[jwplayer ftb8P7Xy]Popular YouTuber Shane Dawson continues to be condemned for problematic content, most recently by Jaden Smith following a recently resurfaced clip sexualizing Willow Smith.
On June 26, Dawson addressed controversy surrounding older YouTube videos, and apologized for having offended anyone with his past content. In a particularly egregious example, a 23-year-old Dawson pretended to pleasure himself to a Willow Smith Radio Disney poster. She was 11 years old at the time and her brother, Jaden, has now publicly denounced the content creator.
https://twitter.com/jaden/status/1276988488785657857
“I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY,” he tweeted. Jaden’s reaction comes just a day after Dawson uploaded a 20-minute-long video apologizing for the problematic substance found in the content he has built a livelihood off of.
In Dawson’s apology, he notes that his videos often included blackface as well as “stereotypes of Black people or Asian people or Mexicans.” While spending most of it focused on racial insensitivity and his drama with James Charles and Tati Westbrook, he does also touch on the inappropriate jokes made involving children—content which was not limited to the Willow clip.
“I swear on my life … I would never talk about a child in any way that was inappropriate. That is disgusting, that is gross, it is not something I would ever do. It is something I did for shock value or because I thought it was funny … It’s all gross,” he said.
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While Dawson acknowledges his impropriety for the sake of entertainment value, he seems aware that an apology does not excuse past behavior: “You can apologize, but you can’t expect the other person to just forgive you.”
In a followup Tweet, Jaden noted Dawson’s extensive use of blackface in a call for the youth to instead “support creators who support us and our morals.” Similarly, Jaden and Willow’s mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, took to Twitter to explain that she was “done with the excuses.”
https://twitter.com/jaden/status/1276991250474758144
To Shane Dawson … I’m done with the excuses.
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) June 27, 2020
The YouTuber’s apology comes amidst a wave of accountability from content creators. His video follows directly after Jenna Marbles addressed her own allegations and decided to put her channel on an indefinite hiatus.
In his video, he professes that his behavior has changed, and that he will showcase more non-white people on his platform. As of yet, it is unclear whether that will be enough to elicit absolution from the Smith family.
