David Dobrik trends after showing off new Iron Man suit, Internet disappointed it's not about racist past
On Saturday, July 18, Slovak Youtuber David Dobrik was trending on Twitter. Many, however, seemed to be disappointed with the reason why.
Dobrik, on Saturday, tweeted a video of himself wearing an Iron Man costume. In the video, he seemed happy about it and mentioned several times that this was “f***ing sick”. He captioned the video, “I waited three months for this to come in the mail hahahah.”
While this video and tweet were innocuous, many seemed unhappy that it was the reason for his name trending -- and not the fact that he has used racist language in videos in the past. A Twitter user wrote about this, “I thought David Dobrik was trending because y’all were gonna hold him accountable for saying racist jokes and the n-word but it’s about a stupid Iron Man suit.”
Another wrote, “The fact that David Dobrik is trending over this... Did everyone forget his racist past? And don’t even get me started on his s***ty apology.” Yet another user wrote, “Are people going to forget David Dobrik made racist comments and jokes just because he bought a f***ing Iron Man suit?” More people expressed similar sentiments about the issue.
Earlier this month, 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.
“I want them to have a positive experience when they interact with anything I produce,” he said. “And with that being said, I feel like on a handful of occasions I just missed the mark on that, and that really bums me out.”
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.”
Following the backlash, Koshy issued a lengthy apology on her Instagram page. She wrote, “While we focus on systemic anti-Black racism in our country, I've been hesitant to center my voice. My work has been within but I now recognize and take responsibility for the times I was not the ally I am becoming today. Being anti-racist requires a personal reckoning, and I can’t in good faith continue to use my platform for progress without taking accountability myself.”
“I am taking inventory, taking initiative and taking note that my impact and influence will weigh greater than my intention,” she continued. “What I once thought of as ‘innocent jokes’ were actually tainted with implicit bias, and what might have been intended as ‘playful’ was actually to some, incredibly painful. And for that, I am so sorry.”
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
“I genuinely feel awful about it," he said. "And I'm going to do better actively, and I'm going to do that consistently, and you have my word for that and I promise that. And if I'm anything, I'm a man of my word.”
“If there's a kid who saw something from me that didn't make them feel welcomed or just made them feel uncomfortable, then I'm sorry,” he said. “I did not ever mean to make anybody feel out of place. I genuinely just want to make you have a good time and I'm going to do that from here on out. I'm going to do a better job at it.”
Even then, Dobrik’s apology did not satisfy people. A Twitter user wrote in its aftermath, “Sorry if y'all don't like to hear it but that David Dobrik apology was not it! First of all, he did it on his podcast? Like sir, you have a huge a** following on both YouTube and Instagram. Why did you even think that those three minutes of your podcast would have been enough?”