Big Joel had the best response to this: James should have come out and said, "I wrote this original song about being cancelled that means a lot to me and I'd like to share it," and then perform the entirety of Toxic Gossip Train.
This is truly the RUclipsr apology video of all time "I didn't want to have to make this video" ✅ Fake crying ✅ Sympathy card (Emotional manipulation) ✅ Dodges the actual allegations ✅ Shifts the blame ✅ Video wasn't up for very long until it was deleted ✅
the worst part is that his original response was so much better. Deleted all the videos, essentially deactivated the channel and completely left the Internet. He could have just left it at that. Idk in what world he thought this would have any positive effect on rebuilding a channel.
Probably in a world where a subset of his audience hadn’t engaged with or was unconvinced by the hbomberguy video. Which he wouldn’t know for certain was untrue until after he posted the apology.
I’ve seen a few bad apologies in my time but I think this is the first time I’ve seen the “I tried to unalive myself because you called me out so you should feel bad for calling me out now” tactic
@@kmuddy5And he brings up his deceased father in the middle of it just so he can cry like a baby for 34 minutes and not mention the accusations, or thing things he did.
I really thought I imagined it when that came up in my subscriptions lol ... And then I was flabbergasted watching it because there was NO overlap between what Todd dug up and what hbomb talked about. Absolutely bonkers.
Charlie is 100% right. People might say he is being too harsh, but this kind of manipulation is beyond disgusting and people need to hear this. Too many people get manipulated by things like this.
Looking at the context of the situation makes his manipulation attempt much worse imo. He was caught plagiarizing and instead of taking accountability he comes back with a video talking about his mental health being bad as if that makes what he did okay. This wasn’t a dog pile because he was homosexual or anything he did in his personal life; this is something he did willingly and continuously throughout his career.
seriously. I feel like ppl should know by now that the internet's reaction to wrongdoing is hyperbolic; it's just as severe a "punishment = justice" mentality as our actual justice system if not more. Harassment and death threats are not ok--we all know that which is why legit and important callout posts usually say "dont fucking harass them ffs". So like charlie says here, I have no doubt that the experience James is going through is horrible, and not really something I think even wrongdoers need to go through. But the theatrics about it, the centering of it, is so fucking manipulative, when he should be there to talk about his wrongdoing. Someone who did a bad thing is perfectly capable of saying "even though some people are being unduly horrible to me about it, I perfectly understand why people are upset overall because I did X" The presence of that extreme, of those threats, etc. isn't good and it's not that justifiable, but at this point we all KNOW that stuff happens. We know you're dealing with it b/c ppl at large now know that you're a bad actor in the context of the stuff you make and your relationship to your field. If you mention the difficulty of going through that (which I think you're allowed to even in a genuine apology video) it should be a FOOTNOTE and you yourself should caveat it by saying that it doesn't negate the wrong you've done and it doesn't weaken the position of people that dislike that wrong. It's just a fringe circumstance caused by a minority of upset people with bad boundaries or who have parasocial tendencies. It doesn't at all change the issue at hand. tl;dr James has a right to be upset about extreme responses to his shit but that should be no more than 5% of the content, emotionally or substantively, of an apology video.
I think the most concerning part about this is how it looks if you're really taking James' mental health stuff seriously. like... he did do plagiarism. that is something that _cannot possibly_ go on forever without being discovered, and it's also something that people are 100% correct to be upset about. but what we're hearing from him, is that he doesn't have the ability to avoid something that was obviously going to get him in trouble, and he can't handle the trouble he's in, once he's in it. to put this another way... if your mental health is fragile enough that you feel suicidal whenever someone is angry at you, then the _least_ you could do for yourself is not steal from people. sometimes people make small mistakes, like forgetting to do their share of the household chores or something. if you're having a rough day, the people who love you will forgive you. but stealing will _always_ end in you getting caught, and people being mad about it. this is an irresponsible thing to do, _especially_ if you have mental health issues that you know will be triggered when this is all found out. because now we're in a situation where creators have a right to be upset about their hard work getting stolen and monetized... but nobody wants to be responsible for someone getting hurt. and James is basically saying that he nearly died over this. who in their right mind would want to tempt fate like that? this basically puts rightfully angry people in a chokehold. like, okay, James? is there ever gonna be a time when your mental health is strong enough for people to accuse you of the stuff you did? it's just incredibly ironic to me, that a man can be simultaneously capable of stealing so many people's work, but also too fragile to confront. he expects the creators who made the stuff he stole, to be endlessly resilient at the theft of their stuff... but he himself is too delicate to face anyone who notices what he's doing.
Exactly, especially considering he stole the work of other gay people that have never gotten HALF the attention, money, and notoriety he has... I can't feel sympathy for it.
@@JosephBlack not really? It was more excuse giving to why he did it, but at least he was no longer outright denying it and daring people to find more.
When people are obviously faking trying hard to squeeze out tears, dramatic quivering lip and the I, I, I, it just forces a look of utter disgust and contempt and I have a real hard time getting through it. Just don't even want to look at it.
"Not something most people would be comfortable sharing online" You underestimate how many people are willing to dump every bit of trauma they have to strangers online
Still, I think most people would not feel comfortable sharing that. Yeah, some poeple like to trauma dumb online, but not make a video explaining how they tried to unalive themselves.
@@rere_bunny The biggest reason those people don't make videos about it is because they don't make videos period. Other then that yeah, there's tons of people who share about their attempts or thoughts of unaliveing themselves to strangers online.
As someone who has not only dealt with suicide but lost their father to suicide aswell,seeing anyone weaoonise it to try and dodge accountability, dodge criticism and to blame shift is absolutely disgusting.
This isn't an apology. It's a guilt trip. Not to mention that if you watched the Hbomberguy video, this is the same kind of tactics he used to send his followers threatening someone else who pointed out he was a plagiarist a while ago. I believe nothing he says. He didn't try to unalive himself, he loves himself way too much, he's crying crocodile tears. If anything he's probably more furious than sad cuz he couldn't get away with it the way he always had: By emotionnally manipulating people. Let's also not forget he defrauded people with a fake movie company, and now that he's caught he opens the valves? No. Keep that for the court Mr. Somerton. Because he's lucky if all of this ends without a lawsuit.
Yep he's taken tens of thousands of dollars from people promising movies, and literally all he's managed to produce is a few movie posters that use stock photographs. That's it. No really. He hasn't even written a single script, even a first draft of a script, a bad script. Let alone get to the point of casting, or filming anything. He went into photoshop, put a title over a stock photo, and then posted it to Twitter. Tens of thousands of dollars. I hope his backers do start a lawsuit. They won't get their money back, or at least if they pay for a lawyer collectively together then they'll break even and won't ever get that money they donated back, but that's not really the point, at this point. Because Somerton is going to keep doing this, defrauding people out of their money, unless he gets a legal smackdown to force him to stop and to give back the money. All of the money. I don't care if he's already spent it.
my fave was him throwing Nick under the bus and then once again whining about "why won't anybody feel sorry for ME that I lost my best friend through my own actions??" like did he hear himself?
HBomberGuy called it: Somerton was setting up his co-writer, Nick, for a fall. Blaming him for the plagiarism in the 'apology video' is really infuriating.
The worst part is we knew he'd throw Nick under the bus because Harris even demonstrates in his video that Somerton's *done that at least twice already.* Like, we don't believe you, James. Your name's on the channel and you keep having Nick research and write for you; the fault is with you alone!
@@grantkeller4634 You absolutely should when they say things that are correct, as is the case with, as far as I can tell, *_all_* of the accusations made against Somerton in the plagiarism video.
@@grantkeller4634except hbomberguy didn't know what bread tube was until people started saying he was in it and even then he says he doesn't want a part in it, you'd know that if you watched the video, he even dunked on hasan a bit
Exactly what I was thinking! Instead of facing the consequences of his actions he decides to fold in on himself and avoid the bad things he’s done because look what he’s been through in the past week 😢😑
I want every person who has to make this level of apology to understand: Just leave the internet. James, just get off the internet. Blair, just get off the internet. Colleen, just get off the internet. Shane, just get off the internet.
agree except for colleen, that wasn't just drama that was borderline pedophilia and grooming both online and IRL. she shouldn't be around people on any platform
The funniest/saddest part of the video was him fake-crying over losing his "best friend" and then spending the rest of the video throwing that "best friend" under the bus. It was basically 30 minutes of "I've lost a wonderful friend in Nick. ... I know there were terrible things in those videos, things that hurt lots of people, but I did NOT write those things. I do NOT believe those terrible things. I should have been diligent in checking the things my co-writer was writing. ... The saddest thing is losing my best friend Nick. *sob* "
i will literally never understand why people get so unbelievably upset when they’ve been caught out for doing something they actively participated in for years. he has been plagiarising word for word for years. you cannot unknowingly do this, yet he is the embodiment of surprised pikachu when people eventually found out. it just blows my mind that someone committing a crime for this long, actively, without any genuine need to do so, didn’t prepare emotionally at all for the possibility that people will find out.
Imagine his sequel apology is an interpretive dance which can be sourced back to the interpretive dance apology that we know and love. What a way to go ham right?
You know you've failed as a content creator when two other content creators independently decide to look into you, and both are able to point out unique bad things you've done over a combined 3+ hours, with evidence
The fact that Hbomberguy had already highlighted all the manipulative tricks used in this apology also made it crystal clear that James hasn't actually done any real self reflection or tried to do any self improvement. He hasn't addressed the issues. He's just mad and sad because he got caught, and lost his friend and co-writer. The friend he still throws under the bus in this apology video. The entire comment section was full of people pointing out that he shouldn't try to get back as a public figure. It was basically a big consensus of "take the L, people will never trust you again, find something else to do with your life".
@@saralamb9016 he didn't. James just reused the same manipulative tactics that Hbomberguy mentioned in the original video. Passive voice, talking as if the plagiarism, misogyny and lies were just things that happened, instead of just admitting he said all those things. He threw other people under the bus. This time it was his editor Nick, just moments after saying he missed Nick, and started sobbing. Stuff like that.
It’s telling to me that in his whole apology video, James never says “plagiarize” once. He apologizes for “not citing correctly” as if he’s actively trying to still deny that he was passing other people’s knowledge and ideas off as his own.
He also doesn't seem to understand that EVEN IF he had cited everything perfectly, even IN the video and not just in the description, that STILL would be plagiarism. You can't just read out someone's entire article or chapter from a book and then say it's OK because you cited it. That's still plagiarism, and Somerton knows this, because he has an undergraduate degree. At university, they don't allow you to just copy and paste other people's work as long as you cite them properly at the end. The vast majority of your essay has to be written by YOU, sometimes referencing things other people have said or even using a direct quote, but a quote of, like, a sentence or two. Not entire pages worth of their writing, not even a whole paragraph, unless it's strictly necessary. This is what Internet Historian's fans don't seem to understand either, they think the video is OK as long as he cites it, when it was copied word for word from the article someone else wrote. He didn't just use it as a reference, he just copied and pasted it, maybe sometimes changing one word or two, maybe sometimes showing a joke visually instead of just reading it out, but IH didn't write the script for his video, he just copied and pasted it. It isn't enough to just cite it correctly. If you're claiming the video is your own work, you have to write 95% of it.
