He has not donated the money and he did pocket some money. He donated a rounded down number that did not include the year 2023 donations. He also said on every indie land stream "all subs and merchandise bought from me during this time frame is going to charity, i am not touching any of it" yet those sells are not reported or donated anywhere. He kept it. He gave the literal lowest amount he could to get the public off his back.
And it seemingly worked on the guy who made the video, which is insane. Jirard didn't even try the "I'll add some of my money on top, as well as compensate for the 10 years of inflation", which would have been the bare minimum. He instead didn't donate even what he had on the balance. Still waiting for that audit. I imagine the audit results would be public, as all of the other financial information involving a charity is public.
A few errors in your comment. It was Open Hand thst did not donate the money is a timely manner. Jarid was on thr board but at the bottom. Bot the president,.vice.preosent, sectary or treasurer. His role.on the foundation document was marketing. He did not have access to the bank account. The money that cost to run the event was higher that what was donated in subs etc. So.he keep that money and Open Hand later paid him the balance. It was only a small amount in the scheme.of things. He should not have done it that way, but that is a book keeping error. Open hand was founded primary to run the golf tournament..they have to keep.some money to be able to run the golf tournament so.they are not going to donate all of it.
@@sydtopia a director is the bottom? And what you're saying already means he's guilty of embezzlement, as he himself told the public that money will go to a charity, and then he took it for himself. Also, him publicly claiming their organization is working with various charities, including after he said he knew they aren't, is another crime. And regarding the last sentence - if they said they will donate everything, then not donating everything is embezzlement. I don't care what their expenses are, lying to solicit donations is a crime.
His last completion video has him mostly off screen, alot of generalization and summarization compared to most of his other vids, like trying to rush through as fast as possible and that's been one of 2 vids with a dead period for about 3 weeks. Whole channel is just way off now.
Karl and Muta didn't say that they expended the 600k, they said that the foundation should have more than the 600k based on the golf tournament earnings and some other donations.
The guy lied at every freaking turn. The recordings where he is begging them to leave him alone are such an obvious attempt of manipulation... hear his voice, how carefully he tries to be heard as someone about to cry, and as soon as they say they are not gonna go away, his sadness disappear, he remains calmed and thoughtful, much more careful, like he understands finally that manipulating them is not gonna work. And contradicts himself ALL THE TIME. Every time he speaks he looks like a liar. People are too soft, they allow him to keem manipulating their emotions. There's nothing authentic about that guy. I also feel sad for him, I can't prevent it, but I need to remember how he lied and how openly he manipulated his audience. If he is done in youtube, good ridance. I bet there's some charity with too much money that can use his "help". The main problem is that he never took it really, he just deflected the main acusations. He never admitted that he lied, instead he attacked the guys who uncovered everything. If he at least admitted his real mistakes, but will never be able to do it.
Some people are not interested in the truth. They want to be entertained. Not everyone is interested making people accountable, especially if they weren't involved.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's. Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
@@supersleepygrumpybear Yeah, I mean, he still made good content, of course. But I also found it a little boring. I liked the tips he told about the games "he completed". The concept of the channel, I think, was pretty great.
I'd been watching The Completionist since I was like 11. There was always signs that Jirard wasnt the man he appeared to be, the Greg incident for example, but I always thought deep down he was a good guy. After what happened last year Im just depressed. Another RUclipsr I watched as a kid is secretly a bad person. Great video, and you deserve more subs!
i think the reveals that beloved youtbers are actually awful people happening alot more frequently really show that we don't actually know these people, only the face they put on the internet
While he made many bad decisions, I still wouldn't really consider him a straight up bad person. I have no doubt that there were likely a lot of things behind the scenes that influenced the way he went about it, but sadly it never came to light so it just looks like it was all his intention. It still doesn't excuse it, but I feel many people skip over this aspect. That, and the fact that he's still trying to make amends and help others. Even if you think he was solely responsible for what happened, it's not something that bars him from a second chance as long as he demonstrates that he has learned and grown from it, especially after he has already accepted the consequences.
@@FlameHricane have you watched all 4 of the Karl's videos on the topic, as well as the call between Karl, Muta and Jirard? Your message reads like a blissful ignorance in face of the actual facts.
@@cagejones7757 Yes, I've obviously seen most information on the situation. Most of their videos did not change my stance or disprove what I'm saying because they barley got any deeper information past the call, just analyzing what is already public. It's fine if you want to stop at the same conclusion they did, but I think it's also pretty obvious that there is still a lot of unknown information to really close it out like that. Their intent argument doesn't fully make sense without this information is all I'm pointing out.
@@FlameHricane he knew the money weren't being donated, and he new he's lying to the public when soliciting money. These ones are just facts, which were proven without any room for other interpretation. It's not just a few bad decisions here it's there, it's downright evil considering the known circumstances (such as him constantly using his dead mother both to solicit donations, and to shield him from criticism). He's also such an obvious manipulator I have no idea how people are still falling for it.
NGL, I feel like there's something weird with Greg. He talked about how it was all about business, and that he missed Jirard, then he threatened to sue to have the videos removed. Come this controversy, he came to give off hints he knew Jirard was a bad guy and that's why he left. Don't get me wrong, Jirard 100% was rotten in how he handled the charity thing, but Greg doesn't come off like a boy scout here, either.
@@deejrdee1 What part of expressing an opinion in a comment of a video not about that person specifically and which that person will almost assuredly never see said comment harassing anyone?
