Some YouTube stars have squeaky clean records and ultra-promising futures as top influencers.
But on the other hand, there are a massive amount of YouTube stars whose success has
been irreversibly overshadowed by controversy.
Whether they were dropped from major deals or labeled as social outcasts as a result
of their actions, here are the YouTube stars who killed their careers in a matter of seconds.
Logan Paul
YouTube sensation Logan Paul is notorious for doing all kinds of extreme stunts, but
he crossed the line in December 2017.
He reportedly uploaded a video that showed a deceased body hanging from a tree in Japan,
which immediately drew harsh criticism and worldwide condemnation from fans.
"Logan Paul is in some hot water after he posted video allegedly showing the body of
a person who recently committed suicide"
He later apologized, saying he was trying to raise awareness for mental health, but
as of early 2018, the stunt still hasn't quite blown over.
Then, weeks later, Paul uploaded a disturbing video of himself zapping rats with a taser
gun.
As a result of Paul's repeated behavior, YouTube temporarily suspended his ad revenue, proving
everyone was temporarily fed up with his antics.
Jeffree Star
He's been blasted for making several racist comments over the years, and has even feuded
with mega-beauty moguls like Kat Von D and Kim Kardashian.
But when Jeffree Star slammed Kylie Jenner's Kylie Cosmetics line, it was the final nail
in his coffin.
Star has feuded with Jenner since at least 2016, but in December 2017, he called out
the lip kit queen over her new makeup brush set, suggesting that her team had been "lazy"
and had constructed the brushes out of "animal hair."
Two months later, in February 2018, Star revealed that Jenner had taken him off her Kylie Cosmetics
press list as a result of his comments.
Didn't anyone tell him that there aren't any limits to what the Kardashians can do?
PewDiePie
While he was already on thin ice after he used anti-Semitic language and Nazi propaganda
in his posts, fans were highly disappointed when Pewdiepie used the N-word during a live
stream in 2017.
According to Variety, the vlogger was playing an opponent in Player Unknown's Battlegrounds
when he yelled the obscenity.
On September 12, 2017, he posted an apology to his channel, saying,
"It was something I said in the heat of the moment."
"I'm not going to make any excuses as to why it did, because there are no excuses for it."
With a following in the tens of millions, his comments we're mostly forgiven by his
fanbase.
But with mainstream media companies cutting all ties to Pewdiepie as a result of the two
incidents, it seems like the end of his dreams for a career beyond YouTube.
Veronica Rose and Jason Sampson
When they uploaded this pic to Twitter in 2017, Veronica Rose and Jason Sampson caught
heavy backlash for their hairstyles — especially because Sampson had captioned the pic:
"2 years of Cultural Appropriating."
Users fired back by pointing out the fact that black people continue to be stigmatized
for wearing locs, and others straight-up deemed the two as racist and insensitive.
To make matters worse, they refused to apologize.
In a YouTube video, Sampson maintained:
"It's such an absurd thing to be outraged about."
And according to Teen Vogue, Rose claimed that she wasn't racist, but also refused to
acknowledge that black people are discriminated against for wearing locs, which was more than
enough of a reason for fans to leave them in dust.
Sam Pepper
Sam Pepper has been embroiled in various controversies over the years: On September 20, 2014, the
YouTuber posted a video that showed him pinching the bottoms of unsuspecting women.
The video attracted so much heat, YouTube removed it just two days later.
Despite his claim that the video was a prank, it sparked a series of sexual misconduct claims
against Pepper, which he denied.
He was also reportedly banned from attending Playlist Live, a major networking event for
YouTube stars.
Though you might think that Pepper would've learned his lesson, in 2015, he uploaded another
"prank" where a man was led to believe that his best friend had been shot in front of
him.
The stunt saddled him with even more backlash, including calls to have his channel deleted.
As of early 2018, Pepper's still active on YouTube, but he's definitely less popular
than he used to be.
Patrick Starrr
Patrick Starrr has amassed more than 3 million followers on YouTube, but in August 2017,
when he posted an Instagram debuting a curly afro that he said was inspired by Solange's
chic wedding look, his followers weren't having it.
According to Business Insider, some fans claimed that the hairstyle was his attempt at being
black, which ultimately led to Starrr issuing an apology to the black community via Twitter,
saying: "I want to apologize for offending anyone with my hairstyle last night.
I wanted to celebrate a beautiful hairstyle inspired by Solange…
I am not in any way claiming to be black.
I am Filipino and accepting and I hope we can all celebrate beauty/diversity all together."
But the damage had already been done.
Nicole Arbour
Nicole Arbour's "Dear Fat People" video was an epic fail.
Many of her followers accused her of fat-shaming, which she brushed off, insisting that it was
"not a thing."
But director Pat Mills, who had reportedly hired Arbour to choreograph his then-upcoming
flick, Don't Talk to Irene, thought otherwise.
He even told Zap 2 It that he'd fired Arbour from the production, saying,
"'Dear Fat People' is an unfunny and cruel fat-shaming video that guises itself about
being about 'health.'
It's fat-phobic and awful."
Though Arbour shot back with a tweet declaring that she hadn't been a part of any production,
we can guess that it was just her attempt at saving face.
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