Bro, two of my friends committed suicide this year. Do you think they went out here to tell everyone about how they were feeling? Answer is no. Genuinely depressed/suicidal people don't try to use it to manipulate you into liking them unless they are some real awful people. This guys really makes me mad. Thank you Charlie for addressing this 🙏
I am so sorry for your losses, I also lost someone extremely close from suicide in November, and nobody would have expected it. He seemed to have been doing fine. People don't go around shouting on the streets about their mental issues, that is just absurd
Most people take their time with apologies so they can keep their emotions out and be taken seriously. He took his time to find out how to add more emotions in, shattering that
While this joke is funny. I think he didn't even watch the videos At the start of the hbomb video we saw filip and all the techniques these people use in their apology videos Also we saw how James acted when getting called out. The apology video was just these 2 things again, I think he hoped that doing the same thing he always did will just bring his fans around again, but it didn't work this time so he deleted ut
Hbomberguy dedicating most of his 3 hour video to James' plagiarism was a brutal takedown already. Todd in the Shadows releasing an hour long video exposing all the lies he's told buried him six feet deep.
The teamup-takedown I never saw coming but was so wholly satisfying. Crazy how a guy who was known for video game essays and another known for musical analysis videos coordinated this out
Let's be honest.. the Todd in the Shadows vid was like stepping up to bat when the game was already over. Hbomberguy needs to be afforded an extended victory lap all by his lonesome.
Hbomberguy is such a wild content creator. He drops a massive video once in a blue moon that makes tsunami-like waves and then melts back into the abyss until next time. The best thing about him is the quality of his material and the surgical precision of his hits. It's ALWAYS a delight.
He wasn't making it a sob story. He was clearly crying and telling deeply personal stories to pad out the runtime to squeeze out that last bit of ad revenue.
Ahhh, he pulled the classic "you called be out for my bad actions, and that made me feel so sad i tried to turtleneck myself, feel bad for me and forget all the bad things i did, and if you don't I'll probably try and slip-and-slide myself again and it will be on you" Also for anyone who ever has, is, or might be in this situation. It is NEVER on you, it is NEVER your fault. A persons actions or threats of self harm aren't on you, when all you're trying to do is stand up for yourself. or call out things out you don't like. That self harm is 100% on them. whether a manipulation tactic, or they follow through with it. That is THEIR choice, that is THEIR doing
The funniest part of this arc in the saga is that they re-activated their patreon silently, so unless you were paying attention and had already left their patreon, you’re getting charged on Jan 1st still. What a grifter, lmao
I was just going to say this since I wasn't sure if people knew. They have to get money for those expensive cameras and camera parts that they'll never actually use to film the movies they'll never make, I guess 🤷
Remember everyone, last time when he was called out in the nicest way possible on Twitter, within the hour he put up community posts saying that he was recieving death threats in response to that tweet with 2 likes talking about him. Him bringing up something so dark here is another tactic to shift the conversation away from his blatant plagiarism, misogyny, lesbian hate, and lgbt author erasure. He wants you to feel guilty for bringing it up, to make you feel responsible for the negativity he claims no matter the nature of the criticism.
Straight up narcissist behavior. I understand ppl dont wanna be needlessly cruel or wanna reduce potential harm but the reality is that this guy is a narcissist & manipulator. everything is about him, not the people he hurts & fucks over, lies about & lies to.
All the things he 'said' happened to him... remember when he faked death threats against him to rile up his supporters against that one girl who sent him a polite notice about how he was plagiarizing her?
as someone who suffers from hyper-empathy as a result of trauma, it frustrates me that there are likely people like me who would fall for this manipulation. i'm not calling those people stupid or anything ofc -- i've been in therapy for years, & if i had seen a video like that like 5 years ago, i would have fallen for it too. if anything, it's just disgusting on James' part how he's trying to bank on the misguided empathy of others, whether he was consciously aware of it or not.
I think the key people are missing in these apologies is keep it short and simple. Express genuine regret for what you've done, state what you will do to fix it and what changes you will make so that it doesn't happen again. And NO BUTS. don't justify it, with "i was wrong, but..." buts have no place in apologies. My eighth grade english teacher told me that, and at age 29 it still sticks with me
Also reinstate what was your mistake. In this apologies are always “yeah I did something wrong” and they brush off their mistake as something small and minor but they never explain what was their mistake so they don’t add more to the fire.
Preach, my dude! Exactly this! If he was REALLY apologetic he would do that. But we all know he isn't apologizing cos he feels bad for being a liar and a thief, he is apologizing cos he just lost a cash cow to milk and he is trying to save his face even tho there is nothing to save anymore. He isn't feeling bad cos he made a mistake, he is feeling bad cos got caught with a hand in a cookie jar and he still wanna them cookie crumbs. Unfortunately, I don't think we will eve get anything sincere out of him, not while being what seems to be compulsory liar and possible sociopath.
Charlie, I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I’m so thankful for how you handled this subject. Many people I’ve seen have accused the dude of lying about even being in the hospital, and that’s a particular sore spot for me. Not to bore anyone here with the details, but I’ve been in my fair share of asinine online arguments, one specific one ended up burning a few bridges with online associates when I went MIA. I had rushed myself to the ER for a minor heart attack. When I got back, I was accused of being a liar. I just wanted to say, you’re a great person and it genuinely touched me with how you’ve handed this situation. Keep putting out the stellar content, and I cannot wait for the next episode of the Red Thread!
I like how threw his audiencw under the bus too by saying that the worst videos were because they "werent ones he wanted to do" but they were "requested." Yeah, Buddy, I'm sure your audience will totally appreciate you doing that.
Also to add context, making video requests was a tier reward on his Patreon. It was a $100 tier. And you had to stay on that tier for 3 months to request a video subject (making it $300).
@@Katy133that’s wild!!! I didn’t hear that. Even some of the most beloved and well respected creators like Jenny Nicholson doesn’t have tiers remotely that high
@@Katy133exactly. On top of that, he went on e begging sprees implying he was going to be homeless if people didn't sub to his Patreon while buying absurdly expensive equipment he did not need within the week. So he literally begged people to contribute on that level.
All James had to do was delete his channel....he's been caught before and was NEVER sorry His apology video made me cringe in ways I didn't expect to be possible
The moment he started the video with his trip to the hospital after trying to get an early game over, I gave the fattest eye roll. This wasn't an apology video, it was an "I'm sorry I got caught" video
James is a narcissist who pulled a pathetic pity play in an attempt to manipulate his viewers and guilt-trip his critics. I hope that weasel is shamed off social media.
There wasn't any hospital. He still believed he could wiggle out of this, so he would have no reason to try to end things. He just needed time to write his script for who he is going to blame for his deceit.
A very intense and targeted campaign of internet harassment is likely to put anyone in the hospital. Maybe you just take what he's saying at face value and recognize that, yeah, while he did some bad shit, maybe having a million people telling him to kill himself isn't the proper response. But no, you hear what he's been through and you say, "Clearly this is an attempt to manipulate me, so I'm just going to keep attacking him." If he didn't plagiarize something you made, why do you care so much? You don't know this guy. You don't need to contribute to his suicide. You participated in this internet hate mob because you enjoy inflicting pain on others, but you're too much of a coward to admit that. So you hide behind your anonymity and you tell yourself it's okay because he's a "bad guy". It's not. Make no mistake; If he does kill himself, you are partially responsible for your contributions. Maybe next time there's some internet controversy, you might find yourself sitting down and shutting the fuck up, instead.
Sniperwolf is still going strong, without missing a beat. Just shows again that you should never apologise, just keep going until people get tired of bringing it up
It depends a lot on your core audience. If you cater to more left wing people who tend to actually care about silly things like morality it won't work nearly as well
@@rasurin I'm sure the fact that you're leftist can some up your whole personality, but other people are actually more complex, so no, you can't say this about anyone based on their political believes. But good try :)
Somerton plagiarized one of his own Patreon members. That is so disgusting. He used his supporters to defend and attack the people who called him out over the years. Now after all this time they finally realized they were being lied to, used, and taken advantage of.
@yggdrasil2 he did and I. This apology vid he said he would reopen it for a day so ppl who want to unsub can do so, "so they don't get a surprise bill in jan" meaning that he's planning on reopening it permanently?? WILD
@@yggdrasil2 He did deactivate his account, but then when his apology went live, during the Christmas gift-buying rush when most people are paying more attention to their lives than RUclips, announced he was reactivating the Patreon "so that people could unsub and avoid the charge in January" *this week, when most people won't check to see if they can unsub, so that he does in fact snag people's auto-renewal payment in Jan.* then will take the money & run. He's such a slimeball.
nothing couldve prepared me for just how bad this apology is, opens up teary eyed with a raspy voice and a sob story hoping people would instantly forget that he did a bad thing edit: dont mean to be that guy but wow, thats a lot of likes. i didnt expect my comment to blow up
I will say i am sad because his content was something i spent hours on. I am queer and this kind of documentary was amazing to watch as i watched it. I was talking about james to all my gay friends, even straight friends and i always urged everyone to go watch what he was making because it felt it was needed. My first red flag was a year ago, in which he said "We are not successful financially, so we will remove all our vids if this keeps going" and i was like "why? why not just leave the content you made for people that need to see it?"and then after the plagiarism was revealed i felt so weirdly ... humiliated. You have no idea how sad he made me and i rarely feel this as a passive viewer that comments in 5 video per year xD
This is one of the most narcissistic apologies I've seen in recent history. I feel like someone actually having trouble would just make a post, "I am not in the right headspace to make a fitting apology at the moment, a video will be released at a later indeterminate date." There. Short. Sweet. And doesn't emotionally manipulate.
i find it pathetic that he's guilt tripping and using emotional manipulation to trick people into thinking that hes actually sorry, i highly doubt he's apologetic and he probably hasn't changed. happy new year to everyone
Yeeeaaah. He lost me immediately with the "I almost did something stupid", evidently he found the balls he never dropped to make his own research to guilt trip his audience like a shitty toxic ex. It took so much of my will power to not comment something like "skill issue try harder idiot" because it is clear as day that he's making his lip tremble because he wants people to feel bad for calling him out. This is a man in his thirties, supposedly intelligent and with some measure of dignity, pulling the same playground shit I've seen from teens and early twenty year olds in discord server drama. Pathetic.
Of all the terrible apologies we’ve seen this year, this one actually managed to make me the angriest. I sat through the entire video and had to stop multiple times to regain my sanity. I’ve struggled with mental health issues of a similar severity for many years, and I can’t even imagine using that to emotionally manipulate someone into pitying me. He wants to be a victim so bad, but knows he can’t be, because he made the continuous choice to build his entire reputation on lies and stolen content. This really just feels like one last attempt to get sympathy, which is beyond unforgivable if true. The best decision, for the sake of his audience and his health, is to log off and never return.
Especially since he's dealt to previous claims of plagiarism and straight up lying by using his community to attack that person. Now that its someone bigger than him (well 2 people, Todd In the Shadows' vid dealt with fact checking him more than exposing plagiarism) rightfully exposing his BS he want to "apologize".
As a former small contributor of James Somerton, this isnt the first time he has manipulated his health to get sympathy. To me the worst part of the allegations wasnt even the plagiarism. He started a kick starter campaign with the promises of future movies and tv shows. He collected thousands of dollars, I forget the exact amount. This was 2? years ago. Not a frame has been shot.
