These Famous YouTubers Found Themselves In Scandalous Situations
YouTube is a great place to watch your favorite personalities goof off and be themselves. With young people, YouTubers are pretty much bigger than any movie star on the big screen.
YouTubers are tasked with coming up with content on a regular basis to keep their fanbase engaged. Sometimes that means going overboard with stunts and pranks, while other times it means bashing your direct competitors. From fake murders to real murders to trespassing, there's no shortage of scandals that have come out of this community. If you don't believe, let me show you.
Star Slammed For Racist Comments
There has been a lot of controversy in the beauty world of YouTube. Jeffree Star is in the middle of almost all of them. His beef with Laura Lee, Manny MUA, and Gabriel Zamora has been very dirty and malicious.
Gabriel shared racist tweets that Star had shared ten years earlier on Twitter. Then, Star's fans pulled up offensive tweets from Lee, Zamora, and MUA, who all had to apologize as well. Dang, it's a tough world in the beauty YouTube business.
Logan Paul, Being Logan Paul
This is probably one of, if not THE biggest YouTube scandal of all time. Logan Paul went to the Aokigahara forest in Japan (otherwise known as the suicide forest). He began filming and quickly stumbled onto someone who had killed themselves.
Even though he blurred out the face, it was still very prevalent that he ended up filming a dead body. Logan tried to make humor out of suicide which ended up quickly falling flat and angering the entire world. That's hard to do.
A Devastating Divorce
One of the most devastating breakups in 2018 was Jaclyn Hill and Jon Hill. They had been married for nine years, and fans had been following along every step of the way. The decision to split fuelled fans to dig up old tweets that showed the two shading each other.
There were even accusations that Jaclyn cheated on Jon, which she was forced to clear up. She claims that no one knows the real truth behind the split and no one will.
Jake Paul's Clothesline
If you thought that Jake Paul would get out of this list unscathed, you're very wrong. In 2017, YouTuber FaZe Banks accused Jake of clotheslining his assistant, Meg Zelly, at a club. Banks said that Meg's neck was bruised and it seemed to be a targeted attack.
It just so happened that Banks was dating Jake Paul's ex-girlfriend at the time. Jake said that FaZe Banks was just trying to smear his name. No charges came out of the situation.
Sam Pepper's Hostage Video
Back in 2015, Sam Pepper teamed up with Vine Star Colby Brock and basically traumatized Colby's friend, Sam Golbach. A masked killer kidnapped Sam and Colby (who was in on the prank) and basically made a hostage tape.
The "killer" made Sam Golbach watch him shoot Colby and was hysterically crying and screaming the whole time. Golbach looked distraught throughout the entire video and was clearly emotionally shaken up about it.
Shane Dawson Accused Of Being A Pedophile
In 2018, the YouTube channel Pop Blast released a video that claimed to have proof that Shane Dawson was a pedophile. In the video, it showed old clips of Dawson's podcast where he said he found naked baby searches "sexy" in jest.
They were clearly a joke, and he even said "kidding" afterward. Dawson made a video response saying that he can't believe people would think that he's a pedophile based on a few crappy jokes from his podcast.
PewDiePie And His Anti-Semitic Jokes
In January 2017, PewDiePie got into a lot of trouble for some anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi imagery that he shared on his videos. He got a lot of heat for the jokes, and the Walt Disney Company even severed ties with him.
He sent out a statement saying, "I just want to reiterate that my intention was to show how stupid the website is and how far you could push it." He also got in trouble a short time after for saying the "n-word" on a live stream.
Lost Custody Of Their Children
Michael and Heather Martin, also known on YouTube as DaddyOFive and MommyOFive, lost custody of their children after sharing a video on their channel.
The video appeared to show a prank that they did on their kids, which were all emotionally scarring. The kids appeared to have emotional, mental, and physical distress as a direct result of their pranks. They released an apology video, and plead guilty to child neglect charges.
Ragestew Live Streamed Himself Trespassing
YouTuber Ragestew filmed a live stream of himself literally breaking the law. Yes, this is what our world has come to. His goal was to break into the house of YouTuber RiceGum. This wasn't just a stunt either, he had already broken into Jake Paul's house at the time of this video.
Ragestew hopped some fences and was jumping into the property when he was confronted by FaZe Kay. That's when a scuffle broke out which you don't see on camera. He was able to escape, but was apprehended by police after a helicopter found him running away.
