YouTuber Jake Doolittle is facing backlash over his non-profit organization Never Stop, and a recent Doolittle post and livestream where he complained that Never Stop donations from his colleagues weren’t what he hoped they would be. The posts have since been deleted, but comments say that what Doolittle did felt like extortion.
Doolittle belongs to a YouTube community known as BreadTube, or content creators who post about left-leaning social issues. He says he has chronic Lyme disease, and according to the Never Stop website, his organization sells merch and takes donations for grants to help people in similar medical situations.
That’s an admirable enough cause. But, in a recent video titled “I’m Frustrated with Commentary YouTubers,” Doolittle said he reached out to other successful influencers, but his colleagues didn’t contribute to his charity. Doolittle said he knew they had the means to do so, and he found that frustrating.
While Doolittle didn’t name names, some saw it as a guilt trip, threatening to publically shame those who didn’t respond to Doolittle’s request, and many other YouTubers, like Adam McIntyre, felt he might be talking about them, and got feedback from their followers wondering if they were among the influencers Doolittle referred to.
Doolittle says he’s been ghosted
Doolittle also claimed that several unnamed influencers, in addition to completely ghosting him, had spread rumors claiming Doolittle had used them for money. Doolittle said he had “receipts” about these people, too, but that he’d take the high road and not release them, and went on to present himself as the hardest-working content creator on the internet.
Doolittle mentioned reaching out to another content creator to congratulate them on their financial success, and asking them to donate to his nonprofit. “That person unfollowed me and left me on read,” Doolittle said. The whole thing rubbed some people the wrong way, who felt Doolittle was self-pitying, and that it was inappropriate to threaten to name names like he did.
Contributing to the current controversy, Doolittle live-streamed from the hospital about the backlash, and seemed to be asking for sympathy about how the online community responded to those posts, which only made matters worse.
The Doolittle follow-up
Amid the blowback, Doolittle made a follow-up post to explain his side of the story. Nonetheless, that Doolittle post, too, received comments like, “What made me uncomfortable about that video is your sense of entitlement over other people’s money.”
About a year ago, Doolittle suggested another YouTuber, Ethan Klein, lied about his mystery autoimmune issue, which Klein has said might be lupus. Doolittle, who refers to his own chronic Lyme disease often in his posts, later apologized for what he said. But Klein responded, it turned into a back and forth, and things escalated from there, so this isn’t the first time Doolittle has been in trouble with his fans and followers.
Of the recent controversy, one typical Reddit post said in part, “Fifteen minutes of Jake Doolittle whining and feeling entitled to people’s money, using his charity as a cover. He acts like anyone who takes sponsorships or posts how much money they make [owes] him something because of the charity,” referring to Doolittle’s since deleted posts.
One comment responded, “He literally said he won’t name names now, but if he’s still ghosted next month, he’s going to start calling people out?? That feels like he’s trying to force YouTubers into making donations.” And Another added, “That feels like extortion…Edit: Technically blackmail.” Will this latest Doolittle scandal blow over? We’ll keep you posted.