I've been watching his channel for a really long time and absolutely adored his content, so finding this out really freaking hurts. Thank you for covering this :(
I just finished reading Cait Corrian’s apology and she does the same thing. Immediately starts the apology with emotional blackmail and making excuses. The second you do that you invalidate the apology.
@@kimrose1559 She’s an YA novelist that made sock puppet accounts on good reads to review bomb POC authored novels and give herself 5 star reviews. When she was caught the first words of her apology were about her mental health struggles. She also pulled a Rosie ODonell and tried to blame her racism on a change of medication.
@@kimrose1559made a bunch of fake accounts on goodreads and review bombed debuting authors (most of them being POC) to boost up her own upcoming novel. Then came up with photoshopped "receipts" to cover her tracks but no one really bought it, so she admitted that she did it and pulled the sympathy card for her apology and barely took any accountability
@@kimrose1559Cait Corrain! She’s an author who had a bunch of stuff lined up for success (book being released soon, movie rights sold, lots of publicity, etc…) until she was found to have created lots of fakeand anonymous accounts on GoodReads who would review bomb and sabotage queer and POC authors. She tried hiding it (pretending someone else did it) but ended up losing EVERYTHING and it was a whole shitshow.
I love howthe top three non-apology videos this year have each taken a different tack. We don't deserve this bounty of variety. Colleen- Snark at it until it goes away (with musical accompaniment) Jirard- Get mad, get real mad. James- Don't cry for me Argentina (with a bonus 'o god what have I done' takesy backsy)
Anyone seen an apology video this year where someone actually outlines the steps they're planning on taking to change their behavior? to show their actions will be different? No it's just manipulate with words to the best of your ability and continue under the radar with as much of the fanbase as possible. God it's exhausting - because everyone pulls the same shit with a different spin.
To be VERY fuckin clear: That "other shit" he's been accused of is that everything in his videos that wasn't plagiarism (read: the few things he and his cowriter actually wrote themselves) was either a straight up lie, an attempt at spreading misinformation (up to and including saying that American fitness culture comes from American soldiers in WW2 wanting to look like "hot, buff Nazis"), or just him being blatantly and disturbingly misogynistic. There's also a great companion video by Todd In The Shadows going over specifically the misinformation if you have the time. EDIT: Oh yeah there's also his Telos Pictures project, wherein he crowdfunded metric assloads of money from his audience, promising to make a great deal of queer-oriented films for an audience he's convinced that he's the only real queer voice on RUclips (which is ofc patently absurd), and thus feel even more starved for serious representation than the average queer person. This project was started many years ago, with many films promised between then and now. He has made precisely ZERO of them, and has refused to refund the money thus far. It's literally like outright fraud.
Whole lot of buzzwords in there, and wow a gay guy lying about things being nazi related???? Imagine my shock, the gay community has been trying to destroy society for years, of course they would say fitness is a nazi thing lmfao
i dont understand why nobody (at least i never personally see it) can ever have the balls to just say "i fucked up" and take responsibility without trying to play victim
Because that would take integrity and if the had integrity they wouldn’t have fucked up to begin with (at least not to the degree they’d have to make an apology video)
I don't think this would mean "having balls" James was highly manipulative in the apology video don't get me wrong, but he opened admitted to plagiarism, my idea of what "having balls" would mean in this situation is to not only tell the world you did a mistake, but to do right for the people affected by your narcist actions, if he donated every single money of the videos he made do the people he damaged, or if he edited every single one of his video so that they would have proper citation this 2 actions would already be acceptable, taking the responsibility is the bare minimum and as you said, people just can't do the bare minimum
It's interesting to note that Hbomber addressed James' apology even before it was published because James used the same tactics that Filip used, which Hbomber had analyzed. These tactics involve never mentioning what he did and speaking in a passive way, rather than an active way. James expressed his apology as "things happened to me" rather than "I did these things". This approach tries to get people to be more concerned with the harm he received rather than the harm he caused. It proves that James has not learned anything from Hbomber's video.
I almost respect him for even trying to apologize. When I got the the halfway point of a 4 hour video and realized the entire rest of it was on one dude I knew he was fucked. For anyone feeling sorry for this guy, please do yourself a service and watch the video. Its long but you can watch it in segments if you need to, and the story it tells should convince anyone that James deserves exactly what hes gotten.
I watched one or two of his videos around a year ago so I was genuinely shocked that the video was about a RUclipsr I actually knew of. I think, that even if all he did was plagiarise, the backlash wouldn’t be quite as bad. He’d be disgraced, sure, but there wouldn’t be the same kind of distrust to him as a PERSON. It’s everything else that was really just the nail in the coffin. The fact that he tried to blame everything on nick and the rest of his team, the manipulation of his viewers and the only parts of his videos being actually original being rants about hating women is all CRAZY unflattering on him and makes him more of a villain than a guy who messed up. Can’t wait to see what this new apology looks like lol.
The fact that Todd in the Shadows has a video almost as long on _other_ shady stuff that James did (with practically no overlap between his video and HBomb's), really clinches it.
For people who aren't very familiar with this controversy, it wasn't just bc Somerton was accused of palgerism (though that's probably the biggest controversy), but he also has a history of misinterpreting or seemingly making a lot of things up and presenting them as facts, including things that rubbed a lot of the wrong way, such as often saying it's straight women who are most offended by gay content (which A) he didn't provide any actual evidence of and B) many thought came off as misogynistic) or some facts he'd bring up about a certain German political party from the 30's-40's (idk if RUclips will censor me so I'm not gonna say the name of it, but if you know you know.) Todd In The Shadows has a video debunking a lot of it.
Adding that he made 10k a month painting himself as the only LGBTQ theorist/ analyst on RUclips, while stealing from other gay and LGBTQ authors and writers. And then he was yes straight up lying about facts for sure, and also making things really scary and mob-mentality thing for attacking people that would question him on the info he had in his videos
And C) people thought it it was ridiculous because straight women is a huge demographic consuming gay movies / books / etc. If anything sexualization and fetishization of gay men is a more wide spread issue among the kind of women who enjoy gay media. For most of them seeing men boinking is the main reason for doing it or at least nice bonus. In some cases (yaoi) gay pron is made by straight women for straight women. They won't get offended with gay sex
_"Straight women are in angry denial about the anime "Yuri on Ice" having gay undertones."_ Anyone who's spent 5 seconds in the anime community knows straight women/girls make up the majority of the audience for gay male dramas; even outside of Japan, it's been a very visible corner of the fandom since at least as far back as the mid-2000's.
@@Shadowcam00 Yeah I remember hearing about this one from Todd. It's literally known as "the gay anime", like there's no way he would believe those words unless he quite literally did no research and tried to portray his biases as fact (which is like 99% what happened).
This is exactly my Moms MO for when shes confronted with consequences for her actions. Literally every time she does something she knows was wrong and gets caught its "i cant handle it I'm going to end it all." Borderline personality disorder is horrible but they 100% know what theyre doing.
I checked out the hbomberguy exposé from your recommendation and it was great. I was really grossed out by Somerton's actions and then thought, "no way this is the bad apology guy from Charlie's video." Hopefully this finally wakes up people to his scummy behavior.
I don’t expect Charles to touch on it but, as a queer person, I was so disappointed when I found out how many queer ppl were completely ignored/taken advantage of/stolen from and profited off of with NO apology to THEM… That was really screwed up. Ppl with very tiny platforms, words from books that could have helped his audience… all silenced. Infuriating
To me the punch in the gut, that made it go from "okay he seems like an asshole but its kinda funny" to "I actively despise this person" was the bit towards the end about that article from a magazine that was shut down and that u can no longer find (on the internet at least) except thru James's plagiarized words. Basically playing a part in erasing queer history. Despicable.
As another queer person, I completely agree with you. We already get enough hate for just existing, he made us look worse. Support queer creators who do right by our community!!!
@@kaysee2428 You don’t get hate for just existing, you get hate for wanting to shove your sexuality in everyone’s faces at all times, and even trying to groom children
The Completionist is by far the worst imo bro confessed to everything, provided no defense, made himself look worse with a ton of contradictions and inconsistencies, hid behind his dead mom **again**, then tried to scare Karl and Mutahar with legal action, then they laughed it off and dropped the entire VC call with him that made him look even worse. Like damn.
Yea I have no idea how he's gonna dig himself out of this hole. Sure he donated but it's not even the expected amount not accounting for inflation or investing returns and I'm sure at this point the IRS has gotten enough contacts from people to begin an investigation on the whole thing. Dude is sunk.
I think this is the first time I've seen a youtube apology in the form of "Because YOU called me out for my behavior, I tried to unalive myself. Feel bad that I tried to do that because YOU drove me to it!"
At this point there’s just no excuse for a bad apology. So many people have done research on what makes an apology effective. It’s actually not that hard to learn how to apologize well
Actually BE sorry! Go look up Drew Gooden/Danny Gonzalez apologizing for "racist" remarks. THAT is how you show that you are truly sorry about something.
Just a forewarning, in Danny's apology, it gets to the point where it feels gross to even be watching someone break down out of shame like that. Like you can really tell how ashamed he is of what he said because he knows it might hurt someone & that's the furthest thing from what he wants to do. I've never seen a youtuber apology where they cried & I genuinely wanted to hug them, but here we are.
@@atomdecay yes! Another good example is Jenna Marbles’ fish apology, or Ethan from H3H3’s apology. There’s channel called Psychology in Seattle, run by a therapist/ psychology professor named Dr. Kirk Honda. He sometimes makes reactions to apology videos, especially popular ones like Colleen Ballinger & Atrioc. He’s actually developed his own 11 steps to an effective apology and i use it as a template every time i owe someone a real apology. He gives all the apology videos grades based on his own 11 steps and I’ve learned so much
Problem with that is that James has to admit he's wrong, and he probably doesn't think what he did was awful. He can't apologize properly if he thinks he's in the right, which I bet he does.
Of course there’s an excuse for a bad apology, you’re not actually sorry, and you’re just doing it to shut people up. You can’t force people to feel bad for screwing up, and you can’t force a genuine apology. Any apology that’s been coerced loses a lot of its meaning and authenticity. Y’all really need to learn that you can’t force people into genuinely caring about feeling bad about wronging others if they don’t actually feel about wronging someone.
Whenever someone tries to use self harm and suicide to try and get someone's sympathy to get away with something unsavory, no matter how big or small, is always disgusting to me.
The thing with this, is that he stole from people for years and punked his audience for years, and now that he got caught, he's sorry, and using heavy handed emotional manipulation to turn anger into sympathy. If he was sorry, he'd have apologised a long long time ago and stopped his rampant plagiarism. If you are sorry once you get caught, then it could be said that the apology was a self-defensive measure to get out of taking responsibility.
Crazy how people seriously think this will go down better than just holding your hands up and saying look I fucked up but I'll do better from now on. What an absolute pleb 💀
If only we knew of a way to turn insincere apologies into energy... At this point we could catapult humanity into becoming a type 2 civilization using exclusively youtube and the gaming industry.
Yea or video games could stop talking about the young white liberal kids shinning a light on all those silly plebians..mercy Christmas cake sucka! It's an armstise day!
