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1.Colleen Ballingerskyrocketed to fame in the late 2000s through her alter ego Miranda Sings, who would confidently and badly sing popular songs with lipstick smeared above her top lip. She was able to foray this into a Netflix special and show, and she was successful for over a decade — untilallegationscame out that she’d put underage fans in exploitative positions and engaged with them in inappropriate ways.
Brands began to pull ads from Ballinger’s projects as public backlash increased, but the nail in the coffin for Ballinger was her “apology” video. In the video, she decided to sing about the allegations while playing a ukelele, saying, “Even though my team has strongly advised me to not say what I want to say, I recently realized that they never said that I couldn’t sing what I want to say, so…” Ballinger waswidely mocked, and has not posted YouTube content in a year.
2.In the mid-to-late 2010s, Ruby Frankeranthe popular family vlog 8 Passengers, where she showcased content with her husband and six kids. Some of her parenting (specifically discipline) methods, including withholding food and making a child sleep on a bean bag for months, began to receive backlash in 2020, leading to her YouTube page becoming less and less popular. It was later deleted, and Franke began to make other content with counselor and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
This career turn may have been successful, but the next year, both Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on child abuse charges after one of Franke’s children escaped Hildebrandt’s house from a window and asked a neighbor for food and water, appearing malnourished and injured. Both pled guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse andwere sentencedto up to 30 years in prison.
3.Myka and James Staufferwerepopular family vloggers who consistently posted about parenting their four children on YouTube. Then, in 2017, the parents adopted then-2-year-old Huxley from China. They documented the difficulties of this process as well as with Huxley being diagnosed with autism post-adoption, and then, in 2020, Huxley began to disappear from their videos. They then posted a long video saying he had been “rehomed.”
The backlash was strong and swift, with several brands cutting ties with the Stauffers. They deleted their YouTube Channel, and Myka has not posted an Instagram postsinceher apology. Jamesmaintainshis car detailing content. A 2024docuserieson the scandal reinvigorated backlash, though it has yet to be publicly released.
4.Another example that later became a documentary involves a brutal murder. Ali Abulaban (@jinnkid)grewhis fame through comedy videos on TikTok, which sometimes involved his partner, Ana, who later found internet fame of her own. Growing jealous and possessive, Ali began to abuse Ana, even livestreaming some of his verbal abuse. He murdered her and her friend Rayburn Barron in October 2021 and was later found guilty of their murders. His sentencingisin September, and he faces life in prison.
5.Ladarius Morshun Brownlee, one half of TikTok couple@denoandzahra, gained fame for his videoswiththen-girlfriend Seyeddah “Zahra” Hashemi. But last month, witnesses claimed BrownleeshotHashemi in the head during an argument. Brownlee, who (according to authorities) allegedly confessed to the crime on a 911 call and with detectives, was arrested, while Hashemi survived but, according to her sister,suffereda traumatic brain injury and is still recovering. The couple’s last video is from June.
6.While YouTuber Jaystation’s content had always been controversial (usuallyinvolvinghim entering locations after hours and trying to get out without triggering alarms), hereacheda new low when he faked the death of his girlfriend, Alexia Marano.
Jaystation (real name: Jason Ethier) then posted multiple videos about the hoax, which included attempting to contact her using an Ouija board. Then he admitted the whole thing was a lie, claiming Marano was in on it but that she’d since left him. Marano then spoke out andsaidshe hadn’t wanted to go through with it but that she was afraid of Ethier, who she called controlling. Ethier claimed Marano was trying to ruin his life with false accusations about an assault weapon.
7.Jeffree Staris perhaps one of the most infamous examples, both because of how far he fell and because of the sheer number of controversies. After initially rising to notoriety through MySpace and music, Star launched a makeup brand and YouTube channel, earning him more widespread fame. But in the mid-to-late 2010s, Starbeganto face backlash as fans and ex-friends recalled instances of racism. This ultimatelyledto Morphe dropping ties with him.
Star apologized in 2017, but in 2020, he wasaccusedof sexual assault, physical assault, abuse, and payouts to accusers (his attorney denied all allegations). In the wake of these controversies, along with a public feud withJames Charles, helosthundreds of thousands of followers, andhisbrand suffered.
He latermadeanti-nonbinary remarks about “they/them” pronouns being “stupid” and “bullshit,” though he said he was not anti-trans. Today, he is still finding success but has been hindered by the amount of backlash and is a wildly controversial figure.
8.Beauty guru and YouTuber James Charles' careerwasriddled with controversy from the beginning, but things really took a turn when fellow YouTuber Tati Westbrook posted the video “Bye, Sister” in 2019, detailing the breakdown of her friendship with Charles. She also accused him of being sexually manipulative, which Charles denied in a response video. That same month, model Gage Gomez accused Charles of pressuring him into sexual situations. Charles responded onTwitterand said anything that had gone down between the two was consensual and that they’d been talking for many months prior.
Things were shaky for Charles for the next few years, though Westbrook said she had been manipulated into making her initial “Bye, Sister” video against Charles by Jeffree Star andShane Dawson(also, incidentally, on this list). Then, in 2021, Charles was also accused of grooming an underage boy and sending explicit photos on Snapchat. Charles did not deny the messages between the two but did deny knowing the boy’s age was 16. Three more boys came forward claiming inappropriate behavior from Charles, and Charles was fired as the host ofInstant Influencer.
Charles apologized to two victims and said he was unaware of the power dynamics at play while messaging them but denied other allegations. Morphe then cut ties with Charles (though Charles' teamstatedthey requested this), and YouTube temporarily demonetized his videos. He lost up to millions, and his younger brother stopped speaking to him. He attempted a comeback, launching the makeup brand Painted. He still regularly posts YouTube videos, but theyreceivevastly fewer views than in the past. In 2021, hesurpassedJeffree Star as the most disliked beauty YouTuber.
