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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at VCU chapter.

Trigger warning: this article contains content pertaining to sexual assault

Now Youtuber, David Dobrik was introduced to many through Vine in 2013. On his current Youtube channel, Dobrik has over 18 million subscribers. With a mass following, the entertainer is famous for his crudeness. He was even called “Gen Z’s Jimmy Fallon” by the Wall Street Journal. He also has a group of fellow Youtubers he hangs around with and just films as he is not usually the main subject of his vlogs. However, the Youtuber has received backlash recently for a multitude of reasons.

One woman stated that Dom Zeglaitis, a Vlog Squad member, had allegedly raped her in 2018. The incident occurred the same night the group had filmed a video about group sex. Dobrik had also walked in and filmed some of it. The vlog was also called, “SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE PLAYED WITH FIRE!!” It also amassed over 5 million views before David deleted the vlog at the woman’s request.

Furthermore, Trisha Paytas also alleges that multiple underage women were there that same night and were provided with alcohol. Dobrik made a video addressing the situation. He stated that he received consent to post the said vlog and apologized for putting the girls in that situation. He also acknowledged his power dynamic of being a popular male Youtuber, which he stated he was not aware of at the time. He also says that he believes the victim, Trisha Paytas and Ally Hardesty, all came out with allegations against the Vlog Squad member. 

A Vlog Squad member, Seth Francois, also came out with other allegations against David Dobrik and Jason Nash, another member, last month. This incident was also filmed in 2017 by Dobrik, who titled the video, “HE THOUGHT HE WAS KISSING HER!! (SUPER CRINGEY).” He told Seth he would kiss another Vlog Squad member, Corinna Kopf, but wearing old man makeup. However, Jason Nash switched clothes with the woman to “prank” Seth into unknowingly kissing him.

Furthermore, Seth has also stated that Dobrik made racist ‘jokes’ repetitively. These insensitive comments have also appeared in Dobrik’s vlogs. Once he took Francois to a police station as a ‘prank.’ However, Dobrik did not make a video addressing this situation until the allegations against Dom Zeglaitis came out. Before being pressured by people to address the incident, he just deleted the videos Francois mentioned.

As a result of these allegations coming out, some companies have stopped working with Dobrik, pulling ads from his videos. Youtube has also demonetized his content. His views have also dropped dramatically in the past couple of weeks. Dobrik has lost over 16 million views in the past 30 days as of writing this article. However, his subscriber count has remained pretty consistent, and he has only lost a couple of thousand.

Dobrik has also decided to step down from his disposable camera company, Dispo, as he did not want to distract from its growth. However, this does not stop the young viewers from watching him or buying his merchandise. Unless Youtube bans people like David Dobrik, these things will continue to happen. 

Kaitlyn Austin is an alumnus of Virginia Commonwealth University, with a bachelor's in political science with a concentration in civil rights. She is passionate about social justice, advocacy, and astrology.
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