Nickisnotgreen controversy explained

Commentary channels are pretty popular on YouTube, there’s just something so entertaining about all the drama. Normally members of the community don’t insert themselves into said drama, but rather comment on it as an outsider, giving their opinions and making jokes — it’s like reality TV, but for Zoomers.

One of the most prominent up and coming voices in the community is Nickisnotgreen, who has managed to carve out his own brand of comedic commentary that appeals to all audiences. His sharp and witty criticisms of bigoted YouTubers has earned him a lot of respect amongst fans and other members of the community.

Nick’s unique content quickly found its audience with his popularity skyrocketing in 2021. According to SocialBlade, in two years his subscriber count grew from a few thousand to around 700,000, and that’s not even taking into account his second channel, greenisnotnick, which sits at about the same amount. 

A couple of months ago Nick was at the top of his game, and was already branching out into other forms of entertainment; for example, he started making music. His discography thus far has been interesting to say the least, with hits like “Queef Stew” and “Meaty Fun,” and if that sounds like your kind of music, don’t worry, Nick and a couple of other musicians have already released two whole albums of this stuff under the name “Queef Jerky.”

Anyways, the last month or so has seen a downward trend in Nick’s analytics, with his main channel losing subscribers for the first time since its inception. In fact, he’s practically bleeding subscribers, with around 30,000 viewers deciding to turn their backs on Nick in the last month alone. That’s about 1000 people a day, so it begs the question: what on Earth has Nickisnotgreen done to turn the public against him so quickly?

The initial controversy

In case you’re wondering, no, the controversy is not his music; in fact, for the most part Nick’s venture into the musical field has been pretty well received by his fans. The controversy stems from something that happened way back in July — and unfortunately for the up and coming YouTuber, it seems he’s picked a battle he cannot win.

If you’re terminally online like me, you’ll probably remember the controversy surrounding YouTube let’s play juggernaut SuperMega. To understand this new controversy, we have to delve into the old controversy, but I’ll try to keep it brief.

Back in July, Lex, an artist and associate of SuperMega, made allegations against Don, another artist and friend of Matt and Ryan (the guys behind the channel). In a two hour video, she spoke of how she had been coerced into sexual acts by Don. Ultimately, he was fired, but SuperMega were slow to act, and came under heavy fire from fans. It looked like Matt and Ryan had attempted to cover up the situation in order to save their image. 

It seemed like another pretty cut and dry case of beloved content creators being outed as mega creeps, and there wasn’t much room to defend Matt and Ryan’s actions — and Nick was one of the most vocal detractors of the duo.

As the days went by, more stories of the toxic culture at SuperMega came to light, with former staff and collaborators making claims of racism, sexism, and homophobia being perpetuated time and time again. Both Matt and Ryan released videos owning up to, and apologizing for their failures, as well as attempting to tell their side of the story, but it was too late at that point. The channel ended up going on an indefinite hiatus.

Nick’s involvement

In the meantime, Nick continued to expose SuperMega, citing numerous instances of shocking behavior; it’s worth noting that his reason for doing so was that he was personally involved in the drama. A handful of his friends felt they had been treated poorly during their time working for the channel, and Nick was also close friends with Lex. It seems in his mind, he believed that he was doing the right thing by putting a spotlight on Matt and Ryan.

In fact, Nick’s attacks on these two were so persistent and vicious that what Don had done quickly became lost under piles and piles of stories about Matt and Ryan’s appalling deeds. The focus switched from exposing something terrible one person had done, to what seemed like a witch hunt.

Whilst there is no doubt that SuperMega grossly mishandled the issue with Don, viewers started questioning whether Nick had ulterior motives. His videos were looking more and more like character assassination of Matt and Ryan. He frequently shared rumors and unsubstantiated claims that were completely unrelated to the issue at hand.

Rumors

One such rumor was that Matt and Ryan made jokes about Daniel Kyre, of friend of the duo who sadly committed suicide in 2015. Ryan made a statement on Twitter demanding an apology for the accusation, which had nothing to do with the conversation, and only served to re-open old wounds. 

The problem is that rumors such as this only serve to detract from the very real and very serious issue at hand. These claims lacked proof, and Nick’s coverage only served to further muddy the waters regarding the original incident. Rather than go after Don, Nick opted to target Matt and Ryan.

Other commentary channels picked up on Nick’s narrative and started calling him out. This marked a shift in public opinion. After being called out by large channels like Turkey Tom, Nick decided to double down on his stance, which only served to fuel the belief that he was only involving himself in the drama because he had a vendetta against SuperMega.

As things continued to escalate, Nick began to place the blame on his friends whom he had initially been defending. He even blamed Lex for feeding him misinformation, without taking any responsibility himself.

All of this — coupled with past controversies that include getting YouTuber Sneako banned under false accusations — mean Nick’s positive public image has been dragged through the mud. Many now view him as a liar and manipulator.

Everyone involved in this situation looks pretty bad; from an outside perspective, it now looks like Nick hijacked the story of his friend’s assault to bring down two people he just doesn’t like. Whilst many initially supported him, his own fan base have turned on him.