What’s up you guys?
It’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News
and Shane Dawson was trending all weekend
as celebrities, fans and the internet have
been responding to his recent video, “Taking
Accountability’.
In the video he attempts to apologize and
address his past racist, insensitive and inappropriate
videos.
In the wake of his video response, there’s
been a flurry of resurfaced, extremely inappropriate
and disturbing content of Shane’s that’s
being shared online, including a clip involving
a then 11-year old Willow Smith, that has
resulted in outrage from the Smith family
and so many on the internet.
There is quite a bit to unpack here you guys,
and before we get into this story, I just
wanted to issue a trigger warning as we are
going to be covering some heavy and upsetting
topics from Shane’s controversial past.
Please only continue watching if you feel
comfortable doing so.
We’ve also linked some resources down in
the description in case you or someone you
know might need them.
Alright, so on Friday afternoon, Shane uploaded
a video titled “Taking Accountability”
and revealed that he was inspired by Jenna
Marbles’ recent apology video where she
told fans she is actually stepping back from
her channel & YouTube for the foreseeable
future.
And although Shane said that he has issued
apologies in the past for some of his offensive
content, he said that he’s now QUOTE: “willing
to lose everything'' as his past controversies
have resurfaced.
We won’t be showing any of Shane’s old
clips here as they are extremely inappropriate
and distasteful.
But if you are interested in seeing them,
they aren’t hard for you to find on Twitter
and Youtube.
They include Shane using blackface, saying
the N-word, making jokes about pedophilia,
speaking inappropriately about minors as well
as creating distasteful content with minors,
amongst other offensive content.
While Shane has attempted to remove most of
the racist and offensive videos from his own
social pages, they have been re-posted all
over Twitter and YouTube by other people.
Shane started off his video by saying quote,
“I am going to apologize for a lot of things
that I've done or said in this video and if
you don't accept that apology that is 100%
ok.
I think that's something that as I'm getting
older I'm realizing.
You can apologize, but you can't expect the
other person to just forgive you.”
"I want to start with all the racism that
I put onto the Internet as an adult.
Not a child.
I was at least 20 when I started YouTube and
I made the decision to play stereotypes of
Black people or Asian people or Mexicans.
Or pretty much every race."
He went on to say quote “I made that decision.
I said, “Oh this is funny” and I put it
on the internet.”
And Shane continued to say that now when he
looks back on those videos, he hates the person
he was when he made them.
"I hate that person so much.
That person was filled with sadness, filled
with anger, in the closet, constantly projecting
on others.
That person is someone I don't like seeing.”
He went on to say QUOTE: “And I think that's
why I've been avoiding this.
Because I'm like “no I already apologized
I don't want to go back, I don't want to see
it again”.
I don’t want to see it...
I hate that person so fucking much.”
Shane then said, “Ok first let's start with
blackface”....
"Black face was something I did a lot.
Like I did it a lot on my channel and there
is no excuse for it."
Shane said he made a video about it 6 years
ago talking about it and that in his old apology
videos he made excuses for doing it.
He admitted that he knew what he did was wrong
and that he didn’t want to do it again but
he never did the work by looking into the
history of it and why it was so wrong.
On his “excuse”, he said this:
“I was just being funny, I love black people,
I'm not racist.
I was trying to be funny.
And that is stupid and wrong.”
Shane went on to say QUOTE “I’m so sorry
to anyone who saw that and also saw that people
were lifting me up and were saying “you’re
so funny Shane, OMG you’re so funny…
I can’t even imagine what it would be like
to be black and to see this white f*** guy
do blackface and the whole internet at the
time being like “LOL’ - that’s insane.
And I am so sorry.”
And Shane continued to speak directly to people
he’s hurt saying quote, “I don't know
how to even fully apologize because it seems
like something that is irredeemable.”
And that ….
“I should lose everything for that.”
Shane went on to say some of those jokes went
too far and that he thinks this year really
changed him as a person.
That he started seeing black people he knows
and is friends with, seeing them openly talk
about the anger they have about racist jokes
and blackface that made him quote “feel
like the biggest piece of shit in the entire
world” and that he felt awful.
Particularly because young people that watched
his videos thought that kind of behaviour
and blackface was then ok.
