Shane Dawson has been a staple of the YouTube community since the early 2000’s. The evolution of his content, from comedian to music artist to paranormal investigator to documentarian, can be traced directly alongside the evolution of YouTube content as a whole. Due to his content basis and brash sense of humor, Dawson is no stranger to controversy in the community.
In previous documentary style series, Dawson analyzed the life of the controversial Jeffree Starr, whose reclusive lifestyle has led many to question the details of how he can safely go on multimillion dollar shopping sprees on a regular basis. Shane’s series focused on Starr’s business tactics and the dedication that Jefree has in reference to his fanbase and the success and comfort of his family.
Shane recently sparked a controversy over the docuseries, “The Mind of Jake Paul” which revolves around the relationship between Antisocial Personality Disorder (aka sociopathy and APD) and the YouTube community, specifically the Paul family.
Over the course of their careers, Jake and Logan Paul have had a variety of social expulsions, from Logan’s Suicide Forest video to Jake’s turf war with the neighborhood surrounding the “Team 10” house. Dawson’s video focuses primarily on Jake, whose controversies have landed him in hot water concerning his acting career following the canceling of his part of the Disney show Bizaardvark.
In his videos, Shane poses the question to his viewers, “What makes a sociopath? How do YouTubers fit into that definition?” among other ideas. Initially, Dawson received a serious amount of backlash for even proposing the idea. Many people’s concerns stemmed from wanting to avoid giving Jake Paul a platform, and Dawson’s previous documentaries, like his analysis of Tana Mongeau’s TanaCon and its ultimate failure.
There were also concerns about giving sympathy to Jake’s situation, much like Shane gave Tana even after she refused to refund tickets to the TanaCon goers who were disappointed by the lack of preparation for the convention. Many fans are concerned that Shane’s definition of Jake Paul’s mental situation could potentially validate the “Jake Paulers” who use Paul’s dangerous and often illegal antics as fuel for their own impressionable young lives (Paul’s main fan-base are 12-17 year olds).
Initial concerns aside, with 3 episodes already on his channel, Shane’s viewers have developed a few more pressing concerns.
The first and most common concern with Shane’s content is the style that his videos normally have doesn’t quite fit the tone of the series. In talking about mental illness, Shane’s usual “horror vibe” feels accusatory to some concerned viewers. Dawson apologized in the most recent video, saying he didn’t want to portray mental illness that way and was sorry if he offended anyone.
He also addressed concerns that his use of sporadic clips of other YouTubers while talking about the definitions and symptoms of APD. Many believed that these clips were Shane’s way of connecting examples of sociopathy to these unwitting documentary participants, which Dawson later clarified was not his intention as well.
Among all these concerns, Shane kept his composure in the face of a serious topic of conversation and shared vital information throughout all of this confusion.