Shane Dawson's Willow Smith Pedophilia Controversy

Overview

Shane Dawson's Willow Smith Pedophilia Controversy refers to a resurfaced video of Shane Dawson from approximately 2012 pretending to masturbate to an image of 11-year-old Willow Smith. The video, originally updated to YouTube, resurfaced in late June 2020 along with multiple videos of Dawson making racist jokes and wearing blackface. Although Dawson attempted to apologize in a YouTube video, Smith's mother and brother, Jada and Jaden Smith tweeted their disapproval of Dawson.

Background

Shane Dawson has released a series of videos apologizing for past racist videos and jokes. For example, he apologized in 2014 in a video about wearing blackface. In 2019, Shane came under fire for previous jokes made about bestiality. Many of those previously addressed videos and more resurfaced on Twitter in June 2020, including a clip of him describing a child and babies as "sexy" on his podcast (seen below).

in case y’all haven’t heard,,, shane dawson is going straight to hell and should be given the entire electric chair,, blackface and racism, pedophilia, and now raping his cat. i’m disgusted i just- pic.twitter.com/mnAMNsJ0av

— andre (@weedinhaler24) March 18, 2019

On June 21st, Shane Dawson^[1] tweeted, "I deleted everything. I’m done. For those who wanted me to “address it” I did. I’m sure u can find it reposted somewhere. But I don’t want this energy in my life or on my timeline. I’m too sensitive for this shit and I’m done" (shown below). The tweet gained over 173,800 likes and 13,400 retweets in eight days.

On June 25th, Twitter user @KRMGDN reposted a video saying, "Disgusting video found by @stre_ed where Shane Dawson pretends to masturbate over a poster of then 11 year old Willow Smith while sexualizing lyrics of her debut song. Truly depraved man." The video garnered over three million views, 3,800 likes and 2,000 retweets in four days before it was deleted.

A reupload of the clip is shown below.

Video of Shane Dawson resurfaces of him playfully masturbating to willow smith poster in 2010 🤔😱 pic.twitter.com/lYWKQe79VJ

— DESTIN TROYCE🇭🇹 (@TROYCETV) June 27, 2020

Developments

On June 26th, 2020, DramaAlert uploaded a video reporting on multiple videos of Shane Dawson acting inappropriately towards minors, including the video of Willow Smith's image (shown below, left). The video accumulated over 1.5 million views and 78,000 likes in two years. That same day, Shane Dawson uploaded a YouTube video called "Taking Accountability" in which he apologizes for and addresses some past videos and actions but doesn't specifically mention the Willow Smith video (shown below, right). The video received over 10 million views, 539,000 likes and 322,000 dislikes in three days.

On June 27th, Jaden Smith^[2] tweeted, "SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER!!!!!! IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY AND NOT OKAY IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT" (shown below, left). The tweet accumulated over 1.1 million likes and 180,700 retweets in two days. That day, Willow Smith's mother, Jada Smith^[3], also responded by tweeting, "To Shane Dawson … I’m done with the excuses" (shown below, right). The tweet acquired over 746,500 likes and 93,000 retweets in two days.

Many Twitter users and YouTubers spoke out against Dawson saying his apology isn't enough. On June 28th, YouTuber sophielovexo uploaded the video "let's discuss shane dawson, willow smith, and why it's necessary to cancel celebrities" explaining why she thinks Dawson's apologies should not be accepted. The video gained over 15,600 views in day (shown below). EOnline^[4] and USMagazine^[5] reported on the controversy.

Various Examples

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