iDubbbz

About

iDubbbz is the YouTube handle of Ian Carter, an American vlogger and social media critic best known for his Kickstarter Crap and Content Cop web series. In addition to producing original video content, iDubbbz has made guest appearances in collaboration with other YouTube personalities, most notably Filthy Frank and Maxmoefoe.

Online History

On August 30th, 2012, iDubbbz posted the first video to the iDubbbzTV YouTube channel, in which he is shown playing the game Overgrowth. In the beginning of his YouTube career, iDubbbz built his audience base through a series of Let’s Play-style walkthroughs and video game commentaries, before shifting his focus to more in-depth commentaries on social media trends and analysis of YouTube’s vlogging subculture with the launch of Kickstarter Crap in March 2013, followed by the premiere of Content Cop in December 2015. Many of his early videos have since been removed from the channel. As of February 2017, iDubbbzTV has more than 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube.

Highlights

Kickstarter Crap

Kickstarter Crap is a web series in which iDubbbz mocks and criticizes a variety of poorly conceived campaigns and projects found on the online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. He later launched the spin-off series Indiegogo Excrement, investigating similar crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo.

Content Cop

Content Cop is a satirical web series in which iDubbbz offers his criticism and honest review of popular channels and content creators on YouTube. Each episode of Content Cop opens with a comedy sketch of iDubbbz dressed in a police uniform chasing after and bringing down a suspect, before cutting to iDubbbz’ production studio where he rants about the YouTube content creator in question at length. Since its premiere on December 13th, 2015, which featured a review of YouTube reaction vlogger Jinx (shown below), iDubbbz has released a total of ten Content Cop episodes on several celebrity vloggers, including Leafy, Keemstar and The Fine Bros, as well as popular subgenres of original video content on YouTube, such as hidden camera pranking, unboxing and other consumer product reviewers. As of February 2017, Content Cop has accrued nearly 64 million views in aggregate.

Bad Unboxing

Bad Unboxing is a web series in which iDubbbz parodies the genre of unboxing videos by opening and reviewing a variety of monthly subscription-based products, as well as miscellaneous gifts and mails sent from his fans. The series premiered on August 6th, 2014 with the pilot episode on a box of sample toothbrushes (shown below).

Reputation

iDubbbz’ stage persona and style of humor has been celebrated by his fans as provocative, ironic and highly satirical, while his critics have slammed his frequent use of racial and homophobic slurs for comedy as lowbrow and offensive. For more context, please refer to the sections below.

Controversies

Feud with Leafy

On September 12th, 2016, iDubbbz released an episode of Content Cop in which he roasts the popular YouTube vlogger Leafy for having a “weak chin” complex, speculating that Leafy seems to be trying to hide the lower end of his face when posing for photographs (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gathered upwards of 4.9 million views and 120,000 comments. In the following days, Leafy began to lose his subscribers en mass at a rapid rate, presumably as a result of iDubbbz’ Content Cop episode. Eventually, iDubbbz tweeted a message chastising his subscribers for unsubscribing from Leafy’s channel using the hashtag #WeLoveYouCalvin.

Feud with Tana Mongeau

Note: This section contains uncensored references to a racial slur; viewer discretion advised.

On December 10th, 2016, YouTube vlogger Tana Mongeau posted a series of tweets slamming iDubbbz for using the “n-word” and “retard” in his videos. (shown below).

While iDubbbz didn’t publicly acknowledge her criticism, he responded by staging an elaborate stunt wherein he traveled to San Francisco to attend a VIP meet-and-greet event with Mongeau, during which he approached the celebrity vlogger for a photograph and blurted out “say nigger!” (shown below, left). iDubbbz was promptly kicked out of the event. The prank was also recorded on camera by his girlfriend and fellow vlogger Raihnbowkidz), which was eventually posted to iDubbbz’ secondary channel in early February (shown below, right).

On January 24th, 2017, Mongeau, unaware of the identity of the prankster, recounted her unpleasant encounter with a mysterious intruder at her event in a video titled “The N Word” (shown below). Within 24 hours, the video racked up more than 1.2 million views. Meanwhile, some of her fans began sleuthing online in order to identify the agent provocateur, which ultimately resulted in the exposure of iDubbbz’ involvement.

However, the tide of the feud took an unexpected and drastic turn later that same day, when a video clip of Mongeau aggressively yelling the phrase “you fucking nigger” surfaced on YouTube (shown below, left). On January 26th, YouTube personality Philip DeFranco uploaded a video to share his thoughts on the controversy (shown below, right). On January 27th, Redditor Filterg submitted a post chronicling several times Mongeau had used the slur in the past to /r/idubbbz.^[3]

On February 6th, iDubbbz released a new Content Cop episode criticizing Mongeau’s video for exaggerating their encounter in San Francisco, as well as her use of the same racial slur in the past (shown below, left). Within 24 hours, the video gained over 3.5 million views and 158,000 comments. Same day, Redditor AsianWithGlasses submitted the Content Cop video to /r/videos,^[4] where it gained over 174,000 votes (66% upvoted) and 7,100 comments within 24 hours.

In response to the revelations about her own past, Mongeau tweeted that she had “made a lot of mistakes” and “an apology will be coming soon” (shown below).

Related Memes

“Hey! That’s Pretty Good”

Hey! That’s Pretty Good is a reaction image of YouTuber iDubbbz, from the video “Dumbass Gets PewDiePie Tattoo,” which was uploaded on the Filthy Frank channel.

“I’m Gay”

“I’m Gay” refers to a memorable quote uttered by iDubbbz while jumping off a table in a video uploaded by MaxMoeFoe in mid May 2016. The scene has been widely used in various remixes on the YouTube and Vine, often paired with clips of people falling to the ground.

“I Have Crippling Depression”

“I Have Crippling Depression” is a memorable quote from iDubbbz’ “Disabled Pokemon Go – Eevee + Zubat” video (shown below).

Search Interest

External References