Natalie Mariduena defended YouTuber David Dobrik during an appearance on the BFFs podcast, when asked about accusations of Dobrik’s involvement in sexual assault allegations made against Dominykas Zeglaitis, aka Durte Dom.
Mariduena holds close ties with Dobrik having grown up together and takes a leadership role within his company. She was asked about the accusations very early on in her appearance in the interview that was published on July 22.
Mariduena still describes Dobrik as her “bestie” said she’s “probably the closest person to David” and “know him the best out of anybody.” She described the allegations as “really sh**ty” and said, “it sucks when you see someone who’s actually a good person getting accused of really terrible things.”
When asked if she “stood behind him 100%,” she replied immediately saying “yeah he’s my best friend.” Later in the podcast, she described him as “just a normal average dude.”
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In the episode, she continued to defend Dobrik saying “even the shit that went down, it was really about another dude. Another guy did something and David just happened to be there”.
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When asked about whether it was hard on her, she replied, “of course, anyone who goes through something like that. It’s extremely difficult and there are millions of people saying terrible things about you.”
The David Dobrik scandal explained
In March 2021, Insider reported that rape allegations had been made by a woman known as “Hannah” during the filming of a Vlog Squad video. Dobrik was the leader of the group of content creators on YouTube with the accusations made against former member Dominykas Zeglaitis.
The allegations also included accusations that the girl “Hannah” and her friends were supplied alcohol with “Hannah” despite being under the legal drinking age of 21. “Hannah” said she became intoxicated as a result.
“Hannah” also alleged that there was “an environment where it felt like saying ‘no’ was not okay” and alleged that other Vlog Squad members listened outside while “Hannah” and Zeglaitis reportedly had sex.
As a result, Dobrik lost 400,000 subscribers, 78,000 followers on Instagram, and over 2.3 million YouTube views. His YouTube account was eventually demonetized and lost sponsorship.
Since then, Dobrik has attempted to make a comeback though not all fans are happy with one person confronting the YouTuber and Natalie in a video.
