Welcome to Creators Going Pro, where in partnership with Semaphore — a creator-focused family of companies providing business and financial services to social media professionals — we profile professional YouTube stars who have hit it big by doing what they love. Each week, we’ll chat with a creator about the business side of their channel, including identifying their Semaphore Moment — the moment they truly went pro.

Rose Ellen Dix and Rosie Spaughton tell their subscribers everything. The duo, who have been together since 2012 (when they met through a “common lesbian denominator” in their town, as Dix puts it) and married since 2015, have made a career of oversharing with their fans. They talk about everything — the good, the bad, the cringe, and the joyous, from terrible holiday experiences to their ideal baby daddy to intimate “lesbian confessions” to how they both cope with sometimes crippling anxiety.

Back when Dix originally joined YouTube in 2010, she had no idea it’d wind up as an outlet for her, let alone a career. Then a university student, she had to sign up for a channel to upload short films she was making for a class. But while she was making those short films, she discovered that she and Spaughton had a talent for riffing with one another in front of a camera, talking frankly about whatever came to mind. Even when she started uploading their chats, Dix didn’t expect to get a following. YouTube, as she points out, was dominated by cat videos and compilations of drunk people falling down. She didn’t think a same-sex couple oversharing would interest many people.

She was wrong.

Now, Dix and Spaughton have 1.5 million subscribers across their three channels, and pull in around 3 million views per month collectively. Their flagship channel, Rose & Rosie, hosts the majority of their videos. One side channel, Rose & Rosie Vlogs, focuses more on their out-and-about adventures, and the other side channel, Let’s Play Games, follows the pair coplaying top games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.

Last year, they took a leap and parlayed their personal brand of candidness into their first book, Overshare: Love, Laughs, Sexuality and Secrets, published by Hachette. They also embarked on an associated tour across the U.S. and U.K., meeting fans to overshare in person. (For those who didn’t make it to their tour, they have a documentary in the works that follows the entire event.)

For Dix and Spaughton, the key to maintaining a successful channel — and building a successful career off that channel — is to stay authentic to the people they were years ago, in those first riffing videos, even as they and their content have grown. As for what they’re planning to build next…we’ll let Dix share that in our chat with her below.

Tubefilter: So first, tell us a little about each of you! Where are you from? What did you do in the days before YouTube?

Rose Ellen Dix: I was a model. Rosie was a dreamer. Just kidding. Like most recent graduates, the world was our underwhelming oyster with a questionable smell. Our aims were to fall straight into our dream jobs, as we felt university provided enough “independent study” to independently navigate this life and the next. So I really had to pick myself up when Pizza Express didn’t see me as qualified enough to bring people their halloumi bites. I ended up working at an Apple premium retailer, where I’d incorrectly teach people how to back up their data to iCloud. Unsurprisingly, my client list was short. Rosie worked in digital marketing and specialised in “open plan office” politics. Life was simpler back then. One needn’t worry about keeping up with YouTube algorithms — just the culprit responsible for the tikka masala microwave splash.

Tubefilter: How did the two of you meet? How did you decide to launch a YouTube channel–actually, multiple YouTube channels–together? Why did YouTube seem like the ideal home for your content?

RED: Rosie and I met through a common lesbian denominator in our local town. There was, in fact, one gay. Back when we started making videos, hamsters were powering the internet and Wi-Fi passwords were a blend of Pi and Morse code. YouTube wasn’t a recognised career path, nor a way to make money — it was simply a free online platform to get creative! I initially used it as stage to upload my student films throughout my degree, but it soon became a hobby of mine to make nonsense content with Rosie, where we’d sit in front of the camera and have a conversation about nothing and everything.

YouTube was notorious for compilations of cat fails and people falling over, so it seemed like the ideal platform for our intimidatingly intellectual dialogue. It was only after a few years had passed that we decided to create an additional vlogging and gaming channel. We had conned our audience into thinking we were funny for a while now, so we thought, why not expand and take them on a journey of self-discovery? I’m not sure what that means or how our gaming videos would facilitate that…but say anything with enough conviction, and anyone will believe it.

Tubefilter: What would you say is the “Rose & Rosie brand”? What can viewers always expect when they tune in to one of your videos?

RED: Expect to feel uplifted in the knowledge that there’s always someone dumber than you. No, in all seriousness, we strive to create content that’s both meaningful and meaningless, but as entertaining as it comes! What you see truly is what you get. Our videos aren’t scripted and are rarely planned, but always a genuine pleasure to film. We create content for people to forget about their stresses or anxieties just for a moment.

I like to think you’ll be spiritually enlightened after the 10-minute mark…just after the second ad plays…So make sure you stay tuned for that.