It’s sad he went through such a tough time, but when it’s because he got caught doing something he chose to do, there is only so much sympathy I can feel
He made a bunch of money off of other's hard work. He should have invested his money for this inevitable day, and just retired sans any public statements. But it seems he thought this would last longer, and probably didn't prepare for the curtain being pulled back so quickly. He has zero integrity, so no staement will help.
nah bro don't feel bad. the whole thing was just lies and manipulation. He was going through none of this at all, he's just another guy who thinks that claiming suicide will get him everything he wants.
but we dont know that. there is an acceptable level of sympathy for someone supposedly about to unalive. he's not hitler, for example. unrelated note: despite having done bad things, his life isn't just a monetary value negated by the worth of everything he stole. this does not excuse what he has done though.@@beelzebub7221
Being “canceled” can really hurt and some people definitely take it too far 😢 but the criticisms against him were valid. His plagiarism and misogyny/transphobia/lesbian-phobia etc were real problems that were so enormous in their scale that; as an LGBTQ+ person I honestly don’t think the community will ever embrace him again. It sucks, but he made his own bed. It’s time to move on and start handing out job applications:( and he has no one to blame for ruining his career but himself.
@@taitia8619 thank you, I haven't attempted recently but I've been having trouble keeping myself from cutting. I know I can get better and I'm getting a psychiatrist soon.
@@KaraTheGirlie You can :) I'm glad you'll be seeing a psychiatrist, they can be super helpful. I know mine is the reason I can get myself out of bed some mornings.
It genuinely baffles me how after almost a decade of terrible RUclipsr apology videos people still haven’t learned anything and continue to release new contenders for worst apology vid of all time. They just keep doing everything they’re NOT supposed to do.
every time I see one of those apology videos or posts on IG I'm thinking of starting a PR firm that specializes on fuck up management. Seems there is a lot of demand...
@@Anna-hd5wm There are already a lot of paid services, 'media training', 'pr management' etc. that cater to politicians, businesses etc. That's how you can see a lot of these youtubers are not very professional and/ or not very smart. I'm pretty sure you can also google how to write a proper apology, and even ask a chatbot to create one for you!
A lot of it is due to a lack of sincerity. Most of the people apologizing, deep down, either don't see what they did as wrong, or don't care. Thus, they don't know how to conduct themselves in a way that communicates a real apology. Usually, they don't take any reformative steps either besides the apology, it's just a half-baked way to try and retain income.
I think it's because there's no possibly "good" apology for some of the things these youtubers did, and they see emotional manipulation and downplaying as an easier option than just sitting and being fully honest and good faith about their situation
I'm someone who gets emotional because I see others being emotional, its just my mental reaction that I can't do much about, but this guy actually made me laugh while he was sobbing. That tells a lot to me.
Yeah, me too! I just commented how forced and fake he seems to me. If he couldn't get emotions from someone like me, he might not be able to from anyone 😁
He doesn't show any signs of genuine emotional distress. He doesn't grimace, his voice doesn't get shaky (just heightening his pitch like he's going through puberty), no hiccups, no snot, no tear. It's like he's Disney-crying. The above are the most obvious, telltale signs that someone is in *heavy* distress. Heavy enough to commit suicide. What pisses me off so much is that it is so bloody obvious that he's using suicidal urges as just an excuse and he is not actually troubled by it. Any person feeling so distressed as to want to take their own life would be bawling and ugly-crying the moment they start speaking about such an experience. I have a good amount of empathy. And I can tell for certain there is not an ounce of genuine regret, responsibility, or actual suicidal tendency within James. I think any normal person can see that too. We are literally built for empathy, we are social creatures. We can tell when emotions are being faked. A lot of us have been there, felt those feelings, and know it's just not matching up to how they're acting. When will these stupidass apologizers understand that?
This is the type of amateur emotional manipulation you see from young kids in their first relationship when one has been caught cheating on the other multiple times on multiple occasions. It’s like the basic training experience that teaches about emotional manipulation. Worse tho, he was a supposed “film critic” and it’s pathetic he thought this would resonate with anybody that understands the English language. It shows he has zero empathy. The spotlight is on him and that’s his only priority EVEN STILL. Not the fact he became the literal embodiment of most, if not all, issues that queer creators and writers face, and shows zero remorse. It’s more sadistical knowing he was a major player in dealing the damage to the community he was supposedly championing. It’s fucking psychotic, on the surface and at its core and everywhere in between. I can’t even think of a fitting metaphor for how badly he has damaged his own community, actively pushing back the progress of his own community and trying his best to hold them back. It’s like Moses promising the Jews he was going to part the Red Sea for them but instead having them drown so he could float on their corpses and only he himself survive, then when they find him in the process of holding some under water, he says do you know how bad I feel that i did this to you, it’s almost worse than what I did to you so don’t you feel bad for me?
He’s like “I don’t wanna make this a sob story but if you criticize me for everything I’ve done I’m gonna off myself, just to let you know before I apologize….”
Развлечения
![Shoreline Mafia - HEAT STICK (OHGEESY & FENIX FLEXIN) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xKEY6THtwuA/mqdefault.jpg)
When he says "you all have probably heard about this", it feels like im living under a stone every damn time
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
@@Jen-hen didn't ask, nobody cares.
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
Big Joel had the best response to this: James should have come out and said, "I wrote this original song about being cancelled that means a lot to me and I'd like to share it," and then perform the entirety of Toxic Gossip Train.
That would have been the power move that ended racism 🤣
That citation tho 🫡🫡🫡
😂😂
i literally would have forgiven him if he ad done that lmao
What an absolute power move that would have been lmao
This is truly the RUclipsr apology video of all time
"I didn't want to have to make this video" ✅
Fake crying ✅
Sympathy card (Emotional manipulation) ✅
Dodges the actual allegations ✅
Shifts the blame ✅
Video wasn't up for very long until it was deleted ✅
No ukulele, 0/10
@@baileyj7968 lol true, all would be forgiven if he busted out the toxic gossip train
Whe' the dog?
U foegot the "ATTEMPTED sewerslide"
@@TheRoope97 I think that probably fits under the sympathy card category
the worst part is that his original response was so much better. Deleted all the videos, essentially deactivated the channel and completely left the Internet. He could have just left it at that. Idk in what world he thought this would have any positive effect on rebuilding a channel.
Probably in a world where a subset of his audience hadn’t engaged with or was unconvinced by the hbomberguy video. Which he wouldn’t know for certain was untrue until after he posted the apology.
Greed. Selfishness.
He was probably just so bitter about getting caught that he needed to get his pitiful feelings out
If only he had pulled out a Ukulele and sung the Toxic Gossip Train word for word, all would have been forgiven.
Lol that would've actually been pretty funny
And claimed to have written it.
big joel made this joke
Yikes-- plagiarizing a Little Joel joke on a video about plagiarism? Bold choice.
Nah, he would've played How could this happen to me by simple plan. Man is a bait master when is comes to fishing for pity.
I’ve seen a few bad apologies in my time but I think this is the first time I’ve seen the “I tried to unalive myself because you called me out so you should feel bad for calling me out now” tactic
Tumblr prepared me for this
@@softwaifuinsane how real this is lmfao
First he stole from the queer community now he's stealing from the mental health community. All he can do is steal.
It's pretty common in all fairness lol.
Hey Baby girl how u doin?
Doing such a bad job that it causes ToddInTheShadows to do a full content genre shift is crazy lol
What we see is just a guy crying because of the consequence of his actions
@@kmuddy5And he brings up his deceased father in the middle of it just so he can cry like a baby for 34 minutes and not mention the accusations, or thing things he did.
I really thought I imagined it when that came up in my subscriptions lol ... And then I was flabbergasted watching it because there was NO overlap between what Todd dug up and what hbomb talked about. Absolutely bonkers.
Charlie is 100% right. People might say he is being too harsh, but this kind of manipulation is beyond disgusting and people need to hear this. Too many people get manipulated by things like this.
Looking at the context of the situation makes his manipulation attempt much worse imo. He was caught plagiarizing and instead of taking accountability he comes back with a video talking about his mental health being bad as if that makes what he did okay. This wasn’t a dog pile because he was homosexual or anything he did in his personal life; this is something he did willingly and continuously throughout his career.
seriously.
I feel like ppl should know by now that the internet's reaction to wrongdoing is hyperbolic; it's just as severe a "punishment = justice" mentality as our actual justice system if not more. Harassment and death threats are not ok--we all know that which is why legit and important callout posts usually say "dont fucking harass them ffs". So like charlie says here, I have no doubt that the experience James is going through is horrible, and not really something I think even wrongdoers need to go through.
But the theatrics about it, the centering of it, is so fucking manipulative, when he should be there to talk about his wrongdoing. Someone who did a bad thing is perfectly capable of saying "even though some people are being unduly horrible to me about it, I perfectly understand why people are upset overall because I did X"
The presence of that extreme, of those threats, etc. isn't good and it's not that justifiable, but at this point we all KNOW that stuff happens. We know you're dealing with it b/c ppl at large now know that you're a bad actor in the context of the stuff you make and your relationship to your field. If you mention the difficulty of going through that (which I think you're allowed to even in a genuine apology video) it should be a FOOTNOTE and you yourself should caveat it by saying that it doesn't negate the wrong you've done and it doesn't weaken the position of people that dislike that wrong. It's just a fringe circumstance caused by a minority of upset people with bad boundaries or who have parasocial tendencies. It doesn't at all change the issue at hand.
tl;dr James has a right to be upset about extreme responses to his shit but that should be no more than 5% of the content, emotionally or substantively, of an apology video.
I think the most concerning part about this is how it looks if you're really taking James' mental health stuff seriously.
like... he did do plagiarism. that is something that _cannot possibly_ go on forever without being discovered, and it's also something that people are 100% correct to be upset about. but what we're hearing from him, is that he doesn't have the ability to avoid something that was obviously going to get him in trouble, and he can't handle the trouble he's in, once he's in it.
to put this another way... if your mental health is fragile enough that you feel suicidal whenever someone is angry at you, then the _least_ you could do for yourself is not steal from people. sometimes people make small mistakes, like forgetting to do their share of the household chores or something. if you're having a rough day, the people who love you will forgive you. but stealing will _always_ end in you getting caught, and people being mad about it. this is an irresponsible thing to do, _especially_ if you have mental health issues that you know will be triggered when this is all found out.
because now we're in a situation where creators have a right to be upset about their hard work getting stolen and monetized... but nobody wants to be responsible for someone getting hurt. and James is basically saying that he nearly died over this. who in their right mind would want to tempt fate like that?
this basically puts rightfully angry people in a chokehold. like, okay, James? is there ever gonna be a time when your mental health is strong enough for people to accuse you of the stuff you did?
it's just incredibly ironic to me, that a man can be simultaneously capable of stealing so many people's work, but also too fragile to confront. he expects the creators who made the stuff he stole, to be endlessly resilient at the theft of their stuff... but he himself is too delicate to face anyone who notices what he's doing.
Exactly, especially considering he stole the work of other gay people that have never gotten HALF the attention, money, and notoriety he has... I can't feel sympathy for it.
Facts
Credit where credit is due… it must have been really hard for James to find such a specific apology that he could steal for his video
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
Lol Also so many bots jeez
It’s like every apology after Colleen Ballinger has been trying to one up her for the worst of the year
I don’t think that one will be topped anytime soon but some of the ones this year are certified stinkers.
