For many, the name ‘David Dobrik’ is synonymous with several different things. YouTuber, vlogger, comedian, and for some, role model. Whether you enjoy his content or not, there’s no denying his success. His charismatic demeanor combined with his fast-paced, highly-edited vlogs featuring recurring characters with various different personalities (known as the “Vlog Squad”) has earned him a total of 18.8 million subscribers on YouTube and millions of additional followers across his social media accounts. For the most part, Dobrik has been the token ‘golden boy’ of the internet, avoiding scandals and staying away from controversies in order to stay in good standing with his younger audience. Recently, however, a crack in his seemingly flawless media empire has unleashed a plethora of new evidence in allegations against himself and his friends, who were often featured in his vlogs.
There are several individuals that have spoken out about their less-than-pleasant experiences with Dobrik in the past. One of those individuals is YouTuber Trisha Paytas, who’s content mainly revolves around eating shows (also known as Mukbangs), music videos, and the occasional kitchen floor meltdown. She’s also made several controversial videos that have ultimately made her a polarizing figure on the internet, with audience members torn right down the middle when it comes to loving or hating her. Regardless of this, she has been one of the longest and most outspoken figures when it comes to her stance on Dobrik and the Vlog Squad.
Paytas has made several videos in which she claims that Dobrik ignored her requests to leave specific content out of his videos, and would often upload clips of her without her consent. She has also stated before that the amount of stress and mental torment she faced during her time with Dobrik and the Vlog Squad lead to her being involuntarily-committed into a mental institution for a brief period of time. While these are all very serious and concerning claims, they fell on deaf ears for a while, with many viewers writing her off as nothing more than a crazy, bitter ex-girlfriend of Dobrik’s close friend, Jason Nash.
While Paytas’ claims may have been ignored in the beginning, many other figures that were once a part of the Vlog Squad began speaking out as well. On an episode of The H3H3 After Dark podcast, former Vine star Nik Keswani, more commonly known as ‘Big Nik’, spoke out about his experiences during his friendship with Dobrik. When speaking on his time in the Vlog Squad, Keswani stated that he felt bullied by Dobrik and the other members, who constantly made his height the punchline of jokes throughout the videos. He also claimed that the content featured in the vlogs resulted in him being harassed by strangers in real life. In summary, he explained that he parted ways from Dobrik and his content due to the cult-like feeling that had been created within the group, with many individuals blindly following Dobrik’s lead in creating a toxic environment.
From this interview, another former Vlog Squad member, Seth Francois, took to The H3H3 After Dark podcast to speak out about an instance of sexual assault that he experienced while filming with Jason Nash (Paytas’ ex) and Dobrik. He recounted a time in which he was made to believe that he would be kissing another member of the Vlog Squad, a woman, who would be wearing a mask for a bit in Dobrik’s latest video. Without Francois’ knowledge, Nash was the one who was actually underneath the mask and therefore would be kissing with Francois.
Once the ‘prank’ was revealed to Francois, he was taken aback by the revelation and was angered, confused, and felt violated. During his interview, he stressed that he never gave consent to the prank and didn’t want the content to be used within Dobrik’s video, but he was ultimately ignored. Much like Keswani’s experience, Francois also explained that he became the target of harassment from strangers on the street who had seen the vlog.
Francois’ claims were recently backed up when a past clip from Dobrik’s podcast, VIEWS, resurfaced that featured both Dobrik and Nash mocking Francois’ reaction to the prank and insinuating that the prank was somehow better because Francois comes from a community in which homosexuality is not widely accepted. Francois also stated that the harassment from the vlog became so unbearable that he was forced to relocate from Los Angeles to Atlanta in an attempt to become less recognizable in public.
Perhaps one of the most damning and recent revelations involves Dom Zeglaitis, a former member of the Vlog Squad who is more commonly known as Dom or ‘Durte Dom’. A young woman who goes by Hannah (her name has been changed for anonymity) conducted an interview with Insider in which she details the harrowing night that she met Dom and the other Vlog Squad members. As a 20-year-old college student, Hannah and a few of her friends were invited to hang out with Dobrik and the Vlog Squad at their home.
In the interview, Hannah states that she had no prior knowledge of Dobrik or his content, but some of her friends were fans of his channel and were excited for the opportunity to meet everyone. In the since deleted vlog, Dobrik sets the scene with Dom, who is hoping to get Hannah and her friends to all participate in sexual activity with him at once. Dobrik then captures the girls walking in and begins making jokes with Nash and other Vlog Squad members about getting the women to agree to sex with Dom. In another scene, several Vlog Squad members are seen entering the room in which Dom and three of the girls, including Hannah, were in, with the intentions of ‘catching them in the act’ for the vlog.
What the video doesn’t show, however, is an extremely-intoxicated Hannah, who was given alcohol along with her friends in an attempt to ‘loosen them up’ to make them more receptive to Dom’s advances. Hannah told Insider that she had no recollection from the night before, and was horrified after realizing that she had blacked out and was assaulted by Dom while inebriated and unable to give consent. After sending Dom a lengthy text message explaining what he had done and asking him to take the video down, his response was a simple one-line message stating that he understood and would have the video removed.
While Dobrik has distanced himself from Dom and claims to condemn his actions, Dom could be seen in the video ‘thanking’ David for introducing him to the girls. David also ended the vlog with the statement “Dom just had a threesome and I think we’re all -” with a different Vlog Squad member ending his sentence with “going to jail,” an interesting joke to make given the context of the vlog.
Dobrik has recently released a two-minute apology on his podcast YouTube channel and a longer apology on his main channel in which he states that consent is important to him and apologies to those he’s wronged. In addition, he has slowly begun shifting the type of content he uploads on his channel, focusing less on the vlogging-style that got him famous. It’s still too early to tell if the ongoing list of various allegations against himself and the past Vlog Squad members will cause Dobrik to face any long-lasting repercussions to his brand. However, several well-known companies that partnered with Dobrik in the past have begun to re-evaluate their standing with him and drop all promotional deals they once shared. Many long-time fans of Dobrik’s content are also second-guessing their support of him and his channel as new individuals continue to come forward with their experiences.