@@mage1439 It felt like Greg was doing his best to part on good terms and not hurt Jirards reputation. Greg didnt put Jirard on blast until after Jirard publicly lied about the split. (I cant remember if it was in a video, or on a reddit post.) If Jirard had just left it at the "friendly split" white lie, I bet we wouldnt have heard another peep from Greg.
I read the stuff from Greg as it came out, having been a fan of theirs as their rise happened, and was a regular fan until super beard bros got a third member, which they tried to make it sound that they were kicking Jirard off his own channel. Greg is very much a sleazeball. Jirard has his own skeletons, but the way how Greg talked to people in public and the way how he talks in those messages, he's not worth feeling bad over. Its my understanding that even having met in person, no one else in normal boots got along with him, to the point there was a funny meme I saw of Jontron glaring daggers at Greg. Just looking at the tweets from Greg regarding the falling out, you can tell the guy's throwing a hissy fit and trying to stir up trouble by making his personal qualms with Jirard a public thing. I don't think he's doing it for relevancy when he did make his appearances, but he did do it to try and defame Jirard, cause a lot of what he does seems to be a big middle finger to him anymore. This doesn't excuse Jirard's OTHER actions, but given that Greg was the company he keeps, I'm willing to bet a lot of the others that he brought into the fold probably aren't the best people either, especially with how quick all of them were to vilify Jared, PBG and a few others over other controversies (namely for PBG, defending Jared)
18:49 - Thank you for covering this as there needs to be more videos about this, but I have to let you know, at that minute mark, you are wrong. The money is missing. Jirard did not donate all of the money: bits, subs, super chats, merch sales-including the golf money. So money did go missing.
Hey, I'm PantheonRadiance, one of the primary editors of the Wikipedia article for The Completionist. At 4:58, you mentioned that you made the mistake that Jirard left in 2019 and said it was because of the "poor wording" of the Wikipedia article. However, I feel I need to correct you on this misunderstanding. The source to that claim stated that he was a member of Normal Boots at one point, but it never explicitly stated the time period of when he was in the group. That was an issue with the secondary source rather than an error of poor wording. Wikipedia is based on verifiable info. It typically goes by what reliable secondary sources say about a topic - as in, reputable news sites as opposed to blogs, Fandom wikis or RUclips videos - and avoids adding information that isn't found in any sources, which is called original research. The reason why the article didn't mention when he left is because we were unable to find a good source that states it correctly. Searching Jirard online, the issue is that there doesn't exist a secondary reliable source that directly stated when he left Normal Boots. If there were, we would have included said info in the first place. Sometimes even the best reliable sources can make mistakes or omit info. In those instances, the onus should be on sources to correct such mistakes first rather than Wikipedia. So many people often comment on Wikipedia's reliability without realizing that the articles on the site are only as good as the sources used to build them. You have to treat Wikipedia as a reflection of knowledge. If the mirror itself is broken, then Wikipedia will reflect that. Whenever you see an issue with false information on Wikipedia, ask yourself if it's an issue with the source first. If yes, then direct your concerns towards the author who wrote the source first. They will often respond and correct it accordingly. P.S. If you're going to cite Wikipedia as a source for your videos, the least you could do is share your appreciation for making it easier for you to conduct research in the first place. Thanks for the video anyways.
His downfall is completely his own doing. He benefitted off of other peoples' charity and goodwill and used it for clout and image. Then when he got busted he didn't even donate all of the money that was donated (just a round number) and none of what was donated was even his money. Strangers donated more than him to combat the disease that he harped on about for years. Then when he finally got caught, he threatens the ones who pointed out the wrongdoing with legal action (even though he was practically begging them to not go public with it, veiled bribe and all, and pretty much admitted it was wrong). They didn't even donate all the money, just a round number to get people off his back. Amazing how you can be a "main funding support partner" of a university without any funding, support, or partnership whatsoever... I fail to see how he's trying to make any of his wrongs into right. He pretty much just went back to content, of a lesser quality, and nothing more. Sorry, that's not fixing anything, but just head-in-sand hoping it goes away eventually and he can come back. And before anyone says "he wasn't in charge of the foundation" or some other such nonsense, he was on the board and was a spokesperson. Apparently he had time to find 900 korok seeds, but couldn't make sure money was actually donated to combat the disease that killed his own mother. (and yes, I know he pays people to play the game for him).
He wasn't just a spokesperson, he was the OpenHand's director since 2014. And everyone absolutely has to believe he never checked where the money is going since 2014, especially before going to public and making the claims where the money are going.
@@deejrdee1 "an innocent person"... who knew full well a year+ before being exposed that none of other people's money he collected had been donated. When the money was finally donated, it was not in full, nor was any of his own money part of the donation. That's not "innocent", that's willfully harmful. Take your sob story elsewhere. I'll be toxic on this topic if I want to. My "toxicity" in calling out his BS is nowhere near as harmful as what he did. He wasted other people's money. Far worse than anything I've done.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's. Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
He wants to regain his credibility? Fine, we'll see what he produces The main beef stems from his approach on accumulation to avoid paying a charity a cut, ensuring everything goes to the cause. It's fine on paper, as much as 35% can be taken if you do so. The part where it becomes a major issue is in health expenditures year by year and inflation. Since 2014 to 2022 the NIH saw research nearly double from 53 billion to 100 billion. Meanwhile inflation going from 2014-2020 is anywhere from 28.6% to 20% in lost value. I'm not going to pretend to know what the total loss of value actually is, but it's definitely higher than 35%, which mind you is among the highest deductions, for all we know it could be closer to 20-25 I'm willing to wait and see if only because this reeks more of overthinking how to beat the system and not accounting for the economy beating them back harder. However as someone whose Grandmother endured Alzheimer's Disease and helped raise around 15K dollars over six years it will always be a bit more personal for me on this blunder
In the end it's just a poor excuse that doesn't explain Jirard lying to the public and saying the money is being donated to particular organizations year after year.
