Shane Dawson causes stir with Instagram return amid recent controversies

To the shock of fans across the web, Shane Dawson has one again made a brief return to social media after ceasing to post on all platforms after an explosive chain of events followed his ‘Taking Accountability’ apology video in June.

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Shane Dawson initially stopped posting on social media in early July after a backlash to an apology video he uploaded to YouTube – wherein he addressed his use of racial stereotyping and blackface among other offensive jokes – shed light on other issues from his past such as his past comments about children and inappropriate sexual jokes.

Around this time, Tati Westbrook also uploaded a follow-up to her infamous ‘Bye Sister’ video wherein she accused Dawson of manipulating her and telling her “poisonous lies” about Charles in order to get him out the way before the launch of his and Jeffree Star’s Conspiracy palette.

As a result of these scandals, Dawson lost over 400,000 YouTube subscribers and even had his makeup line removed by Morphe. Since then, with the exception of a brief post last month wishing fiancé Ryland Adams luck with a new presenting role, he has remained silent on social media.

However, on November 1, Dawson posted a series of photos to commemorate the 1-year release of his Conspiracy palette. Gushing over Jeffree Star, he thanked the makeup mogul for “believing in him” and describes the release of the palette as “one of the best moments of his life”.

Reflecting on various aspects of the day, he also thanked makeup artist Lipstick Nick before closing the part of the story by saying: “Sorry for all the pics. Just being emotional and sentimental tonight.”

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Providing hope to fans on an eventual social media return, he also said: “I’ll be back soon, I promise”.

He also took the opportunity to encourage fans to vote during the elections, before sharing his teddy bear statue collection and referencing that he’s had a “rough year”.

Fans had very mixed reactions to Dawson’s return to social media. With many of them telling Dawson to “stay off the internet”,  one Twitter user said: “Anyone else feel like this a big ‘Hey guys I know everyone hates me but I just wanted to remind everyone I am rich and still gross ok bye’ “.

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Reminding people of Dawson’s misdeeds, another Twitter user said: “He legit rubbed his face on a dogs crotch and kissed a child on the lips at a fan meet up along with so much more (no hate to you but I don’t know how people support him)”.

Referencing Dawson’s quip about having a “rough year”, a further Twitter user said: “Not Shane still playing the poor pitiful him role saying he had a rough year. We all have had a rough year this year. Tone deaf to talk about buying statues because of it when people are struggling to pay rent, buy food because of the pandemic”.

Other fans were more wistful, with one Twitter fan saying “I can’t wait for Shane to come back to social media”, while another fan said: “I love him and I’ve missed him. I hope he comes back with on own terms. When ever it is”.

Fans will have to wait and see what Shane Dawson’s promised ‘return’ would actually entail.