David Dobrik pays for childhood friend’s $60,000 hip surgery

YouTube star David Dobrik has officially made his return to vlogging, and amidst the internet-wide debate surrounding his comeback, he changed the life of a childhood friend in a huge way.

David Dobrik’s return to YouTube hasn’t gone without controversy; the vlogger took several months off content creation earlier this year after former Vlog Squad members spoke out about mistreatment and being pressured into uncomfortable — and sometimes dangerous — situations for his high-flying pranks.

While Dobrik has since resumed his regular vlogging (several lost sponsors and hundreds of thousands of lost subscribers later), his return hasn’t exactly been a warm welcome from everyone… but that didn’t put a damper on a huge plan he had in store for one of his friends.

On June 29, Dobrik uploaded a vlog detailing his plot to move three of his close childhood friends from their hometown to Los Angeles, after they purportedly claimed they were trying to move to the big city. (It’s worth noting that Dobrik also bought them a house to live in together in winter 2019.)

To distract his friends and pull off the surprise, Dobrik flew them to LA under the premise of a “fake job interview,” while assistant Natalie cleaned out their old house and packed their bags.

Once in Los Angeles, Dobrik dropped a huge surprise on one of his friends, Alex, who had been afflicted by a rare infection that affected his hip when he was younger. This condition has prevented him from walking properly for the past twelve years.

Thanks to a new surgery, Alex and others with similar conditions are able to walk without an impairment — but it comes with a hefty price tag.

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Luckily, Dobrik — in partnership with Triller and the Aryana Healthcare Foundation — raised $60,000 for the procedure, which he gifted to his friend in an emotional segment near the end of his latest vlog.

Before letting the waterworks flow, Alex let off a humorous jab fitting for the chaotic energy of Dobrik’s videos: “Finally!”

In wake of Dobrik’s latest upload, viewers brought up another video of his from 2016, where the vlogger explained the story behind the infection that afflicted Alex.

Dobrik claimed that, when they were kids, he’d thrown a pinecone at Alex. The pinecone allegedly struck Aelx’s eye, sparking a staph infection that “ended up eating the bone marrow in his hip.”

In a way, it seems somewhat fitting that Dobrik would be the one to foot the bill for his friend’s surgery after this video was brought back up, prompting further discussion around his behavior across social media in the process.