YouTuber RageNineteen accused of sexual assault and grooming

Longtime YouTuber and animator RageNineteen has been accused of sexual assault by Rachel Kiki, a creator, and member of the YouTube community.

On Tuesday, April 6, Rachel, now 22-years-old, posted on Twitter detailing allegations against Jamie Spicer-Lewis, known on YouTube as RageNineteen.

33-year-old Jamie is a British YouTuber and animator with over 200,000 subscribers. He is well-known for his contributions to the viral asdfmovies, posted by YouTuber TomSka (Thomas Ridgewell), which have amassed hundreds of millions of views.

Jamie was also part of the group of creators behind Eddsworld, a popular series of animations, comics, and games created by the late Edd Gould, which was created in 2003 and still continues.

In a statement on Twitter, Rachel revealed her experiences with Jamie Spicer-Lewis, first saying that it had taken her a long time to come to terms with the events and that she had turned to substances in the past few years to cope.

Rachel explained that she met the YouTuber in 2015, when she was 15, becoming friends and then developing into more just after Rachel had turned 16, when Jamie was 28. She said, “the power dynamic lay not only in the age difference but in the fact that I looked up to him.”

Warning: The statement includes descriptions of sexual assault.

She said that the relationship soon turned physical. She alleges troubling behaviors including heavy drinking, sending images of self-harm, manipulation, and soliciting private images. She also said that he raped her.

As a result, Rachel said she suffered mentally, withdrawing from friends and family, and attempting to look after the YouTuber by spending money on his Ubers or booking his doctor’s appointments.

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Despite cutting ties and speaking to the police, Rachel says that Jamie continued to harass her, and others, for five years on Twitter and other platforms, but now she has decided to say something publicly. “I am sharing only in the hopes that he does not work in the vicinity of any more children, and to give myself some much-needed closure.”

“I had my adolescence robbed from me,” she wrote. “I have spoken to people who were around at the time who bore witness to this, who were on the receiving end of his lies. I am going to heal now, but I will never be able to forget what he did to me.”

She concluded by pleading for others not to work with the creator and addressed him directly asking him to stop contacting her.

Since the tweet was posted, several creators have responded with their support. YouTuber Christopher Bingham, who is involved with Eddsworld, confirmed that “Jamie has been removed from any future projects with Eddsworld. This was decided immediately when Rachel informed us of her experience privately over Easter weekend.”

TomSka replied saying, “I’m so sorry, Rachel. Thank you for speaking out,” while Eddie Bowley added, “As someone who has worked with him a lot and called him friend, this is incredibly heartbreaking.

“This is truly monstrous behavior and it is unforgivable. I cannot express enough how sorry I am that this is what you had to go through. Thank you for speaking out so bravely.”

Of this generation of YouTubers, who found popularity in the late 00s and early 2010s, there have been other allegations of sexual assault and grooming that have rocked the community.

Alex Day and Tom Milsom, who were close associates of YouTuber Charlie McDonnell, were accused of predatory behavior in 2014. British Vlogger Sam Pepper was also accused of sexual harassment.

Much more recently, David Dobrik and members of the Vlog Squad have faced allegations of sexual assault, while beauty guru James Charles has been accused of inappropriately approaching underage fans on Snapchat.