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David Dobrik to giveaway 5 Teslas to boost voter registration, Internet jokes 'scam artist or just a nice guy'

This isn't Dobrik's first car giveaway. The ‘Vlog Squad’ creator partnered with companies to present around 20 cars to fans so far, which include Mercedeses, BMWs, and even Teslas. Many were happy he was making good use of his platform

On Tuesday, September 29, Slovak Youtuber David Dobrik was trending on Twitter. And it had yet again, to do with a Tesla giveaway. On Instagram, he announced, “Hi!! HeadCount and I are giving away 5 Teslas to you guys!! All you have to do is share this to your story, tag a friend in the comments and make sure you’re good to vote at my link in bio!! Winners will be announced Monday. Good luck!! @headcountorg No purchase or reg necessary.” The last time he had announced a Tesla giveaway was in July for his birthday.

HeadCount, as per its website, is a “non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. We reach young people and music fans where they already are -- at concerts and online -- to inform and empower.” The organization supposedly stages nonpartisan voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborates with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, HeadCount claims to have signed up over 600,000 voters through their work with touring musicians like Ariana Grande, Dead & Company, and Beyoncé and events like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Pride Festivals, and RuPaul’s DragCon.

Some fans seemed enamored with this gesture. One fan wrote, “David Dobrik is too good for this world. He is giving away 5 Teslas to people who register to vote. And yet he’s not even an American citizen.” another twitter user said, “This!!!! This right here is using your platform and can I just say he is not an American citizen!! And David Dobrik is using his platform to tell ppl to vote.” One person wrote on Twitter, “At this point, I don’t know if David Dobrik is a scam artist or just a really nice guy.

On that point, the ‘Vlog Squad’ creator and star, who has more than 16.6 million subscribers, and has partnered with companies (notably SeatGeek) to present around 20 cars to fans so far, which include Mercedes, BMWs, and even Teslas. But many were annoyed with the giveaway. “Unpopular opinion but I think David Dobrik should stop doing Tesla giveaways... I’m tired of seeing people from my school who can’t even drive post it on their IG story,” wrote a Twitter user. Another Twitter user said, “brb not checking Instagram for the next week to save myself from all the David Dobrik Tesla stories being posted.” Yet another person said, “David Dobrik needs to stop giving away tesla’s so i can stop seeing people share it all over Instagram.”

This giveaway was also another opportunity for people to remind of his sketchy past. “Not y'all forgetting David Dobrik is racist again,” wrote a Twitter user. Another said, “David Dobrik every time he does a tesla give away and sees people talking about how nice he is instead of how racist he is.” One Twitter user pointed out, “since david dobrik is trending, it’s a good time to remember that he hasn’t apologized for his racist and misogynistic past. I will never like him and soon his world is gonna come tumbling down.”

Back in July, Dobrik apologized after receiving massive backlash for some of his old videos. Clips of Dobrik using the n-word and being racially insensitive towards Black people resurfaced and several people called him out. In his podcast ‘VIEWS with David Dobrik and Jason Nash’, the Youtuber spoke for over two minutes about the Black Lives Matter movement and his past. He said in the 700 videos he and Nash have made together, his intention has always been to make people laugh.

Dobrik also received backlash for an old video he and his ex-girlfriend Liza Koshy filmed in 2016, where they tried Japanese candy and mocked Asian accents. “It's not racist, that's like the sounds I hear when they talk,” Dobrik said in the video, while Koshy said, “It’s not racist as long as I keep saying no.”

Dobrik, however, in his apology did not address the specific criticisms directly. He made a statement about attending the Black Lives Matter protests and what it was like to receive DMs about supporting the movement. “That's when I realized, holy s***, there are people who are seriously looking up to me for things more than just something goofy,” he said. “I think for a while I was just kind of like, I'm the goofball, that's what I am." He added that he was “ashamed and embarrassed” by some of his past videos and Vines.