how this famous, beloved youtuber ruined his own career and life

a case study in self-destruction

My content creator friend reached out to me today, said he was worried about me. He’d read the last couple pieces I’d posted while aggressivly crashing out on Substack and said that wasn’t the same Danny he knew and loved. Told me to research a guy called Boogie2988. So I did.

Boogie2988 was one of the original gaming YouTubers who started back in 2006. Super friendly, super sweet guy, (separate from his rage gamer character/persona), built an audience of 4 million by being extremely honest and open about his struggles with weight loss, depression, and self-esteem. Positive, optimistic, beloved by the community.

But somewhere along the way, something went wrong.

Boogie started making edgy, inappropriate jokes on stream. Real dark shit. Child abuse, genital mutilation, disrespecting the dead type shit. Nazi, rapist, anything for attention type shit. Over the years, his behavior went from ‘struggling’ and ‘relatable’ to self-destructive and problematic. His videos, once vulnerable and inspirational, became pity parties. He lied about having cancer. He spent a fortune on sex workers. And in 2020, he topped it off by firing a gun at another YouTuber and collecting a criminal charge. He unraveled publicly and lost the trust of the people.

I watched the documentary, horrified. I saw myself in Boogie. The ego, the obsession with attention, the infantile inability to handle criticism. He felt like a version of who I could become. And God, I would do fucking anything to avoid it. But I see a lot of my recent, self-destructive behavior reflected in his. And that scares me.

My creator buddy told me to think long and hard about what effect I want my blog to have on the world. A force of good? Helping others feel related, connected, understood? Or a force of chaos — directionless and even harmful? Originally, the blog was about unpacking shame and fear and insecurity, but over the past few weeks it’s become about drama and attention and rage baiting, and you know what? I’m not about it.

Was I wrong to publicly advocate for a blog that glamorizes self-destruction, sexual transgression and unfiltered depravity? I mean… definitely. It was braindead, at the very least. I got so caught up in ‘speaking my truth’ and ‘standing my ground’ that I didn’t consider what I was standing for.

Today, Boogie2988 is considered a clown, a real life villain, an embarrassment to his community. He’s broke, lonely, and pathetic. His former fans think he’s unredeemable. They believe he’s just a Bad Person.

I’ve been a Bad Person too. I’ve been hurtful to the women I date and an asshole on the internet. But I want to believe I’m still redeemable. I don’t know where this blog is headed. And I don’t know who I want to be. I waver a lot. Maybe I’ll change my mind next week. But for now — sorry Tim¹. Sorry Priya. Y’all are okay.

1. I know you’re gonna say there’s someone else I should apologize to but that shit will stay private.