Top 10 YouTubers People Love to Hate
Top 10 YouTubers Who Drive People Crazy
YouTubers often get a bad rap, and it’s because of people like this. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 YouTubers Who Drive People Crazy.
For this list, we’ll be looking at popular YouTubers who’ve faced significant criticism and amassed haters as well as fans. We’ll only be including individual YouTube personalities, and not entire channels, no matter how much they’re hated.
#10: Ali-A
While there are thousands of “Fortnite” channels out there, Alastair Aiken, aka Ali-A, has built himself a comfy little throne atop the pack. With close to sixteen million subscribers and over one million views per video, the dude is obviously making bank playing video games, and good for him. But many Fortnite fans and content creators find his work embarrassing, claiming that he represents all that’s wrong with YouTube game channels - including clickbait titles and goofy thumbnails with exaggerated expressions. It’s earned him mockery from heavy-hitters like PewDiePie, who argue that his videos have no real content.
#9: Keemstar
Daniel M. Keem, aka Keemstar, is primarily known through his channel DramaAlert, which reports “news” within YouTube. While his channel sits at almost five million subscribers, he’s loathed as well as loved. In January 2016, he falsely accused a 62 year old streamer on Twitch of being a pedophile, resulting in death threats against a poor old man who just wanted to play video games. Ironically, Keemstar has faced similar accusations himself. To cap it off, he once quipped that he couldn’t wait for a terminally ill YouTuber to die, and sometimes throws around the n-word. Critics call him a bully, needlessly aggressive, and far too sensitive. Plus, many people just find DramaAlert really boring.
#8: Shane Dawson
While Shane has a devout following, he also has his fair share of critics thanks to his channel’s controversial content. He’s had to apologize on numerous occasions, including for donning blackface in comedy sketches and for joking about pedophilia. And while the rest of his content is generally enjoyed, he became the subject of intense scrutiny in 2018 for his documentary web series on YouTuber Jake Paul. Complaints included the fact that it was about a gazillion hours long, and that Shane employed questionable tactics - including bringing in a marriage counselor to discuss whether or not Jake Paul was a sociopath. The documentary had potential, but left many disappointed.
#7: Ninja
Yeah, you could make the argument that Ninja isn’t a YouTuber, seeing as how he broadcasts on Twitch. That said, he has over 21 million subscribers and each upload receives millions of views, so he also has a substantial audience on YouTube . . . And with them a substantial pool of haters. His critics denounce him as whiny, pointing to occasions in which he screams at children and accuses players of stream sniping. He was also criticizing for using the n-word in a stream and doxing a donator who used a racial slur. His appearance in the historically hated YouTube Rewind, and the cringy floss dance fail at Times Square certainly didn’t help. He’s become the face of gaming in the mainstream media, and many people hate it.
#6: Lele Pons
Lele Pons is one of those YouTubers who haven’t done anything really controversial, but who are despised anyway. Pons was once the most popular and most-looped Viner before transitioning to YouTube, where she was met with a more . . . divided . . . audience. . . Unimpressed viewers call her videos childish and geared towards sponsorship. There’s a lot of drama fuelling the backlash. Her ex-bestie Amanda Cerny accused Lele of deleting her Instagram pictures and videos, and other Viners have accused her of being rude in person, as well as just . . . not that funny. She’s started branching off into music, but judging by the like-to-dislike ratio on her Genius video, it’ll be an uphill climb.
#5: Nicole Arbour
Nicole Arbour is a wee bit of a contentious figure. Most of the controversy started back in 2015, when she released an infamous video titled Dear Fat People. It was seen as highly offensive, and her claim that it was “satire” failed to convince. Then famous YouTuber and ex-boyfriend Matthew Santoro came forward claiming that Nicole was abusive towards him, allegations which Nicole denies. She was also accused of whitewashing in her 2018 This Is America: Women’s Edit parody. Oh, and her videos have titles like “The Problem with #MeToo,” “The Truth About Racism,” and “Why ‘Depression’ Is All In Your Head.” She thrives on controversy, and many people are sick of it.
#4: Tana Mongeau
Tana Mongeau loves herself some drama, especially within the YouTube community. She famously clashed with iDubbbz for using the n-word in his videos, and told him to kill himself. But she’s actually used the word a few times herself . . . later claiming that she thought it just meant “friend”. After iDubbbz responded with a Content Cop takedown, she apologized . . . and moved into drama of a much bigger scale in 2018. When VidCon refused to invite her as a “featured creator”, she started her own rival convention - TanaCon. It was a total disaster that’s been compared to the Fyre Festival, and left thousands of would-be attendees clamoring for a refund.
#3: Sam Pepper
There are few YouTube pranksters more despised than Sam Pepper. First it was the infamous Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank, which saw Pepper squeezing females’ bottoms. After being called out for sexual harassment, Pepper went with the old “it was a social experiment!” excuse. He then uploaded another prank involving a fake kidnapping and shooting, generating intense ire from the mainstream media and calls for deactivation. To make matters worse, he had the gall to start a GoFundMe for $1.5 million in exchange for deactivating his channel! His live streams on Sam Pepper Live receive few views and many dislikes. To top it off, he was recently kicked off Ice Poseidon’s streaming network. The man just doesn’t learn.
#2: RiceGum
For the haters, RiceGum is the pinnacle of entitlement and materialism in the vlogging world.
Like Tana Mongeau, he was the subject of a Content Cop video from iDubbbz, who criticized the way he flaunts his popularity and wealth. RiceGum’s antics in Hong Kong, asking locals if they sold dog meat, didn’t help his cause. A few months later he was lambasted for promoting MysteryBrand, which many people consider a dangerous form of gambling. Oh, and then there’s the time he asked a rape victim if it felt good; said that five minutes “isn’t that bad”; and told his audience that they were free to sexually assault her. Yeah…he’s a douche.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
PrankInvasion
Laura Lee
Morgz
James Charles
KSI
#1: Logan Paul
Love them or hate them, the Paul brothers are some of the most influential vloggers out there. They’re also some of the most hated. While Jake is often seen as annoying and obsessed with pushing his merch, Logan has definitely eclipsed his brother on the “most hated” scale, mostly due to, you know, that time he filmed the body of a man who’d killed himself, and uploaded it to YouTube. Even before then, he’d riled feathers with a music video in which he rode a bicycle made of women, singing “I can ride your girl with no handlebars”. Yeah, we see what you did there . . . His fame baffles many people, and his antics never cease to amaze - but not necessarily in a good way.