Shane Dawson hints at YouTube return after long break following controversies

YouTube OG Shane Dawson has been absent from the platform for nearly a year after undergoing intense criticism for his past content — but a recent community post may hint at his upcoming return.

Shane Dawson was one of YouTube’s first uber-popular content creators, best known for his comedic skits and later for his feature-length documentary series. However, in early 2020, Dawson found himself facing the ire of the internet over his older videos and podcast episodes.

From telling a seriously weird story about his pet cat to making inappropriate comments about a young Willow Smith and coming up with racist caricatures for his skits, many of Dawson’s past videos were put under the microscope, causing him to release a viral apology video addressing the matter.

However, the outrage continued to rise after Tati Westbrook accused him of orchestrating the drama surrounding James Charles in summer 2019, leading Dawson to step away from the internet indefinitely.

Nearly a year later, Dawson may have hinted at a comeback to content creation, as told in a March 24 community post on his secondary YouTube channel, Shane Glossin’.

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“Sorry I haven’t been online in a while,” he wrote. “Just been taking time for my mental health. But I’ve been getting creative and editing again! It’s been really fun. Check out Ryland’s new video that I edited. I’m really proud of it.”

This isn’t the first time Dawson has teased a comeback; he appeared in fiancé Ryland Adam’s YouTube video in February, a month prior to his latest community post, where he laughingly said, “I know that I’m weird, and I know that my career’s over.”

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While Dawson has made the occasional social media post now and then in wake of the drama, this appears to be the first major stride he’s taken toward a proper return, although the response to his comeback has been decidedly negative among commenters.

For now, all users can do is wait and see if Dawson really does return to YouTube, or if the vehement response to his latest post will make him think twice about uploading content again.