Dogs deserve respect," the tweet read. "If you can't treat them with kindness and instead hit them, don't get one. Attention YouTube, please remove Brooke Houts from your platform." Houts took a short break before coming back with an apology video that was torn to shreds by fellow YouTuber, Amanda the Jedi.
Going to jail is never good for one's YouTube career
You may not have heard of Daniel Jarvis, but if you enjoy watching elaborate pranks on YouTube, you've probably heard of Trollstation. The British channel amassed millions of views with videos such as "Make way for The Queens Guard Social Experiment," in which one of the team posed as a member of the traditionally stoic Queen's Guard in London and lashed out at actors when provoked. Most of their pranks are relatively harmless, but in 2016, Trollstation member Jarvis and three others were jailed for a total of 72 weeks after a video they filmed at London's National Portrait Gallery went terribly wrong.
The YouTubers staged a fake robbery at the art gallery by attempting to walk out of the building with fake paintings, which ended up setting off an alarm. It was supposed to shock visitors, but instead it sent them into a panic, and numerous people were trampled during the stampede that ensued. All four men pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening behavior causing fear of unlawful violence.
The judge presiding over the trial told the YouTubers that they wanted to "humiliate" members of the public and caused "high levels of fear of violence" in the process. "I don't like harming people or making people upset," Jarvis told the BBC. "I hate people crying. I like to see people happy and love making people happy. It wasn't a nice feeling to see people scared."
Did this one video finally cancel Trisha Paytas?
She has been described as a "jack of all trades celebrity" by The Telegraph, but Trisha Paytas is best known for her YouTube channel. She doesn't hold back in her videos, and that's the main reason she has been able to amass millions of subscribers over the years. She shed a chunk of those subscribers, however, in early 2019 when she got drawn into drama with Ethan Klein of h3h3 Productions.
According to Yahoo!, it all started when Klein criticized Paytas for looking "unrecognizable" in her Instagram photos, shining a spotlight on the culture of over-editing. Paytas went off on Klein in a series of tweets (she called him "a disgusting piece of s***") and then proceeded to make a retaliation video that backfired on her; she lost 55,000 subscribers as a result. That wasn't the video that killed her career, however.
In October 2019, Paytas appeared to hammer the final nail into her own coffin when she released a video titled "I AM TRANSGENDER (MALE TO FEMALE)." In it, she makes a series of contradictory and ill-informed claims, telling viewers that she identifies as a "gay man" but also "1000 percent" identifies with her "natural born identity." The backlash was swift, with numerous people accusing her of jumping all over trans issues for views. "I never would want to offend that community," she said in an emotional apology video. This controversy blocked her success for a little bit before Paytas got into the world of podcasting.
The 'mob' came for Chris Boutté
Speaking of Trisha Paytas, she's the reason YouTuber Chris Boutté wound up getting canceled. Boutté attracted nearly 100,000 subscribers to his channel, The Rewired Soul, in his first year on YouTube by making mental health-angled videos about YouTubers. "The Rewired Soul is meant to educate on important topics in psychology, but critics say it's a gossip channel in the guise of mental health advocacy," The Verge claimed when the drama erupted. Boutté (who isn't professionally licensed) found himself in the firing line after Paytas responded to a video he made about her. "He acts like he's such an expert," she said. "It's honestly dangerous and it's honestly unhealthy."
This created a snowball effect, with a number of other creators making their own videos criticizing Boutté's approach. "This entire fiasco absolutely ruined me financially," Boutté revealed in his book, "Canceled." "With cancel culture and the court of public opinion, there's no spectrum for wrongdoings. In the eyes of the hate mob, I'm no different than Ted Bundy or Charles Manson, and they want people like me sentenced to death." That's a little dramatic, but the backlash was definitely a death sentence for The Rewired Soul, which lost a fifth of its subscribers.
Gabbie Hanna left YouTube amid mental health concerns
Former Vine and YouTube star Gabbie Hanna has been subject to internet drama over the years. But it was a 2021 video that triggered the star's self-removal from the platform, along with a healthy dose of audience concern for Hanna's mental health.
Hanna published "Sorry ... I'm Late" on her YouTube channel in July 2021, in which she innocuously sings in her bathtub. In the description, she provided an explanation for her ill-received (and since-archived) "Confessions of a Washed-Up YouTube Has-Been" series, which covered her dealings with ADHD and her feuds with fellow viral stars like Trisha Paytas and Jessi Smiles. "This series is NOT about drama, it's about my life & processing trauma," she wrote in the description. "Unfortunately, a lot of that does involve people who consistently wrap me up in drama online. Trust me ... I hate it, too." Hanna further revealed that she would be stepping away from social media: "Online, I'm a version of me that I really can't stand. From here on out, I'm offline entirely."
