The Dolan Twins are two of YouTube’s biggest stars, boasting a massive following of over 11 million subscribers due to their close, wholesome relationship and soul-baring videos, as well as the odd practical joke and collaborative vlog with other YouTubers.
Despite their general tendency to stay out of drama, the two came under fire in mid-June after an out-of-context video surfaced on social media, which showed the two using a homophobic slur — prompting the hashtag “#DolanTwinsAreOverParty” to trend across Twitter.
The pair have since addressed the outrage just a month later in a Q&A video titled, “addressing assumptions about us,” where they made it clear that they’d been using the slurs an example of what they’d been called in high school, where they claimed they were “severely bullied.”
That’s what y’all are freaking out about? He didn’t say it out of respect he’s been told thattt..!! AND he was 15 #DolanTwinsIsOverParty #dolantwinsareoverparty pic.twitter.com/QUsvv8Aul4
— هيفاء✨ (@graynethan3) June 20, 2020
“There’s a video of us explaining our not-so-pleasant high school experience,” Grayson began. “It was when we were letting our fans know why we were moving to Los Angeles.”
“We were severely bullied in high school, I’m gonna be honest,” Ethan continued. “…we were trying to tell our story about how we were being treated in the most accurate way possible. And by doing that, we used a word that had been used against us a lot.”
The two went on to explain that they’ve since learned how to refer to the word in a way that will not offend others, and reminded viewers that they’d also censored the slur with a beep as it had bothered them, even at the time of filming six years ago.
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“Back then, I had no clue,” Ethan added. “It was six years ago, I was fourteen years old.”
“For anyone that is offended by that video clip, we are very sorry,” Grayson said. “We are not homophobic in any way.”
Thus far, the Twins have been met with ample support from fans after taking the time to discuss the criticism against them in wake of a cancel-culture boom across the online entertainment sphere.
