Opinions expressed in editorials on The Central Trend are the view of the individual writer and are not the opinion of the entire staff of The Central Trend or the Forest Hills Central staff or administration.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a story I had written back in April 2022 started to trend again, “Dhar Mann’s YouTube channel has hit me with a sense of wit along with wisdom.” It made me wonder why it was trending, but then I realized this happens because it’s a story that’s been read a lot or is a common search on Google. 

That’s when I stumbled upon TikTok only to find a string of videos circling around the #canceldharmann movement. What was even more astonishing was the fact that even some of his own actors started to turn against him and expose him for who he really was. 

Dhar Mann, for people who are unfamiliar, is a multimillionaire who has accumulated over 17 million subscribers on YouTube. He is a content creator who creates skits, ranging from thirty minutes to an hour, about life lessons to live up to his motto, “We’re not just telling stories, we’re changing lives.” 

What’s frightening is the fact that he doesn’t even pay his own actors enough, so little that some cannot even afford to pay for basic necessities such as their own rent. It’s ironic how Mann reiterates the phrase, “What happens in the dark always comes to light,” yet does not actually practice this.

Jazlyn Nicolette Sward, one of Mann’s actors, admitted to having an uncomfortable experience at the studio. She mentioned how she was filming a TikTok for the company and the skit involved a knife. Little did she know, this skit resulted in Mann himself pointing a real knife at her for some comical 15-second video on TikTok.

After this scary incident occurred, she demanded assistant directors be on set every time she set foot into the studio, but after she was falsely assured there would be assistant directors, the next time she showed up, there were none to be seen.

What’s even more disheartening is the fact that many actors have quit because of Mann’s unexplainable actions. They started to protest and create posters of their own, but before they did, they requested a meeting with Mann himself to talk about some of the issues on set. 

As expected, Mann did not show up, his directors did. The actors were glad everyone was in on this, but the only reason Mann didn’t show up was that he was simply on vacation. How ironic, again. 

Now, in situations like these, there are always two sides to this. Because Mann has such a large following, there have also been some positive outcomes from these events. Many actors, such as Katherine Norland, who have spoken up about their experience with Dhar Mann Studios have been fairly positive. 

Although I did believe her, because I have been an avid viewer of the channel myself, what made the entire confession authentic was the confession she made. She admitted to the fact that all these words were hers and that the studio was not in any way, shape, or form trying to convince her to say these things. 

Mann himself came out on his Instagram page for Dhar Mann Studios to explain his view on the situation as a way of clearing the air. He talked about how when the meeting was scheduled with the actors, it was an error of miscommunication and was a message he never received. In terms of the pay rates, he released the exact rate at which he paid his actors and was sorrowful over the series of events happening in the studios. He then closed off by saying he is always looking for ways to improve his channel and has always wanted to create an uplifting environment. 

But because it’s often hard to see the facade created around YouTubers off-screen, it was hard for me to even decide who to believe. Because all of the evidence was on film, there’s no way to actually tell what happened without physically being there. 

But this isn’t the only time that’s happened. Obviously, the idea of cancel culture is no surprise to any of us, especially for Generation Z. But around a month ago, another content creator, Brent Rivera had gotten into some trouble with another YouTuber due to a prank he was conducting in a hotel. 

Three days ago, Brent released a video on his TikTok, talking about his experience staying at a hotel. He was pulling a prank by having two girls who were dressed identically at the end of a hallway. 

Things started to escalate quickly and Brent talked about how a man named Tyler Oliveira was supposedly disrespecting him and continued to say rude things about him. Brent talks about how Tyler constantly kept interrupting the prank and how he was saying rude things about him and his sister. This eventually led to the hotel calling security and having Tyler be escorted out of the hotel leading to Brent losing a lot of money that was put into making quality content for his channel. 

On the same day, Tyler created the same video on his TikTok page essentially debunking every myth Brent released in his video. He talked about how he was also filming a video in that hotel and that the prank was “staged” and that it was actually Brent who called security. Also because Brent was supposedly under Forbes 30 under 30 Tyler had apparently lost 4,000 dollars in flights and video production and was simply wondering what was going on. Just to prove his point, he even uploaded an entire six-minute youtube video for the people that still don’t believe him. 

Now obviously, these are just two instances out of numerous. But one thing is evident, time and time, incidents very similar in comparison to these two have happened in the past, and they’re bound to happen again. The real question however is, whose side do I take, and how will influencers going forward react to situations such as these?