Wilbur Soot / Shelby Shubble Abuse Allegations

Overview

The Wilbur Soot, Shelby Shubble Abuse Allegations refers to allegations by Twitch streamer Shelby Shubble in which she claims that she was physically abused by an unnamed ex-boyfriend who used to regularly bite her until she bruised. Following the initial livestream, some speculated that the abuser was English musician and content creator Wilbur Soot. Shubble made the accusations in February 2024 during a short Twitch stream, after which viewers tried to dig up who she was talking about, using selections from hers and Soot's past content as evidence that it was allegedly Wilbur Soot. About a week after the allegations were made, Soot admitted he was the one Shubble was talking about and apologized, though his apology was largely met with criticism for, in some people's opinions, failing to address certain aspects of the accusations.

Background

On February 21st, 2024, Twitch^[1] streamer Shelby Shubble went live with a stream titled "talking about something more serious" in which she details allegations of abuse from a former partner. The video starts with Shubble explaining that she usually stays quiet about bad relationship experiences and that it gives her peace, but this time she feels it's important to hopefully help people "see the signs" she did, calling the relationship "dangerous." She claims she tried several forms of therapy to deal with the problem, which helped her open up to friends about it (VOD since deleted, reupload shown below).

Shubble claims she was "being hurt" in the relationship and that, at one point, she was lying to her friends to protect him. She says that when she thinks of physical abuse she thinks of "hitting," claiming she didn't think that the problem in their relationship was abuse at first because of that mindset. She then says the ex had a problem with biting her arms. Allegedly, he claimed he had the problem since he was a kid and said it was a form of "affection." Allegedly, he asked at the start of their relationship if she was okay with him biting her because he didn't want her to accuse him of abuse later down the line.

Shubble says that at first, it was fine, but then one time he bit her too hard "by accident." She says he started biting her more and more frequently over time, leading to "accidental" painful bites happening more frequently. She says he always seemed sorry and implemented a safe word so he could "learn where [her] limit was" with the bites. She says in retrospect, it "shouldn't be that hard" to stop biting her that hard. She also claims he used to bite her hard in front of friends, becoming somewhat of a joke between them.

She repeatedly asked him to stop biting her so hard and expressed that it hurt, but he started telling her it was her pain tolerance that was too low or claiming she was "being dramatic." She says it escalated to the point where she was covered in bruises, which he would poke at for fun and show the bruises off to their friends, even acknowledging to her that it looked bad. After this, he started biting her legs. She says this happened daily and eventually when she asked him to stop he'd say this is who he is and refuse to change. She says he eventually stopped apologizing for hurting her and "weaponized the safe word" by biting harder or grinding his teeth down on her when she'd say it.

She says she was gagging daily and getting sick over it and felt "unwanted and ignored." She says they got together after he DMed her shortly after she became single then started "love bombing" her and calling her his soulmate. She claims that as the relationship went on, he eventually decided he didn't want kids even after leading her to believe he one day did and that his stance on marriage also changed without a discussion. Shubble claims he had a history of getting caught in lies.

Nearing the end of the relationship, he allegedly gave her short notice that he was leaving on a trip and that he didn't want to break up, but the relationship was starting to "feel like a responsibility." She says she made some suggestions on how to proceed with their relationship but he would not compromise. He then began allegedly "flaunting" that he would no longer prioritize her over anything that would "give him more fame or money." He admitted that he grew to resent her, which she says was the "last push" she needed to get out of the relationship. She then broke up with him.

Allegedly, they left things as "wanting to be friends" but never spoke again. He also allegedly "trashed" some of her belongings. She claims some of the times he would bite her he looked like he was enjoying it. She also recounts a time when he pinned her and told her to "try her hardest" to get out, which she couldn't. Shubble claims she was sexually assaulted by her first boyfriend, whom he knew. She then alleges that he "lived in filth" and never cleaned up, even though he had an ant infestation. Allegedly, he claimed this was normal "in British houses." He also allegedly said behind her back that he didn't clean at all when she wasn't there, opting to wait for her to do the cleaning.

Shubble claims she was paying for all the cleaning supplies, most of the food, all plane tickets and the cat sitter. She says she told him she couldn't afford it. He agreed to pay for the cat-sitter and did it once, then never again. She allegedly told him she'd move to England with him but he insisted he would move to her. Near the end of the relationship, he claimed she should have moved to England.

She ends her video saying she believes "people like this are dangerous" and that she believes she's not the last person he'll hurt. She reiterates that she wanted to share her story to hopefully help viewers realize the problems of physical abuse in their own relationships. The video gained over 30,000 views in a day.

