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The social media star is apologizing for jokes about pedophilia made on a podcast years ago, while adamantly denying they can be interpreted as actual pedophilia.
YouTube royalty Shane Dawson has come under fire this week after an old episode of his podcast "Shane and Friends" resurfaced. In it, he made jokes about being a pedophile, starting with recounting an interaction with a 6-year-old fan. "And she shows me her Instagrams which are like -- first of all -- I don't know if I'm allowed to say this but, like, she's, like, sexy," Dawson said.
\u201creally @Twitter? how about shining light on ACTUAL PEDOPHILES instead of jokes taken out of context from years ago that were edited and manipulated? i fucking can\u2019t with this shit. i\u2019m leaving the internet for the day.\u201d— Shane Dawson (@Shane Dawson) 1515628445
The creator, whose real name is Shane Lee Yaw, released a video on his channel denying the accusations, starting with playing the clip in full, where he said "First of all, let me just say, having sex with children or touching children or anything of that nature is terrible, and you should not do it," before making jokes about masturbating to child pornography on the internet.
"First of all, I don't understand why anybody would be turned on by that," he concluded on the podcast. "But it was sexy."
Nevertheless, news sources have claimed that the clip is "proof" Dawson is a pedophile and made accusations that his male and female partners have been "baby-faced."
"I'm going to start by saying I am not a fucking pedophile. I go on record saying I am not a fucking pedophile. Got it? Great. There's my statement," Dawson declared in his video. "It's disgusting that people are saying I'm a fucking pedophile because of some shitty-ass fucking jokes from six years ago on a podcast."
This is not the first time Dawson has come under fire for insensitive jokes. In 2012, the YouTuber was called out for inviting teenagers onto a Vidcon stage to do what he called "ghetto pranks." which entailed racially insensitive jokes about chicken and booty dances. He also has performed in blackface numerous times in his videos, which he admits now was offensive.
\u201cI grew up. I changed my content. I apologized countless times for my shitty offensive jokes. instead of dragging me down people should use me as an example of a creator who can CHANGE and better themselves and their content. i\u2019m so proud of who i am today.\u201d— Shane Dawson (@Shane Dawson) 1515623220
"Back in the day, 2008 to 2012-ish, maybe 2013, that was my thing. I loved the feeling of making somebody shocked and laugh because they couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth." Dawson said in his video denying the accusations, "I wasn't confident enough to make smarter jokes. I was making the easy jokes. I was playing crazy stereotypical characters. I was doing shit that was racially insensitive. I was doing shit that was homophobic."
Dawson came out as bisexual in 2015. He has also said he was molested in his youth, which he reasserted in the video. "So I think that's why it hurts the most is having my name put next to the word pedophile is actually the most triggering and the most heartbreaking thing I've literally ever seen," he said.
\u201cOF COURSE. so now the channel that made that awful video is claiming that someone in hollywood \u201cmade them make a slander video about shane dawson\u201d to get revenge on me for talking about pedophiles in hollywood. i can\u2019t make this shit up.\u201d— Shane Dawson (@Shane Dawson) 1515629211
The YouTuber is now claiming on Twitter that the channel that released the first video accusing him of pedophilia was paid to do so by Hollywood powers to stop him from speaking out against sexual violence in the industry.
