David Dobrik, 24, is likely one of the best-known YouTubers in Hollywood. He made a reputation for himself on Vine, the short-form video app that created a era of on-line stars. Then he moved on to YouTube, the place he and a bunch of mates often called the Vlog Squad started sharing fast-paced comedic content material, typically involving stunts.
Since 2014, he’s amassed greater than 18 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.
But an investigation by Kat Tenbarge at Insider printed this week, detailing sexual assault allegations in opposition to a former Vlog Squad member, led many viewers to angrily re-evaluate Mr. Dobrik’s work and their fandom. Now it’s difficult the success of his rising empire.
On Friday, a spokesperson for HelloFresh, certainly one of his sponsors, mentioned: “We can confirm that we are no longer working with David Dobrik or any member of the Vlog Squad and do not have any plans to work with them again in the future.”
“We’ve made the decision to end our relationship and cancel all planned activity,” mentioned a consultant for Dollar Shave Club. A spokesperson for EA Sports, which as soon as gave Mr. Dobrik a Lamborghini, mentioned the corporate “can confirm we are not currently working with him nor do we have any plans to in future.”
On Thursday, SeatGeek, the ticketing firm that’s certainly one of Mr. Dobrik’s largest advertisers, instructed Insider it was “reviewing” the corporate’s partnership.
In 2018, Mr. Dobrik posted a video on his YouTube channel referred to as “SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE PLAYED WITH FIRE!!” It confirmed footage of younger ladies socializing with Mr. Dobrik and members of the Vlog Squad as the boys joked about having sexual encounters with them. Later, one of many males, Dom Zeglaitis, recounts having intercourse with certainly one of them.
That girl told Insider that she was incapacitated by alcohol throughout the course of the night and described the expertise as rape. Her account was corroborated by at the very least one different girl who was current.
The girl confirmed her story to The New York Times and offered footage, texts and video from the night to corroborate her account.
“We’re going to jail,” Mr. Dobrik said on the finish of the video.
The girl reached out to Mr. Zeglaitis to ask that the video be eliminated; it was, after receiving greater than 5 million views.
The accuser has not contacted the police, and no expenses have been filed.
Mr. Dobrik declined by way of a consultant to remark. He launched a video addressing the story on Tuesday.
“I wanted to come on here real quick and address some conversations that are going on on the internet,” Mr. Dobrik mentioned within the video, titled “Let’s talk.” It was posted to a secondary channel that has a few tenth of the followers of his principal channel.
Mr. Dobrik mentioned within the video that “consent is something that’s super, super important to me.” He added that he seeks approval from everybody who seems in his movies and will take movies down if these featured in them now not wish to be included.
“There’s also been moments where I’ve looked back on videos, and I realize that these don’t represent me anymore, and they’re hurtful to other people, and I don’t want them up because I’ve grown as a content creator and as a person,” he mentioned. “And I don’t agree with some of the videos I’ve posted.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve let you down,” he mentioned.
Last month, a former Vlog Squad member named Joseth “Seth” Francois mentioned he was sexually assaulted in certainly one of Mr. Dobrik’s movies. In it, he was tricked into kissing Jason Nash, one other YouTuber; Mr. Francois believed he was kissing a girl.
“The point of the video is to sexually assault me. That’s the whole premise,” Mr. Francois instructed BuzzFeed.
Mr. Dobrik addressed that incident in his apology. “With the Seth situation, I’m sorry to Seth, because like I said, I just want to make videos where everybody in it, whether you’re participating or watching, is enjoying and having a good time,” Mr. Dobrik mentioned. “And I missed the mark with that one. And I’m really sorry. I truly, truly am.”
Mr. Dobrik’s profession as an entertainer has made him rich sufficient to purchase a $9.5 million home in Los Angeles — full with a Hawaiian Punch fountain.
Early final 12 months, Mr. Dobrik was dubbed “Gen Z’s Jimmy Fallon” by The Wall Street Journal. Last April, he stepped back from common vlogging, which had change into difficult throughout the pandemic, and turned his focus to different tasks, together with launching his own photo sharing app, called Dispo.
That app’s ranking dropped under two stars in Apple’s app retailer this week. Apple briefly paused the flexibility to depart evaluations, as individuals crowded to the house to berate Mr. Dobrik within the type of rankings and evaluations.
Mr. Dobrik has misplaced greater than 100,000 subscribers on his main YouTube channel within the final week.
In Mr. Dobrik’s apology video, he additionally mentioned that he “chose to distance” himself from some individuals beforehand featured in his content material. “I don’t stand for any kind of misconduct,” he mentioned, “and I’ve been really disappointed in some of my friends, and for that reason I’ve separated from a lot of them.”