Tubefilter: When did you get your first check for online video revenue? How much was it for? What about your first check outside of AdSense?

RED: Our first check caused problems. How on earth were we going to split £60 two ways? That’s fast maths. Once we’d figured it out, we spent our riches in Iceland on prawn kormas and Haribo sweets. A sensible investment, I think you’ll agree. That was back in 2012, when we reached the minimum threshold to be paid by Google. It was many a month later when we did our first paid promotion.

Rosie and I are incredibly picky when it comes to affiliating ourselves with brands. We turned down big opportunities to make money quite early on because we didn’t want to be the face of anything we weren’t 100% confident in and comfortable with endorsing.

There seems to be a lot of interest in how much YouTubers make, and it’s my experience that some make millions and some do not, and it doesn’t always correspond to how many subscribers they have. There is undeniably big money in being an online influencer, but Rosie and I are well aware that this industry lacks in stability. This is why everything we’ve ever made has been saved in order for us to get on to the property ladder which was always our goal. We did not cash-buy our house, we have a mortgage, but brand deals helped us put a sizeable deposit down in order for us to borrow as little as possible.

It seems a certain minority resent YouTubers earning money. I understand why some people feel cheated when they’re sold to, especially if it seems like a crude hard sell and an unauthentic fit, but as influencers, we cannot continue to create content for free. Advertising is just a part of life. It’s everywhere, and it’s what allows us to carry on doing what we love and creating the content people want to see.

Tubefilter: Last year, you released your first book, Overshare. How did that come together? Was it nerve-racking wondering if your YouTube audience would support your literary debut, or did you know they had your back?

RED: Exploring opportunities off YouTube has never concerned us! Our audience has proven to support our other projects time and time again. I think they trust that whatever content we make, we try to bring exactly the same energy! The book is something Rosie and I are both incredibly proud of. We have a very open relationship with our audience, and always have. We hoped that our candid and truthful account of our experiences would help others who may be struggling with the same issues. We wanted to touch upon heavy subjects in a lighthearted and positive way, so the process of writing was so fun for us both! It was cathartic and humbling to be praised for our honesty, and encouraging to see that a lot of our audience resonated with our experiences.

Tubefilter: You also went on tour with the book last year, and filmed a documentary about your experiences meeting fans. Tell us your favorite story from the tour. What made it so special?

RED: My favourite story was a tale from Seattle. Rosie and I suffer from nerves in very different ways. I’ll have sleepless nights for months, but somehow manage to come through on the night of and really enjoy the rush! Rosie will chill for months and SUFFER STRONGLY on the night of. And when Rosie suffers, everyone suffers. It’s what I like to call Odour de Nerve. I’ll never forget the evening of our first performance in North America. Rosie came out of the bathroom five minutes before showtime and announced to our tour manager, the crew, the northern hemisphere, and the world that she would “NEVER TOUR AGAIN.”

Rosie’s notorious preshow breakdown is both tragic and hysterical. Hysterical in the sense of losing control of oneself, but also hysterical in the sense of laughing at one’s distress from a safe distance. It’s something we all managed to joke about afterwards, yet at the time, it’s best not to approach if you want to see another day.

Meeting subscribers is always the best part of touring! It’s often easy to forget that there are real people behind views and numbers, and it’s hearing their stories that makes making the content we create extremely worthwhile.

Tubefilter: What was that Semaphore Moment for you—the first time you realized you were a professional creator?

RED: For me, it was actually quite late into our careers. The moment we won a Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Vlogger felt extremely special. To be awarded on the same day we interviewed Camila Cabello and all our faves, was one of the highlights of our YouTube careers. But for us, it was more than that; to be recognised by mainstream media was something I felt we deserved. Being openly LGBT hasn’t always meant that doors opened for us, even when we thought they ought to have been. Whether it was not being considered the right “fit” for brand deals or being told our audience was “gay” and perhaps not the right fit for “music,” it took us a long time to get to where we wanted to be. So to be commended on a platform as large as the Radio 1 Teen Awards was a really special moment for us.

Tubefilter: Why is it so important for you to produce positive queer content about your life together?

RED: Growing up, both Rosie and I had no queer representation. Both the media and entertainment industry seriously lacked LGBTQ+ role models and narrative arcs, leaving us with little to no validation or visibility. Rosie and I never planned for our YouTube channel to predominantly focus on being gay and bisexual — we just wanted to create the funniest content we could! Perhaps naively, we didn’t think being in a same-sex relationship would ever affect our careers. Despite my lack of representation growing up, I still didn’t realise the impact it would have to be openly gay online and in a visible relationship. With great power comes great outfits…I mean responsibility. As our relationship organically grew online, so did people’s investment into it.