Very well done and focused video. As someone who hasn't followed any of the Normal Boots people aside from the insane controversies that pop up Gerald has probably handled this the worst among the whole bunch. JonTron just made a non-apology and disappeared for awhile, ProJared kept quiet until he could show he might be a pervert but did nothing illegal (weirdly tried to start an OnlyFans, thinking people actually wanted to see him in a sexual context...), meanwhile Gerald mostly did things that only brought himself and his family under more scrutiny. Not even going into all the weird lies he's told about his personal life (the Best Buy stuff being laughable, acting like he was prompting up their entire game selling department) this has really made me think the worst of his family and that he was just kind of dragged along by them. Just way too much baggage in the background when it comes to his father, how they've a history running businesses in a shady manner, and how Gerald has expressed complex feelings of being afraid/wanting to make his dad proud makes me feel he felt forced to comply with whatever was suggested. I've heard some interesting theories that the charity money was being used as collateral for some sort of loan, apparently there some sort of legal loopholes to do so, and given how well it matches up with the odd gap between confronted about why it hasn't been donated for it to actually be done I can definitely see it being possible. But yeah end of the day the guy burned down his legacy pretty badly. I feel somewhat bad for him but given over the last few years he's also expressed his disdain for his "passion" I'm going to say it's for the best at this point. His groveling/bribery attempts were pathetic and following up with an "apology" which was more a series of threats put the last nail in the coffin.
I've been not a fan of his ever since the whole Greg wilmot when he tried to make Greg seem like the bad guy for requesting all the videos featuring him be removed off the platform
I used to enjoy his videos a long time ago, but as time went on I kept getting this nagging sensation that he was extremely fake. The more a person tries to pretend being a goody-two-boots white knight, the trashier you know their insides are.
Please do a more careful analysis of the crucial details. You state multiple times that the money were donated, which proves they weren't stolen. That is very obviously inaccurate. At the time of the donation, they should have had over 700k on their balance, yet they donated only 600k. Why the rest of the money wasn't donated? And 700k does not include the money they spent on their own expenses (despite claiming everything goes to a charity). And that amount does not include the missing golf tournament money. So with that included, there'd potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars still missing. And also, regarding Jirard welcoming an audit and threatening a legal action - you claim it is confidence, what makes you say confidence and not a bluff? He has no control over the audit, and there are still no lawsuits (despite Karl and Muta making even more videos on the topic after the threat). So far it's nothing but a bluff.
He still hasn't given any satisfactory answers as to why he did it. How could the money be held for years without him knowing? And if he was 'looking for the right charity' why did he mention names of ones he claimed he donated to?
As to how he could not know, Jirard may have been director but as far as I have seen his sole role in openhand is to organize the indieland events and be their host, he was pretty much the talent that promoted their cause. The ones responsible for handling the money were his father and brother, who are the president and vise president respectively. There is the case to be made that Jirard should have known what was happening with the money, but he mainly studied in theater, not any sort of financial field. And as for the "looking for the right charity" part, the context of that statement is I feel much more important. Jobst said he asked Jirard's brother why they had not made any donations for all this time and he responded with that they had not found the right charity that matched their standards, and that they didn't want to give a substantial amount to admin costs. For why the various organizations were mentioned during indieland, you will notice that any time one of the organizations were named Jirard always said they were either "working with" or "partnering" with them. Any time he directly said money was going somewhere it was either towards "research" which is their mission statement or it was going to Openhand which is a registered charity. Another important thing to take note of is that neither Jobst nor Muta ever asked Jirard nor his brother why said other organizations were mentioned during Indieland. But during the infamous discord call Jirard did say that there was a "paper trail" of communications with those organizations, but neither Jobst nor Muta got into contact with any of those organizations to verify this.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How am I harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Part of me wants to give him the benefit of the doubt more than many commenters are giving him. Regardless of what he did the collapse of an empire and a repuatation like this must case unfathomable aguish. But even before the scandal i slowly stopped watching him because he seemed too much like a safe, carved out PR-sculpted persona that seemed neither human nor genuine
What about the interest on that money, did they give that to the charity as well? They were forced to do what they said they would, although not in any hurry. This casual attitude was not applied to donors though, who were soliciting for donations so that research and help could be delivered asap. Dementia wasn’t going to take breather so neither should we. Dementia lived up to its promise, but unfortunately this jabroni didn’t. Would he had been so irresponsible had his mom been alive and battling it when the money was flowing in?
@@deejrdee1 How am I being toxic by saying the show wasn’t the same? The entire tone of the show shifted after Greg left and I enjoyed it less. How is that toxic?
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's. Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
Was really into him from like 2017-2019 but something just seemed off. He always had this habit of humble bragging that kind of exposed his character. Glad he’s off friends per second tbh cause sometimes his energy was just really self righteous and you can tell the other hosts didn’t always know how to react to it.
I disagree with JonTron but people need to let it go and should've not cared all that time ago. It blows my mind that JonTron is still far more controversial than someone like ProJared who recklessly encouraged sharing nudes (on whatever website he had), which is disgusting already but aside from that, his content is the stuff that only teenagers at best would be into.
The analysis is good, but Jirard openly lied to his fans for 10 years, and he didn't even took responsability for it, that's not acceptable at all, even if the scam wasn't his fault, he was the image of it and he should've said something instead of misleading people into donating.
