Former YouTuber Shane Dawson says his career is “over”

During a surprise appearance in fiancé Ryland Adams’ vlog,  Shane Dawson made reference to his troubled year following the resurfacing of some of his old YouTube content.

Appearing towards the end of Ryland’s video, the two can be seen out on a shopping trip. Eyeing up a large plastic red horse, Shane quipped: “I know that I’m weird, and I know that my career’s over and I know I’m that crazy guy who buys weird toys.”

Several fans were unimpressed with Dawson’s blasé attitude toward his past controversies. As one former fan on Twitter put it: “The sh*t he’s done is really serious. And yet… He’s essentially just laughing it off. I used to be a big fan of him. Now I feel kinda… Shamed almost.”

Agreeing with these sentiments, a second Twitter user added: “Why is he acting like what he did was quirky and funny. He did some seriously f***ed up stuff…”

Another fan questioned Shane’s intentions with this comment, accusing him of seeking pity: “Maybe it’s just me, but this feels EXTREMELY manipulative. I can picture him writing out these pity talking points, & then, writing a list of possible responses that he thinks his words with illicit from actual empathetic people.”

Shane Dawson’s lucrative YouTube empire came crumbling down in July 2020, where the backlash to an apology video he posted led to some of his old skits resurfacing, which included content like blackface, racial stereotyping, and other topics that don’t fly as comedy in 2021. Although he has posted sporadically on his Instagram since the backlash, he has largely remained silent on other social media.

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Shane has most recently been called out by Trisha Paytas, a fellow YouTuber and his former friend of twelve years. Recounting a trip to Las Vegas with “mean girls” Jeffree Star and HairByJay, Paytas revealed in a YouTube video that she was body-shamed and ridiculed throughout the trip.

With Dawson staying predictably silent on the drama, Paytas criticized him for constantly “promoting” Star and, allegedly, speaking poorly about Trisha himself. “This is someone I’ve never lied to and never said one bad word about for twelve years,” she said. “I find out every day, more and more nasty s**t he said about me.”

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She added: “It just goes to show what horrible human beings they are. They think that if they don’t address stuff, it just goes away. And that is the truth because a lot of people won’t have to take accountability for their actions and for being a s**tty person because the internet forgets stuff and the drama moves on.”