Hanna reemerged a year later, this time on TikTok, where she once uploaded over 100 out-of-character videos in a single day, prompting concerned fans to call in a wellness check on the viral star. She released a since-deleted video (via The Tab) afterward to explain her behavior as part of a "manic episode." She had been laying relatively low since the incident, even being spotted as a YMCA instructor in her hometown, before returning to YouTube in 2024.
James Charles was accused of grooming, among other issues
Despite amassing millions of followers, it wasn't makeup influencer James Charles's own video that triggered his downfall. In a major blow to his budding influencing career, Charles's former friend and fellow beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook released the now infamous "Bye Sister" video in May 2019, which detailed a number of allegations against Charles, including claiming she witnessed him acting sexually inappropriate.
To make matters worse, other viral makeup artists like the controversial Jeffree Star piped in with tweets (via Forbes) calling Charles a "predator" and validating Westbrook's side of the story. Charles posted his own responses both in a since-deleted video called "tati," and later in "No More Lies," but the damage had already been done with him losing 3 million subscribers on YouTube alone.
The scandals didn't stop there. In 2021, several former fans accused Charles of grooming them while they were minors, resulting in losing his brand deals with makeup brand Morphe and even YouTube itself as a result. He was also sued by a former employee that year for wrongful termination. Charles publicly responded to the accusations via X, but still ended up retreating from the spotlight for a while. He reappeared in a 2023 Cosmopolitan interview to detail how he dealt with the drama: "I had to do a lot of thinking. Like, 'Okay, babe, this is your fault ... No, you're not a predator. But you made a big mistake.'" Charles has since resumed releasing makeup products and uploading videos online.
Shane Dawson dug his own virtual grave
It all came tumbling down with one video for YouTube star Shane Dawson. Prior to his downfall, Dawson had reportedly been involved in the 2019 online takedown of James Charles, alongside Tati Westbrook and Jeffree Star. The YouTuber, who is no stranger to online drama, was quick to defend himself against these claims in June 2020 (via X). Dawson then became the subject of his own online downfall as part of the "Karmageddon" scandal alongside Star.
Decade-old clips of Dawson wearing blackface, among other scandalous actions, resurfaced online. "There's no excuse for it, there's literally no excuse," Dawson shared in his 2020 "Taking Accountability" video. "I knew it was wrong, I knew I never wanted to do it again, but I didn't do the work." Things got worse for the influencer when another old video made the rounds online, this time of him acting inappropriately to a poster of a then-11-year-old Willow Smith. Both Smith's brother and mother called out Dawson online (via People), causing the star's marketing deals with retailers like Target to be pulled.
Westbrook added more fuel to the fire by releasing another video in 2020 called "Breaking My Silence" that highlighted Dawson and Star as the orchestrators and gaslighters behind her initial takedown video of Charles. Things with Dawson died down for a bit after that until he announced that he and his husband Ryland Adams had welcomed a set of twins via surrogate in December 2023, which sparked split reactions with fans online.
Jeffree Star was taken down during Karmageddon
Alongside Shane Dawson, makeup mogul Jeffree Star was also part of the "Karmageddon" online takedown of 2020. Star, a long-standing polarizing figure in Hollywood, was named as one of the co-conspirators that encouraged Tati Westbrook to video shame James Charles in Westbrook's 2020 video "Breaking My Silence."
When former business backers like Morphe Cosmetics began pulling away as a result of the drama, Star was forced to publish a since-deleted video entitled "Doing What's Right." The July 2020 video served a dual purpose as both an apology to Charles and a defense of Dawson, who was simultaneously being lambasted. Fans and critics alike were quick to critique Star's video, especially when he invoked the Black Lives Matter movement, which many online called out for seeming like an insincere distraction from owning up to his own drama and racist past.
In the time since that was posted (and subsequently removed), Star has continued with his cosmetics company, but with not nearly as much success. He has also faced additional controversy, being accused of sexual assault, violent behavior, and more in a 2020 exposé by Business Insider. He and Dawson have even tried to be tongue-in-cheek about their previous drama by creating the YouTube series, "The Cancelled World of Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson," but their attempt to shake free from the drama hasn't made much ground since.
