TW: This article discusses sensitive issues including racism, disability-related prejudice and sexual violence.
Known as the ‘King of YouTube‘, it would be hard to come across a millennial or ‘GenZer’ across the globe who doesn’t know who Shane Dawson is. Whether you know him for his comedy sketches, conspiracy theories or documentary series with the likes of Jeffree Starr, Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul, it is clear that Shane has undergone several evolutions over the years in order to adapt and keep up with the ever-changing ‘YouTuber’ landscape. His latest iteration was as an up and coming makeup mogul alongside Jeffree Starr, with 1 million of their ‘Conspiracy’ makeup palettes being sold within 30 minutes of their launch.
“He owes it to the groups he has offended and hurt to take full accountability for his actions.”
However, whilst Shane has tried to shed his previous image as a shock value comedian in favour of a more marketable ‘softboi’ persona, recent events have made clear that he cannot – and should not – run away from his problematic past. He owes it to the groups he has offended and hurt to take full accountability for his actions, especially given that we are a lot older, wiser and socially aware than we were in 2010. Some of Dawson’s misdeeds, which were all done in the name of ‘comedy’, include:
- Numerous instances of blackface and the use of n*****, m****y and other anti-black language.
- The perpetuation of anti-black stereotypes through his character Shanaynay.
- Joking about ‘raping’ his fans.
- Calling a six-year-old ‘sexy’ on his podcast and pretending to masturbate to a poster of 11-year-old Willow Smith.
- Joking about Rihanna’s domestic violence ordeal.
- Making a blind woman the punchline of an ableist sketch.
- Joking about sexually assaulting his cat and committing bestiality.
- Reducing paedophillia to a ‘fetish’ on his podcast and joking about searching up naked babies online.
These are just the highlights of a long career of profiting from marginalised groups and minors’ pain, as his ‘comedy’ served to normalise a number of harmful stereotypes and attitudes to his young and impressionable audience.
“It nonetheless sheds further light on the sinister character lurking behind the Shane Dawson brand.”
The sad thing is that this list barely scratches the surface of his long history of troublesome and problematic behaviour.
Most recently, he has been accused of fabricating accusations against James Charles because, in his words, he needed ‘a slice of humble pie the size of the Empire State Building’. This specific accusation was recently backed up by beauty ‘YouTuber’ Tati Westbrook, who claimed that Shane Dawson ‘gaslit’ and manipulated her into making her explosive ‘Bye Sister’ video. Of course, this specific claim is nothing compared to the horrific examples listed above, but it nonetheless sheds further light on the sinister character lurking behind the Shane Dawson brand.
What is also interesting about this specific accusation is the weight in which Shane Dawson ascribed to it in comparison to some of the other problematic behaviour exposed. Originally, Shane Dawson was declared ‘cancelled’ (for what was probably the fifth time), after his apology video, ‘Taking Accountability’, was largely deemed to be disingenuous. Amongst other things, it was clear to me and most of the internet that within that video, he was doing anything but taking accountability.
Firstly, he implied in the video that the reason he engaged in racist sketches and blackface was because he had a lot of trauma growing up. That is a completely ludicrous and harmful statement to make, because not only is he taking a cheap shot to avoid responsibility, but he is also tarring people who have dealt with trauma in their lives with the same brush. Millions of people around the world have difficult pasts and mental health issues – yet we don’t have all of those people making videos with blackface and racial slurs. It’s just him. Ultimately, it isn’t fair to drag people with difficult lives down with you and invalidate their own, much healthier ways of dealing with trauma as an attempt to save your skin.
Secondly, he kept framing statements referring to his past as being ‘not him’, saying many times that he ‘doesn’t even recognise that person’. This is a blatant attempt to try and separate the person he is now from the person he was, which (he hopes) then limits how much responsibility his present self can take. Alienating yourself from your past actions, however, doesn’t solve anything and isn’t a productive way to promote change. All it does is show a continued willingness to keep the past buried and compartmentalised as opposed to taking responsibility for the hurt he has caused.
He also claimed that he had decided to make this apology video after being ‘inspired’ by Jenna Marble’s own apology. This wording is troubling, as it reduces taking accountability for racist actions to a transient internet ‘fad’. As well as this, his actions don’t seem to match up to his words. Whilst he claims numerous times in the video that he has ‘changed’ and that he is willing for his career to end in light of this, evidence shows that he was still profiting off his character of Shanaynay as recently as 2008.
Returning to Tati Westbrook’s recent video about Shane, it is interesting to note the dissoance between his response to her accusations and his response to the backlash from his apology video (which even stretched as far as Jaden and Jada Pinkett-Smith Tweeting their outrage over his racism and sexualisation of Willow Smith). Whilst he remained deafeningly silent in the face of the mounding evidence and criticism against him, he was very quick to respond to the comparatively trivial beauty community ‘drama’ video Westbrook uploaded.
For me, this reaction in itself is the final nail in Dawson’s coffin; it unequivocally demonstrates not only where his true priorities lie, but also how deeply shallow and superficial his supposedly genuine apology was.
Charlotte Colombo
Featured image courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Flickr. Creative Commons license can be found here.