Conspiracy Theories with Shane Dawson

About

Conspiracy Theories With Shane Dawson is a six part web series in which YouTuber Shane Dawson explores various conspiracies surrounding deep fakes, the recent Apple bug, the late 2018 California wildfires, AI Voice Simulations, Chuck E. Cheese, and Milos Mihajlovic.

History

On January 18th 2019, Shane Dawson uploaded a trailer to YouTube for a new docu-series called "Conspiracy Theories." "The trailer doesn’t reveal too many details about its subject. What it does reveal, however, is that the mysterious person Dawson investigates in the series’ first installment, a two-part “special edition” episode, is worrisome enough that longtime Dawson collaborator and editor Andrew Siwicki tells him it’s a good thing he has security cameras at his house."^[12] The trailer gained 7,738,492 views and 900K likes in four days and has since been taken down.

On January 25th, 2019, YouTube informed users of the action they will be taking on conspiracy videos:

"We’ll continue that work this year, including taking a closer look at how we can reduce the spread of content that comes close to--but doesn’t quite cross the line of--violating our Community Guidelines. To that end, we’ll begin reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways--such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11."

On January 30th, 2019, Shane Dawson posted the first part of the series to YouTube (shown below). The video has received over 15 million views and two million likes within a day.

On February 11th, Dawson posted the second part of the series to YouTube (shown below).
The video has received over 7,650,869 views 886K likes 5.2K dislikes

Online Reaction

Part One

On the week of the 30th, Twitter users expressed their excitement for the upcoming series (shown below).

On January 30th, after the premier of part one, YouTuber Philip DeFranco posted a video outlining the fact that the first episode was demonetized by YouTube costing Shane thousands. In the video, he explains that YouTube accidentally demonetized it (shown below). The video gained one million views and 42,000 likes in one day.

The next day, Philip DeFranco tweeted that YouTubers should diversify and protect themselves. The tweet gained 1,273 retweets and 20,926 likes (shown below, left). Shane's response garnered 1,198 retweets and 35,750 likes (shown below, right).

On January 31st, Entertainment Tonight took to Twitter to praise Shane Dawson's work (shown below). The tweet accumulated 1,001 retweets and 11,615 likes within the day.

In the days following the premier, fans took to Twitter react to part one of the docu-series (shown below).

On January 30th, 2019, YouTuber Diane Jennings uploaded a reaction video that has gained 8,000 in a day (shown below, left). This video was followed by YouTubers Dwayne N Jazz who also posted a reaction video which has gained 100,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

Part Two

Chuck E. Cheese Conspiracy

In part two of his docu-series, Dawson presents arguments surrounding Chuck E. Cheese's cleanliness, influence on children in regards to gambling and his theory that the pizza slices served are recycled from other customer's plates. On February 11th, 2019, Twitter users began to react to Shane Dawson's observations regarding Chuck E. Cheese pizza. Twitter user @alyssaaa_rivera^[11] posted a picture of Chuck E. Cheese pizza with the caption "I’m 100% convinced Chuck E. Cheese puts random pizza slices together to make a pie because of Shane’s video. I’m. Shook. 🤯" (shown below).

That same day, @4ngelmud^[12] posted a reaction picture of a rat clenching his fist with the caption "when chuck e cheese sees shane’s video" (shown below, left). The tweet gained 8 retweets and 45 likes that day. @Vicious_Virdii ^[10] followed suit and posted a reaction picture of Chuck E. Cheese with the caption "Chuck-e-cheese after watching Shane's video.
#shanedawson" (shown below, right). The tweet gained 180 retweets and 700 likes that day.

Later that night, The Sage Stage, a Chuck E. Cheese cook, responded to Shane Dawson's video via YouTube claiming that Dawson's ideas of Chuck E. Cheese are ridiculous (shown below). The video gained 800 views in a day.

Brittani Louis Taylor and Milos Mihajlovic Conspiracy

Part 2 of the docu-series also featured YouTuber Brittani Louise Taylor and the human trafficing conspiracy surrounding her relationship with ex Milos Mihajlovic. Taylor recounts the her pregnancy, domestic abuse and financial struggles involved in her relationship.

On February 11th, Brittani Taylor^[8] took to Twitter to respond to part two stating, "😭❤️ Just finished watching, and I am speechless. I just love you." The tweet gained 2,856 retweets and 54,951 likes in a day (shown below).

That day, YouTuber The Rewired Soul responded to part two by uploading a video explaining how to get help when in an abusive relationship (shown below). The video gained 16,000 views and 1,000 likes in a day.

Throughout the episode, Dawson has Milos Mihajlovic's face blurred until the end when he makes a statement defending Taylor. That night, many Twitter users responded to this aspect of part two. Twitter user @_annareynolds_,^[9] posted "The part where Shane shows Milos identity was very powerful. you shouldn’t hide someone like this. this was very moving. i am so proud of this series Shane. Especially this episode you put so much time and effort into it. @shanedawson @AndrewSiwicki" (shown below, left). The tweet gained 56 retweets and 305 likes that day. @__Nikoleback__^[7] followed by tweeting a reaction image with the caption "Me after #shanedawson Unblurred Milos face, knowing Shane could be shipped to Serbia at any moment" (shown below, right). The tweet gained 131 retweets and 927 likes that day.

Search Interest

External References