Many online creators have been called out for past insensitive or problematic behavior, and most recently, popular Youtuber, Jenna Marbles, faced backlash for several of her vlogs from years ago. While many creators in this position apologize and move on, Jenna Marbles announced that she may be leaving her channel all together.
Past offensive videos include an imitation of Nicki Minaj in which Jenna is in Blackface, a video in which she criticized women “who slept around,” and a video which included a racist joke about Asian men.
Jenna, whose last name is actually Mourey, quickly posted a video addressing all criticism in which she stated, “I’ve tried my best to grow up and to be a better person. And first and foremost, I want everyone to know that I’ve always been a two-way street, and that anytime that you criticize me and tell me that you would like me to do better or to do something differently, that I always try to do that. And I try to make fun content, inclusive content, things that don’t offend people or upset people, and that’s kind of where I am,”
Mourey continued, regarding the resurfaced videos, “It’s awful, it doesn’t need to exist, it’s inexcusable, it’s not OK. I’m incredibly sorry if this offended then, now, whenever, it doesn’t need to exist. It shouldn’t have existed. I shouldn’t have said that ever. It’s not cool, it’s not cute, it’s not OK, and I’m embarrassed that I ever made that, period.
“I’m sorry if any of [my old content] holds any nostalgia for you, but I’m literally not trying to put out negative things into the world. I think there was a time when having all of my old content exist on the internet showed how much I have grown up as a person, which I’m very proud of. I think now it’s hard for that content to exist at all because I think people watch it and don’t bother to look at when it was posted or care about what path I took to get to where I am,” Mourey said. “It offends them now, and, if that’s the case, where people will watch something and be offended now, I don’t want it to exist.”
Mourey made all of her problematic videos private and maintained that she wanted to hold herself accountable which may result in her leaving the platform entirely, however she did not state that she was certain of what the future of her channel may be.
“I don’t know if that’s forever, I don’t know how long it’s going to be,” she said. “I want to make sure the things that I put into the world are not hurting anyone,” she said.
Mourey’s long-time partner, Julian Solomita, who also has his own channel announced that he would be pausing the release of his own content to instead lend support to Mourey.
Solomita wrote in a statement posted to TwitLonger., “Jenna is the strongest person i know. but no single person is meant to handle the pressure of pleasing the entire internet week in and week out for a decade,” he wrote. “The mental and emotional toll that takes. and the conflicting emotions at play when she inevitably makes the decision to step away.”
Photo Source: The Los Angeles Times
