YouTube Star Shane Dawson Explains Why He’s ‘Grateful’ for Being Canceled

Shane Dawson may have experienced one of the most cases of “cancel culture” in the last few years, but now he says that he is glad it happened. Dawson was a popular YouTuber and social media influencer until some of his older, offensive content resurfaced in 2020 including videos with blackface, racism and jokes about pedophilia. Dawson took a prolonged break from social media and is now making content at a much lower rate than before, but that seems fine with him.

Dawson now hosts his own podcast and frequently appears as a guest on others. On Monday, he was interviewed on Perez Hilton’s podcast, looking back on his life in the last two years or so. He said: “I really think the universe and God, or whatever, really planned it this way because I was at a point before I got canceled where I didn’t wanna be around anymore. I was so burnt out.”

Dawson admitted that his life was trending in a dangerous direction before he was “canceled” by public opinion on social media. The 34-year-old said: “It was just a collection of boom, boom, boom, boom, and it got to a point where, yeah, then that’s when I started therapy for an eating disorder and all the other stuff and then oddly enough, two months maybe even sooner, I started therapy I got canceled and it was like, ‘Oh.’ That felt very designed to me by something.’”

While his fanbase has been significantly reduced, Dawson said that he enjoys the reduced pressure to constantly release new content. He said: “Now I can see what the bigger purpose is and I do and I’m so grateful to be where I am and for my family and to not be freaking out every fucking day like, ‘What am I going to make?! ‘What am I going to make?! How am I going to top it? Are people going to be mad?’ It really was never ending.”

Dawson has shared a similar sentiment before – notably in a 2021 YouTube video called “The Haunting of Shane Dawson. At the time, he said: “I’m so grateful that I got canceled, because it really changed my life. It showed me what I care about and showed me what matters; it showed me I don’t need to be on YouTube all the time. I don’t need to be stressed about what’s next, I don’t need to be trying to think of the next idea, the next whatever to be happy.”

Dawson hosts his own show called The Shane Dawson Podcast, and frequently appears as a guest on The Sip Podcast which is co-hosted by his fiance Ryland Adams. Dawson also continues to create YouTube videos, but not at the same regular pace as before.