Shane Dawson

For the baseball player, see Shane Dawson (baseball).

Shane Dawson
Dawson in July 2016
Personal information
Born
Shane Lee Yaw

(1988-07-19) July 19, 1988 (age 36)
Long Beach, California, U.S.
EducationLakewood High School
Occupations
  • YouTuber
  • actor
  • filmmaker
  • writer
  • musician
Spouse
Ryland Adams
​
(m. 2023)​
Children2
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2008–present
Genres
Subscribers
  • 18.9 million (main channel)
  • 29.38 million (combined)[b]
Total views
  • 4.37 billion (main channel)
  • 4.8 billion (combined)[a]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2010[2]
1,000,000 subscribers2011[3]
10,000,000 subscribers2017[4]
Last updated: August 25, 2024

Shane Lee Yaw (born July 19, 1988), known online as Shane Dawson, is an American YouTuber, actor, filmmaker, writer, and musician.[5] Dawson was one of the first people to rise to fame on YouTube after he began making videos in 2008 at the age of 19 and garnered over 500 million views during the next two years.[6][7]

Most of Dawson's early work consisted of comedy sketches in which he would play original characters, impersonate celebrities, and make light of popular culture. Some of these impressions later drew criticism for their offensive content, including racial stereotypes. He has released six original songs such as "Superluv!" and numerous parodies of popular music videos. In 2013, he started the podcast Shane and Friends, which ran for 140 episodes over four years. In 2014, he directed, produced, edited, and starred in the romantic comedy film Not Cool and appeared on the accompanying docu-series The Chair.[13] He has also appeared in the horror film Smiley (2012) and the comedy film Internet Famous (2016).

In 2015, Dawson began discussing conspiracy theories on his YouTube channel, which led to his 2019 web series Conspiracy Series with Shane Dawson.[16] In 2017, he released his first docu-series on YouTube, in which he reconciled with his absent father. From 2019 to 2020, he created and appeared in the docu-series The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star, which garnered over 130 million views.[17] His most viewed docu-series are about Jeffree Star, Jake Paul, and Tana Mongeau.[20]

Dawson has released two New York Times best-selling books, I Hate Myselfie (2015) and It Gets Worse (2016), and his three YouTube channels have collectively accumulated over 4.5 billion views.[24] Since 2017, he has updated only his main channel, which has over 20 million subscribers and over 4 billion views.[27] In June 2020, YouTube indefinitely suspended monetization on all three of his channels and his books were pulled from shelves following a public backlash over numerous controversial comments he had made in the past, particularly regarding underage girls and zoophilia.[28][29] He took a hiatus and returned to YouTube on October 7, 2021.


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  1. ^ Shaw, Lucas (July 15, 2014). "YouTube Stars Shane Dawson, Olga Kay to Appear in Movie About an Internet Assassin (Exclusive)". TheWrap. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. ^ "YouTube – shane's Channel (archived)". Wayback Machine. May 7, 2010. Archived from the original on May 7, 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  3. ^ "shane's Channel – YouTube (archived)". Wayback Machine. December 19, 2011. Archived from the original on December 19, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  4. ^ "shane – YouTube (archived)". Wayback Machine. August 19, 2017. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  5. ^ "YouTubers Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star are Making their Comeback". Time. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  6. ^ "After Unlocking The Key To Longevity, Shane Dawson Is Helping Fellow YouTube OGs Do The Same – Tubefilter". June 27, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  7. ^ "Meet The YouTube Stars Making More Money Than EMTs, Cops, Firefighters, And Teachers". December 29, 2010. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Dachille, Arielle. "I Don't Buy This Shane Dawson Apology". Bustle. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  9. ^ "Shane Dawson on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  10. ^ "Shane Dawson: The most popular, successful, comedian you've never heard of — Quartz". qz.com. July 10, 2015. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  11. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 14, 2017). "Fullscreen Shutting Down Subscription VOD Service, Will Lay Off 25 Employees". Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  12. ^ "Amazon.com: Watch The Chair, Season 1 – Prime Video". www.amazon.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  13. ^ [8][9][10][11][12]
  14. ^ "Shane Dawson Talks Disney Conspiracies [VIDEO]". PopCrush. January 14, 2015. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  15. ^ "Why Shane Dawson's 'TanaCon' Series is So Gripping". July 17, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  16. ^ [14][15]
  17. ^ Fuentes, Tamara (September 25, 2019). "Shane Dawson Watches James Charles' Follower Count Drop in New Jeffree Star Video Trailer". Seventeen. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  18. ^ "Shane Dawson Proves Authenticity Still Exists on YouTube". February 11, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  19. ^ "Shane Dawson's new documentaries crack YouTube culture's Kardashian problem". Polygon. August 3, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  20. ^ [18][19]
  21. ^ "shane". YouTube. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  22. ^ "ShaneDawsonTV". Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2018 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "ShaneDawsonTV2". Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2018 – via YouTube.
  24. ^ [21][22][23]
  25. ^ "Top 100 YouTubers sorted by Subscribers – Socialblade YouTube Stats – YouTube Statistics". socialblade.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  26. ^ "Shane Dawson's Next Investigative Series Will Turn A Lens On Beauty Vlogger Jeffree Star – Tubefilter". July 30, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  27. ^ [25][26]
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference toa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference tob was invoked but never defined (see the help page).