Nikita Dragun jumped into drama when she shouldn't have
Beauty YouTuber Nikita Dragun has been involved in two of the biggest YouTube dramas in recent memory. She was one of the vloggers that went against YouTube makeup guru Jeffree Star in 2018, although she managed to come through that particular scandal relatively unscathed. The same cannot be said of her involvement in the Tati Westbrook versus James Charles drama that erupted the following year.
Charles apologized, but he was considered toxic for a while. The tea was red hot and nobody wanted to get burned, however, viewers were dying for some inside knowledge of the situation. Dragun tried to take advantage of this, and it backfired. The beautuber, supposedly a friend of James Charles, informed her X followers that she would be "uploading a very shady YouTube video." Naturally, people watched the video (entitled "What Really Happened") expecting her to lift the lid on the beef, but the video was essentially a 21-minute advert for her beauty line.
Dragun made no mention of Charles, which led to her losing subscribers by the thousands. "You just used your friend's pain and his scandal to clickbait your title," YouTuber Peter Monn said. "That might be shadier than what anybody else has done or said in this whole situation." Dragun still has over 3 million subs, but her shameless click baiting left a black mark on her reputation.
PewDiePie has been canceled multiple times
Controversial gamer PewDiePie has had his fair share of problematic moments, but it was a since-deleted video he posted in 2017 that triggered his online downfall. In one of his videos in January of that year, he shared how he ordered online for two men to make a video that included them holding up an antisemitic banner reading, "Death to All Jews."
The backlash to the upload was instant and major backers like Disney cut off their support from the creator. To make matters worse, The Wall Street Journal published a scathing report on PewDiePie that revealed more instances of the online entertainer's antisemitic past. "I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online," he attempted to explain in a Tumblr post (via Distractify). "I am in no way supporting any kind of hateful attitudes ... Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive."
The PewDiePie hype (and hate) died down for a bit after that, but he still hasn't been able to escape his troubled tendencies. He has been called out for using racial slurs, as well as mocking a deaf influencer on TikTok, which caused him to trend for all the wrong reasons. He eventually responded to the backlash in a YouTube comment (via Forbes), saying in part, "I edited out the clip with the girl that has the long nails. Had no clue she was deaf, but kinda dumb of me to not realize."
Jenna Marbles removed herself from the internet after blackface backlash
Fans loved OG YouTuber Jenna Marbles's quirky makeup tutorials and goofy videos. But when an old video of her dressed up (and wearing blackface) as Nicki Minaj re-surfaced online, it wasn't her audience that was quick to call out the viral star — it was Marbles herself.
In 2020, Marbles posted a video entitled "A Message" to take account for the Minaj-mocking videos, among other questionable clips. "I'm not completely unproblematic," she shared in the since-privatized video (via Pop Buzz). "I've tried my best to grow up and to be a better person ... I try to make fun content, inclusive content, things that don't offend people ... and that's kind of where I am."
She also announced in the video that she would be leaving both the platform and internet culture altogether, much to the chagrin of her fans. "I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't want to offend anyone ... I just want to have a good time and I'm not having a good time," she summarized (via Forbes). Marbles proceeded to privatize many of her older videos on her channel and has been social media silent since that summer. She has been seen in passing in some online content, including in her now-husband Julien Solomita's wedding tribute video in 2022.
David Dobrik lost his platform after sexual assault allegations
Starting in 2015, David Dobrik and his Vlog Squad maintained a popular presence on YouTube. But a number of grievances aired against the influencer and his friends eventually caused the collapse of the Dobrik empire — at least for a while.
The final chink in the online armor was a damning 2020 video from online personality Seth Francois, the first former Vlog Squad member to allege racist and other problematic behavior from the group in his video, "'Accountability' to all Content Creators." A series of videos and podcasts were quick to follow from former Vlog Squad members including, Nikhil Keswani and Trisha Paytas. Francois caused another chain reaction with his 2021 reveal that he was kissed by another man without his consent on the set of one of Dobrik's 2017 videos.
In addition, a 2021 Business Insider article reported on the alleged rape of a young woman by one of Dobrik's friends during a 2018 alcohol-induced filming session, which prompted Dobrik to release his own video titled "Let's Talk." "Consent is something that's super, super important to me," he said in the two-and-a-half minute clip. "I just want to make videos where everybody in it ... is enjoying and having a good time." Endorsement deals still began to fall through, and Dobrik was suspended from YouTube that March. He eventually returned to the platform that June with a "comeback" video, and has continued making content since, but the looming nature of the allegations is not fully behind him.
If you or anyone you know needs help with mental health, is in crisis, or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:
- Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
- Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).