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
This reply section hurts to see
The new apology meta: Do a horrible manipulating apology first. Then do a "real apology".
Filip Miucin
@@HellecticMojo Did he ever do a 'real apology'? I only read it up until: I did not intend to plagiarize. Yeah right.
@@JosephBlack not really? It was more excuse giving to why he did it, but at least he was no longer outright denying it and daring people to find more.
@HellecticMojo Yeah that's what I understood. Cheers m8
"...I'm not trying to make this a sob story."
This man is comedy gold. Made my Christmas.
He's pure content cow
He's clearly skilled; he can continuously sob and sniffle while not actually spilling a single tear.
God not even crocodile tears ffs, it's so unbelievable.
The amber turd special
j like amber
When people are obviously faking trying hard to squeeze out tears, dramatic quivering lip and the I, I, I, it just forces a look of utter disgust and contempt and I have a real hard time getting through it. Just don't even want to look at it.
I tried to nip it in the bud but I smoked too much
"Not something most people would be comfortable sharing online"
You underestimate how many people are willing to dump every bit of trauma they have to strangers online
I feel called out…
A very good point, people trauma dump when they're going through it all the time.
Still, I think most people would not feel comfortable sharing that. Yeah, some poeple like to trauma dumb online, but not make a video explaining how they tried to unalive themselves.
@@rere_bunny The biggest reason those people don't make videos about it is because they don't make videos period. Other then that yeah, there's tons of people who share about their attempts or thoughts of unaliveing themselves to strangers online.
@@thebestbud Still think "most" people that do this do not like to speak about it, much less to strangers. But well, that is my personal experience.
As someone who has not only dealt with suicide but lost their father to suicide aswell,seeing anyone weaoonise it to try and dodge accountability, dodge criticism and to blame shift is absolutely disgusting.
I'm so sorry to hear about your father. I'm glad to know you're still here, though. Keep going
Seriously. Using claims of suicidal ideation, or attempts, as a ploy to avoid accountability is just disgusting.
This isn't an apology. It's a guilt trip. Not to mention that if you watched the Hbomberguy video, this is the same kind of tactics he used to send his followers threatening someone else who pointed out he was a plagiarist a while ago. I believe nothing he says. He didn't try to unalive himself, he loves himself way too much, he's crying crocodile tears. If anything he's probably more furious than sad cuz he couldn't get away with it the way he always had: By emotionnally manipulating people. Let's also not forget he defrauded people with a fake movie company, and now that he's caught he opens the valves? No. Keep that for the court Mr. Somerton. Because he's lucky if all of this ends without a lawsuit.
Hes had that money for a couple of years. All kinds of promises on different titles. None have been made as of yet.
Yep he's taken tens of thousands of dollars from people promising movies, and literally all he's managed to produce is a few movie posters that use stock photographs. That's it. No really. He hasn't even written a single script, even a first draft of a script, a bad script. Let alone get to the point of casting, or filming anything. He went into photoshop, put a title over a stock photo, and then posted it to Twitter. Tens of thousands of dollars.
I hope his backers do start a lawsuit. They won't get their money back, or at least if they pay for a lawyer collectively together then they'll break even and won't ever get that money they donated back, but that's not really the point, at this point. Because Somerton is going to keep doing this, defrauding people out of their money, unless he gets a legal smackdown to force him to stop and to give back the money. All of the money. I don't care if he's already spent it.
my fave was him throwing Nick under the bus and then once again whining about "why won't anybody feel sorry for ME that I lost my best friend through my own actions??" like did he hear himself?
HBomberGuy called it: Somerton was setting up his co-writer, Nick, for a fall. Blaming him for the plagiarism in the 'apology video' is really infuriating.
The plagiarism and the bigotry. This dude is a psycho and he needs to go and get a real job.
You shouldn’t believe breadtuber grifters
The worst part is we knew he'd throw Nick under the bus because Harris even demonstrates in his video that Somerton's *done that at least twice already.*
Like, we don't believe you, James. Your name's on the channel and you keep having Nick research and write for you; the fault is with you alone!
@@grantkeller4634 You absolutely should when they say things that are correct, as is the case with, as far as I can tell, *_all_* of the accusations made against Somerton in the plagiarism video.
@@grantkeller4634except hbomberguy didn't know what bread tube was until people started saying he was in it and even then he says he doesn't want a part in it, you'd know that if you watched the video, he even dunked on hasan a bit
"You rightfully calling me out on my bullshit made me try to end myself, this is YOUR fault"
Classic abuser move right there
Exactly what I was thinking! Instead of facing the consequences of his actions he decides to fold in on himself and avoid the bad things he’s done because look what he’s been through in the past week 😢😑
Thats when you tell them to do a flip on their way down. Call their bluff.
Yeesh. Been there, done that. Absolutely no sympathy for this shithead.
@@cinammorollgaming Other creators in the RUclips LGBT space have spoken out against him personally treating them poorly
The tactic he used however with the manipulation is an abuse tactic. That's all they meant. @@cinammorollgaming
I want every person who has to make this level of apology to understand: Just leave the internet.
James, just get off the internet.
Blair, just get off the internet.
Colleen, just get off the internet.
Shane, just get off the internet.
nah colleen should definitely not be going out into the real world rn 💀
agree except for colleen, that wasn't just drama that was borderline pedophilia and grooming both online and IRL. she shouldn't be around people on any platform
@@Designed1Deadass she should be in prison
who's blair?
@@Yanmay851 Illuminauti
The funniest/saddest part of the video was him fake-crying over losing his "best friend" and then spending the rest of the video throwing that "best friend" under the bus. It was basically 30 minutes of "I've lost a wonderful friend in Nick. ... I know there were terrible things in those videos, things that hurt lots of people, but I did NOT write those things. I do NOT believe those terrible things. I should have been diligent in checking the things my co-writer was writing. ... The saddest thing is losing my best friend Nick. *sob* "
You would’ve thought with the insane amount of apology videos they would master the strategy but they keep getting worse
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
The key here is that James kept trying to frame the situation as missing sources/citations, rather than outright plagiarizing
Guess he's trying to pull a Claudine Gay?
Taking a cue from the Harvard scandal, obvs
This exactly
Bro got caught in 4K plagiarizing and making up facts and he's playing it off as missing citations
@@walterdimm848 The funny part is that he did that before too - and hbomb pointed it out in his video
i will literally never understand why people get so unbelievably upset when they’ve been caught out for doing something they actively participated in for years. he has been plagiarising word for word for years. you cannot unknowingly do this, yet he is the embodiment of surprised pikachu when people eventually found out. it just blows my mind that someone committing a crime for this long, actively, without any genuine need to do so, didn’t prepare emotionally at all for the possibility that people will find out.
"I thought I could get away with it"
Basically Futurama God's quote "you were doing very well until everyone died"
Imagine his sequel apology is an interpretive dance which can be sourced back to the interpretive dance apology that we know and love. What a way to go ham right?
1st one should have been Toxic Gossip Train
2nd one: interpretive dance
Dude ngl if he did something that brazenly troll, then he would actually get an ounce of respect from me, despite my better self.
You know you've failed as a content creator when two other content creators independently decide to look into you, and both are able to point out unique bad things you've done over a combined 3+ hours, with evidence
Hbomberguy and Who was the other creator?
@@Sylpher-xc4cqTodd in the Shadows I think
@@Sylpher-xc4cqTodd In The Shadows
@@Sylpher-xc4cqTodd in the Shadows
@@Janeworxno one asked kid
The fact that Hbomberguy had already highlighted all the manipulative tricks used in this apology also made it crystal clear that James hasn't actually done any real self reflection or tried to do any self improvement. He hasn't addressed the issues. He's just mad and sad because he got caught, and lost his friend and co-writer. The friend he still throws under the bus in this apology video.
The entire comment section was full of people pointing out that he shouldn't try to get back as a public figure. It was basically a big consensus of "take the L, people will never trust you again, find something else to do with your life".
Where did you find hbomber reacting to the apology?
@@saralamb9016 he didn't. James just reused the same manipulative tactics that Hbomberguy mentioned in the original video. Passive voice, talking as if the plagiarism, misogyny and lies were just things that happened, instead of just admitting he said all those things. He threw other people under the bus. This time it was his editor Nick, just moments after saying he missed Nick, and started sobbing. Stuff like that.
@@melineeluna bro predicted his entire fucking response lmfao
It’s telling to me that in his whole apology video, James never says “plagiarize” once. He apologizes for “not citing correctly” as if he’s actively trying to still deny that he was passing other people’s knowledge and ideas off as his own.
He also doesn't seem to understand that EVEN IF he had cited everything perfectly, even IN the video and not just in the description, that STILL would be plagiarism. You can't just read out someone's entire article or chapter from a book and then say it's OK because you cited it. That's still plagiarism, and Somerton knows this, because he has an undergraduate degree. At university, they don't allow you to just copy and paste other people's work as long as you cite them properly at the end. The vast majority of your essay has to be written by YOU, sometimes referencing things other people have said or even using a direct quote, but a quote of, like, a sentence or two. Not entire pages worth of their writing, not even a whole paragraph, unless it's strictly necessary. This is what Internet Historian's fans don't seem to understand either, they think the video is OK as long as he cites it, when it was copied word for word from the article someone else wrote. He didn't just use it as a reference, he just copied and pasted it, maybe sometimes changing one word or two, maybe sometimes showing a joke visually instead of just reading it out, but IH didn't write the script for his video, he just copied and pasted it.
It isn't enough to just cite it correctly. If you're claiming the video is your own work, you have to write 95% of it.
Bro, two of my friends committed suicide this year. Do you think they went out here to tell everyone about how they were feeling? Answer is no. Genuinely depressed/suicidal people don't try to use it to manipulate you into liking them unless they are some real awful people. This guys really makes me mad. Thank you Charlie for addressing this 🙏
I'm so terribly sorry for your losses. I hope you're doing well.
I am so sorry for your losses, I also lost someone extremely close from suicide in November, and nobody would have expected it. He seemed to have been doing fine. People don't go around shouting on the streets about their mental issues, that is just absurd
Most people take their time with apologies so they can keep their emotions out and be taken seriously. He took his time to find out how to add more emotions in, shattering that
The most likely reason James deleted his apology video is probably because it was copyright-striked for plagiarism again
lol good one
Underrated lmao
stole it from tommy tallarico.
@@manboy4720who stole it from Joey Kuras.
While this joke is funny.
I think he didn't even watch the videos
At the start of the hbomb video we saw filip and all the techniques these people use in their apology videos
Also we saw how James acted when getting called out.
The apology video was just these 2 things again, I think he hoped that doing the same thing he always did will just bring his fans around again, but it didn't work this time so he deleted ut
Hbomberguy dedicating most of his 3 hour video to James' plagiarism was a brutal takedown already. Todd in the Shadows releasing an hour long video exposing all the lies he's told buried him six feet deep.
Second half of an Hbomb video is like the grim reaper of fraudulent internet figures. Truly the GOAT
The teamup-takedown I never saw coming but was so wholly satisfying. Crazy how a guy who was known for video game essays and another known for musical analysis videos coordinated this out
All gay men lie.
