Entertainment
YouTuber David Dobrik says he ‘doesn’t stand for misconduct’ as he addresses consent allegations
YouTube star David Dobrik has said he ‘doesn’t stand for misconduct’ as he addressed recent allegations about his and his friends’ behaviour in a new video.
The 24-year-old boasts a following of more than 18 million and is best known for his vlogs, often filmed with his friend group, the ‘Vlog Squad’, and frequently show him pulling pranks on people.
Dobrik has recently been accused of not gaining consent from people he used in videos, including former members of the Vlog Squad.
Seth Francois, who used to film with Dobrik, claimed the YouTuber made him kiss Jason Nash, another member of the Vlog Squad, without his consent, and made him film racial jokes he wasn’t comfortable with.
More recently, another former member of the Vlog Squad, Dom Zeglaitis – known on Dobrik’s vlogs as Durte Dom – has been accused of sexual assault.
An unnamed accuser told Insider that she was pressured to drink to the point that she could no longer consent to sex with Zeglaitis.
She claimed Dobrik was present and used the incident for a ‘threesome plot’ in one of his vlogs. The video has since been taken down from YouTube, according to the publication.
Addressing some of the claims in a new two-minute video on his podcast channel, Dobrik said: ‘I’ve made over 600 videos, I’ve made a bunch of TikToks, Vines, Instagram Stories, tweets, the whole thing, and I’m obsessed with what I do.
‘I love being able to make people happy for a living and that’s all I want to do. That being said, consent is something that’s super, super important to me, whether I’m shooting with a friend, or shooting with a stranger, I always make sure that, whatever the video I’m putting out, I have the approval from that person.
‘I also acknowledge that there’s times [when] a person can change their mind and they decide that they no longer want to be associated and they no longer want to be in the video that I’m putting up and then I’ll take the video down and there’s also been moments where I’ve looked back on videos, and I realise that these don’t represent me anymore and they’re hurtful to other people and I don’t want them up because I’ve grown as a content creator and a person, and I don’t agree with some of the videos I’ve posted.’
He continued: ‘With the Seth situation, I’m sorry to Seth because, like I said, I just want to make videos where everybody in it, whether you’re participating or watching, is enjoying and having a good time, and I missed the mark with that one, and I’m really sorry, I truly, truly am.
‘With people in my life that I don’t film with anymore, like Dom and the other people I no longer film with, I chose to distance myself because I don’t align with some of the actions, I don’t stand for any kind of misconduct and I’ve been really disappointed by some of my friends, and for that reason, I’ve separated from a lot of them.
‘I think with any video I make, my main purpose is to make people happy and inspire people and I just never want anything to get in the way of that. I’m sorry if I’ve let you down and things like that won’t happen again.
‘I learn from my mistakes and I also believe that actions speak a lot louder than words and you can take my word for it that I’m gonna change but I’ll also show you and prove to you that the mistakes I made before won’t be happening again.’
Zeglaitis has not addressed the allegations against him publicly. However, earlier this month after the allegations from Francois, he made a video saying he wanted to take ‘accountability for his actions.’
He apologised to ‘people I worked with that I may have disrespected’ and people who were affected by his actions.
He went on to say that he and Dobrik ‘drifted apart’ and supported Francois, before apologising for not saying anything at the time of filming.
Jeff Wittek, another member of the Vlog Squad, has since spoken out and said on Twitter: ‘My heart goes out entirely to the victim. I am truly sorry you were in that situation, which I was not aware of at the time. The disgusting actions Dom had committed to you, I absolutely do not condone.
‘I’ve done a lot of dumb s**t in my life but if I was in the room where a girl was potentially going to get assaulted. I would absolutely never ever sit there and let that happen. As for my involvement in the video was under the impression it was a consensual bit.
‘I have absolutely nothing to do with nor any influence with this disgusting act nor did I purchase anything to allow this to happen. I have tremendous respect for all women, and would not let any actions like this happen to anyone. With much love and respect.’
Dobrik has been making YouTube videos since 2015, after rising to fame on Vine.
Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for Dom Zeglaitis for comment.
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