Comedian, actor, musician, and director Shane Dawson may be famous for many things, especially to his 21 million followers on YouTube. However, he probably did not expect that something he said in 2015 would ignite a controversy that would make him notorious.
It all started when someone on Twitter posted a 2015 podcast interview featuring Dawson, who claimed that his first sexual experience at 19 years old was with his cat. The YouTube star, who amassed billions of views on the video-sharing site for his parodies, comedy sketches and documentaries, had to issue a series of apologies on the social site following the negative reactions from netizens.
He also had to clarify that he said those statements in jest. He defended that the cat story was fake and then later admitted that it was a very dumb joke to crack.
"All of my offensive jokes, over the top stories, and insensitive jokes are something that still haunt me," Dawson said on Twitter. " [It's] something I have to be faced with every day on the internet."
Dawson's apology came a year following his statements on pedophilia. In 2018, the social media influencer also made controversies for saying in another podcast that sex with children can be a fetish for some people, just like foot fetishes. His statement, however, drew angry reactions because he compared two different situations.
The YouTuber had to clarify that he intended to make those statements to make people laugh. His apology video for this controversy has earned over seven million views.
Dawson started sharing YouTube videos in 2008. In 2012, he launched a podcast show called Shane and Friends where he and his guest discussed popular culture. Forbes compared his program's format to Howard Stern, who's also no stranger to controversy but the younger shock jock clicked with his followers since he wasn't afraid to make jokes about himself.
After Shane and Friends ended in 2017, Dawson decided to create a show exploring various conspiracy theories. For that, he was dubbed the Ken Burns of YouTube, for his documentary-style exposes. Only, critics said Dawson's documentaries did not have the same integrity as Burns since Dawson proliferated misinformation on the video-sharing platform.
It's no secret that YouTube culture, or Vlogging for many people, has been becoming steadily popular on the Internet. The biggest creators on the platform, such as the likes of Dawson, are like Hollywood celebrities but the main difference is that they may not have ample PR machinery to protect their social responsibility.
