YouTube demonetizes three Shane Dawson accounts after apology

YouTube have temporarily demonetized three of Shawn Dawson’s popular video accounts after he garnered backlash for previously posting content that showed him in blackface, making racial slurs and sexualizing Willow Smith. 

The company confirmed that they were suspending Dawson’s ability to profit off his YouTube videos in a statement to TubeFilter on Tuesday – despite the fact Dawson has already issued an apology for his offensive behavior.

YouTube did not say how long they will demonetize Dawson’s accounts for, but said it would be ‘indefinite, but not permanent’. 

Dawson’s videos are streamed more than 45 million times per month, allowing him to make hundreds of thousands of dollars through advertising. The 31-year-old has an estimated net worth of $12 million. 

His three YouTube accounts – ‘Shane’, ‘ShaneDawsonTV’ and ‘ShaneGlossin” – boast more than 32 million monthly subscribers combined. He has had a presence on YouTube since 2008. 

Last Friday, Dawson posted a 20 minute apology video, titled ‘Taking Accountability’, in which he stated that he ‘deserved to lose everything’ over his offensive antics. 

YouTube have temporarily demonetized three of Shawn Dawson’s popular video accounts after he garnered backlash for previously posting content that showed him in blackface, making racial slurs and sexualizing Willow Smith 

Dawson expressed regret for using blackface and mocking African Americans in his comedy sketches

Dawson expressed regret for using blackface and mocking African Americans in his comedy sketches

Dawson has come under fire for using blackface and mocking African Americans in his old comedy sketches. He apologized for his behavior in a video posted last Friday, but YouTube has still decided to demonetize his accounts 

Willow Smith, now 19 years old, is pictured last year. Dawson has been blasted after video resurfaced of him pretending to masturbate in front of a poster of the star when she was aged just 11 years old

Willow Smith, now 19 years old, is pictured last year. Dawson has been blasted after video resurfaced of him pretending to masturbate in front of a poster of the star when she was aged just 11 years old

‘This video is coming from a place of just wanting to own up to my s***, wanting to own up to everything I’ve done on the internet that has hurt people, that has added to the problem, that has not been handled well,’ he stated. 

‘I don’t know who that person is anymore.’ 

Dawson went on: ‘I have done a lot of things in my past that I hate, that I wish I could make go away, that I tried to make go away by deleting videos, or un-tagging my Instagram, literally doing whatever I can to pretend those things didn’t happen,’ he stated.    

Dawson has been blasted after video resurfaced of him pretending to masturbate in front of a poster of Willow Smith, who was aged just 11 years old at the time. 

Despite Dawson’s apology video, the Smith family have blasted him. 

Willow’s mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith, tweeted on Monday: ‘To Shane Dawson … I’m done with the excuses.’

Jada Pinkett Smith hit out at Dawson after an old video resurfaced of him making sexual gestures towards a poster of her then 11-year-old daughter Willow Smith (pictured in 2017)

Jada Pinkett Smith hit out at Dawson after an old video resurfaced of him making sexual gestures towards a poster of her then 11-year-old daughter Willow Smith (pictured in 2017)

Older brother, Jaden Smith, also took to the social media site and wrote: ‘SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. 

‘YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER!!!!!! IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY AND NOT OKAY IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT.’

In another tweet, he added: ‘This Man Was Also Doing Black Face On The Regular. As The Youth We Need To Support Creators Who Support Us And Our Morals. This Is Not Okay.’

In his apology video last Friday, Dawson also addressed that he regrets ‘all the racism that [he] put onto the internet,’ which includes satirical depictions of African Americans, Asians, and Mexicans.

‘Blackface was something that I did a lot,’ he said.

Dawson is seen in blackface in old clips he had posted to his YouTube page

'There's no excuse for it. I didn't do the work. I didn't look into the history of it and why it's so wrong, and why people were so upset,' Dawson stated

Dawson is seen in blackface in old clips he had posted to his YouTube page 

‘There’s no excuse for it. I didn’t do the work. I didn’t look into the history of it and why it’s so wrong, and why people were so upset.

‘I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be Black, and see this white f****** guy do blackface, and the whole internet at that time being like, ‘LOL!’ That’s insane and I am so sorry.’

‘I should lose everything for that,’ he remarked.

When talking about his use of the N-word, Dawson said his sketches promoted the ‘normalization’ of the epithet.

‘Me, as a white person, wearing a wig, playing a character, doing stereotypes and then saying the N-word is something that I should have probably lost my career for at the time,’ he said.

‘There’s no amount of apologizing that can take it away.’ 

The latest: Jenna Marbles, 33, says she will no longer post to her YouTube channel amid scrutiny of older videos she did that contained racist content including a blackface skit

The latest: Jenna Marbles, 33, says she will no longer post to her YouTube channel amid scrutiny of older videos she did that contained racist content including a blackface skit 

Earlier this week, another YouTube star, Jenna Marbles, said she was quitting her channel and apologized to her 20 million followers for past videos in which she is seen mocking black rapper Nicki Minaj and spoofing Asians.  

In an 11-minute clip titled ‘A Message,’ the Rochester, New York native, 33, acknowledged her past transgressions, which included a 2011 blackface skit, shaming women and a racist rap.

‘For now I just can’t exist on this channel,’ she said. ‘I want to hold myself accountable, and it’s painful to do it. I’m ashamed of things I’ve done and said in my past – but, it’s important.

‘I think I’m just going to move on from this channel for now. I don’t know if that’s forever. I don’t know how long it’s going to be… I’m just going to stop for now.’

Marbles said it was time to take a step back from the channel, which has more than 20 million subscribers, amid a pileup of questions about the routines. 

She specifically addressed the blackface skit, a video featuring a rap which made a joke about Asian people, and another in which she hit out at women who ‘slept around’.

The rap song included the line: ‘Hey Ching Chong Wing Wong, shake your King Kong ding dong.’

She described the video as ‘awful’ and ‘inexcusable’.

In the blackface video she dons a pink wig and skintight blue outfit and jokes that Minaj has different personalities. At one point in the video she is seen with dark paint or a face mask on her face while talking about ‘kinky’ sex. 

‘I get it,’ she said. ‘I’ve definitely done things in the past that weren’t great. I’m not completely unproblematic. I’ve tried my best to grow up.’ 

In an 11-minute clip titled 'A Message,' the Rochester, New York native, 33, acknowledged her past transgressions, which included a 2011 blackface skit (pictured), shaming women and a racist rap

In an 11-minute clip titled 'A Message,' the Rochester, New York native, 33, acknowledged her past transgressions, which included a 2011 blackface skit (pictured), shaming women and a racist rap

In an 11-minute clip titled ‘A Message,’ the Rochester, New York native, 33, acknowledged her past transgressions, which included a 2011 blackface skit (pictured), shaming women and a racist rap

Marbles is seen wearing a shiny skin-tight outfit and a pink wig during her Nicki Minaj impersonation

Marbles is seen wearing a shiny skin-tight outfit and a pink wig during her Nicki Minaj impersonation

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