Let's be honest.. the Todd in the Shadows vid was like stepping up to bat when the game was already over. Hbomberguy needs to be afforded an extended victory lap all by his lonesome.
calling a 4 hour video a 3 hour video is a brutal takedown
Things that we got plenty of in 2023:
-RUclipsr apologies
-Celebrity deaths
-Skibidi Toilet
Hbomberguy is such a wild content creator. He drops a massive video once in a blue moon that makes tsunami-like waves and then melts back into the abyss until next time.
The best thing about him is the quality of his material and the surgical precision of his hits.
It's ALWAYS a delight.
Every time an apology video is created, an angel cuts off their wings
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
He wasn't making it a sob story. He was clearly crying and telling deeply personal stories to pad out the runtime to squeeze out that last bit of ad revenue.
tbh I think that's exactly what a "sob story" could be construed as lol
@@FeenieVonKarmatbh I think that was the joke 🫠
@@FeenieVonKarma💀
@@FeenieVonKarmar/woosh
@@wamble18dude.... don't, just please don't.
Ahhh, he pulled the classic "you called be out for my bad actions, and that made me feel so sad i tried to turtleneck myself, feel bad for me and forget all the bad things i did, and if you don't I'll probably try and slip-and-slide myself again and it will be on you"
Also for anyone who ever has, is, or might be in this situation. It is NEVER on you, it is NEVER your fault.
A persons actions or threats of self harm aren't on you, when all you're trying to do is stand up for yourself. or call out things out you don't like.
That self harm is 100% on them. whether a manipulation tactic, or they follow through with it. That is THEIR choice, that is THEIR doing
"LOOK AT THE TOP OF HIS HEAD"
The funniest part of this arc in the saga is that they re-activated their patreon silently, so unless you were paying attention and had already left their patreon, you’re getting charged on Jan 1st still. What a grifter, lmao
@@hino-ge3lm"You filthy animal!" *clocks fast Maschine-gun*
Are you referring to the whole team behind the channel?
I was just going to say this since I wasn't sure if people knew. They have to get money for those expensive cameras and camera parts that they'll never actually use to film the movies they'll never make, I guess 🤷
Remember everyone, last time when he was called out in the nicest way possible on Twitter, within the hour he put up community posts saying that he was recieving death threats in response to that tweet with 2 likes talking about him.
Him bringing up something so dark here is another tactic to shift the conversation away from his blatant plagiarism, misogyny, lesbian hate, and lgbt author erasure. He wants you to feel guilty for bringing it up, to make you feel responsible for the negativity he claims no matter the nature of the criticism.
Straight up narcissist behavior. I understand ppl dont wanna be needlessly cruel or wanna reduce potential harm but the reality is that this guy is a narcissist & manipulator. everything is about him, not the people he hurts & fucks over, lies about & lies to.
I wish I could like this more then once
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!! He literally ran a queer person off the Internet for rightfully and respectfully pointing out his theft
@@luvuberrymuch49 Based
I'm not trying to make this a sob story, says the sobbing man
All the things he 'said' happened to him... remember when he faked death threats against him to rile up his supporters against that one girl who sent him a polite notice about how he was plagiarizing her?
as someone who suffers from hyper-empathy as a result of trauma, it frustrates me that there are likely people like me who would fall for this manipulation. i'm not calling those people stupid or anything ofc -- i've been in therapy for years, & if i had seen a video like that like 5 years ago, i would have fallen for it too. if anything, it's just disgusting on James' part how he's trying to bank on the misguided empathy of others, whether he was consciously aware of it or not.
Wow, I'm sorry you go through that! I'm glad you've been able to make progress through therapy though ❤️ yeah this guy is a punk 100%
It feels like 2023 had less apology videos than years prior however the ones we did have made up for it in scale
Personally I'm a fan of quality over quantity
I prefer it this way
Supermega was my favorite, this year.
Why would anyone make an apology video? That's about the weakest thing you can do, even if you're a female.
Let's hear your apology video.
I think the key people are missing in these apologies is keep it short and simple. Express genuine regret for what you've done, state what you will do to fix it and what changes you will make so that it doesn't happen again. And NO BUTS. don't justify it, with "i was wrong, but..." buts have no place in apologies. My eighth grade english teacher told me that, and at age 29 it still sticks with me
Im sorry, but.......FULL STOP. That's not an apology. Absolutely you nailed it here friend.
that's james' problem. he is sorry he got caught not that he plagiarized.
Also reinstate what was your mistake. In this apologies are always “yeah I did something wrong” and they brush off their mistake as something small and minor but they never explain what was their mistake so they don’t add more to the fire.
Preach, my dude! Exactly this!
If he was REALLY apologetic he would do that. But we all know he isn't apologizing cos he feels bad for being a liar and a thief, he is apologizing cos he just lost a cash cow to milk and he is trying to save his face even tho there is nothing to save anymore. He isn't feeling bad cos he made a mistake, he is feeling bad cos got caught with a hand in a cookie jar and he still wanna them cookie crumbs. Unfortunately, I don't think we will eve get anything sincere out of him, not while being what seems to be compulsory liar and possible sociopath.
But if I don’t use a ‘but’ then I have to actually admit I’m wrong
Nobody could have predicted this sociopath would twist the entire thing into HIM being the victim!!!! Nobody!!!!
He did it once before to get Patreon supporters. Not to this degree.
Charlie, I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I’m so thankful for how you handled this subject.
Many people I’ve seen have accused the dude of lying about even being in the hospital, and that’s a particular sore spot for me.
Not to bore anyone here with the details, but I’ve been in my fair share of asinine online arguments, one specific one ended up burning a few bridges with online associates when I went MIA. I had rushed myself to the ER for a minor heart attack. When I got back, I was accused of being a liar.
I just wanted to say, you’re a great person and it genuinely touched me with how you’ve handed this situation. Keep putting out the stellar content, and I cannot wait for the next episode of the Red Thread!
He was so sorry he immediately re-enabled his patreon so he could get more money
Deadass
Are you serious...? Come on, man...
I like how threw his audiencw under the bus too by saying that the worst videos were because they "werent ones he wanted to do" but they were "requested." Yeah, Buddy, I'm sure your audience will totally appreciate you doing that.
Also to add context, making video requests was a tier reward on his Patreon. It was a $100 tier. And you had to stay on that tier for 3 months to request a video subject (making it $300).
@@Katy133that’s wild!!! I didn’t hear that. Even some of the most beloved and well respected creators like Jenny Nicholson doesn’t have tiers remotely that high
@@Katy133 Wow he turned 'getting other people to come up with ideas for him' into another part of the grift.
@@Katy133exactly. On top of that, he went on e begging sprees implying he was going to be homeless if people didn't sub to his Patreon while buying absurdly expensive equipment he did not need within the week. So he literally begged people to contribute on that level.
My heart dropped for a second there. Thought it was hank green for a sec
All James had to do was delete his channel....he's been caught before and was NEVER sorry
His apology video made me cringe in ways I didn't expect to be possible
Well, he defintely tried to delete something. Just hope his attemp was failed.
He says he was in the hospital, but in reality it took him that long to write the script because he couldn't find one in a book.
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
and he copied it from other apology videos too, otherwise it would've taken WAY longer
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask plus im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite (making fun of bots)
The moment he started the video with his trip to the hospital after trying to get an early game over, I gave the fattest eye roll. This wasn't an apology video, it was an "I'm sorry I got caught" video
"...after trying to get an early game over,"
Now THAT is a fun new euphemism!
James is a narcissist who pulled a pathetic pity play in an attempt to manipulate his viewers and guilt-trip his critics. I hope that weasel is shamed off social media.
More so a "you should be sorry for catching me" video
There wasn't any hospital. He still believed he could wiggle out of this, so he would have no reason to try to end things. He just needed time to write his script for who he is going to blame for his deceit.
A very intense and targeted campaign of internet harassment is likely to put anyone in the hospital. Maybe you just take what he's saying at face value and recognize that, yeah, while he did some bad shit, maybe having a million people telling him to kill himself isn't the proper response. But no, you hear what he's been through and you say, "Clearly this is an attempt to manipulate me, so I'm just going to keep attacking him." If he didn't plagiarize something you made, why do you care so much? You don't know this guy. You don't need to contribute to his suicide. You participated in this internet hate mob because you enjoy inflicting pain on others, but you're too much of a coward to admit that. So you hide behind your anonymity and you tell yourself it's okay because he's a "bad guy". It's not. Make no mistake; If he does kill himself, you are partially responsible for your contributions. Maybe next time there's some internet controversy, you might find yourself sitting down and shutting the fuck up, instead.
Dude told his barber "give me the Phil and Lil"
Sniperwolf is still going strong, without missing a beat. Just shows again that you should never apologise, just keep going until people get tired of bringing it up
well I think another thing she has is that here core audience is 13 or whatever
@@zwishking6032 it's not just that. People will never let it go if you apologize, but they'll stop caring when you just ignore it and keep going.
The "sucks to suck" approach to PR. Given recent events, seems to be a very effective approach if you have no soul or morals.
It depends a lot on your core audience. If you cater to more left wing people who tend to actually care about silly things like morality it won't work nearly as well
@@rasurin I'm sure the fact that you're leftist can some up your whole personality, but other people are actually more complex, so no, you can't say this about anyone based on their political believes. But good try :)
Somerton plagiarized one of his own Patreon members. That is so disgusting. He used his supporters to defend and attack the people who called him out over the years. Now after all this time they finally realized they were being lied to, used, and taken advantage of.
I heard he deactivated his account, meaning people appearantly can't unsubscribe to it.
@yggdrasil2 he did and I. This apology vid he said he would reopen it for a day so ppl who want to unsub can do so, "so they don't get a surprise bill in jan" meaning that he's planning on reopening it permanently?? WILD
@@chemystrypassionfyre729 ...why just for a day?
@@yggdrasil2 He did deactivate his account, but then when his apology went live, during the Christmas gift-buying rush when most people are paying more attention to their lives than RUclips, announced he was reactivating the Patreon "so that people could unsub and avoid the charge in January" *this week, when most people won't check to see if they can unsub, so that he does in fact snag people's auto-renewal payment in Jan.* then will take the money & run. He's such a slimeball.
@@sluttyMapleSyrup It's sickening hiw he can do that and think he can get away with it. He should have a class-action lawsuit up ass for Christmas.
nothing couldve prepared me for just how bad this apology is, opens up teary eyed with a raspy voice and a sob story hoping people would instantly forget that he did a bad thing
edit: dont mean to be that guy but wow, thats a lot of likes. i didnt expect my comment to blow up
@@OFFICERJIMMYUTTP how many comments have you replied to 😭
And a lisp
@@smhwolviprobably bots or one of those weird troll brigades lol
@@y2ksurvivorlisps are relatively normal that's a silly thing to point out specifically (unless he was faking it for the sympathy)
The fact that there’s no tears too 🗿
I will say i am sad because his content was something i spent hours on. I am queer and this kind of documentary was amazing to watch as i watched it. I was talking about james to all my gay friends, even straight friends and i always urged everyone to go watch what he was making because it felt it was needed. My first red flag was a year ago, in which he said "We are not successful financially, so we will remove all our vids if this keeps going" and i was like "why? why not just leave the content you made for people that need to see it?"and then after the plagiarism was revealed i felt so weirdly ... humiliated. You have no idea how sad he made me and i rarely feel this as a passive viewer that comments in 5 video per year xD
This is one of the most narcissistic apologies I've seen in recent history. I feel like someone actually having trouble would just make a post, "I am not in the right headspace to make a fitting apology at the moment, a video will be released at a later indeterminate date."
