Old School YouTube Stars - Where Are They Now?
They once dominated YouTube, but what are they up to now?
Who is he? - Chris Crocker rose to fame for his dramatic 'Leave Britney Alone' video, which was one of the first truly viral videos on the YouTube platform.
Where is he now? - Chris is still active online, but less so on YouTube. He recently revealed the dark, tragic backstory behind his famous 'Leave Britney Alone' video.
Who is he? - For a good while, Ray basically was YouTube. His hugely popular show '=3' made him the most subscribed YouTuber on the site a number of times. He then expanded into other ventures, like his animated band 'Your Favourite Martian', which produced songs that have mostly aged terribly.
Where is he now? - At a certain point Ray grew weary of being on camera himself and so announced that he was moving behind the camera to focus more on production. His channel had over 10 million subscribers and 2.6 billion total views at the time of his departure. And thus, one of the biggest YouTubers in history simply walked away from the platform, which makes a nice change from the usual scenario of YouTubers having to leave because of a scandal.
A few months ago he returned to his YouTube channel and is now making regular videos again, so though they are obviously not getting the kind of views they used to.
Who is he? - The story of KevJumba is fascinating. He was one of the most prominent creators on the platform, He joined the year-old platform in 2006, had a video featured on its homepage in 2007 and by 2008 had its No. 3 most subscribed channel. Then in 2014, he suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the internet.
What happened? - After years of speculation, the reason for KevJumba's departure was finally revealed. Jumba, whose real name is Kevin Wu, said that he felt unfulfilled by his sudden rise to fame and sought more personal development. He took his channel offline and enrolled at Santa Monica College,. He began to pursue a more spiritual life in earnest, both attending Bible studies and serving at a Hare Krishna temple.
Then, disaster struck. In June 2015 he was struck by a car while walking in L.A. He suffered a broken spine, collapsed lungs as well as a huge blow to her personal morale. Initially, he was determined to power through it. "I'm still going to go to school after I get out of the hospital," he told himself then. "I've got to get on with my real life." But his organs were failing and he'd eventually have two major surgeries to address the damage.
Kevin had a slow and difficult recovery and say he is now in a place to make a return to the spotlight.
Who is he? - Now let's be clear, Toby occupies a special place on this list. He is still active on the site and never truly 'went away', but, in the nicest way possible, a lot of his audience did. Toby was once one of the most reliable YouTubers in terms of video views, with his many daily videos easily racking up millions of views. Now, his video views have waned and his standing has reduced dramatically.
What happened? - Toby's once seemingly unstoppable video empire was rocked by accusations from a former girlfriend, which shook his firmly family-friendly image.