@@ColdheartDunther Karl and Muta never really proved that Jirard or Openhand lied. Whenever Jirard mentioned another organization during indieland he either said they were "partnering" with them or were working with them. Any time he mentioned where money was going directly it was either towards "dementia research" which is their stated goal or towards openhand itself which is what the tax returns actually prove.
@@ColdheartDunther Neither Karl nor Muta nor anyone who has covered this case has gotten in contact with any of the organizations that were mentioned during Indieland to confirm or deny their involvement with openhand. But during the call Jirard had with the other two Jirard did say that there was a "paper trail" of communications with said organizations.
@@ColdheartDunther Several things about that. 1. Muta recently revealed that the person he talked to about the "problems" with openhand's tax returns was his CFO or chief financial officer. And I am pretty sure that the CFO of a for-profit business in canada does not have to handle the same tax documents as a nonprofit in the united states. 2. Openhand's tax documents only show that they were saving the money and only using it towards expenses related to running the charity, it does not show whether they were or were not currently in talks with the various organizations I mentioned previously. When they covered this whole case Karl and Muta never actually went in depth into the finer details and background operations of charity work. Their "research" was surface level at best and misrepresentative at worst.
Money DID go missing. There is so much deliberately obscured & vague statements from him its clear he isnt & wasn't telling the truth. He did whatever he could to hide the truth & keep as much money as possible whilst sweeping it all under the carpet.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's. Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
The only people acting badly is him & his family. Also if people want to donate they can do it ditrct to the charity there is no need to give it to some random RUclips guy who 'holds' it in a non charity registered account (strange) for a DECADE & only says or does anything when publicly called out.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? This is literally the least anyone has said about Jirard. How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association? Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong. It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it. Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's. Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
I don't think Gerard handled any of this well, but I do believe it wasn't a malicious intent on his end, but him not properly paying attention and handling things and just leaving them for later on until it got this bad.
Whether or not it was malicious intent he clearly had a lot of entitledness and arrogance in his response after being called out as opposed to handling it by being upfront and honest. He seemed to wanna throw his accusers under the bus with arguments they either weren't making or already disproved.
Nah it was 100% malicious intent. I might not be remembering things clearly however I remember he changed his story when confronted about this, first saying the money was always meant to sit in the bank account, then saying now he had only just now found out the money was in the bank account still and he was apalled.
Yea, I agree. Open Hand were the one that did bad. Jarid was a director but at the bottom. The president and vice president are the ones response and should have been managed it and controlled the bank account if you are trying to do the wrong thing, you don't go on a voice call with two others and admit wrong doing.
Karl and Mutahar never said the money was missing or stolen though. You didn't listen to their videos closely enough. Fraud isn't just about stealing money. Listen to Karl's videos again, especially his response video to Jirard's video as well as Karl's video to Moon. Your partial defense for Jirard is based on you not even fully understanding the accusations in the first place. Just take your video down and do more research.
I'm not a particularly big Completionist fan or anything, but Greg's inclusion in the old videos were rarely funny. The dude is a turd, and the show got better after he left.
I thought he was hilarious, when I was a kid. Since I can't watch those videos again as an adult all I have is my memory, and I thought he was funny and entertaining
They got boring. Greg brought a fun energy to the show no matter if you thought he was funny or not. Without him it just became sterilized. Jirard trying to be funny always falls flat.
so with projared and I see why he jumped to his defence, very few people did for him when he was accused of the grooming stuff, and when he pulled up the evidence of none of it happening no one really came to support when getting back on his feet. Projared was making a point of doing what he stands for, sadly in this instance he was wrong
He has not donated the money and he did pocket some money. He donated a rounded down number that did not include the year 2023 donations. He also said on every indie land stream "all subs and merchandise bought from me during this time frame is going to charity, i am not touching any of it" yet those sells are not reported or donated anywhere. He kept it. He gave the literal lowest amount he could to get the public off his back.
And it seemingly worked on the guy who made the video, which is insane. Jirard didn't even try the "I'll add some of my money on top, as well as compensate for the 10 years of inflation", which would have been the bare minimum. He instead didn't donate even what he had on the balance.
Still waiting for that audit. I imagine the audit results would be public, as all of the other financial information involving a charity is public.
@@cagejones7757there must be another donation made, which would then be the donations received from IL2023.
@@cagejones7757 I hope the guy who uploaded this video sees this.
A few errors in your comment. It was Open Hand thst did not donate the money is a timely manner. Jarid was on thr board but at the bottom. Bot the president,.vice.preosent, sectary or treasurer. His role.on the foundation document was marketing. He did not have access to the bank account.
The money that cost to run the event was higher that what was donated in subs etc. So.he keep that money and Open Hand later paid him the balance. It was only a small amount in the scheme.of things. He should not have done it that way, but that is a book keeping error.
Open hand was founded primary to run the golf tournament..they have to keep.some money to be able to run the golf tournament so.they are not going to donate all of it.
@@sydtopia a director is the bottom?
And what you're saying already means he's guilty of embezzlement, as he himself told the public that money will go to a charity, and then he took it for himself. Also, him publicly claiming their organization is working with various charities, including after he said he knew they aren't, is another crime.
And regarding the last sentence - if they said they will donate everything, then not donating everything is embezzlement. I don't care what their expenses are, lying to solicit donations is a crime.
His last completion video has him mostly off screen, alot of generalization and summarization compared to most of his other vids, like trying to rush through as fast as possible and that's been one of 2 vids with a dead period for about 3 weeks. Whole channel is just way off now.
Karl and Muta didn't say that they expended the 600k, they said that the foundation should have more than the 600k based on the golf tournament earnings and some other donations.