There. Short. Sweet. And doesn't emotionally manipulate.
i find it pathetic that he's guilt tripping and using emotional manipulation to trick people into thinking that hes actually sorry, i highly doubt he's apologetic and he probably hasn't changed. happy new year to everyone
Yeeeaaah. He lost me immediately with the "I almost did something stupid", evidently he found the balls he never dropped to make his own research to guilt trip his audience like a shitty toxic ex. It took so much of my will power to not comment something like "skill issue try harder idiot" because it is clear as day that he's making his lip tremble because he wants people to feel bad for calling him out. This is a man in his thirties, supposedly intelligent and with some measure of dignity, pulling the same playground shit I've seen from teens and early twenty year olds in discord server drama. Pathetic.
Didn’t ask + I’m cracked at Fortnite
Didn’t ask + I’m cracked at Fortnite
Didn’t ask + I’m cracked at Fortnite
@@Himafrodiet real
Of all the terrible apologies we’ve seen this year, this one actually managed to make me the angriest. I sat through the entire video and had to stop multiple times to regain my sanity. I’ve struggled with mental health issues of a similar severity for many years, and I can’t even imagine using that to emotionally manipulate someone into pitying me. He wants to be a victim so bad, but knows he can’t be, because he made the continuous choice to build his entire reputation on lies and stolen content. This really just feels like one last attempt to get sympathy, which is beyond unforgivable if true. The best decision, for the sake of his audience and his health, is to log off and never return.
Especially since he's dealt to previous claims of plagiarism and straight up lying by using his community to attack that person. Now that its someone bigger than him (well 2 people, Todd In the Shadows' vid dealt with fact checking him more than exposing plagiarism) rightfully exposing his BS he want to "apologize".
As a former small contributor of James Somerton, this isnt the first time he has manipulated his health to get sympathy. To me the worst part of the allegations wasnt even the plagiarism. He started a kick starter campaign with the promises of future movies and tv shows. He collected thousands of dollars, I forget the exact amount. This was 2? years ago. Not a frame has been shot.
I've been watching his channel for a really long time and absolutely adored his content, so finding this out really freaking hurts. Thank you for covering this :(
I just finished reading Cait Corrian’s apology and she does the same thing. Immediately starts the apology with emotional blackmail and making excuses. The second you do that you invalidate the apology.
It's like starting a sentence 'No offence but........' 😂
Who's Cait Corrian and what did she do wrong aside from making bad apologies?
@@kimrose1559 She’s an YA novelist that made sock puppet accounts on good reads to review bomb POC authored novels and give herself 5 star reviews. When she was caught the first words of her apology were about her mental health struggles. She also pulled a Rosie ODonell and tried to blame her racism on a change of medication.
@@kimrose1559made a bunch of fake accounts on goodreads and review bombed debuting authors (most of them being POC) to boost up her own upcoming novel. Then came up with photoshopped "receipts" to cover her tracks but no one really bought it, so she admitted that she did it and pulled the sympathy card for her apology and barely took any accountability
@@kimrose1559Cait Corrain! She’s an author who had a bunch of stuff lined up for success (book being released soon, movie rights sold, lots of publicity, etc…) until she was found to have created lots of fakeand anonymous accounts on GoodReads who would review bomb and sabotage queer and POC authors. She tried hiding it (pretending someone else did it) but ended up losing EVERYTHING and it was a whole shitshow.
I love howthe top three non-apology videos this year have each taken a different tack. We don't deserve this bounty of variety.
Colleen- Snark at it until it goes away (with musical accompaniment)
Jirard- Get mad, get real mad.
James- Don't cry for me Argentina (with a bonus 'o god what have I done' takesy backsy)
Argentinean here. Won't cry for that rip off a_hole
Jirard: "Blame the people who exposed my fraud!"
James: "Blame Nick and the audience for what they wanted!"
Honorable mention
iilliminaughtii: Attack, attack, attack
We've got an Apology Full House this year
Thanks for the *"describe apology videos in as few words as possible but still accurate af"* list lolll
Anyone seen an apology video this year where someone actually outlines the steps they're planning on taking to change their behavior? to show their actions will be different? No it's just manipulate with words to the best of your ability and continue under the radar with as much of the fanbase as possible. God it's exhausting - because everyone pulls the same shit with a different spin.
RUclips apologies have taught me how to recognize liars manipulators and general misconduct
To be VERY fuckin clear: That "other shit" he's been accused of is that everything in his videos that wasn't plagiarism (read: the few things he and his cowriter actually wrote themselves) was either a straight up lie, an attempt at spreading misinformation (up to and including saying that American fitness culture comes from American soldiers in WW2 wanting to look like "hot, buff Nazis"), or just him being blatantly and disturbingly misogynistic.
There's also a great companion video by Todd In The Shadows going over specifically the misinformation if you have the time.
EDIT: Oh yeah there's also his Telos Pictures project, wherein he crowdfunded metric assloads of money from his audience, promising to make a great deal of queer-oriented films for an audience he's convinced that he's the only real queer voice on RUclips (which is ofc patently absurd), and thus feel even more starved for serious representation than the average queer person. This project was started many years ago, with many films promised between then and now. He has made precisely ZERO of them, and has refused to refund the money thus far. It's literally like outright fraud.
yep, kinda weird to just brush off the rest of the accusation as if its just silly lil things lol
Well this may as well be my day now
Whole lot of buzzwords in there, and wow a gay guy lying about things being nazi related???? Imagine my shock, the gay community has been trying to destroy society for years, of course they would say fitness is a nazi thing lmfao
Oh damn i watched that TITS video didn't even know it was the same guy lmao
Here is real information about WW2, Ukraine has been full of nazis
i dont understand why nobody (at least i never personally see it) can ever have the balls to just say "i fucked up" and take responsibility without trying to play victim
Bc we live in a society of perpetual victimhood. And reward the most “victimized”
i think a lot of these people think they are in the right, and that's why.
Because that would take integrity and if the had integrity they wouldn’t have fucked up to begin with (at least not to the degree they’d have to make an apology video)
That's hard to do. No one likes to admit being wrong.
I don't think this would mean "having balls" James was highly manipulative in the apology video don't get me wrong, but he opened admitted to plagiarism, my idea of what "having balls" would mean in this situation is to not only tell the world you did a mistake, but to do right for the people affected by your narcist actions, if he donated every single money of the videos he made do the people he damaged, or if he edited every single one of his video so that they would have proper citation this 2 actions would already be acceptable, taking the responsibility is the bare minimum and as you said, people just can't do the bare minimum
James Somerton: I’m going to garner sympathy by mentioning hospital…
Jirard the Completionist: In honor of my mom, hold her autopsy report…
It's interesting to note that Hbomber addressed James' apology even before it was published because James used the same tactics that Filip used, which Hbomber had analyzed. These tactics involve never mentioning what he did and speaking in a passive way, rather than an active way. James expressed his apology as "things happened to me" rather than "I did these things". This approach tries to get people to be more concerned with the harm he received rather than the harm he caused. It proves that James has not learned anything from Hbomber's video.
i applaud whoever was able to sit through that entire apology, i had enough 10 seconds in
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite (making fun of bots)
fr
The trick was to put it on x2 speed and skip ahead when it starts to drag
@@pantrymonster the whole thing was a drag, lol
the trick is to play a game on your phone while the videos running. It's a lot more bearable when you aren't looking at him.
I almost respect him for even trying to apologize. When I got the the halfway point of a 4 hour video and realized the entire rest of it was on one dude I knew he was fucked. For anyone feeling sorry for this guy, please do yourself a service and watch the video. Its long but you can watch it in segments if you need to, and the story it tells should convince anyone that James deserves exactly what hes gotten.
Whats the vid?
@ddm_gamer Hbomberguys most recent video about Plagiarism.
I watched one or two of his videos around a year ago so I was genuinely shocked that the video was about a RUclipsr I actually knew of. I think, that even if all he did was plagiarise, the backlash wouldn’t be quite as bad. He’d be disgraced, sure, but there wouldn’t be the same kind of distrust to him as a PERSON. It’s everything else that was really just the nail in the coffin. The fact that he tried to blame everything on nick and the rest of his team, the manipulation of his viewers and the only parts of his videos being actually original being rants about hating women is all CRAZY unflattering on him and makes him more of a villain than a guy who messed up. Can’t wait to see what this new apology looks like lol.
The fact that Todd in the Shadows has a video almost as long on _other_ shady stuff that James did (with practically no overlap between his video and HBomb's), really clinches it.
Segmenting is a good idea if you're busy. It took me a few days to get through the entire hbomberguy video, but it's so worth it.
“I’m not trying to make this a sob story” 🤨
"I'm not trying to make this a sob story" James said through sobs
Dude, this isn't just a bad apology -- this is the mother, the platonic ideal, of bad youtuber apology videos.
I mean is there ever a good apology? That’s why you just don’t make them. Just keep it pushing😂
@@wespicedmemesEthan to H3H3 on the racist remarks was extremely effective
@@wespicedmemes There are, but they don't get covered.
@@wespicedmemes PKrussels apology video is so good
the ousia of bad apology videos, the substantia, the essentia
For people who aren't very familiar with this controversy, it wasn't just bc Somerton was accused of palgerism (though that's probably the biggest controversy), but he also has a history of misinterpreting or seemingly making a lot of things up and presenting them as facts, including things that rubbed a lot of the wrong way, such as often saying it's straight women who are most offended by gay content (which A) he didn't provide any actual evidence of and B) many thought came off as misogynistic) or some facts he'd bring up about a certain German political party from the 30's-40's (idk if RUclips will censor me so I'm not gonna say the name of it, but if you know you know.) Todd In The Shadows has a video debunking a lot of it.
Adding that he made 10k a month painting himself as the only LGBTQ theorist/ analyst on RUclips, while stealing from other gay and LGBTQ authors and writers. And then he was yes straight up lying about facts for sure, and also making things really scary and mob-mentality thing for attacking people that would question him on the info he had in his videos
And C) people thought it it was ridiculous because straight women is a huge demographic consuming gay movies / books / etc. If anything sexualization and fetishization of gay men is a more wide spread issue among the kind of women who enjoy gay media. For most of them seeing men boinking is the main reason for doing it or at least nice bonus. In some cases (yaoi) gay pron is made by straight women for straight women. They won't get offended with gay sex
Merry christmas
_"Straight women are in angry denial about the anime "Yuri on Ice" having gay undertones."_
Anyone who's spent 5 seconds in the anime community knows straight women/girls make up the majority of the audience for gay male dramas; even outside of Japan, it's been a very visible corner of the fandom since at least as far back as the mid-2000's.
@@Shadowcam00 Yeah I remember hearing about this one from Todd. It's literally known as "the gay anime", like there's no way he would believe those words unless he quite literally did no research and tried to portray his biases as fact (which is like 99% what happened).
This is exactly my Moms MO for when shes confronted with consequences for her actions. Literally every time she does something she knows was wrong and gets caught its "i cant handle it I'm going to end it all." Borderline personality disorder is horrible but they 100% know what theyre doing.
