David Dobrik loses sponsors after leaving Dispo following sexual assault allegations by Vlog Squad member
After Seth Francois, a former member of YouTuber David Dobrik’s content creator group Vlog Squad, accused the YouTuber last month of planning a sexual assault against him a number of companies have severed ties with the latter.
The sponsors who presently want nothing to do with Dobrik include DoorDash, HelloFresh, EA Sports, and Dollar Shave Club. All hell broke loose when Francois became the subject of a ‘prank’ video in which he was told he would be receiving a kiss from model Corinna Kopf. However, 'Corinna' actually turned out to be a 45-year-old comedian Jason Nash in disguise. This led Francois to claim that he was "touched by someone [he] did not consent to."
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This was followed by another alleged victim, who claimed that she had been pressured to drink by the Vlog Squad, and forced to participate in a threesome without her consent. She opened up about how she was sexually assaulted by a Vlog Squad member Dom Zeglitis. The woman alleged that Dobrik was present during the assault and that he filmed her before using the footage for a consensual "threesome plot" in his vlog.
On Sunday, March 21, Dobrik announced that he would be stepping down from the board of Dispo, a photo-sharing app he helped create. On the same day, venture capital firm Spark Capital, which was a major sponsor in Dispo’s $20 million financings last month, announced via tweet that it had made the decision to "sever all ties" from Dispo "in light of recent news." "In light of recent news about the Vlog Squad and David Dobrik, the cofounder of Dispo, we have made the decision to sever all ties with the company," they said. "We have stepped down from our position on the board and we are in the process of making arrangements to ensure we do not profit from our recent investment in Dispo."
1/ In light of recent news about the Vlog Squad and David Dobrik, the cofounder of Dispo, we have made the decision to sever all ties with the company.
— Spark Capital (@sparkcapital) March 22, 2021
SeatGeek, which is a Ticket-selling service and a prominent sponsor of Dobrik, told Insider that it took the allegations against Dobrik and the Vlog Squad "very seriously," adding that it was "closely monitoring the situation and reviewing internally how we want to proceed." In the light of Dobrik's deteriorating business relationship with major brands, his net worth could soon see a serious decline.
David Dobrik's net worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Dobrik is estimated to be worth $20 million as of 2021. Most of his fortune was made off his YouTube channels, where he has over 20 million subscribers. However, partnerships with various brands also form a huge chunk of his profits.
In 2020, Dobrik earned $15.5 million making him the ninth highest-earning YouTuber last year, Forbes reported. He has previously admitted that he was earning $275,000 per month from ads on his YouTube channel as of November 2019. However, the amount took a serious hit following "Adpocalypse," where a number of advertisers pulled their sponsorships from the platform.
Dobrik had initially started his social media career through the now-defunct Vine. At the time, he earned between $1,500 and $2,000, through his early creations on the short-clip sharing app featuring highlights of different sporting events. Starting comedic content on the platform became a game-changer for him.
Eventually, he got together with his fellow comedy Vine personalities in what would later be called the Vlog Squad. That is when he transitioned to being a full-time content creator on YouTube. Currently, he has two channels on the video-sharing platform. The YouTuber also rakes in some money from his thriving merch line. He also co-founded Dispo, which raised money from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s VC firm Seven Seven Six and celebrity investors Sofia Vergara and The Chainsmokers.