The guy lied at every freaking turn. The recordings where he is begging them to leave him alone are such an obvious attempt of manipulation... hear his voice, how carefully he tries to be heard as someone about to cry, and as soon as they say they are not gonna go away, his sadness disappear, he remains calmed and thoughtful, much more careful, like he understands finally that manipulating them is not gonna work.
And contradicts himself ALL THE TIME. Every time he speaks he looks like a liar.
People are too soft, they allow him to keem manipulating their emotions. There's nothing authentic about that guy.
I also feel sad for him, I can't prevent it, but I need to remember how he lied and how openly he manipulated his audience. If he is done in youtube, good ridance. I bet there's some charity with too much money that can use his "help".
The main problem is that he never took it really, he just deflected the main acusations. He never admitted that he lied, instead he attacked the guys who uncovered everything.
If he at least admitted his real mistakes, but will never be able to do it.
Some people are not interested in the truth. They want to be entertained. Not everyone is interested making people accountable, especially if they weren't involved.
I stopped watching after Greg left, just didn't feel the same. Greg's comic relief brought levity to the show-
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
@@supersleepygrumpybear Yeah, I mean, he still made good content, of course. But I also found it a little boring. I liked the tips he told about the games "he completed". The concept of the channel, I think, was pretty great.
@@leon4000 Yeah. Some people are born to be robbed, apparently.
He never really completed persona 5 royal.
His greatest crime
having completed sea of stars it's weird to hear how his cameo is gone. he had a sidequest in the village he's in too from what i remember.
Jirard dyes his beard, can't trust him.
I'd been watching The Completionist since I was like 11. There was always signs that Jirard wasnt the man he appeared to be, the Greg incident for example, but I always thought deep down he was a good guy. After what happened last year Im just depressed. Another RUclipsr I watched as a kid is secretly a bad person. Great video, and you deserve more subs!
i think the reveals that beloved youtbers are actually awful people happening alot more frequently really show that we don't actually know these people, only the face they put on the internet
While he made many bad decisions, I still wouldn't really consider him a straight up bad person. I have no doubt that there were likely a lot of things behind the scenes that influenced the way he went about it, but sadly it never came to light so it just looks like it was all his intention. It still doesn't excuse it, but I feel many people skip over this aspect.
That, and the fact that he's still trying to make amends and help others. Even if you think he was solely responsible for what happened, it's not something that bars him from a second chance as long as he demonstrates that he has learned and grown from it, especially after he has already accepted the consequences.
@@FlameHricane have you watched all 4 of the Karl's videos on the topic, as well as the call between Karl, Muta and Jirard? Your message reads like a blissful ignorance in face of the actual facts.
@@cagejones7757 Yes, I've obviously seen most information on the situation. Most of their videos did not change my stance or disprove what I'm saying because they barley got any deeper information past the call, just analyzing what is already public.
It's fine if you want to stop at the same conclusion they did, but I think it's also pretty obvious that there is still a lot of unknown information to really close it out like that. Their intent argument doesn't fully make sense without this information is all I'm pointing out.
@@FlameHricane he knew the money weren't being donated, and he new he's lying to the public when soliciting money. These ones are just facts, which were proven without any room for other interpretation. It's not just a few bad decisions here it's there, it's downright evil considering the known circumstances (such as him constantly using his dead mother both to solicit donations, and to shield him from criticism).
He's also such an obvious manipulator I have no idea how people are still falling for it.
Damn I feel for Greg a little bit
NGL, I feel like there's something weird with Greg. He talked about how it was all about business, and that he missed Jirard, then he threatened to sue to have the videos removed. Come this controversy, he came to give off hints he knew Jirard was a bad guy and that's why he left.
Don't get me wrong, Jirard 100% was rotten in how he handled the charity thing, but Greg doesn't come off like a boy scout here, either.
@@deejrdee1 What part of expressing an opinion in a comment of a video not about that person specifically and which that person will almost assuredly never see said comment harassing anyone?
@@mage1439 It felt like Greg was doing his best to part on good terms and not hurt Jirards reputation. Greg didnt put Jirard on blast until after Jirard publicly lied about the split. (I cant remember if it was in a video, or on a reddit post.) If Jirard had just left it at the "friendly split" white lie, I bet we wouldnt have heard another peep from Greg.
Greg is a huge loser in all of this. again and again he reveals himself to be someone with no spine and that he never moved on on an emotional level.
I read the stuff from Greg as it came out, having been a fan of theirs as their rise happened, and was a regular fan until super beard bros got a third member, which they tried to make it sound that they were kicking Jirard off his own channel. Greg is very much a sleazeball. Jirard has his own skeletons, but the way how Greg talked to people in public and the way how he talks in those messages, he's not worth feeling bad over. Its my understanding that even having met in person, no one else in normal boots got along with him, to the point there was a funny meme I saw of Jontron glaring daggers at Greg.
Just looking at the tweets from Greg regarding the falling out, you can tell the guy's throwing a hissy fit and trying to stir up trouble by making his personal qualms with Jirard a public thing. I don't think he's doing it for relevancy when he did make his appearances, but he did do it to try and defame Jirard, cause a lot of what he does seems to be a big middle finger to him anymore.
This doesn't excuse Jirard's OTHER actions, but given that Greg was the company he keeps, I'm willing to bet a lot of the others that he brought into the fold probably aren't the best people either, especially with how quick all of them were to vilify Jared, PBG and a few others over other controversies (namely for PBG, defending Jared)
18:49 - Thank you for covering this as there needs to be more videos about this, but I have to let you know, at that minute mark, you are wrong. The money is missing. Jirard did not donate all of the money: bits, subs, super chats, merch sales-including the golf money. So money did go missing.
