Top 10 YouTubers Who Tried to Come Back After Being Banned

10 YouTubers Who Tried to Come Back After Being Banned

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re exploring the most infamous times YouTube channels were banned from the platform, then made attempts at a return that didn’t work out well.

Super JoJo - Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs

In 2019, Super JoJo was born on YouTube. However, while the channel tried to tap into the lucrative children’s market, it came into conflict with one of the platform’s biggest names, Cocomelon. They claimed that Super JoJo was breaching copyright by essentially recreating Cocomelon’s animation with their characters. Due to various copyright infringement claims, Super JoJo, which had 22 million subscribers, was deleted from YouTube in 2021. The channel was reinstated just over a month later, yet the damage wasn’t done. In 2023, Cocomelon’s parent company issued a lawsuit against Super JoJo’s, which had to pay $23.4 million. They tried wiping their account and starting again. However, Super JoJo was terminated in 2024 due to continued infringement.

Sam Pepper

Unlike with other channels, Pepper did some self-banning. After facing assault allegations in 2014 over his practical joke videos, he stepped it up in 2015. Pepper uploaded a video which implied he’d kidnapped Sam Golbach and Colby Brock, before pretending to execute the latter in front of Golbach. It later emerged that the “victims” were in on the video. Regardless, viewers were horrified, creating petitions calling for YouTube to ban Pepper. Pepper did it himself by removing everything on the channel in 2016. A year later, he made a comeback by moving away from practical joke videos. He eventually focused on a TikTok account as his YouTube career stalled.

LeafyIsHere

Starting with a focus on gameplay, Calvin Vail moved on to controversial content by 2016 with videos that mocked and harassed other YouTubers. Before the platform reacted, Vail took a hiatus from YouTube. When he returned, he continued where he left off as he targeted other influencers, including Pokimane. As a result, in 2020, YouTube terminated Vail’s main channel. With that, he moved to his second channel to escape the ban, only to have that one removed, too. Vail has attempted multiple times to create new channels, one of which claimed he worked for RedBloom. That hasn’t panned out, as Vail was issued additional terminations for trying to circumvent the bans.

ImJayStation

Having already created another YouTube channel after his arrest for trespassing resulted in the original’s demonetization, Jason Ethier got lucky. That changed in 2020, when he claimed that his girlfriend Alexia Marano had died. Ethier then released a series of unnerving videos, including a crossover with an already-controversial series about attempting to contact the dead with an Ouija board. It soon emerged that this was a publicity stunt. Later, Marano accused Ethier of abusing her. This resulted in YouTube demonetizing Ethier’s second channel. He then created a reaction videos channel to try to continue making cash. In 2021, YouTube terminated both channels. Ethier didn’t take it well, as he threatened the platform on social media with a lawsuit.

Keemstar

Daniel Keem is very familiar with getting banned on YouTube. A number of his channels have been terminated due to toxic behavior and commentary, yet he still created DramaAlert to focus on conflicts between influencers. After several attempts to get the channel off the ground failed, reportedly due to YouTube banning it because of previous terminations, Keem thought he found a loophole. DramaAlert was technically not owned by him and was instead run by his manager, Ryan Thomson, AKA iPlayPRODIGY. That didn’t stop petitions from being made to have Keem banned from the platform for his controversial content. He eventually announced his retirement from DramaAlert, which hasn’t uploaded since 2023.

Etika

Specializing in gaming content, especially when it came to Nintendo, Desmond Amofah properly started his YouTube career in 2012. By 2018, he began to concern fans as his EWNetwork channel was terminated over him uploading adult content. After getting mental health treatment, Amofah created another channel, EtikaFRFX, only to upload mature content there in 2019. This channel was thus deleted, as well. Following more treatment and additional issues, Amofah returned to his original TR1Iceman channel to discuss his mental health struggles while walking around New York City. Just a few days later, he was found deceased in the East River.

Alex Jones

Armed with several channels, including The Alex Jones Channel and Infowars, Alex Jones quickly caused controversy with his far-right politics and conspiracy theories. It got significantly worse in 2018. He accused several survivors of shootings of being “crisis actors,” who faked their involvement in events like the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. After a series of strikes against him for hate speech, Jones’s accounts on many social media platforms were terminated. He was also sued by the Sandy Hook families over his outrageous claims, resulting in him being ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion altogether. In 2025, with YouTube set to offer second chances to terminated accounts, Jones created a new channel. It was banned hours later.

Andrew Tate

As one of the figureheads of the toxic “manosphere,” Andrew Tate ran channels on YouTube and other platforms since 2018. As he gained traction with his misogynistic and problematic views, there were calls to scrub him from social media platforms. In 2022, YouTube deleted Tate’s channels. Several months later, he was arrested on charges of assault and human trafficking. In 2024, YouTube began deleting and terminating accounts that published videos promoting Tate’s views or businesses. However, in 2025, he published a video on social media that happily announced that his ban on YouTube had been rescinded following the company’s plan to offer second chances. It wasn’t long before his channel was terminated once again.

DaddyOFive

Practical joke channels are a slippery slope. After Michael Martin created his channel in 2015, the videos starring his family became more extreme. He encouraged his children to behave deplorably towards their siblings, leading to backlash that prompted him to pivot content to wife Heather’s channel, MommyOFive. It was later renamed FamilyOFive. In 2017, the couple received five years of probation for child neglect. Despite that, they continued releasing problematic content on YouTube, resulting in both channels being terminated in 2018. Martin then changed The Martin Boys – which was seemingly run by some of their kids – to The Martin Family. Thus, he continued releasing content until that was terminated for breaching guidelines once again.

Ruby Franke

With six children and a husband, Ruby Franke created the 8 Passengers vlogging channel about family life in 2015. By 2020, allegations that the kids were being neglected began to surface. In 2022, after separating from her husband, Franke deleted 8 Passengers. She then teamed up with Jodi Hildebrandt to create the ConneXions channel, where the duo specialized in parenting classes. However, in 2023, one of Franke’s sons escaped from her Utah home and sought help from neighbors. When the authorities arrived, they saw more of the children being abused by the duo. YouTube then terminated channels connected to Franke. After pleading guilty to several counts, Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to four to 60 years in prison.

Did any of the channels we mentioned not deserve to be banned? Let us know below!