Shane Dawson apologizes for past pedophilic comments and wearing blackface but livid Internet isn't buying it
Shane Dawson has been trending on Twitter for an apology video he uploaded on his YouTube channel. In the video, he addressed all his past mistakes — racism, his Twitter rant from last week, and his problematic podcasts that glorified murder fantasies and child molestation.
Two days ago, YouTuber Jenna Marbles quit the community after apologizing for using blackface and impersonating Nicki Minaj in the past. Admitting to being inspired by her tearful apology, Dawson put up a 20-minute video on his channel with him addressing instances where he used blackface and appropriated other cultures in a bid to be funny.
"I am going to start with all the racism I put on to the internet — as an adult, not as a child. I was at least 20 when I started YouTube and I made the decision to play stereotypes — Black people, Asian people, or Mexicans or pretty much every race. I made that decision I said oh that's funny and I put it on the internet," said Dawson. He also admitted to using blackface "a lot" on his channel and added that he is "sorry for normalization of blackface and saying the 'N' word". He then apologized to YouTuber Franchesca Ramsey who called him out in the past over his videos and admitted that his audience had said a lot of "racist things" to her. He also apologized for his podcast from five years ago where he spoke about murder fantasies, which a lot of people on Twitter thought was him talking about Franchesca. Dawson admitted that the video was not for her but for another white woman who pointed out that what he was putting on the internet was hurting people.
He also addressed his comments on a 2013 podcast where he spoke about googling the term "naked baby". He had apologized for the same in 2018 after the internet called him out for being a pedophile and again addressed it in the video that was uploaded on June 27, 2020. "I swear on my life. I am not somebody who would ever talk about a child in seriousness. I would never talk about a child in any way that was inappropriate. That was disgusting. That was something I did for shock value or did it because I thought it was funny or like oh my god my child molester character or whatever that was all gross. I promise that was not real. That was not me. Have I done sketches where kids were saying crazy things? Yes. Do I regret it? Yes," he said.
Last week, he wrote a lengthy note highlighting everything that is wrong in the beauty community while announcing he was quitting the space for good. In the now-deleted note, he also said that beauty YouTuber James Charles needed to be humbled. Addressing his rant on Twitter, he said, "It was a huge mess in every single way. So part of the Twitter note that I regret more than anything in my life is where I say James deserves a slice of humble pie. I feel like that note had so much anger in it. I want to apologize. I am sorry James."
He had also received a lot of flak for staying friends with Jeffree Star who is notorious for his racist past. Addressing the same, Dawson said, "I am aware I am friends with some people who have done some bad things on the internet. I don't condone it, I don't cosign it and that is something I have always addressed with them privately." He ended the video saying he would do better and not promote any negativity through any medium going forward. However, the internet is not buying any of it.
Calling him out for using the "depression card" one person tweeted, "YouTubers like Shane Dawson really have a cute, quirky way of victimizing themselves! He really tried to use the depression card. I've dealt with depression on top of autism and never once did I do blackface or make pedophilic comments!!!" While another tweeted, "It’s funny how I don’t even have to click on Shane Dawson's name trending to know it has something to do with his racism lol." Another tweeted, "Ok this is pissing me off and I need to get this off my chest To all the white people that are forgiving Shane for all the racist skits he’s made: THE APOLOGY WASN’T FOR YOU. #shanedawson." One more said, "Taking accountability = making excuses and deflecting all criticism."
One more said, "As soon as someone 'explains' why they did whatever action in an apology they lose me. You can’t take accountability and at the same time be like but my age! But my mental health! But my environment. Say it with me folks 'You’re not taking accountability if you make excuses'."