Shane acknowledged his role in contributing
to the normalization of blackface and saying
the N word, and how wrong that is.
“Me, as a white person wearing a wig and
playing a character and doing stereotypes
and then saying the n word is something that
I should have probably lost my career for,
at the time, and there’s no amount of apologizing
that can take it away.”
Shane also made reference to people who tried
to show him how bad his past behaviour was
at the time and how he was sorry for making
excuses and thinking that receiving criticism
was him being attacked.
He also touched on some things he said in
a podcast and discussion about quote “murder
fantasies”, clarifying who he wasn’t directing
those comments at, as well as how wrong it
was to even make those statements at the time.
Shane then got into some of the other disturbing
videos he’d posted and jokes he’d made
about things like pedophilia, which should
NEVER be joked about, as well as other related
inappropriate content that has surfaced.
“There’s a clip that has been going around
again, a few years ago is when it came out,
and they cut out all the parts where I said,
you know, pedophelia’s disgusting and they
put it together and it made it seem like I
was talking about how it’s normal.
So gross, I would never say that.
But also, I shouldn’t have been joking about
it anyways, which is my problem, my fault.”
Shane then went on to say quote, “I’m
sorry if you heard that...
There’s other ones too, And that’s something
I have addressed before.”
Shane then took a beat before addressing his
audience about his childhood trauma and pain
and how he tried to turn that into jokes.
“My childhood, my past, I’ve had a lot
of pain.
I’ve had a lot of bad things happen to me,
I’ve had a lot of issues with my family,
and I took that pain and I turned it into
jokes.
And I think instead of joking about them so
much, I probably should’ve just went to
therapy earlier and talked about them.”
Shane then made these statements about him
and pedophilia.
“I am not somebody who would ever talk about
a child, like in seriousness.
I would never talk about a child in any way
that was inappropriate.
That is disgusting, that is gross, it is not
something I would ever do, it is something
I did for shock value or because I thought
it was funny or like, ‘oh my god my child
molestor character,’ or whatever, it’s
all gross.”
Shane went on to say that he promises it's
not him and it's not real.
He went on to admit that yes he has done sketches
where kids were saying crazy things and yes,
that he regrets it.
However, Shane wasn’t super specific about
which sketches he was referring to and since
his apology video, a number of clips have
re-surfaced which demonstrate that there were
infact a number of sketches, as well as vlogs,
tiny chat videos and pictures that involved
Shane and minors.
In his apology Shane also did not make specific
reference to a video he made involving Willow
Smith that we will get to a little later.
However, he did specifically address a clip
that has resurfaced.
The video conversation was had with his young
12 year old cousin and his girlfriend at the
time, Lisa, which many people are outraged
about.
“I saw a vlog clip of me and my cousin who
was, I don’t know, probably 12 or 13 at
the time, and we were, you know, I was doing
the birds and the bees talk, dumb gross s**t,
and I remember a few years ago, I reached
out to her mom, my aunt, and I was like I’m
so sorry, oh my God I can’t believe I did
this, like this is insane, I can’t believe
I talked to my cousin like that.”
Shane went on to say quote, “and she was
like, “omg, its OK, we know, we know, its
ok it was funny, we all thought it was funny,
that’s just how our family is.”
So I kind of took that as, ok I don’t need
to apologise for it.
But I do, because I posted it on the internet
for everyone.”
He went on to say,
"I’m so sorry that I was so thoughtless
with the things I was posting for so many
years.
I wasn’t thinking”
Shane then moved on to the next part of his
video where he said he has made a lot of changes
in his life and every facet of him, particularly
since his previous apology videos.
Shane then said this:
“All of those apologies, if you accept them,
thank you.
If you don’t, I 100% understand, because
there was a lot.
And a lot of that is stuff that you probably
will never forgive me for.
And maybe you didn’t know about all those
old videos, I 100% understand.
I’m willing to lose everything.”
There was more that was addressed in this
video, including an apology to James Charles
and details surrounding the twitter note Shane
made last week about the Tati and James drama.
He also expressed how much he regret making
the statement that James deserved a slice
of humble pie bigger than the Empire State
Building.
The video has been trending at number 1 on
YouTube all weekend and has over 9.5 million
views.
