In the past several weeks, long time YouTuber Shane Dawson has been releasing two episodes a week for his current series covering YouTuber Jake Paul. Between the subject himself, the various mental health topics discussed, and the various things Shane has said and/or done in the videos, Shane has received a ton of backlash. This backlash has been greatly uncalled for, and it has become quite hateful over the past few weeks. Though some have claimed that Shane should accept this backlash as constructive criticism, the majority of the backlash comes across hateful and nowhere near constructive.
“Jake Paul Doesn’t Deserve a Platform.”
This backlash began when Shane first announced what his series was going to be about. Though I feel many people agree or agreed that Jake Paul doesn’t deserve to have another platform to tarnish with his bad reputation, Shane wanted to get to the bottom of why Jake is the way he is. Shane has done this with previous controversial YouTubers Jeffree Star and Tana Mongeau, yet the backlash didn’t exist as much then as it does for this series.
People, I feel, forget this is all just entertainment. It’s YouTube—not an Oscar-nominated documentary. That being said though, I feel the majority of what Shane does is truthful and trustworthy, but he also knows how to draw people in and watch his content. Being such a controversial person, Jake Paul was sure to bring in millions of views. This can be seen in the fact that the current six episodes have brought in 98 million views between them. We also cannot say Jake Paul doesn’t deserve a platform like this—finding out the truth behind the monitor. This series has allowed for Jake to show that he is a real person with emotions and care for others; things that, before this series existed, many people thought he was incapable of.
“Mental Health Isn’t a Conversation for Entertainment.”
This became a controversial topic when Shane’s videos “The Dark Side of Jake Paul” and “The Family of Jake Paul” were released. The mention of the word “sociopath” and the labeling of Jake without a diagnosis really got under some people’s skin. Yet, if one were to watch the videos, they’d see the many disclaimers that Shane put in stating that he is not claiming Jake is indeed a sociopath, though he is trying to answer the question that before the video was made: “Is Jake Paul a sociopath?”
Prior to this video, this was mentioned so many times by so many people. Because Shane is using this question as content in his videos, people see it as him using mental health issues for entertainment. I think that people aren’t realizing that Shane has been diagnosed with various mental health problems, so for him to be using someone else’s possible problems as entertainment is an absurd accusation. If anything, this series has taught me, and I’m sure many others, what exactly a “sociopath” is and isn’t.
To Put Out Content as Quickly as Possible, or To Not?
Shane has been putting out quality videos over the past three weeks. Currently, he has released six of the eight total, each one averaging forty-three minutes in length. Shane is his own editor; only one other person helps him. This amount of content would take months for a television studio to push out with a large team, yet Shane has pushed out this content in a month with just himself and one other person. Many people think that he isn’t posting enough, or that he should have not released any until all of them were completely edited—yet, those people are the same ones who complain that he isn’t doing enough when he isn’t putting out content. I cannot imagine how problematic this is for Shane; on the one hand, he wants to put out the best content he can, but on the other, he doesn’t want to upset and disappoint others.
This criticism comes in masses, causing (I imagine) a ton of unnecessary stress on Shane. The mental toll this would take on the average person is insane to think about, and Shane is just an average person with an online presence.