Shane Dawson is returning: Did everyone forget the Willow Smith video?
Well everyone, whether you like it or not, social media star and comedian Shane Dawson is back. It’s a pretty bold move considering he was cancelled last summer and exposed for some pretty horrific things. The incidents Shane Dawson was cancelled for largely consisted of old videos from the beginning of his career that he deleted but ended up resurfacing, including a pretty disturbing clip of him talking about Willow Smith.
The Willow Smith video even garnered so much attention that Jaden Smith took the time to tweet and show his disgust towards Shane Dawson in defense of his younger sister. Other clips that resurfaced showed the YouTube star making some dark jokes that were racist, sexist, pedophilic, or just plain offensive. So is Shane Dawson actually going to have much of a successful comeback? Let’s review what he got cancelled for here.
BREAKING NEWS THAT WILL MOST DEFINITELY CHANGE YOUR LIFE: Shane Dawson releases a second mystery box. pic.twitter.com/bF90MhoMFr
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) June 3, 2021
The comeback
The last video that the star has uploaded on his YouTube video is titled “Taking Accountability”, which is what he posted amidst all the controversy going on around cancelling him. This situation happened almost a year ago last summer, and the YouTuber has been pretty quiet since then. However, he’s been checking in on his fans in far more inconspicuous ways.
Back in March, the star gave a small update on his second and far less popular YouTube channel, ShaneGlossin, and wrote: “Sorry I haven’t been online in a while. 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. :))”. From there, folks speculated the star was ready to make some kind of comeback soon.
While the star has yet to make any new posts on his Twitter or main Youtube account, Shane Dawson shared news of some new merch to his fans on Thursday. @DefNoodles on Twitter reported that the YouTuber sent out an email informing his fans that new mystery boxes were available for purchase, one costing $75 and the other costing $125. Is he again slowly inching his way into making some sort of large comeback?
THE PROBLEM WITH SHANE DAWSON: a thread pic.twitter.com/DS7NilFdRA
— LIL BITCH (@cacasmiddlename) June 20, 2020
Still holding him accountable
Whether or not you’re a fan of Shane Dawson and are excited over this potential comeback, it’s important to note that the star has done and said some pretty problematic things in the past that shouldn’t be looked past. For starters, let’s not forget about the clip that leaked of Shane Dawson saying some disgusting things about Willow Smith, who at the time, was underaged.
The clip that resurfaced showed a young Shane Dawson at the beginning of his career pretending to touch himself sexually to a poster of an eleven-year-old Willow Smith, as well as sexualizing her lyrics to “Whip My Hair”, which was her hit song at the time. While this is already disgusting enough to understand why the star was cancelled and called out, this is far from the only thing he was exposed for in his old videos.
Old videos of him included Shane Dawson doing Blackface and saying the N-word multiple times. The YouTuber also mocked people of color by dressing himself up as racist caricatures as an excuse for comedy, which included a black character he named Shanaynay and a Mexican character he named Guadalupe. Other clips just included him making racist and offensive jokes in general.
The star was also exposed for making jokes surrounding pedophilia and beastiality. Many of these comments which included sexual jokes about minors were taken from his podcast titled “Shane and Friends” which lasted from 2013-2017. While the star has since apologized a few times in the past for the offensive comments he’s made, we have to agree with most folks when they say some things just really can’t be forgiven.