New Alberto dropped? 🍿🔥
Hey, I'm PantheonRadiance, one of the primary editors of the Wikipedia article for The Completionist. At 4:58, you mentioned that you made the mistake that Jirard left in 2019 and said it was because of the "poor wording" of the Wikipedia article. However, I feel I need to correct you on this misunderstanding.
The source to that claim stated that he was a member of Normal Boots at one point, but it never explicitly stated the time period of when he was in the group. That was an issue with the secondary source rather than an error of poor wording. Wikipedia is based on verifiable info. It typically goes by what reliable secondary sources say about a topic - as in, reputable news sites as opposed to blogs, Fandom wikis or RUclips videos - and avoids adding information that isn't found in any sources, which is called original research. The reason why the article didn't mention when he left is because we were unable to find a good source that states it correctly. Searching Jirard online, the issue is that there doesn't exist a secondary reliable source that directly stated when he left Normal Boots. If there were, we would have included said info in the first place.
Sometimes even the best reliable sources can make mistakes or omit info. In those instances, the onus should be on sources to correct such mistakes first rather than Wikipedia. So many people often comment on Wikipedia's reliability without realizing that the articles on the site are only as good as the sources used to build them. You have to treat Wikipedia as a reflection of knowledge. If the mirror itself is broken, then Wikipedia will reflect that. Whenever you see an issue with false information on Wikipedia, ask yourself if it's an issue with the source first. If yes, then direct your concerns towards the author who wrote the source first. They will often respond and correct it accordingly.
P.S. If you're going to cite Wikipedia as a source for your videos, the least you could do is share your appreciation for making it easier for you to conduct research in the first place. Thanks for the video anyways.
His downfall is completely his own doing. He benefitted off of other peoples' charity and goodwill and used it for clout and image. Then when he got busted he didn't even donate all of the money that was donated (just a round number) and none of what was donated was even his money. Strangers donated more than him to combat the disease that he harped on about for years. Then when he finally got caught, he threatens the ones who pointed out the wrongdoing with legal action (even though he was practically begging them to not go public with it, veiled bribe and all, and pretty much admitted it was wrong). They didn't even donate all the money, just a round number to get people off his back.
Amazing how you can be a "main funding support partner" of a university without any funding, support, or partnership whatsoever...
I fail to see how he's trying to make any of his wrongs into right. He pretty much just went back to content, of a lesser quality, and nothing more. Sorry, that's not fixing anything, but just head-in-sand hoping it goes away eventually and he can come back.
And before anyone says "he wasn't in charge of the foundation" or some other such nonsense, he was on the board and was a spokesperson. Apparently he had time to find 900 korok seeds, but couldn't make sure money was actually donated to combat the disease that killed his own mother. (and yes, I know he pays people to play the game for him).
He wasn't just a spokesperson, he was the OpenHand's director since 2014.
And everyone absolutely has to believe he never checked where the money is going since 2014, especially before going to public and making the claims where the money are going.
@@deejrdee1 "an innocent person"... who knew full well a year+ before being exposed that none of other people's money he collected had been donated. When the money was finally donated, it was not in full, nor was any of his own money part of the donation.
That's not "innocent", that's willfully harmful.
Take your sob story elsewhere. I'll be toxic on this topic if I want to. My "toxicity" in calling out his BS is nowhere near as harmful as what he did. He wasted other people's money. Far worse than anything I've done.
@@deejrdee1 You're harassing me. Stop mindlessly copy-pasting the same banal drivel and get a life.
@@deejrdee1 what is next? Logan Paul is innocent? Then Sam Bankman-Fried? RUclips's situation with bots is really miserable.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
Really appreciated this video. Thank you! And the sign-off got me to Subscribe! God bless you as well.
He did not donate all of the money lol , look it up
Take that up with Open Hand, they are the ones in charge of the money not Jarid.
@sydtopia who created and publicised open hand again?
@@StoolGoodman Jarid dad created open hand.
@@sydtopia Who the heck is Jarid?
Jontron wins at the end lol
JON WINS
@@cowboycurtis4944 JON AND ARIN WIN! THEY REALIZE FRIENDSHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT!
Wow he was willing to throw anyone under the bus just to save hismelf lol, that's something only an outright awful person would do.
He wants to regain his credibility? Fine, we'll see what he produces
The main beef stems from his approach on accumulation to avoid paying a charity a cut, ensuring everything goes to the cause. It's fine on paper, as much as 35% can be taken if you do so. The part where it becomes a major issue is in health expenditures year by year and inflation. Since 2014 to 2022 the NIH saw research nearly double from 53 billion to 100 billion. Meanwhile inflation going from 2014-2020 is anywhere from 28.6% to 20% in lost value. I'm not going to pretend to know what the total loss of value actually is, but it's definitely higher than 35%, which mind you is among the highest deductions, for all we know it could be closer to 20-25
I'm willing to wait and see if only because this reeks more of overthinking how to beat the system and not accounting for the economy beating them back harder. However as someone whose Grandmother endured Alzheimer's Disease and helped raise around 15K dollars over six years it will always be a bit more personal for me on this blunder
In the end it's just a poor excuse that doesn't explain Jirard lying to the public and saying the money is being donated to particular organizations year after year.
