David Dobrik has lost all major sponsors after being compared to “The Bang Bus” by Ethan Klein on H3 Podcast.
David Dobrik’s career seems to have come to an end due to comments made by Ethan Klein on The H3 Podcast comparing his content to “The Bang Bus” and accusing him of running a “casting couch” operation.
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David Dobrik has been dropped by most of his major sponsors after in the after s*xual misconduct allegations surrounding the Vlog Squad. In a video posted last Tuesday, Dobrik apologised to Joseth ‘Seth’ Francois following allegation levelled against Francois for s*xual misconduct in a 2017 prank video, in which he was tricked into kissing Jason Nash.
Old YouTube prank videos are now being heavily scrutinised by viewers in the wake of the #MeToo movement. According to a lot of Dobrik’s fans, a lot of the people who collaborates with on a regular basis are very problematic, and his old content is not OK by today’s standards.
The initial controversy began just last week after Kat Tenbarge at Business Insider published a piece that detailed various accusations of misconduct and exploitation against members of the Vlog Squad that reportedly took happened during a video shoot. One of the more serious allegations was that Dobrik’s close and personal friend was a r*pist. The woman who made that last allegation also told it to the New York Times that she provided pictures, texts and video from the evening to corroborate her account.
The aforementioned allegations come after a BuzzFeed piece published in late February where a former Vlog Squad member Joseth “Seth” Francois claimed he was sexually assaulted in one of Dobrik’s vlogs. In the YouTube prank video, which he published in June 2017 titled “HE THOUGHT HE WAS KISSING HER!! (SUPER CRINGEY),” Dobrik tricks Francois into kissing fellow YouTuber Jason Nash, though Francois thinks he’s kissing a woman.
“I honestly didn’t realize how much that situation affected me until the beginning of last year when covid happened,” Francois explained in the interview. “I remember sitting in my room in Atlanta and I was thinking to myself, ‘That video was wrong.’ I just felt like that shouldn’t have happened to me.”
The former member Nick Keswani, who suffers from a rare form of dwarfism and is blind in his left eye, was also a regular target of mockery and humiliation in Dobrik’s videos.
Ethan Klein ended his career.
The final nail in Dobrik’s coffin was when Ethan Klein of the H3 Podcast revived the allegations and bringing into question his sponsors.
On March 18th during a two-hour long live H3 Podcast Ethan Klein read out the Business Insider and Buzzfeed article on his show. Ge went as far as to saying that Dobrik is running a “casting couch” operation and comparing his business to “The Bang Bus.”
Nick Keswani was also a guest on the show. “I felt worthless being in those videos. I was like, Dude, why am I even like here? What’s the point in my existence? Because I was just treated like this punching bag,” he said during his interview with Ethan Klein on the H3 Podcast.
Ethan also thinks that the Vlog Squad should serve at least 20-years in jail for their discretions. After The H3 Podcast thousands upon thousands of fans spammed Dobrik’s sponsors with messages asking them to severe ties with the YouTuber. It worked.
Major sponsors cut ties with David Dobrik.
After The H3 Podcast premiered on YouTube several of Dobrik’s biggest sponsors ended their partnership with him including DoorDash, Dollar Shave Club and EA Sports. Now other brands are following suit.
A spokesperson for another one of Dobrik’s sponsors, Hello Fresh, told The Washington Post: “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.”
SeatGeek also said in a statemd that it “is not currently working with David Dobrik or the Vlog Squad, nor do we have any future planned campaigns.”
At first Dobrik responded with a two-minute apology video which he uploaded to YouTube last Tuesday.
“Consent is something that’s super, super important to me. Whether I’m shooting with a friend or shooting with a stranger, I always make sure that whatever the video I’m putting out, I have the approval from that person,” he said, adding that he will take down a video at the request of anyone featured in it. “There have also been moments where I’ve looked back on videos and realized 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.”
“I’ve been really disappointed by some of my friends and, for that reason, I’ve separated from a lot of them,” he said.
However, that apology did not go down well with his fans or his sponsors. After more sponsors dropped him he followed up with yet another — this time eight minute — emotional video apology which he posted on Twitter.
“I’m gonna take a break from all this social media stuff because I realized there’s a serious lack of infrastructure when I make any kind of content and I want to be able to have a place of checks and balances,” Dobrik said while holding back tears.
It’s all over.
The 8-minute apology video did not remedy the situation at all. Fellow influencers believe that the damage is done and they will no longer look at Dobrik the same way.
I’m really done with this. Sponsors woke up and saw some stuff , hope he changes for real. Hope this is his wake up call. But I’ll always flinch whenever I see or hear David Dobrik’s name again. It’s tainted and it’s too little too late for me. He’ll be fine just as Mel Gibson is
— Trisha Paytas (@trishapaytas) March 23, 2021
“I’m really done with this. Sponsors woke up and saw some stuff , hope he changes for real. Hope this is his wake up call. But I’ll always flinch whenever I see or hear David Dobrik’s name again. It’s tainted and it’s too little too late for me. He’ll be fine just as Mel Gibson is…” Co-host of the Frenemies Podcast, Trisha Paytas, tweeted.
Even the sponsors aren’t buying Dobrik’s apology. Just within the last few hours another major sponsor cut ties with the YouTuber. Pop Crave confirmed that Frank’s RedHot, Honey, and even Chipotle Mexican Grill have all discontinued their partnership with David Dobrik.
The estimate of loss is currently well over USD$1 million and it still going up as more major sponsors are likely to part ways with David Dobrik. While some fans are devastated, others seem to be celebrating this as some huge victory for the #MeToo movement on Twitter.