Shane Dawson says he's "grateful" to have been canceled.
On Thursday, the creator returned to YouTube with his first video in over a year, "The Haunting of Shane Dawson," which was filled with musings about moving to Colorado with fiancé Ryland Adams and exploring their new "haunted" home. Not to mention, his big, headline-making cancelation.
Last year, a decade of past controversies finally caught up to Dawson, including old Blackface videos, racist comments, the cat cumming debacle, his "joke" about masturbating to a poster of then-11 year old Willow Smith, friendships with problematic creators, the whole Dramageddeon saga, amongst other sus things. Needless to say, the backlash quickly evolved into a full-on cancelation, which Dawson addressed in a video about "Taking Accountability," before announcing a year-long social media hiatus, which has now officially ended with "The Haunting of Shane Dawson."
In the 40-minute video, the vlogger talked about wanting to "leave the internet" and no longer wanting to be a part of the YouTuber community, especially since it "ruined [his] life" during a time of "much growth."
"And now I'm being canceled over things from the past," he complained. "And that's not me anymore."
Since then though, Dawson said his mindset's done a complete 180 to the point where he's "so grateful that [he] got canceled, because it really changed [his] life."
"It showed me what I care about and showed me what matters; it showed me I don't need to be on YouTube all the time," he said. "I don't need to be stressed about what's next, I don't need to be trying to think of the next idea, the next whatever to be happy."
THE PROBLEM WITH SHANE DAWSON: a thread pic.twitter.com/DS7NilFdRA
— LIL BITCH (@cacasmiddlename) June 20, 2020
And while he said he's still not "going to run from [his] past," Dawson also made it clear that he's "also not going to stay in it," as it would be "unhealthy for me to just constantly think about it."
"I don't want to be looked at as somebody who gave up and left and ran away from the internet because they were afraid of whatever," he said, clarifying that he left because he "felt like [he] should" and "because [he] needed time."
Dawson added, "I left because I wanted to figure out what the hell I was doing with my life and what I wanted to do and why I got to a place where I didn't want to be alive anymore."
See what he has to say for yourself below.
Photo via YouTube
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