Given Muta has his own bullshit, really does seem that they're all in the same boat with just being worse people than we seen them as
Very well done and focused video. As someone who hasn't followed any of the Normal Boots people aside from the insane controversies that pop up Gerald has probably handled this the worst among the whole bunch. JonTron just made a non-apology and disappeared for awhile, ProJared kept quiet until he could show he might be a pervert but did nothing illegal (weirdly tried to start an OnlyFans, thinking people actually wanted to see him in a sexual context...), meanwhile Gerald mostly did things that only brought himself and his family under more scrutiny. Not even going into all the weird lies he's told about his personal life (the Best Buy stuff being laughable, acting like he was prompting up their entire game selling department) this has really made me think the worst of his family and that he was just kind of dragged along by them.
Just way too much baggage in the background when it comes to his father, how they've a history running businesses in a shady manner, and how Gerald has expressed complex feelings of being afraid/wanting to make his dad proud makes me feel he felt forced to comply with whatever was suggested. I've heard some interesting theories that the charity money was being used as collateral for some sort of loan, apparently there some sort of legal loopholes to do so, and given how well it matches up with the odd gap between confronted about why it hasn't been donated for it to actually be done I can definitely see it being possible.
But yeah end of the day the guy burned down his legacy pretty badly. I feel somewhat bad for him but given over the last few years he's also expressed his disdain for his "passion" I'm going to say it's for the best at this point. His groveling/bribery attempts were pathetic and following up with an "apology" which was more a series of threats put the last nail in the coffin.
I've been not a fan of his ever since the whole Greg wilmot when he tried to make Greg seem like the bad guy for requesting all the videos featuring him be removed off the platform
I used to enjoy his videos a long time ago, but as time went on I kept getting this nagging sensation that he was extremely fake.
The more a person tries to pretend being a goody-two-boots white knight, the trashier you know their insides are.
Nothing can bring you down like family :)
After Greg left the show went to s**t
Now is the time for PBG to get a voice acting role in a video game. He wouldn't do anything to get it removed like his other normalboots brothers
Please do a more careful analysis of the crucial details.
You state multiple times that the money were donated, which proves they weren't stolen. That is very obviously inaccurate.
At the time of the donation, they should have had over 700k on their balance, yet they donated only 600k. Why the rest of the money wasn't donated? And 700k does not include the money they spent on their own expenses (despite claiming everything goes to a charity). And that amount does not include the missing golf tournament money. So with that included, there'd potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars still missing.
And also, regarding Jirard welcoming an audit and threatening a legal action - you claim it is confidence, what makes you say confidence and not a bluff? He has no control over the audit, and there are still no lawsuits (despite Karl and Muta making even more videos on the topic after the threat). So far it's nothing but a bluff.
Alberto and Tom uploaded on the same day!
I think that beard went straight to his ego if you ask me
He still hasn't given any satisfactory answers as to why he did it. How could the money be held for years without him knowing? And if he was 'looking for the right charity' why did he mention names of ones he claimed he donated to?
As to how he could not know, Jirard may have been director but as far as I have seen his sole role in openhand is to organize the indieland events and be their host, he was pretty much the talent that promoted their cause. The ones responsible for handling the money were his father and brother, who are the president and vise president respectively. There is the case to be made that Jirard should have known what was happening with the money, but he mainly studied in theater, not any sort of financial field.
And as for the "looking for the right charity" part, the context of that statement is I feel much more important. Jobst said he asked Jirard's brother why they had not made any donations for all this time and he responded with that they had not found the right charity that matched their standards, and that they didn't want to give a substantial amount to admin costs.
For why the various organizations were mentioned during indieland, you will notice that any time one of the organizations were named Jirard always said they were either "working with" or "partnering" with them. Any time he directly said money was going somewhere it was either towards "research" which is their mission statement or it was going to Openhand which is a registered charity. Another important thing to take note of is that neither Jobst nor Muta ever asked Jirard nor his brother why said other organizations were mentioned during Indieland. But during the infamous discord call Jirard did say that there was a "paper trail" of communications with those organizations, but neither Jobst nor Muta got into contact with any of those organizations to verify this.
2:54 JonTron is BASED
“JonTron is BASED” 🤓☝️
Jonathan Tronathan
Really putting the Jafar in Jafari...
Jirard needs to shave his beard and get a job at Best Buy
Jim told me that you do a nice documentary's let's see :)
he told you that yesterday... since hes still alive
@@saemonno-suke9959 well it was a bit longer than yesterday but sure :) cool video, fuck The Completionist
Loved your video! Also, my first name is Alberto. We are kindred spirits!
I'm glad someone is still talking about this. The guy is literally just trying to wait it out.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How am I harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
600k? man he borrowed that from a family memeber, he gonna steal it again
Part of me wants to give him the benefit of the doubt more than many commenters are giving him. Regardless of what he did the collapse of an empire and a repuatation like this must case unfathomable aguish. But even before the scandal i slowly stopped watching him because he seemed too much like a safe, carved out PR-sculpted persona that seemed neither human nor genuine
What about the interest on that money, did they give that to the charity as well? They were forced to do what they said they would, although not in any hurry. This casual attitude was not applied to donors though, who were soliciting for donations so that research and help could be delivered asap. Dementia wasn’t going to take breather so neither should we. Dementia lived up to its promise, but unfortunately this jabroni didn’t. Would he had been so irresponsible had his mom been alive and battling it when the money was flowing in?
i’m gonna be very honest after Greg left the show was never the same
@@deejrdee1 How am I being toxic by saying the show wasn’t the same? The entire tone of the show shifted after Greg left and I enjoyed it less. How is that toxic?
@@reggieroyster6463simple. Because when he left, nothing of value was lost
Great video!
