Jason Nash told David Dobrik in 2018 that you don't get bad press 'unless you rape somebody'
After YouTuber David Dobrik and his Vlog Squad fell from grace following a rape allegation made against one of the group members, a podcast clip has resurfaced that's eerily prescient.
Three years before his own career-defining scandal erupted, Dobrik sat down for a routine episode of his podcast "Views" with co-host Jason Nash, a member of the Vlog Squad. The two discussed YouTuber Logan Paul's then-ongoing 2018 media debacle, which led to the temporary demonetization of his YouTube channel after he said he filmed a dead body in Japan's "suicide forest."
Dobrik and Nash talked about the fallout from Paul's vlog, with Nash predicting that the backlash wouldn't hurt Paul's career in the long run: "Nobody ever f---ing goes down, like, nobody. I mean, unless you rape somebody or murder somebody, everybody comes back. There's no bad press," Nash said.
In retrospect, Nash's comments would foreshadow the rape allegations that brought down Dobrik's business empire. In March 2021, Insider published an investigation that included an anonymous woman accusing Dom Zeglaitis, known as "Durte Dom" in Dobrik's Vlog Squad videos, of raping her while she was too intoxicated to consent. Footage of Zeglaitis leading the woman into his bedroom appeared in a vlog on Dobrik's channel — less than a year after he recorded the "Views" episode with Nash.
Not only did Nash foreshadow the nature of the "bad press" that led to YouTube temporarily demonetizing Dobrik's own channel, but he also seemed to accurately predict Paul's comeback. In one part of the discussion, Nash said the YouTube stunt would only make his career bigger in the long run. As of May, that's proved accurate. Paul's net worth, subscriber count, and real-world impact have only continued to grow. Data analyzed by Insider showed consistent growth on Paul's channel. Now, Paul co-hosts a successful podcast and is set to fight Floyd Mayweather as part of his lucrative boxing career.
YOUTUBE ARCHEOLOGY: Jason Nash saying “unless you rape or murder someone, everybody comes back. There’s no bad press.” pic.twitter.com/hbAkjHIYKM
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) May 9, 2021
As of now, it remains to be seen whether the second half of Nash's prediction — that a career wouldn't be able to survive rape allegations — will come true for Dobrik, who is weathering the fallout from the allegations against Zeglaitis.
Dobrik has now weathered two major scandals
A TikTok that resurfaced Nash's comments from the 2018 "Views" episode also juxtaposed them with Dobrik's latest scandal involving a stunt gone wrong.
In April, Vlog Squad member Jeff Wittek released a video that said he was injured by heavy machinery operated by Dobrik. Wittek said he was holding onto a crane that Dobrik swung around in the middle of a lake when he smashed into the side of the machine, causing a traumatic brain injury.
Wittek has since released a lucrative documentary series on YouTube about his injury called "Don't Try This At Home." Dobrik remains on hiatus from the internet as audiences react to uncovered Vlog Squad history.