The Wendigoon controversy, explained

Although he managed to avoid controversy for a while, popular horror and conspiracy content creator, Wendigoon has found himself in the firing line this week. It happens to most big YouTubers eventually, in some cases they’re innocent, and in other cases they are not.

This all came about after a fellow YouTuber by the name of “In Praise of Shadows” released a video which examined Wendigoon’s connections to right-wing accounts, his religious associations, and his stance on gun control, according to an article from thedirect.com. Wendigoon, whose real name is Isaiah Markin, has over 3.6 million subscribers, with content that mostly revolves around researching different conspiracy theories as well as other horror themed content.

What are people saying about Wendigoon?

The original video has since been deleted, but the accusations leveled against him remain. The popular YouTuber supposedly has ties to far-right extremism, although the evidence is somewhat shaky. The video points to certain connections to other creators such as The Internet Historian, who has come under fire in the past for his own connections to Nazism. Shadows also claimed that Wendigoon came from a privileged family, and that somehow played a part in his success.

Although the video was certainly lacking in parts when it came to evidence, the internet has already done some digging of its own — Shadows wasn’t the only one making accusations. Back in December 2023, a few accounts on X pointed out that the popular YouTuber allegedly interacted with right-wing social media account Parler, as well as Kyle Rittenhouse, according to an article from knowyourmeme.

Another important detail: Before he was Wendigoon, he went by the name “Boogalooboi.” Some have taken that to be a reference to the Boogaloo movement. According to csis.org, this was a network of white supremacist individuals who “attended protests and riots, and they often sought to capitalize on high tensions to incite violence and chaos.” However, Wendigoon claims he stopped using the name once it became attached to the group.

The response

After the video calling out Wendigoon dropped, many YouTubers flew to his defense, calling out the lack of research and attention to detail on display in Shadow’s exposé. A content creator by the name of Willy Mac even DM’d Isaiah to get his take on the whole situation.

“There was a lot he got wrong even objectively I would’ve been happy to clear up, even for a hit piece. For example, my parents were not rich, […] I don’t have any malice and I meant what I said in my comment on the video I hope no one harasses him on my behalf.”

Shadows took his video down shortly after everything kicked off, as well as setting his X profile to private. He later released a statement to his Patreon in which he apologized for making the video, stating that “I let my emotions get the best of me here […] This was made out of anger, and I should never lower myself to do that.” 

It seems like most of the internet has come down on Wendigoon’s side in this case. While there might be indications of his political leanings, there’s simply not enough evidence to back up the claims and assumptions in Shadows’ video, resulting in the whole thing coming across like a hit piece.