Many are familiar with David Dobrik and his entourage known as the “Vlog Squad.” This Youtube channel centers around David and his group of friends (technically employees) as they play elaborate, and often dangerous and demeaning pranks on each other. Dobrik’s key audience is tweens and teens, but his videos are not without sexual content or cringingly mean jokes. The channel’s main theme is essentially a group of friends that prank each other and joke around with each other. While this seems wholesome, the channel's fame has led Dobrik to create content solely for shock value and increased views, often at the expense of extras and other Vlog Squad members themselves. Author Crystal Abidin writes about the concept of “perceived interconnectedness,” which I feel is a useful lens for exploring how this channel interacts with its fans (Abidin, 2015). David Dorbik interacts with his followers in an effort to facilitate the impression of perceived intimacy (Abidin, 2015). While going great lengths to convince fans of an intimate connection can work to the channel’s benefit, it can also backfire greatly, especially with the rise of Cancel Culture in recent years.
If you are familiar with David Dobrik, it probably isn’t surprising that I chose to focus on his infamous second (of two) apology video, titled 3/22/21. If you aren’t familiar with Dobrik, you might be wondering what he has been apologizing for. To provide some context, sexual aassault allegations against the channel’s “Vlog Squad” from a woman featured on the channel herself, began to surface in early 2021 regarding an event that occurred in 2018. An underage girl who was cast as an extra in one of the channel’s videos was provided alcohol by Dobrik and a few other squad members. A witness on the scene at the time described the girl as inarticulate and incoherent, when she was escorted into a bedroom by Vlog Squad member Dom, and sexually assaulted while her body was limp on the bed. Dobrik and other squad members are said to have known about the assault while it was occurring, and even looked into the room and laughed while the victim was being assaulted. After details of this assault became public knowledge, a massive uproar erupted against Dobrik, as fans demanded he take responsibility for his actions.
Diving into 3/22/21, it is important to note that this video was met with harsh criticism by fans and outsiders alike. While the number of dislikes on a given Youtube video is no longer visible to the audience (as of early November this year) I remember seeing an overwhelming amount of dislikes compared to likes when this video was posted in March (having more dislikes than likes is an extremely rare occurrence on famous Youtube channels).
Discussing the video’s content, Dobrik begins by citing that there have been a lot of people giving him advice on how to deal with his current “situation,” but that he wants this apology to come straight from him. Dobrik shows regret for posting the video in question involving the girl who was assaulted, even though he had gotten the consent to post it. While it is clear that Dobrik is attempting to show that he wants to own his actions and take responsibility for wrongdoing, a lens of popular feminism was useful in critiquing his response. In Popular Misogyny, A Zeitgeist, author Sarah Banet-Weiser describes how popular feminism is an ideology that doesn’t acknowledge intersectionality or sufficiently challenge the patriarchy (Banet-Weiser, 2015). While Dobrik shows regret for pressuring the girls and admits that he took steps to create shock value for views, he discusses the assault without checking his own privilege as a rich, straight, white, male content creator. As expected, Dobrik then moves on to reaffirming that he has made many mistakes and apologizes to friends and family as well. He stresses the importance of consent and the harmfulness of putting people in positions of pressure. Dobrik quickly mentions that he didn't know about the unfair power dynamic between him and the girl at the time (which is pretty difficult to believe but okay David). He finishes off the video by explaining that he will be taking a break from social media and plans on putting checks and balances into place in his channel in the future.
While some comments from loyal fans felt David appeared genuine throughout the video, I felt that it fit the classic mold of a Youtube apology. He began the video by sitting on the floor, setting up the camera, and admitting that it was 1:45 in the morning (wow so humble and relatable). It is clear that Dobrik tried his best to come off as casual and genuine, as the video is a far cry from his expensive productions including many different jump cuts, set changes, and sophisticated equipment. He takes on the tone of “this apology video isn’t like other apology videos” and refrains from crying, as he had faced scrutiny for crying in prior apology videos. He admits to never having apologized correctly in the past, but affirms that this is the most humble and genuine he has ever been on youtube, and he is willing to learn and evolve.
Dobrik fits into the larger group of celebrities (male and female alike) who seem to loudly claim the label of a feminst, and use their platforms to discuss feminism for the benefit of themselves rather than the benefit of any actual feminist movement (Benet-Weiser, 2015). Though Dobrik doesn’t use the word feminism in the video, he consistantly sends the message that from now on, his channel will center around promoting consent in all forms, and will go to great lengths to refrain from putting pressure on younger women specifically. David doesn’t fully acknowledge his position of power and privilege however. For me, this would have been necessary to fully digest and maybe even accept his apology.
References
Abidin, C. (2015). Communicative <3 intimacies: Influencers and perceived
interconnectedness. A Journal of Gender, New Media, & Technology (8).
Banet-Weiser, S. (2015). Popular misogyny. Culture Digitally.
Comments
Post a Comment