Shane Dawson Was Demonetized by YouTube — Here's What That Means
Updated July 17 2020, 3:32 p.m. ET
Not only has Shane Dawson been thoroughly eviscerated online for his racist “jokes” and his sexualization of minors (spoiler: racism and pedophilia aren't funny, like, at all), but he’s now been demonetized from YouTube. When you’re demonetized, that means you’re unable to profit from the ads that play during your video.
Why was Shane Dawson demonetized?
The YouTuber was demonetized because of older videos in which he presented himself in blackface, used the N-word, and “joked” about pedophilia surfaced. Additionally, a video showing Shane masturbating in front of a poster of Willow Smith, in which she was only 11 years old, started making the rounds. While getting canceled by the internet is one thing, being demonetized by YouTube itself shows how deeply disturbing Shane's actions were — and how seriously the platform is taking the issue.
“SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER!!!!! IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY AND NOT OKAY IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT,” Jaden tweeted on Saturday, calling the YouTuber out for his heinous behavior. Thousands of people joined Jaden on Twitter, helping expose his vile acts that were done in the name of "shock value" (aka, views).
Per Variety, YouTube has made it so Shane is unable to monetize from his three YouTube channels: his primary Shane channel, Shane Dawson TV, and his beauty-focused channel called Shane Glossin’. YouTube told Tubefilter that it “takes such action in rare circumstances where a particularly newsworthy creator’s bad behavior could have a negative impact across its collective community of creators, viewers, and advertisements.” YouTube implemented this change June 29, and it looks like his demonetization will be “indefinite,” though “not permanent.”
Shane is facing a huge financial hit for his actions. His main channel has 22.5 million subscribers (this is after he lost 600,000 subscribers), and he garners 35 million monthly views, according to Tubefilter. Shane Dawson TV has an additional 8.4 million subscribers, as well as Shane Glossin’, which has 3.7 million subs. No matter how many views Shane's videos get, he won't be able to make a cent from them.
The consequences don’t just stop at YouTube, though. According to Tubefilter, Target is set to remove Shane’s books (I Hate Myselfie and It Gets Worse) from their shelves, and Morphe has taken Shane and Jeffree Star’s makeup collab off their site.
It really doesn’t pay to be a racist, gross human being. Although Shane posted a 20-minute apology video on June 26, we hope that Shane *truly* takes some time to work on and educate himself.