Onision: A Decade of Youtube, Controversy and Young Girls

Youtube is becoming more well known for the figures of scandal it keeps churning out of the video machine.

Before James Charles, Trisha Paytas and other high profile YouTube celebrities who choose to live their lives mostly in front of the lens of a camera for the world to watch, there was a pale faced, mop-haired, awkward twenty-something who used the name Onision. Without question he was among the first wave of web-stars to come off the platform, having joined 2006.

By 2010, he was named by TubeFilter as one of “5 YouTubers On Their Way Up” alongside such platform icons like Shane Dawson, but by 2012 had been banned by VidCon for problematic statements, specifically about his ex-girlfriend who he claimed “Had sex with more than 20 people” thus was incapable of being raped. Justifiably, people complained.

In the years since, Onision, now in his mid-30’s, has accrued both wealth and a significant fanbase, boasting over 2 billion video views and as many subscribers across multiple channels who consume his content, featuring his daily life and those in it, under a revealing microscope. It sounds like the typical vlogger dream-come-true, I suppose. Turn on a camera, get famous, earn ridiculous sums of money and thus, you win the internet.