Yousef Erakat / FouseyTUBE / Fousey

Overview

Yousef Erakat, or Fousey, better known by his channels FouseyTUBE and DoseOfFousey, is an American former YouTube prankster, vlogger and current streamer who gained massive popularity in the 2010s for his prank videos. In 2015, Fousey garnered backlash for faking his pranks. In 2018, Fousey hosted a free concert that he claimed Drake would headline, which never happened, with the event often being compared to other disastrous live events like TanaCon. Fousey has claimed he was going through a mental health crisis at the time. In 2019, Fousey began a brief influencer boxing career. In 2023, Fousey began live streaming on Twitch and gained significant popularity, becoming embroiled in several controversies in that time including an n-word controversy and accusations that he took advantage of a sex trafficking victim on-stream, later signing a deal with Kick streaming.

Background

Erakat created his FouseyTUBE account on March 21st, 2011.^[1] His first channel, specifically about workouts, was created in 2009 and has since been deleted. ^[2] His first video on the FouseyTube channel was titled "FouseyTUBE INTRO PARODY" and has 850,000 views.

His first video which gained massive popularity was titled "MIDDLE EASTERN PARENTS", which gained just under 7 million views, and 64,000 likes.

History

On May 4th, 2014, Erakat uploaded a video titled "SPIDERMAN IN REAL LIFE PRANK!". The video went viral, getting over 120,000,000 views, and 400,000 likes.

Fousey has 10 videos with over 25 million views and a billion views in total. His most popular video series is the "YOGA PANTS PRANK", which has 80 million views between two videos.

Erakat has also held large success with his vlog channel, DOSEofFOUSEY. His most popular video, uploaded in January of 2015, is titled "ARGUING WITH A COP!!!", which has 7 million views.

Fake Prank Allegations

On December 4th, 2015, YouTuber Danny Duncan uploaded a video titled "Real PROOF FouseyTube is Fake! Actor Speaks Out!" The video shows an actor from one of Fousey's videos, titled "UBER PRANK", in which he played a man in a car, who Fousey then jumped in, claiming he was hired off of Craigslist. The video gained over a million views, with 25,000 likes and 10,000 dislikes (video deleted, reupload available).^[4]

Hate Dies, Love Arrives Concert

On July 6th, 2018, Erakat announced he would be producing a concert on July 15th. Tickets for the event were free, selling out within minutes according to Newsweek.^[3] On July 15th, Erakat tweeted a video message asking Drake to attend his event (deleted). The event was held later that day at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. Following performances by Dax and Lil Poppy, police instructed attendees to leave due to a bomb threat. Fousey was then filmed yelling at Keemstar while standing on top of a car (shown below). In the video, Fousey accuses Keemstar of making him want to kill himself by reporting on the negative aspects of his life while going through a mental health crisis.

Fousey discussed the event on No Jumper on July 17th, explaining why he thought Drake would attend, in which a fight broke out between himself and Keemstar (shown below).

On July 17th, PewDiePie posted a video titled "This is why you shouldn't be a YouTuber // Fouseytube," in which he compared the event to TanaCon (original deleted, reupload shown below).

That day, Keemstar uploaded the first in a two-part documentary on the event titled "The Hard Truth About FouseyTube" (shown below).

Book Release, Fight Against Slim Albaher

On September 28th, 2021, Fousey published his book "Warning: This Is Not a Motivational Story" discussing his career and struggles with addiction and mental health.^[8] On September 29th, 2019, Fousey fought against Slim Albaher in an influencer boxing match, resulting in Fousey losing by technical knockout and having his nose broken, which required two surgeries to fix (shown below).^[5]

Reality House Appearance

On December 3rd, 2021, YouTubers^[6] KianAndJC uploaded episode three of their reality series Reality House, where they brought Fousey into the house. Fousey was drunk and comparative during his appearance and at one point pushed a female contestant by her face as she explained how she didn't like him. Fousey later got into a physical altercation with influencer Bryce Hall over the situation, who punched Fousey in the face, resulting in both of them getting kicked off the show (shown below).^[7]

Fight Against Deji

On August 27th, 2022, Fousey fought against Deji in an influencer boxing match. Fousey lost the match to Deji by knockout (shown below).

Twitch Career, Ban, Move To Kick

In July 2023, Fousey began streaming on Twitch.^[9] Fousey quickly began a subathon where he promised to stream hs entire life 24/7, resulting in him gaining over 30,000 subscribers in around a month. On July 19th, Fousey appeared in an interview on the H3 Podcast where they made sure he wasn't going through a manic episode, discussed his past addiction to massage parlors and his premature ejaculation struggles, his mental health struggles and more, garnering over 1.2 million views in a month (shown below).

On August 1st, Fousey accidentally said the n-word while rapping to J. Cole's song "Love Yourz," quickly apologizing and inspiring memes and reactions online (shown below).

On August 6th, Fousey garnered controversy over an interaction he had with a woman at the airport during a stream. During the interaction, Fousey met a woman at the airport bar who confided in him that she was a victim of sex trafficking in the past. Fousey comforted her and bonded with her and the two eventually began kissing, with Fousey openly flirting with her. Fousey then sent her $300 to help her out. He then told viewers he was going to the convenience store with her to buy some things, leaving his camera on at the bar for around 20 to 30 minutes. When he returned, Fousey bragged about "joining the mile high club" and hooking up with the woman in the bathroom, then claimed he was just pranking viewers. He then began apologizing for the alleged prank and claiming he was a bad person for it (shown below). Some believe it was not a prank and that Fousey took advantage of the girl while she was being vulnerable with him and potentially drunk.^[10]

Fousey was banned from Twitch on August 8th, although in relation to allegedly saying the homophobic "f slur" during stream and not due to the interaction at the airport. Fousey then began suggesting he would join Kick, claiming there was a deal on the table.^[11] Reportedly, Fousey signed a $15-million dollar deal with the streaming service, although this has not been confirmed by Kick.^[12]

Fousey August 22nd, 2023 Livestream / Miami Swatting Incident

On August 22nd, 2023, Fousey live-streamed himself attacking YouTubers N3on and Jack Doherty. A clip from the incident with N3on posted by X^[13] account @DramaAlert gathered over 8,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Fousey slaps N3on before kicking him out of his house. pic.twitter.com/Pve5MT1f1M

— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) August 23, 2023

A post about the incident with Jack Doherty posted by X^[14] account @scubaryan_ gathered over 20,000 likes in a day (seen below).

bro… Fousey just smacked Jack Doherty pic.twitter.com/Qkw9rPtaqi

— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) August 23, 2023

Also on August 22nd, Fousey livestreamed himself calling Miami police to say that he was being held at gunpoint in his hotel room, leading to the police coming to his room and purportedly arresting him for lodging a false police report. X^[15] account @DramaAlert posted a video chronicling the events that led to his arrest, gathering over 1,600 likes in a day (seen below).

On August 23rd, it was reported by TMZ^[16] that Fousey was not arrested, but taken to the hospital by the police for a mental health evaluation.

FOUSEY ARRESTED LIVE!? pic.twitter.com/TOjUWtSAka

— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) August 23, 2023

Search Interest

External References