Do we like Shane Dawson?
Our score: 4 out of 10. Real good (a public coming-out video, a long apology) sits next to years of content he has admitted was hurtful, and little to show what changed after.
Dawson was one of YouTube's early giants, a sketch comedian turned maker of long documentary-style series, with a fanbase loyal enough to keep buying merch through his worst years. In 2015 he posted a video coming out as bisexual, saying he hoped it would help others who felt unsure about their own sexuality. That video was a genuine moment for a lot of young viewers.
The reckoning came in June 2020. In a video called “Taking Accountability”, he apologised for years of blackface, racial stereotypes and the N-word in his sketches, and for jokes about paedophilia, saying “Blackface was something I did a lot”. YouTube suspended ads on his channels, and critics argued that an apology aimed at fans doesn't replace one to the Black, Asian, Latinx and LGBTQ people he mocked.
Days later, a ten-second clip resurfaced showing him pretending to be caught masturbating to a poster of Willow Smith, who was 11 at the time. Her mother Jada Pinkett Smith wrote that she was “done with the excuses” and her brother Jaden called it disgusting. Dawson did not directly address the clip in his apology.
Back in 2018, a YouTube channel pushed a clip as supposed proof he was a paedophile. Dawson denied it in a video, saying that sex with or touching children is terrible, and apologised for past jokes. That was an accusation, not a finding, and no court case turned up, so we don't hold it against him.
On the harm test: his 2019 Conspiracy Series mixed true topics like deepfakes with debunked claims about wildfires and iPhones, labelled “theories, not facts”. Vice reported that some of his sources came from fringe creators who push antisemitic conspiracy theories. Nothing turned up about him campaigning against trans or gay people, vaccines or climate, and he didn't respond to Vice for comment.
The comeback was slow and sympathy-led. In late 2020 he resurfaced on his fiancé's podcast and channel, relaunched slime and merch, and had not directly addressed his scandals, per Insider. In 2021 he said he felt his past had ruined the lives of those around him, and by 2022 he called being cancelled part of a bigger purpose. Reflection, yes; amends to the people he hurt, not that we could find.