YouTube personality Shane Dawson is under fire for suspected pedophilia after quotes from a four-year-old podcast resurfaced.
The quotes originated on Dawson’s podcast, Shane and Friends, but were shared again in an edited Pop Blast video. Dawson, whose YouTube channels have a combined total of 19 million subscribers, is heard going onto a rant of dark humor that stemmed from calling a child “sexy.” He then went into a facetious “justification” for pedophilia.
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“Here’s my justification for pedophilia: People have foot fetishes, people have fetishes about everything, that’s fine, do your thing,” Dawson said. “So why is it when somebody looks at and Googles like ‘naked baby’ on Google and jerks off to it, they can get arrested? I don’t understand that.”
He continued, “Here’s the worst part of it, I actually went to Google… I didn’t want to see child porn but I just thought okay let me pretend like I’m a paedophile for a second. ‘So I typed in “naked baby”. First of all I don’t know why anybody would be turned on by that. But they were sexy… I’m kidding.”
An outrage ensued after the comments resurfaced, and fans and onlookers were divided. Some thought that the comments were dark humor and shouldn’t be held against him. Others thought that the humor crossed a line and was inexcusable.
there is literally nothing shane dawson could say that would justify him googling “naked baby”, calling a child “sexy”, and comparing paedophilia to fetishes. there is no ‘wait to see what shane says about this!’, there are no ‘sides’, he can’t ‘explain’. that’s it.
— woody allen hate account (@lgbtvalkyrie) January 10, 2018
y’all idk if you know this but Shane Dawson literally went through a very traumatic childhood. I’m not defending him but just know he went through abuse as a child and in his videos he says that he’s disgusted by child molesters. my lord know your stuff before you go bashing him
— CHECK & RT PINNED PLS 💓 (@besidedalton) January 10, 2018
Dawson has since defended himself and apologized for his past remarks.
“I’m not a pedophile,” he said. “I can’t believe I even have to say that. It literally feels like I’m in a nightmare. I grew up. I changed my content. I apologized countless times for my s—y offensive jokes. Instead of dragging me down people should use me as an example of a creator who can CHANGE and better themselves and their content. I’m so proud of who I am today.”
i’m not a pedophile. i can’t believe i even have to say that. it literally feels like i’m in a nightmare. https://t.co/i0mo11xNg3
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) January 10, 2018
I grew up. I changed my content. I apologized countless times for my shitty offensive jokes. instead of dragging me down people should use me as an example of a creator who can CHANGE and better themselves and their content. i’m so proud of who i am today.
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) January 10, 2018
Pop Blast has since taken the video down and shared a cryptic video alleging that someone had paid them to post original Dawson video. Dawson says he isn’t sure why the video was made, but has lashed out at Pop Blast and the Twitter for promoting the original clip.
