David Dobrik has posted an apology video titled ‘Lets Talk’ to his VIEWS podcast YouTube channel. In the 2 minute and 31 second long video, Dobrik addresses allegations made against him and the Vlog Squad – which include racism, bullying and sexual assault.
The allegations exploded on social media after former Vlog Squad members – BigNik and Seth Francois – revealed in H3H3’s After Dark Podcast how awfully they were treated by Dobrik and his friends. BigNik – who has dwarfism – revealed that he felt “depressed” and was treated like a “punching bag” by the Vlog Squad – both on and off camera: he also revealed that his height was a constant subject of ridicule and that Vlog Squad members Jason Nash and Scotty Sire were the only ones genuinely nice to him.
Seth Francois’s accusations – on the other hand – are a lot more severe: not only has he called out Dobrik for his racist content but he has also filed sexual assault allegations against Jason Nash – who he was tricked into making out with by Dobrik.
In his apology video, Dobrik publicly apologized to Seth for his behaviour:
“There’s also been moments where I’ve looked back on videos – and I realize that these don’t represent me anymore, and they’re hurtful to other people, and I don’t want them up because I’ve grown as a content creator and as a person and I don’t agree with some of the videos I’ve posted. With the Seth situation, I’m sorry to Seth because – like I said – I just want to make videos where everybody in it – whether you’re participating or watching – is enjoying and having a good time and I missed the mark with that one, and I’m really sorry. I truly, truly am”.
Dobrik also stressed that his aim is to create content that brings people joy and that consent to participate in his videos is extremely important to him:
“Consent is something that’s super super important to me, whether I’m shooting with a friend or shooting with a stranger. I always make sure that whatever video I’m putting out – I have the approval from that person. I also acknowledge that there’s times where a person can change their mind and they decide that they no longer want to be in the video that I’m putting up, and then I’ll take the video down”.
Additionally, Dobrik addressed allegations against former Vlog Squad member Durte Dom – who is being accused of sexually assaulting a girl the night Dobrik filmed a video. Moreover – Durte Dom’s sexual assault allegations have caused Dobrik to lose 100,000 subscribers within a day.
“With people in my life that I don’t film with anymore, like Dom, I chose to distance myself. I don’t align with some of the actions, I don’t stand for any misconduct. I’ve been really disappointed by some of my friends. For that reason, I’ve separated from a lot of them”.
Dobrik ended the video by stating that he has learned from his mistakes and will prove to his viewers that he has changed by not making the same errors again in the future.
Do you think Dobrik’s apology is sufficient?