Yak Ranchers to ukelele apologies: Where are these cancelled YouTubers now? (2024)

Cancelled YouTubers aren’t really a rare occurrence these days, and apology videos are basically a right of way now. Cast your minds back to the 2010s: Most of the OG creators that dominated the platform are either living quietly off of their fortunes, or hiding in a hole somewhere after a career-destroying mistake.

YouTube in its hayday was a wild place to be. YouTubers were these crazy people with seemingly unlimited pots of money and time to do whatever they wanted: It’s no surprise that nearly 30 per cent of kids between the ages of eight and twelve want to be YouTubers. So, how have so many of them managed to be cancelled beyond the point of ever coming back?

10. David Dobrik

Once upon a time, David Dobrik was one of the biggest creators on YouTube. After skyrocketing on Vine, he jumped over to YouTube, captained the Vlog Squad – his group of friends who were consistently featured in his daily vlogs. He ended up with a net worth of $15 million. But David’s YouTube stunts, which involved many pranks, earned him the reputation of being a bully.

In April 2021, friend of David and Vlog Squad member Jeff Wittek released a five-part video series on his own YouTube channel documenting a June 2020 accident that resulted in the breaking of his face and skull. While shooting David’s comeback vlog after a year-long break, Wittek and a group of Vlog Squad members went wakeboarding, where they were pulled by David, who was filming at the same time. When it was Wittek’s turn, Dobrik raised the line high which caused Wittek to slam into the side of the excavator. He fell down into shallow water while still attached to the line.

Wittek justified his willingness to participate in the doc: “I just jumped out of a plane 20 times. What’s the worst that could happen if I swing from a rope over a one foot deep lake?” But then he added, “I didn’t know I was going to go that fast. So I grabbed the f*****g rope and I tried to make a goddamn funny video for people, but this is where I made a mistake. I forgot that the biggest f*****g idiot I know was driving it.”

Where is David now?

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That was the beginning of the end for David and his career. He hasn’t posted a video in two years, but still has a whopping 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 10 million Instagram followers. While his days of vlogging are over, he is currently running a pizza business called Doughbriks.

9. Nikita Dragun

Nikita Dragun is a beauty YouTuber who has collabed with many brands and launched her own cosmetics line in 2019.

Throughout her career, she was accused of blackfishing, (darkening her skin to appear racially ambiguous). She was criticised for cultural appropriation after wearing box braids to New York Fashion Week. She also posted the controversial tweet: “What race is Nikita gonna be today?”

She wreaked irreversible damage onto her career during the pandemic, when she was regularly spotted in public without a mask. She was accused of being irresponsible and went on to attend and host parties with other influencers regardless of public health and safety guidelines.

Where is Nikita now?

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Nikita hasn’t posted on YouTube in three years, but is still posting influencer style content on her Instagram. She keeps a small internet presence now.

8. Gabbie Hanna

Gabbie Hanna was always considered one of the more irritating creators on YouTube for constantly inserting herself into other people’s drama. She’s had many a scandal, such as promoting terrible makeup brushes and accusing Trisha Paytas of having herpes which is insane.

Her biggest scandal was when she remained friends with her friend’s ex-boyfriend Curtis Lepore, who plead guilty to felony assault. She was branded a “rape apologist” by many fans and her series of apology videos didn’t land well with anyone. It’s safe to say that she is most definitely still cancelled.

Where is Gabbie now?

Gabbie Hanna’s career trajectory was not one I could have predicted. She seems to have strayed from the YouTube bubble and now dedicates her social media to religious preaching and worship, which is quite the turn from her previous content. She also posts a lot of singing videos, so an album of worship songs could be on the horizon.

7. Jaystation

Jaystation was one of the most unhinged YouTubers of his time. He hasn’t been relevant in about three years, and after his insane lineup of actions, it’s not hard to see why. He stole content, disrespected the dead, and had some absolutely insane video ideas.

In a long string of videos, he faked his girlfriend’s death and then supposedly resurrected her. This was around the same time he was bragging about buying “gay potions” and “ordering slaves from the dark web at 3am.” In 2021, his channel was removed by YouTube for violating guidelines.

Where is Jaystation now?

Jaystation seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. He has no posts on his Instagram, and no YouTube presence. Most YouTubers make an apology video and move on, but now it seems he’s officially cancelled past the point of no return. Maybe all those dark web videos finally caught up to him…

6. Tati Westbrook

For a moment in time, Tati was the reigning queen of MUA YouTubers. She was like a mother on the platform and always seemed so genuine: She never got involved in drama which was rife throughout the 2010s.