Nicole Arbour Openly Encouraging Fat Shaming
Where do we even begin with Nicole Arbour? For anyone who doesn't know, she was the one who made the incredibly popular videos of herself bashing fat people. Not only did she bash fat people, but she also encouraged fat-shaming as a way for them to better themselves.
She even shared a story about how she pushed someone's fat out of her seat because it was in her way. She says that making fun of everyone with bad habits will make bad habits less powerful.
Mathew Santoro Says Arbour Assaulted Him
Nicole Arbour isn't out of the YouTube scandals just yet. Her ex-boyfriend Mathew Santoro posted a video that was supposed to be private, but was made public crying about his ex.
He claimed that she was incredibly abusive towards him and says that he was forced to lose contact with certain friends and family because she was getting jealous of them. Arbour responded with her own video saying that these allegations are false and he's just being a bitter ex.
GloZell Eating Tide Pods
Remember this trend that actually wasn't so long ago? Well, famous YouTuber GloZell decided that she was going to eat some laundry detergent because, uh, the kids were doing it. This was a super dangerous attempt at trying to stay relevant if you ask me.
The Tide Pod challenge was so popular that stores literally had to lock up their laundry pods so that the employees could vet the people buying them.
Not So Lonelygirl15
In 2006, she was one of the rising stars of YouTube. She was one of the most popular vloggers on the planet. Going by the name Lonelygirl15, she would post daily vlogs about her life. But, it was revealed that the entire life she was showing was fictional.
It was exposed that her real name was Jessica Rose and that she was actually just an actress. She had to come clean on her channel and lost almost all of her following. She has since turned it into a sci-fi series.
Forgot To "Disclose" That
If you want to know the definition of "conflict of interest" look no further than YouTubers Syndicate and TmarTn. They were famous gamers who had a very big following. They would always promote a gambling website called GS:GO which they would praise with high regard.
In 2016, it was found out that the pair had not been overly open about who owned the gambling site. You guessed it, they did. The two famous gamers would put on quite the acting show during their live streams pretending to be excited to win prizes from a website they already owned.
KEEMSTAR
Daniel Keem, or Keemstar as he's known on YouTube, made a huge mistake in 2016. He's the host of a "news" channel called DramaAlert which was incredibly popular. Controversy struck when he falsely accused a 62-year-old gamer of being a convicted paedophile named John Phillips.
Phillips was still in jail, and the gamer's name was Tony. Keemstar's fans viciously attacked Tony for days until he finally broke down. Keemstar found out that it wasn't John Phillips and had to post a video apologizing for his behavior saying that "he has to be better."
Marina Joyce
Marina Joyce was a quirky, upbeat person. She was someone who became very well known of YouTube for her genuinely unique vlogging videos. But, her fans started noticing changes. They thought that she was looking distressed. They kept saying that her videos looked more like a hostage tape.
They began worrying about her, to the point where over 60 people tweeted saying they were suffering panic attacks thinking about Marina. They even sent the police to go and check on her. She ended up being completely okay, and said there's nothing wrong.
Sam Pepper
Another day, another Sam Pepper controversial video. Sometimes YouTubers take their pranks too far, as we've already seen multiple times in this article. In 2014, he uploaded a video where he appeared to be groping random women on the street.
He received a lot of backlash but said that it was all in good fun, and that it was a social experiment. After those excuses didn't work, and he was still getting called out for sexual assault, he said that the entire video was scripted.
Cameron Dallas' Assault Charge
The incredibly popular YouTuber and vine star was arrested in Aspen, Colorado over the New Year's weekend following an alleged assault at a hotel. Dallas was arrested on second-degree assault charges after police found a man with face injuries and he identified Dallas as the person who did it.
He tweeted about the incident afterward saying, "sometimes in life you find yourself in a situation where you have to protect yourself and the people you care about."
"It Was For YouTube, I Swear"
Dillon Burch made one of the biggest bonehead moves of all time. After falsely telling Walt Disney guests staying at the resort in Florida that there was an active shooter on the property, he was arrested.
The YouTube star was sentenced to three days in jail after pleading no contest in May 2018 to disorderly intoxication and disturbing the peace at a public place. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, Dillon.
YouTubers Caught Selling a Scam
This one is kind of sad. YouTubers like Shane Dawson, Philip DeFranco, and h3h3 Productions have promoted BetterHelp. It's an online counseling service that claims to provide professional and affordable therapy.
The YouTubers were sharing that BetterHelp was basically like having a therapist at home. It was revealed that the "professionals" you talk to don't necessarily have to be therapists or educated counselors. It also charges people $65 a week for its services. Many YouTubers, like Philip, decided to end his relationship with the company.
