Recently there has been a blow up on Twitter with people coming out with accusations of things like rape or sexual assault from popular Youtubers. The first is Sam Pepper, who just this past week released a three-part series advocating for awareness of sexual assault against men. But the public became out raged because the videos, in their essence, were just him filming sexual assault. That and how could he be advocating against sexual assault? The rest of his videos are things like “Easiest Way To Get A Number”,“InstaWhore Prank”, “Picking Up Girls Using Instagram”, and my least favorite “How To Steal Girlfriends.” So now that these videos have come out, there have been at least a dozen girls on twitter (anonymous and not) that have publicly called him a hypocrite, because he sexually abused and assaulted them. Youtuber Laci Green has had girls in her inbox confessing times Sam and other Youtubers assaulted them and is taking on the full weight of their stories.
In response to her activism, she started receiving threatening emails from Sam and others, and death threats through her Youtube and Twitter.
The second, which has only popped up in the past two days, is Youtube user Jason Viohn, or “VeeOneEye”, who I only learned about through the tweets of up-and-coming Youtuber “TheThirdPew” Nathan Z. According to the video Viohn posted:
He basically admitted to the crime, but insisted that it’s all a “mistake,” and that he’s learning from it.
I just wanna make one thing startlingly clear. RAPE is not a mistake, it is a CRIME, and while you may be “learning from it” and “bettering yourself,” you are still a CRIMINAL, and you need to own up to it rather than making excuses for yourself like “I was raised in a Mormon household and didn’t know the rules.”Along with this though, girls have been quietly coming forward with more claims against Viohn. His fellow YouTube roomates have asked him to move out, which he has.
I just want everyone who reads this to know that just because a celebrity is popular and talented, they can still be a bad person. Shitty people exist, and until women and men can feel safe in their personal boundaries, we have to protect ourselves. Always be aware of what’s happening and I would recommend carrying keys as protection. In the event that something does happen, I know it will be tough, but report it immediately. The quicker it’s reported, the quicker that the authorities can do something about it.
The YouTube community needs some major readjustment at the moment, and people like Nathan (@TheThirdPew), Meghan Tonjes (@meghantonjes), Laci Green (@gogreen18), and heavy hitters like Hank Green (@hankgreen), are there to do what needs to be done.