Cr1TiKaL Criticizes iDubbbz's Apology For Past, Edgy Content, Draws Criticism Of His Own

Last week, YouTuber iDubbbz apologized for his past videos, which he deemed "hurtful" content, and unlisted all the content in his controversial "Content Cop" series.

The video and content removal decision proved somewhat contentious and naturally made its way through the YouTube drama mill to a Cr1TiKaL breakdown, where Charlie White offered his thoughts on the situation and inadvertently kicked up some controversy of his own.

In the lengthy clip (the first of two Cr1TiKaL would post about the situation on Saturday), White somewhat disagreed with iDubbbz's decision to unlist his old content, which notably included slurs for comedic effect, arguing they were a product of their time (the mid-late 2010s) and weren't as "hurtful" as iDubbbz characterized them.

LIKE??? why did he say this im actually like at a loss for words https://t.co/YsF6AbaA1j pic.twitter.com/DTyfnC5yJm

— 🐝Benny Bee🐝 (@thatbennybee) May 20, 2023

The argument was widely debated and criticized on social media by people, including fans of Cr1TiKaL. The thread about the video in the /r/Cr1TiKaL subreddit finds many of the commenters agreeing that Charlie was downplaying the negative influence of iDubbbz's old content. Redditor NaoSouONight pointed to a revelation iDubbbz's had about the effect his videos had when a trans fan of his approached him saying "I know you probably don't like me, but I'm a huge fan." NaoSouONight opined that iDubbbz probably thought his content was widely understood as shock humor, but the incident was the "shoe that dropped" for him, and Cr1TiKaL hadn't had that same revelation.

Others noted how iDubbbz may not have intended to normalize the use of slurs or hate with his content, but it was "rampant" in his fandom. In saying Cr1TiKaL's video left a "bad taste," Redditor thepikapimp wrote, "It feels like Charlie is being extremely generous with his assumption that 'most people' understood the slurs to just be a joke. You don’t have to dive very far into idubbbz community to see the horrible genuinely bigoted fanbase that he fostered with his old content. I think it’s perfectly understandable to become guilty and self-loathing seeing something like that caused by yourself."

Some Twitter users were also less kind, noting how Cr1TiKaL's recent perceived rebranding as a "drama recap" YouTuber in which he gives a non-controversial, "centrist" take on a variety of topics had purportedly failed him in this scenario.

Cr1TiKaL responded to the drama with a second video, saying he didn't explain his thoughts as clearly as he could have. He did reiterate that he did not find iDubbbz's old, "edgy" content enjoyable and didn't blame him for wanting to distance himself from that.

He also expressed that he intended to convey that iDubbbz needn't have felt so bad for being "edgy" on the internet in the mid-late 2010s because he was not alone in doing so and did not create the toxic culture online that gravitated towards him.

Nevertheless, it seems some of Cr1TiKaL's fans still aren't sure that Charlie has understood what their main issue with his take on the situation was.

One of the top comments on Cr1TiKaL's second video, posted by Moon Brior, states, "There is absolutely a younger crowd that was heavily influenced by his content and was unable to see the satire or nuance. You were right when you said that Idubbbz didn't create edgy content, that he was just molded by it like Bane but he did turn into the posterboy for the genre on YouTube at the time."