All hell broke loose in May 2019. Tati released her Bye Sister video, which was originally the total cancelling of 19 year-old MUA James Charles. She accused him of being a sexual predator who went for straight, underage boys. After James debunked her allegations in a response video, No More Lies, Tati deleted her video and disappeared from the internet.

A year later she returned, saying she was manipulaed by the extremely controversial figures Jeffree Starr and Shane Dawson but has never quite recovered from the scandal.

Where is Tati now?

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Although Tati still has a large following, it’s hardly true that she’s still relevant: We’re talking two million followers, five thousand likes. She’s still making MUA content, and her Halo Beauty brand is still selling products. She’s definitely not on the level of fame that she used to be, but is still able to make a career being an influencer after everything that went down.

5. Logan Paul

Logan Paul is probably the longest reigning controversial character on YouTube, and the worst part is that he’s still posting regularly. His controversies included racist tweets, tasering dead rats, saying he’d “go gay for a month” and lassoing women, but none of them come close to the suicide forest video. It shook YouTube irreversibly, and actually contributed to the rise of commentary YouTube channels because so many people were outraged by it.

Where is Logan now?

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Logan has been uploading videos on all platforms, and even getting involved in the boxing world. He has fought boxing legends such as Floyd Mayweather. And of course, he’s still in a fictional squabble with his brother. The scariest thing is probably that he’s expecting a baby. Good for him I guess?

4. Colleen Ballinger

Colleen Ballinger was accused of being inappropriate with young fans in a number of ways, such as mistreating fans on stage, using sexually suggestive video titles associated with minors and messaging younger fans, as well as racism and queer-baiting. Basically, there’s nothing she hasn’t been accused of, despite being such a staple of the 2010s YouTube community. She even had a Netflix show!

Where is Colleen now?

Colleen now seems to be living the mommy vlogger life in an attempt to rebrand herself. She gets a fraction of the views she used to and has lost a significant amount of her subscribers.

3. Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star was one of the highest paid YouTubers with a net worth of around $200 million despite literally being cancelled. He’s a makeup artist and founder of Jefree Star Cosmetics and was heavily involved in the Tati Westbrook/James Charles drama. He publicly supported Tati until she came for him in a statement a year later.

He’s also been accused of being racist many times, and his company have allegedly paid thousands in hush money to victims of assault by Star, however this has never been proved.

What is Jeffree up to now?

Jeffree is apparently living out his dreams as a yak rancher in Wyoming. I don’t even know if I’m surprised, because this is exactly the type of thing he’d do. He’s still releasing makeup through Jeffree Star Cosmetics though, which, despite the owner, is a brilliant makeup line.

2. James Charles

YouTube controversy? No matter what it is, James Charles has been there. His career seemed to be skyrocketing to great levels after he became the first male CoverGirl and appeared on Ellen. His YouTube channel hit 25 million subscribers and it seemed like he was on top of the world.

But, it all came crashing down after Tati Westbrook did irreversible damage to his career in her Bye Sister video. He seemed to come out on top of this drama though, and regained most of his lost followers and public opinion.

Unfortunately, James just couldn’t stay out of trouble: In 2021, he was accused by multiple underage boys of grooming.

Where is James now?

Since his scandal, Morphe has cut ties with James, but he’s still posting videos. Although, his net worth is still $22 million so it’s hard to say that he’s lost it all.

However, he seems to be leaning into his controversial side and regularly makes self-deprecating content. The viral video of him singing bring me a little water now at a tragic meet and greet did rounds on TikTok earlier in the year, and he capitalised on it by releasing his new single, Bring Me Water. I think he’s just decided to not take life too seriously anymore.

1. Shane Dawson

Shane Dawson’s career was the ultimate fall from grace. The YouTube documentary maker seemed to be on top of the world: I remember tuning in to his videos straight after school. He averaged around 20-30 MILLION views per video, which was just unheard of at the time, and made many videos that offered insider content about other big YouTube names such as Jake Paul and Jeffree Star.

His life was basically over in June 2020 when videos and recordings of Shane in blackface, using racial slurs, joking about pedophilia and engaging with sexual acts with his cat surfaced online. There was NO coming back from that.

He also got involved with the Tati/James drama which did not help him at all. It seemed to be one accusation after another.

He ended up having a breakdown on a livestream. Afterwards, hemade an apology video that nobody took well, and to make matters worse for him, Jaden Smith accused him of sexualising his younger sister Willow Smith who was 11 years old at the time.

Where is Shane Dawson now?

Like Jaystation, Shane has disappeared from the internet. There have been a sightings since 2020, but his social anxiety combined with his worldwide damnation keep his profile pretty low. His fall is one of the craziest of all time on the platform.

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