I checked out the hbomberguy exposé from your recommendation and it was great. I was really grossed out by Somerton's actions and then thought, "no way this is the bad apology guy from Charlie's video." Hopefully this finally wakes up people to his scummy behavior.
I don’t expect Charles to touch on it but, as a queer person, I was so disappointed when I found out how many queer ppl were completely ignored/taken advantage of/stolen from and profited off of with NO apology to THEM…
That was really screwed up.
Ppl with very tiny platforms, words from books that could have helped his audience… all silenced.
Infuriating
Exactly!!! He stole from other queer and trans creators in EVERY video, for example he stole content previously from Alexander Avila
To me the punch in the gut, that made it go from "okay he seems like an asshole but its kinda funny" to "I actively despise this person" was the bit towards the end about that article from a magazine that was shut down and that u can no longer find (on the internet at least) except thru James's plagiarized words. Basically playing a part in erasing queer history. Despicable.
As another queer person, I completely agree with you. We already get enough hate for just existing, he made us look worse. Support queer creators who do right by our community!!!
Nobody cares you're gay
@@kaysee2428 You don’t get hate for just existing, you get hate for wanting to shove your sexuality in everyone’s faces at all times, and even trying to groom children
The Completionist is by far the worst imo bro confessed to everything, provided no defense, made himself look worse with a ton of contradictions and inconsistencies, hid behind his dead mom **again**, then tried to scare Karl and Mutahar with legal action, then they laughed it off and dropped the entire VC call with him that made him look even worse. Like damn.
Yea I have no idea how he's gonna dig himself out of this hole. Sure he donated but it's not even the expected amount not accounting for inflation or investing returns and I'm sure at this point the IRS has gotten enough contacts from people to begin an investigation on the whole thing. Dude is sunk.
I think this is the first time I've seen a youtube apology in the form of "Because YOU called me out for my behavior, I tried to unalive myself. Feel bad that I tried to do that because YOU drove me to it!"
he finally wore a black shirt
At this point there’s just no excuse for a bad apology. So many people have done research on what makes an apology effective. It’s actually not that hard to learn how to apologize well
Actually BE sorry! Go look up Drew Gooden/Danny Gonzalez apologizing for "racist" remarks. THAT is how you show that you are truly sorry about something.
Just a forewarning, in Danny's apology, it gets to the point where it feels gross to even be watching someone break down out of shame like that. Like you can really tell how ashamed he is of what he said because he knows it might hurt someone & that's the furthest thing from what he wants to do. I've never seen a youtuber apology where they cried & I genuinely wanted to hug them, but here we are.
@@atomdecay yes! Another good example is Jenna Marbles’ fish apology, or Ethan from H3H3’s apology. There’s channel called Psychology in Seattle, run by a therapist/ psychology professor named Dr. Kirk Honda. He sometimes makes reactions to apology videos, especially popular ones like Colleen Ballinger & Atrioc. He’s actually developed his own 11 steps to an effective apology and i use it as a template every time i owe someone a real apology. He gives all the apology videos grades based on his own 11 steps and I’ve learned so much
Problem with that is that James has to admit he's wrong, and he probably doesn't think what he did was awful. He can't apologize properly if he thinks he's in the right, which I bet he does.
Of course there’s an excuse for a bad apology, you’re not actually sorry, and you’re just doing it to shut people up. You can’t force people to feel bad for screwing up, and you can’t force a genuine apology.
Any apology that’s been coerced loses a lot of its meaning and authenticity.
Y’all really need to learn that you can’t force people into genuinely caring about feeling bad about wronging others if they don’t actually feel about wronging someone.
Every apology with a crocodile tears on it is an absolute masterpiece.
The “sob… fuck…” lowkey had me guffawing ngl
@@emmerskskskskout here cheering for my man James. He’s gonna win his first Oscar🥺
@@LilRussDawg I dunno how good the acting was, he still has some work to do
It started really good, I even thought he wasn’t gonna attempt to cry, oh boy was I wrong again
Whenever someone tries to use self harm and suicide to try and get someone's sympathy to get away with something unsavory, no matter how big or small, is always disgusting to me.
him going "i'm not trying to make this a sob story" while sobbing is the funniest shit
The thing with this, is that he stole from people for years and punked his audience for years, and now that he got caught, he's sorry, and using heavy handed emotional manipulation to turn anger into sympathy. If he was sorry, he'd have apologised a long long time ago and stopped his rampant plagiarism. If you are sorry once you get caught, then it could be said that the apology was a self-defensive measure to get out of taking responsibility.
Crazy how people seriously think this will go down better than just holding your hands up and saying look I fucked up but I'll do better from now on.
What an absolute pleb 💀
Welp, at least he didn’t plagiarize this shitty apology. You can tell he didn’t because it’s so shamelessly bad.
It would've been so much better if he stole "Toxic gossip train" from MirandaSigns and said it was his songs. He would unironically be forgiven.
If only we knew of a way to turn insincere apologies into energy... At this point we could catapult humanity into becoming a type 2 civilization using exclusively youtube and the gaming industry.
Yea or video games could stop talking about the young white liberal kids shinning a light on all those silly plebians..mercy Christmas cake sucka! It's an armstise day!
Hell we probably would be able to achieve type 3 very quickly after
It’s sad he went through such a tough time, but when it’s because he got caught doing something he chose to do, there is only so much sympathy I can feel
He made a bunch of money off of other's hard work. He should have invested his money for this inevitable day, and just retired sans any public statements. But it seems he thought this would last longer, and probably didn't prepare for the curtain being pulled back so quickly. He has zero integrity, so no staement will help.
nah bro don't feel bad. the whole thing was just lies and manipulation. He was going through none of this at all, he's just another guy who thinks that claiming suicide will get him everything he wants.
but we dont know that. there is an acceptable level of sympathy for someone supposedly about to unalive. he's not hitler, for example. unrelated note: despite having done bad things, his life isn't just a monetary value negated by the worth of everything he stole. this does not excuse what he has done though.@@beelzebub7221
As in zero sympathy
Being “canceled” can really hurt and some people definitely take it too far 😢 but the criticisms against him were valid. His plagiarism and misogyny/transphobia/lesbian-phobia etc were real problems that were so enormous in their scale that; as an LGBTQ+ person I honestly don’t think the community will ever embrace him again.
It sucks, but he made his own bed. It’s time to move on and start handing out job applications:( and he has no one to blame for ruining his career but himself.
You want to know how I know this isn't a sincere apology. There's no ukulele or interpretive dance. Come on, man, where's the pageantry
I have almost committed suicide multiple times, seeing people use that as a way to make people feel bad for them is so infuriating.
Looks like he may have actually done it though..
@@Subgenrelol not anymore, stop falling for it.
I'm glad you didn't, wishing the best for you!
@@taitia8619 thank you, I haven't attempted recently but I've been having trouble keeping myself from cutting. I know I can get better and I'm getting a psychiatrist soon.
@@KaraTheGirlie You can :) I'm glad you'll be seeing a psychiatrist, they can be super helpful. I know mine is the reason I can get myself out of bed some mornings.
It genuinely baffles me how after almost a decade of terrible RUclipsr apology videos people still haven’t learned anything and continue to release new contenders for worst apology vid of all time. They just keep doing everything they’re NOT supposed to do.
every time I see one of those apology videos or posts on IG I'm thinking of starting a PR firm that specializes on fuck up management. Seems there is a lot of demand...
@@Anna-hd5wm There are already a lot of paid services, 'media training', 'pr management' etc. that cater to politicians, businesses etc. That's how you can see a lot of these youtubers are not very professional and/ or not very smart.
I'm pretty sure you can also google how to write a proper apology, and even ask a chatbot to create one for you!
A lot of it is due to a lack of sincerity.
Most of the people apologizing, deep down, either don't see what they did as wrong, or don't care. Thus, they don't know how to conduct themselves in a way that communicates a real apology. Usually, they don't take any reformative steps either besides the apology, it's just a half-baked way to try and retain income.
I think it's because there's no possibly "good" apology for some of the things these youtubers did, and they see emotional manipulation and downplaying as an easier option than just sitting and being fully honest and good faith about their situation
Colour*
RUclips never fails to gift us the gift of crappy apology videos
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
RUclips never fails to gift us the gift of comments to farm likes only seconds after a Penguinz0 video comes up
For those about to, don't respond to the bots, it only makes things worse
RUclips never fails to gift us the gift of crappy apology videos
you havent even watched the video yet. You are a beg making a naive comment as the video gets released to try to get likes. Embarassing
He's acting like this is something that was done to him when he demonstrably, completely, _categorically_ did this to himself.
He needs a razzie for that performance. No way is anyone going to buy that he tried to revoke his own breathing privileges
I have never seen this man or heard about him in my life but I will still watch this entire video about his terrible apology
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
didnt ask + im cracked at fortnite
Same
SAME BAHAHA
Gotta support my man Chuck
I'm someone who gets emotional because I see others being emotional, its just my mental reaction that I can't do much about, but this guy actually made me laugh while he was sobbing. That tells a lot to me.
Yeah, me too! I just commented how forced and fake he seems to me. If he couldn't get emotions from someone like me, he might not be able to from anyone 😁
Tells a lot about him.
Same!! I well up anytime someone is crying, but with James? I just got irritated.
He doesn't show any signs of genuine emotional distress. He doesn't grimace, his voice doesn't get shaky (just heightening his pitch like he's going through puberty), no hiccups, no snot, no tear. It's like he's Disney-crying.
The above are the most obvious, telltale signs that someone is in *heavy* distress. Heavy enough to commit suicide. What pisses me off so much is that it is so bloody obvious that he's using suicidal urges as just an excuse and he is not actually troubled by it. Any person feeling so distressed as to want to take their own life would be bawling and ugly-crying the moment they start speaking about such an experience.
I have a good amount of empathy. And I can tell for certain there is not an ounce of genuine regret, responsibility, or actual suicidal tendency within James. I think any normal person can see that too. We are literally built for empathy, we are social creatures. We can tell when emotions are being faked. A lot of us have been there, felt those feelings, and know it's just not matching up to how they're acting. When will these stupidass apologizers understand that?
This is the type of amateur emotional manipulation you see from young kids in their first relationship when one has been caught cheating on the other multiple times on multiple occasions. It’s like the basic training experience that teaches about emotional manipulation. Worse tho, he was a supposed “film critic” and it’s pathetic he thought this would resonate with anybody that understands the English language.
It shows he has zero empathy. The spotlight is on him and that’s his only priority EVEN STILL. Not the fact he became the literal embodiment of most, if not all, issues that queer creators and writers face, and shows zero remorse.
It’s more sadistical knowing he was a major player in dealing the damage to the community he was supposedly championing. It’s fucking psychotic, on the surface and at its core and everywhere in between. I can’t even think of a fitting metaphor for how badly he has damaged his own community, actively pushing back the progress of his own community and trying his best to hold them back. It’s like Moses promising the Jews he was going to part the Red Sea for them but instead having them drown so he could float on their corpses and only he himself survive, then when they find him in the process of holding some under water, he says do you know how bad I feel that i did this to you, it’s almost worse than what I did to you so don’t you feel bad for me?
Love the put on voice. Hallmark of people who are trying to dodge an accusation.
He’s like “I don’t wanna make this a sob story but if you criticize me for everything I’ve done I’m gonna off myself, just to let you know before I apologize….”