Fern McErlane
Controversial ex-YouTuber Shane Dawson has finally made a return to the platform with a video in his previously popular conspiracy format. ‘The Haunting of Shane Dawson’ was uploaded October 7th, and has already garnered 4.5 million views on the site.
Searches for ‘Shane Dawson’ on Google rose 95% in the day following the upload.
Dawson’s new upload follows the same format as his last videos prior to the hiatus – a candidly-filmed ‘conspiracy’ discussion with friends. It has been confirmed that this video will be the first of a new series, and it is monetised via adverts.
Why was Shane Dawson cancelled?
The upload comes after an absence of over a year, following Dawson being ‘cancelled’ online for several offenses. When videos and images of Dawson’s transgressions resurfaced online, he faced huge backlash from fans and critics alike.
These offenses included sexualising underaged individuals, such as then 11-year-old musician Willow Smith, to which Smith’s brother Jaden and mother Jada Pinkett Smith furiously responded.
Another of Dawson’s offenses was an extended history of using racist language and blackface in numerous past YouTube uploads. The videos have since been removed.
Further outrage sparked when a recording of Dawson on a podcast show began spreading on Twitter. In the recording, Dawson jokingly alleged that he had sexually abused his pet cat.
According to Metro, SocialBlade data showed that Dawson lost a million subscribers in the two weeks following the controversy.
Dawson made several public apologies before ceasing all activity on his public profiles.
‘The Haunting of Shane Dawson’
Within ‘The Haunting of Shane Dawson’, the YouTuber touches upon his extended absence from the public eye. “I don’t know how to do this, I haven’t filmed a video in two years,” Dawson begins in the video. “I have a lot to talk about. I’m really nervous.”
“I have had such an intense year and a half and I’m doing really good [but] I do feel like I have to talk about some stuff.” Dawson continued: “I definitely feel ashamed and embarrassed and horrified over [the] old clips and stuff that started coming out when I got cancelled.”
“It made me realize that I can’t focus on what other people think of me. I learned a lot. I’m so happy it happened. So grateful I got canceled, because it really changed my life.”
His Return
Shane Dawson’s return to YouTube has been long anticipated on the internet, since he once again began appearing in his boyfriend Ryland Adams’ uploads. Dawson explained his reason for returning to the platform: “currently I’m in a place where I really want to get creative again, I really want to make stuff again.”
A large portion of the video is devoted to both Dawson’s comedic asides and to an impromptu ‘tour’ of his new Colorado house. Dawson reveals that he moved out of his previous LA housing, where previous uploads were filmed, shortly after he was ‘cancelled’ online. Dawson also jokingly alludes to the period of time he spent away from being present on social media:
“I loved [TikTok] for a week, then I got cancelled and couldn’t go on it. Every time I’d swipe it would be like, ‘Shane Dawson needs to kill himself.’”
‘The Haunting of Shane Dawson’ signals an attempted career comeback for the vlogger, and a return to his conspiracy video series. Reception from viewers so far has been mixed: “I’m so happy you’re back, and making spooky stuff. Keep it up! You’re doing great!” said one top commenter on the video. Another, however, commented: “only thing haunting shane is his past lmaooo”.
Featured image courtesy of NordWood Themes via Unsplash. Image licence can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
