For this week’s discussion topic, I will be talking about Shane Dawson and his comeback onto Youtube. Though the briefness of this blog post does not excuse any of his actions and is rather a reflection of my experiences with his content online. I used to watch Shane a lot growing up, joining his fan community around the time after he did his racist online content with his character named Shanaynay. I was around the age 8-12 roughly and I remember seeing him mention the character off and on as if it was something he had dreaded or had happened a long time ago. Though it may have been a few months prior. Unbeknownst to me, prior to my knowledge of his existence he was already being cancelled for faux masterbating in front of a poster of Willow Smith as a minor while in a public transportation station. Yikes. He soon pivoted to content that was a lot more centered on his younger audience as his thumbnail featured bright vibrant colors, a clickbait title, and activities that typically cater to an impressionable audience ie. creating weird junk food mixtures, slime videos, children toy test try, etc. This was around the time when he was cancelled once again for going on his podcast and admitting to jerking off and secreting all over his feline. This was really the last straw for people as they started to dig up everything else. He went on to take a break from the internet for sometime as he focused on building relations at home and with a supportive community. He returned with a hit series with Jeffree Star as they made a series creating/selling an eyeshadow palette which later made them both mult-millionaires as if they weren’t already. Now, Shane is still doing his own thing as he has a successful podcast, loyal fanbase, and enough knowledge to stay away from internet comments. I do not watch too much of his content now, but know these past actions are inexcusable. I am all for Shane getting the proper professional help, but a sincere acknowledgement moment may be needed in the near future.
I genuinely has no idea about any of this to be honest and I literally used to be a huge fan of his conspiracy videos. It is interesting that his return was with Jeffree Star considering he has had so much controversial ideas and videos as well.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I know nothing about this guy, just some things he did with animals, which I refuse to deep dive into because I don't want to give it the time of day, but this is interesting when it comes to people platforming again after a big controversy, to be honest this isn't the first of last time white creators use black people and blunt racism and then try to come back unfortunately they will still have a fanbase because a lot of people who indulged in that content are the same ones who will never see an issue with it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Shane Dawson first got cancelled I was soooo sad because I absolutely LOVED him especially his conspiracy videos. Hearing all this stuff come out and be talked about really grossed me out and I no longer watch him.
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