I always found Greg to be annoying in the completionist l videos, his style of humor felt unfunny but I am glad he left and hope is he well
Waaaaaay too generous at the end there.
just subscribed to the completionist
Really great video
Never meet your heroes man. This really disappointed me and unless Jirard gets his act together, I can't bring myself to watch his content ever again.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
greg rightfully wanted his pay
Projared is a creep btw
Was really into him from like 2017-2019 but something just seemed off. He always had this habit of humble bragging that kind of exposed his character. Glad he’s off friends per second tbh cause sometimes his energy was just really self righteous and you can tell the other hosts didn’t always know how to react to it.
Fraud is fraud. He is using his dead mother's name to scam people out of their money, disgusting....
I disagree with JonTron but people need to let it go and should've not cared all that time ago. It blows my mind that JonTron is still far more controversial than someone like ProJared who recklessly encouraged sharing nudes (on whatever website he had), which is disgusting already but aside from that, his content is the stuff that only teenagers at best would be into.
I think it was Tumblr
He plays a great victim
The analysis is good, but Jirard openly lied to his fans for 10 years, and he didn't even took responsability for it, that's not acceptable at all, even if the scam wasn't his fault, he was the image of it and he should've said something instead of misleading people into donating.
@@ColdheartDunther Karl and Muta never really proved that Jirard or Openhand lied. Whenever Jirard mentioned another organization during indieland he either said they were "partnering" with them or were working with them. Any time he mentioned where money was going directly it was either towards "dementia research" which is their stated goal or towards openhand itself which is what the tax returns actually prove.
@@MrGoldbrick777 Saying something that you know is false is the literal definition of lying.
@@ColdheartDunther Neither Karl nor Muta nor anyone who has covered this case has gotten in contact with any of the organizations that were mentioned during Indieland to confirm or deny their involvement with openhand. But during the call Jirard had with the other two Jirard did say that there was a "paper trail" of communications with said organizations.
@@MrGoldbrick777 you know that the data of their money is public, right? The lies were the whole reason this whole mess came out.
@@ColdheartDunther Several things about that.
1. Muta recently revealed that the person he talked to about the "problems" with openhand's tax returns was his CFO or chief financial officer. And I am pretty sure that the CFO of a for-profit business in canada does not have to handle the same tax documents as a nonprofit in the united states.
2. Openhand's tax documents only show that they were saving the money and only using it towards expenses related to running the charity, it does not show whether they were or were not currently in talks with the various organizations I mentioned previously.
When they covered this whole case Karl and Muta never actually went in depth into the finer details and background operations of charity work. Their "research" was surface level at best and misrepresentative at worst.
hamburger interest
Money DID go missing. There is so much deliberately obscured & vague statements from him its clear he isnt & wasn't telling the truth. He did whatever he could to hide the truth & keep as much money as possible whilst sweeping it all under the carpet.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
The only people acting badly is him & his family. Also if people want to donate they can do it ditrct to the charity there is no need to give it to some random RUclips guy who 'holds' it in a non charity registered account (strange) for a DECADE & only says or does anything when publicly called out.
@@deejrdee1 you're wrong in every sense. How is he harassing him here? This is literally the least anyone has said about Jirard. How exactly is he innocent? Why did he say he was working with and was one of the top donators for University San Francisco when all of the money went to the Alzheimer's Association?
Go on, make up some stuff from thin air to prove me wrong.
It's called accountability. It's people like you that let the Mamamaxs, the Miniladds, the Dreams of this world exist. "That's different!" You cry, no it's not. The proof exists and you're choosing to ignore it.
Pray you and your family never get Alzheimer's.
Based on the fact you're copying and pasting the same response over and over you're either a bot, or already have Alzheimer's
I don't think Gerard handled any of this well, but I do believe it wasn't a malicious intent on his end, but him not properly paying attention and handling things and just leaving them for later on until it got this bad.
Whether or not it was malicious intent he clearly had a lot of entitledness and arrogance in his response after being called out as opposed to handling it by being upfront and honest. He seemed to wanna throw his accusers under the bus with arguments they either weren't making or already disproved.
Nah it was 100% malicious intent. I might not be remembering things clearly however I remember he changed his story when confronted about this, first saying the money was always meant to sit in the bank account, then saying now he had only just now found out the money was in the bank account still and he was apalled.
Yea, I agree. Open Hand were the one that did bad. Jarid was a director but at the bottom. The president and vice president are the ones response and should have been managed it and controlled the bank account if you are trying to do the wrong thing, you don't go on a voice call with two others and admit wrong doing.
@@sydtopia You also don't make weird jokes about potentially giving them hush money to stop them from potentially making you look worse.
Karl and Mutahar never said the money was missing or stolen though. You didn't listen to their videos closely enough. Fraud isn't just about stealing money. Listen to Karl's videos again, especially his response video to Jirard's video as well as Karl's video to Moon.
Your partial defense for Jirard is based on you not even fully understanding the accusations in the first place. Just take your video down and do more research.
@@Katie-hb8iq that statement did not have to end the way it did
can you talk faster
I'm not a particularly big Completionist fan or anything, but Greg's inclusion in the old videos were rarely funny. The dude is a turd, and the show got better after he left.
I thought he was hilarious, when I was a kid. Since I can't watch those videos again as an adult all I have is my memory, and I thought he was funny and entertaining
They got boring. Greg brought a fun energy to the show no matter if you thought he was funny or not. Without him it just became sterilized. Jirard trying to be funny always falls flat.
He's so annoying
so with projared and I see why he jumped to his defence, very few people did for him when he was accused of the grooming stuff, and when he pulled up the evidence of none of it happening no one really came to support when getting back on his feet. Projared was making a point of doing what he stands for, sadly in this instance he was wrong