Elle Darby Vs Hotel Chain
The British social media influencer found herself in the middle of a crazy fued with a hotel chain. She asked the Dublin-based hotel Charleville Lodge if she could stay at the property for free in exchange for promotion on her social media.
The owner of the hotel took to social media to voice his displeasure and arrogance. He blacked out the name of the person he was talking about (Elle), but people could see through the black highlighter. She got death threats and cancer wishes because of the reveal.
Kian Lawley Dropped For Offensive Comments
Kian Lawley was cast in a film about a black teenage girl who becomes a social activist after witnessing a white police officer shoot her unarmed friend. The YouTube star was immediately dropped from filming when a video of him making racist remarks surfaced from years before.
Lawley apologized and expressed his remorse for the person who he had used to be years back. He didn't get let back on the project but he's continued to work in the industry.
Jake Paul And RiceGum
Even though Jake Paul and RiceGum had in their description that the video they were doing was an advertisement for the company MysteryBrand, this is still shady. MysteryBrand is a company that sends you a box of random stuff after you buy one online for a couple hundred bucks.
The company says that some of their boxes contain Lambo cars and massive mansions. The problem? All of that stuff is fake, and Jake Paul and RiceGum were basically giving their stamp of approval to their fans.
The Fine Brothers
This is a very rare case of basically losing all of your fans in the span of 24 hours after trying to be extremely greedy. The Fine Brothers were two of the most popular figures on YouTube. They were "react" video posters who would give hilarious commentary on trending stuff from the internet.
In January 2016, they announced that they planned to license and trademark the whole "react" series, letting creators make their own version of it as long as they had the Fine Brother's approval. They lost about 700,000 followers because of it.
The Stars Fall To Their Death
YouTubers Ryker Gamble, Alexey Lyakh, and Megan Scraper had a passion for the wild things in life. They were filming for the show High On Life, which is an extreme travel channel. They posted videos from remote locations and preached a philosophy of living in the moment.
The group had over a million followers on Instagram, and 500,000 on YouTube. All three of them tragically died while trying to get some extreme shots near a waterfall in Canada.
Vlogged About The Wrong Guy
He was a famous YouTuber from Mexico who was known for his off-the-cuff vlogs about his life. Juan Luis Rosales lived in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, which has a very vast drug cartel presence.
At the age of 17, he racked up more than a million followers on Facebook and had nearly 300 thousand on Instagram. He took a jab at Nemesio Cervantes, one of Mexico's biggest drug lords in a video he posted. He was at a bar shortly after the video was released and was gunned down by cartel assassins.
Gunned Down At A Meet And Greet
She was one of the most popular singers on YouTube. She had millions of people watching her covers and became even more famous when she went on the TV show The Voice. Christina Grimmie had a bright future.
While she was at a Meet and Greet for her show, she was gunned down by a man in line. He had an unhealthy obsession with her and wanted to be the one to take her life. Before police could get to the shooter, he killed himself.
Caleb Logan Bratayley
This is less of a scandal and more of a tragedy. Caleb Bratayley was one of the rising stars on YouTube. At just 13 years old, he had nearly five million subscribers. He died suddenly from what authorities called "natural causes."
It was found out that he had a disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which commonly affects the heart's ability to pump blood effectively. Many don't realize they have the condition, but it is very treatable.
Sam And Nia
It seemed like the perfect video. The husband grabs some pee from his wife in the toilet without her knowing, puts it on a pregnancy test and it turns out she's carrying. The video went viral in 2015 and viewers loved it for the emotion, and the "feel-good aspect" that it had.
But, just three days later, they revealed that Nia Rader (the wife) had a miscarriage. It smelled a whole lot like a scam and when Sam Rader posted, "Our tiny baby brought 10m views to her video & 100k new people into our lives. She turned our life around & brought us closer together," it didn't help.
Monalisa Perez Took A Shot At Fame
This is a tragic story. Monalisa Perez and her boyfriend Pedro wanted more viewers to their YouTube channel so they decided to take one to the next level. Monalisa was going to shoot Pedro, but he wouldn't die. Why? Because they hoped the bullet would get stuck in the thick book that he was holding in front of him.
In a non-shocking turn of events, the video went horribly wrong. It was his idea, and he had seen a video of a book stopping a bullet so he figured the same would happen. Well, it didn't. The book didn't stop the bullet and Pedro ended up dying.