Developments

Wilbur Soot Speculation

Prior to the allegations, it was unconfirmed that Wilbur Soot and Shelby Shubble were ever in a relationship, although they were known to create content together, with several compilations of their content available online (example shown below).

Following Shubble's stream, people began speculating that musician and content creator Wilbur Soot was the unnamed abuser in the relationship. On February 21st, 2024, X^[2] user @MarsArgosGF posted an older video clip under a thread summarizing the allegations in which another girl, not Shubble, claims that Wilbur Soot bit her and that he "bites everyone" and that he bites her so hard that it bruises her (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/IfkNThGODC

— vienna ⚢ (@MarsArgosGF) February 22, 2024

On February 22nd, X^[3] user @awcusse posted a long-form thread compiling evidence that they believe suggests that Soot was the ex-boyfriend, garnering over 2,100 likes in under a day (shown below). Evidence includes posts in which a friend of Soot's claims he had an ant infestation, claims that he would hide what his home looked like during streams, suggesting this is because it was a mess as Shubble claimed, as well as lyrics by Soot that they believe are in reference to their relationship (examples shown below).

That day, Redditor u/hollaQ_ posted a thread to /r/DreamWasTaken2^[4] titled, "Many are speculating that Wilbur abused Shelby (ShubbleYT)," laying out pieces of evidence hinting towards him being the abuser, garnering over 160 upvotes in under 24 hours.

Wilbur Soot's Response / Apology

On February 27th, 2024, Wilbur Soot posted a series of messages to X^[5] / Twitter about the situation, admitting that he was the ex-boyfriend that Shubble was talking about (shown below). In the post, he wrote that he was "shocked" about the abuse allegations, claiming he believed the actions were "consensual" and "playful," claiming he has messages that prove this but refusing to share them out of respect. He apologized for the hurt he caused Shubble and also admitted that in the final months of their relationship, he became "slobbish, disrespectful and selfish." The post gained over 17,000 likes and 10,000 reposts in under 24 hours.

Shubble's Response To Wilbur Soot's Apology

On the day Wilbur released his statement, Shelby Shubble made a post to X^[8] reacting to it with disappointment. In the post, she writes, "i could not have imagined what i would wake up to today. my ex pretending he thought i enjoyed being hurt… and all of my friends immediately coming to my defense. the support has brought me to tears, i don't even know what to say. i'll be back, i'll just be taking a little time. And for the record, i don't accept the apology." The post gained over 32,000 likes in under a day (shown below).

On March 1st, Shubble posted another response to X,^[11] thanking everyone for their support and further addressing Soot's apology. She writes that she's "never seen an apology so self centered" and that it seems to "purposely misconstrue the issue." She writes that the issue was with being hurt, not specifically being bit, also writing that it's disrespectful that he didn't mention her by name.

Shubble denies the existence of DMs where she says she enjoys being hurt by her partner, calling the claim "ridiculous." She writes that she's "deeply saddened" by how many others were hurt by his actions and further thanks her supporters. The post gained over 30,000 likes in under a day (shown below).

Online Reactions

Reactions to Wilbur's Response

The initial reactions to Wilbur's response were largely negative, with many expressing disappointment over Wilbur's actions and suggesting he was ignoring certain aspects of the allegations. The day they were posted, February 27th, 2024, X^[6] user @sunflowersapnap commented, "'the behavior was playful' yet you pressed on her old bruises to cause more pain 'the situation was playful' yet you ignored her safe wording and in fact bit Harder when she safe worded," garnering over 3,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Also that day, X^[7] user @HaydxnLIVE posted, "the moment you ignore a safeword, it becomes unconsensual. I hope you rot in your empire of dirt," garnering over 3,400 likes in the same span of time.

That day, content creator Tubbo, a friend of Soot's, reacted to the apology on stream, calling the response "vile" and wondering how Soot could have made the response about himself (shown below).^[9]

tubbo talked briefly on the entire situation

he is firmly against wilbur, says his response had zero redeemability and made him angry, that domestic violence and tolerance of it is unacceptable in his community, and most importantly that this is about shelby and her story pic.twitter.com/lBLeojOhUf

— mils ✩˚.⋆ (@thelorebitch) February 27, 2024

X^[10] user @cyanyolk posted a screenshot purportedly showing Soot's Discord server banner, which now reads, "support victims," writing, "whoever did this to wilbur’s discord server i love you," garnering over 18,000 likes in under a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References