And Shane was also trending on Twitter as
both his fans and celebs responded to this
video.
One fan commented on Shane’s video and said
quote, “Genuinely breaks my heart to realize
and see just how much s**t shane has done
over the years.
I’ve grown up watching him and didn’t
understand the magnitude of his actions and
I tried to look past every issue in the last
few years and accept apologies that applied
to me.
But I know now that I can no longer support
him.
While I think he is trying to educate himself
and change his ways, it’s just too much
damage that’s been done.
We cannot allow this behavior.”
This person added quote, “Childhood trauma
is not an excuse to make racist and p3do jokes.”
And another person said quote, “ITS A LITTLE
TOO LATE.
KEEP THE EXCUSES”
There were also hundreds of the same comment
being copied and pasted into his Youtube video
comments section by users saying “Depression
and anxiety isn't a reason to sexualize children,
Shane.”
And there was also another comment that was
shared multiple times in his YT comments section
and again on Twitter by various people, alleging
because their comments were being deleted,
that read quote “Red Flags in Shane Dawson’s
apology video.”
Some of the things in that repeated comment
included quote, “Claiming he felt inspired
by Jenna Marbles to make it.
Separating himself from the issues.
Phrases like, I hate that person who did those
things.
Using “I had a traumatised childhood”
as an excuse.
Glossing over the pedophilia claims.”
But some other fans took to the comments to
accept Shane’s apology and defend him writing
things like “As a black woman, I really
appreciate you being sincere and finally taking
accountability for your mistakes.
I forgive you.”
And “Thank you for apologizing, thank you
for trying to change and become a better person.
I believe in you and your ability to change!
That being said, you should never hide from
your mistakes.
You have to accept all your actions and own
up to them.
This video is a step on an important journey
of becoming the best person you can.
Please keep taking these steps, because I
believe in you”
But the back and forth continued as people
called these fans out for accepting his apology.
And in particular, many people reminding others
that unless they are black and someone who
was personally offended by Shane’s comments,
they have no right to be accepting Shane’s
apology.
And it wasn’t just fans who got involved
in the conversation surrounding Shane’s
video and his controversial past.
After a disturbing video resurfaced of Shane
making inappropriate gestures and pretending
to masturbate to a poster of Willow Smith
when she was 11 years old, Jaden Smith and
his mom Jada Pinkett Smith had some stern
words of their own.
Jaden and Jada took to Twitter after the video
surfaced on Twitter.
Again, we will not be showing that video here,
but it’s been reposted by people on both
Twitter and YouTube.
Willow was only 11 years old in the poster.
After seeing the video, Jaden tweeted his
disgust at Shane.
He said quote, “SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED
BY YOU.
YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS
TO BE MY SISTER!!!!!! IS THE FURTHEST THING
FROM FUNNY AND NOT OKAY IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT.”
And Jaden continued on saying quote, “This
Man Was Also Doing Black Face On The Regular.
As The Youth We Need To Support Creators Who
Support Us And Our Morals.
This Is Not Okay.”
And Jaden’s mom Jada also chimed in saying
quote, “To Shane Dawson ... I’m done with
the excuses.”
Willow began trending on Twitter as a result
and has been reported on by multiple mainstream
media outlets including Fox News, NBC News,
People Magazine and many more.
Other celebrities also chimed in such as actress
Laurie Holden who said quote, “There is
no excuse.
I am sorry you had to see that as her mother.”
Rapper Cupcakke, who’d previously worked
with Shane, wrote quote, “Shouldn't be lusting
over no child at all . It's sick . It's sick
& its fucking sick . You grown ass men are
ridiculous . So I'm gone say this . Shane
Dawson it was fun making videos with you but
I choose to unfollow you & go my separate
way .You have some growing to do like FR.”
Over the past couple weeks, especially since
Shane posted his video, he’s been losing
hundreds of thousands of subscribers on his
YouTube channel.
He hasn’t spoken out again since posting
this video on YouTube, aside from also sharing
it on his other social media pages.
We will continue to keep you guys posted as
this story continues to unfold.
In the meantime, feel free to keep the conversation
going down in the comments below and share
your thoughts on Shane’s video and the responses
he’s received.
I’m your host, Sussan Mourad, bye guys!
