David Dobrik issues apology amid alleged assault controversy, says 'consent is important'

YouTuber David Dobrik has issued a public apology amidst the current sexual assault controversy surrounding the Vlog Squad, his famous YouTube group. It was in the month of February when a former Vlog member, Seth Francois, alleged experiencing while taking part in a prank video. The video posted features David explaining Francois that he will be kissed by model Corinna Kopf. However, he was kissed by a 45-year-old comedian instead, who is also a member of the squad.

Seth described the incident during an episode of the H3 podcast claiming that he was left traumatised by the experience. “It immediately felt wrong”, Seth said explaining how he had to resort to a sexual assault hotline for help. Seth added that Dobrik offered him money to keep the video up but he declined the offer. Now, on Tuesday, March 16, David Dobrik released a video namely, ‘Let’s Talk’. The video was posted on his Views and features David addressing the issue publicly.

He began by elucidating that consent is ‘super, super important to him. But he confirmed that he ‘missed the mark’ in Seth’s case. He said, "With the Seth situation, I'm sorry to Seth because, like I said, I just want to make videos where everybody in it whether you're participating or watching is enjoying and having a good time. I missed the mark with that one and I'm really sorry — I truly, truly am." 

Dobrik further talked about how he has distanced himself from the former member. "With people in my life that I don't film with anymore, ... I chose to distance myself because I don't align with some of the actions and I don't stand for any kind of misconduct. been really disappointed by some of my friends and for that reason I've separated from a lot of them." 

"I think with any video I make my main purpose is to make people happy and inspire people and I just never want anything to get in the way of that," Dobrik continued. "I'm sorry if I've let you down and things like that won't happen again and I learn from my mistakes and I also believe that actions speak a lot louder than words. You can take my word for it that I'm going to change but I'll also show you and I'll prove to you that the mistakes I made before won't be happening again." 

Seth Francois isn’t the only one who has accused the YouTuber of sexual misconduct. Previously, a report presented by Business Insider included details given by a woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The woman alleged that she was raped during the production of a video back in 2018. She accused the group of providing her with alcohol to a point of being unconscious. In the recently released video, David did not address this issue and according to People, the influencer doesn’t want to comment anything on the same.