YouTube Star David Dobrik Accused of Filming Sexual Assault
YouTuber David Dobrik and members his "Vlog Squad" have been accused of multiple crimes, including sexual assault.
In February, Joseth "Seth" Francois, who is a former member of the Vlog Squad, claimed that a "prank" video Dobrik had uploaded to his channel showed actual sexual assault. The video in question, which has since been removed, featured Dobrik and fellow Vlog Squad member Jason Nash making Francois believe that he was about to kiss fellow Vlog Squad member Corinna, instead of Nash, who he actually kissed.
"I honestly didn't realize how much that situation affected me until the beginning of last year when COVID happened," he told Buzzfeed News. "I remember sitting in my room in Atlanta and I was thinking to myself, 'That video was wrong.' I just felt like that shouldn't have happened to me."
Then, on Tuesday (March 16), an anonymous woman came forward to Business Insider and accused Vlog Squad member Dominykas "Durte Dom" Zeglaitis of rape. She was featured in a since-deleted 2018 video that centered around threesomes. The woman claimed that she and her friends were underage at the time and that Dobrik and his team supplied them with copious amounts of alcohol.
"She was so incapacitated by alcohol that she could not consent," the outlet reported.
Later that day, Dobrik uploaded a video addressing the recent allegations on one of his YouTube channels which has 1.6 million subscribers. In the video, Dobrik claims that consent has always been important to him. He also reveals that he deleted a number of older YouTube videos that he no longer agrees with.
In the apology video, titled "Let's talk," Dobrik also apologizes to Francois for his actions. "I missed the mark with that one,” he admits. He also shares that he distanced himself from Dom over the years since he doesn't "align with some of the actions [he did]" and that he doesn't stand for "any kind of misconduct."
Watch his apology video, below:
Meanwhile, fellow YouTube personality Trisha Paytas, who was previously featured on Dobrik's vlogs back when she was dating Nash, uploaded a 22-minute long video addressing the allegations, as well as Dobrik's apology video. In her clip, she reveals that she was present the night that the unidentified woman was allegedly raped, but left before the alcohol was introduced.
Fans later found a clip of the since-deleted "threesome" vlog, in which Dobrik can seen telling the camera, "I think we’re all going to jail."
David Dobrik is a social media influencer, content creator and YouTube personality. On his main YouTube channel, which he launched in 2015, he boasts 18.8 million subscribers. His videos often feature The Vlog Squad, a group of popular social media personalities. They film their daily lives, including the countless pranks they make on one another.