9.Shane Dawson was one of the first major YouTube stars back in the 2000s. After a decade of success, in the 2010s, some of his old videos began to resurface, with fans accusing him of racism and pointing to jokes he had made about pedophilia and animal abuse. He apologized in June 2020, but the damage was done, especiallyafterhe was accused of sexualizingWillow Smithas a minor. Target pulled his books from circulation, and YouTube temporarilydemonetizedDawson’s videos.
Dawson then took a long break from YouTube but returned in late 2021. His videos wereless successfulthan they had been previously. Content with Jeffree Star continues to make Dawson a controversial figure, and he has only postedtwo videosin the last year, though he does have a regularly released podcast.
10.David Dobrik first became famous on Vine, transitioning to a career on YouTube and later a successful podcast. He and his friendscameto be known as “The Vlog Squad” — which made headlines when one member, Dom Zeglaitis, was accused of a rape that reportedly occurred during a night shoot for a video with Dobrik. Zeglaitis was also accused ofother sexually inappropriate conduct.
Another Vlog Squad member, Seth Francois, said he was tricked into kissing a fellow male group member while blindfolded. He later detailed the racist treatment he received as part of the group. Another former member, Nick Keswani, said he was continuously mocked in the group. Fellow influencer Trisha Paytas said while she was dating group member Jason Nash, she was involved in a prank where Dobrik hid while she had sex with Nash and then filmed her naked, which she was unaware of. She said she asked the video not to be posted, but it was.
Dobrik posted a video apologizing to Francois and saying he’d taken a step back from Zeglaitis, and overall saying he was “disappointed by some of [his] friends,” though many found his apologyinsufficient.Multiple companies then distanced themselves from Dobrik, and his subscribers and views on YouTube plummeted. Dobrik apologized again, calling out his last apology video and specifically discussing the accusations against Zeglaitis. He acknowledged “creating an unfair power dynamic,” but the damage was done.
YouTube temporarily demonetized Dobrik’s channel (and Zeglaitis’s), and Dobrik took a break from the platform. However, he returned not long after and again found success. But then former Vlog Squadder Jeff Wittek posted a video describing an injury he received while filming a video for Dobrik and latersuedhim for negligence, reigniting controversy. The lawsuit hasnotyet settled or gone to court.
Dobrikclaimedthat Wittek was aware of all the risks andthatthe stunt was Wittek’s idea. He also called the incident an “accident” and “the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” adding that he wishes he were the one doing the stunt instead. “He got hurt because I was driving,” he said. “That’s it, and I f—ing know that, and like I said, any chance I would get, I would take that back.” Dobrik has not posted on his YouTube channel in two years.
He later moved to Japan, where hecontinuesto post videos. However, he is not as successful as he once was, and wassurpassedas the most subscribed-to channel on YouTube.
12.Australian health influencer Belle Gibsonbecamewell-known online for her diagnosis of terminal brain cancer — which she’d somehow managed to survive through whole foods and alternative therapies. She then created The Whole Pantry App and accompanying book and continued providing wellness content, claiming she was donating much of the money she made to charity. After people began to doubt aspects of her story in 2015, she admitted she had lied about having cancer. She was later fined 410,000 Australian dollars and has largely disappeared from the public eye.
13.TikToker @jorobe (real name: John Robert Bell)blew upon TikTok over his videos calling out other creators and promoting a safe space for young people. Ironically, in 2021, Bell was accused of grooming by TikToker @dylg16, who claimed he had begun a friendship with Bell while underage. He said Bell had asked him to get an Airbnb with him on his 18th birthday and also offered to buy him alcohol. He also claimed Bell had attempted to alienate him from his friends and asked him, along with a group of other young creators, to take a BDSM test. Bell did not respond publicly; instead, he deactivated his TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
14.Caroline Calloway first became popular on Instagram in the 2010s, and as a result, shesolda book proposal she’d written with her friend Natalie Beach. However, when she failed to submit a full manuscript, she made headlines and was ordered to pay back $100,000 to the publisher. At first, it seemed her career might survive, but it all came crashing down in 2019. First, shesoldtickets to a “Creativity Workshop” that was met with backlash over its value, with many comparing it to Fyre Festival.
Later that year, Natalie Beach published an essay with The Cut, exposing her toxic relationship with Calloway, detailing her contributions as Calloway’s collaborator and ghostwriter, and claiming that Calloway had bought followers. In a response, Callowaysaid manyof the things she’d said to Beach were lies and that she’d been a “shitty friend.” She also admitted to buying followers. However, she alsosaidthat Beach did not help her become famous and only assisted with “captions that no one read” and a book proposal “only book editors saw.”
Calloway later embraced the accusations,publishinga book titledScammer(Beach also published a book). This cameaftershe left New York and moved to Florida to focus on writing. She was able to recover with her book, which was well-received, but her reputation has vastly changed. She has promised two more novels; time will tell if they cement her comeback story.
15.Finally, Logan Paul initiallybecamefamous on Vine before transitioning to YouTube. His first significant backlash came in 2017 when he posted a video titled, “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest,” which literally featured a corpse. The video garnered widespread backlash,andYouTube took Paul off its Google Preferred ad tier. Paul took a three-week break from YouTube and then apologized, donating $1 million to suicide prevention. However, he soon posted videos involving tasering dead rats and giving “CPR” to a koi fish, and YouTube pulled all ads from his videos.
Since then, Paul has continued to create content (ads were again allowed on his videos) — and generate controversy — though he’sonly postedsix videos in the last year (most of which hovered around the 1 or 2 million view mark, a significant fall from the views he received during his heyday). He has since ventured into a career in wrestling, but he’s awidelymocked and hated creator.