It’s incredibly important for me to show the world that any two people can fall in love and love should always be celebrated. To love someone fearlessly can be terrifying for so many people around the world facing so many obstacles, but how can the world change if we don’t strive to encourage it?

Tubefilter: Who do you have working with you behind the scenes? An editor or personal assistant? What about a manager or network?

RED: We don’t have a manager and Rosie is my personal assistant. Just kidding. Rosie is actually the brains of the operation! Despite what millions may think, Rosie’s actually a genius. But we have lived and learned and come to realise that managing ourselves seems to work extremely well. I’m far too much of a control freak to allow someone to speak on my behalf, especially if their grammar is wrong.

After eight years of creating content, it was only this year that we realised we couldn’t create as much as we wanted to without a little help. So, from time to time, we have an editor who we work extremely closely with, if we’re especially busy! That was a really difficult decision for us to make. Our circle of trust is very small…not because we’re like horses who trust NO ONE WHO STANDS BEHIND THEM, but because we often find the best content is created when doing it yourself. We were offered a ghostwriter for the book, but hated the idea of putting something out there that wasn’t 100% us. Even when it came to touring, we wrote and developed the show ourselves, designed the set ourselves, starred in it ourselves…(although I suppose that one was to be expected). We’re certainly not a big team, but since when did size matter?

Tubefilter: Have either of you experienced burnout? What do you do to combat it?

RED: Fortunately, we haven’t experienced severe burnout yet! I think the hardest thing to keep up with is how YouTube is pushing your content. We always say to each other, never adhere to what you think YouTube will push if it’s not authentic to us. If we did that, there will be a day where we look back and think, “Wow. That video really isn’t what we wanted to make.” It’s very easy to see a trend and think, Yep, let’s hop on that, it’ll guarantee views. But Rosie and I try to look at the bigger picture and create content that’s helpful, entertaining, yet natural to us. If ever there comes a day where we don’t know what to make, I’ll create a channel dedicated to sculpting ice in hot weather. I see no hurdles.

Tubefilter: What do you think is the most vital skill you possess as a creator?

RED: Remembering what made you popular to begin with and managing to evolve your content without changing the essence of yourself. It can be quite a tricky feat to evolve online not only as a person, but also as a creator. Some will criticise and tell you that they miss the content you used to make, whilst others will commend you for being consistently entertaining and original. But the fact is, Rosie and I can’t produce the exact same content we used to make, because we’re simply not in the same place in our lives. If our content hadn’t changed, I’d be concerned that we weren’t growing individually and as a couple! I’m far more excited by where we are now, despite loving how we started.

Tubefilter: What’s next for you and your channels? What are you building toward?

RED: Honestly, I’m looking to kick Rosie off the channel. I’d much rather not have to split the billions I’m making as an online influencer in half!

After that, we’re looking to build a baby.

Semaphore Business Solutions provides customized services for clients across the country, taking an all-encompassing approach to meet all your financial needs. Whether you’re a veteran YouTube entertainer or just starting out, managing your business correctly is crucial to avoiding major headaches down the road. The sooner you call us, the sooner we can help you put a plan into motion to grow, as well as to keep more money in your pocket, with advanced tax strategies. Semaphore Brand Solutions has established itself as a leading influencer marketing agency representing our exclusive talent relationships and services to the most recognized brands and agencies.

Filed under: Celebrity, Creators Going Pro by James Hale
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Logan Paul recently made an appearance on Fox Business, ostensibly to talk about why he won’t switch from YouTube to Facebook. But over the course of the off-kilter seven-minute interview, Paul also hyped his upcoming YouTuber versus YouTuber event ‘The Challenger Games’ and revealed that, for the first time, his income isn’t covering his expenses.

When we say “off-kilter,” we mean Paul’s first statement out of the gate was to tell host Trish Regan that he’s not a controversial YouTuber, he’s an ex controversial YouTuber. Then, when she asked about his social media presence, he quipped, “I’m everywhere, baby. I’m everywhere, and I’m nowhere. I’m like a ghost.”

When Regan got to business, though, asking Paul why he exclusively makes content on YouTube despite having 15 million Likes on his inactive Facebook Page, he was frank: YouTube is better at monetization. “That is the home, for me as a creator, where not only can my content be seen, consumed, digested — but also, they pay,” he said, adding that “for now,” he’s pretty much set on staying with the world’s largest video sharing site.

But YouTube’s better monetization isn’t keeping Paul out of financial trouble. He revealed that his financial manager recently sat him down for a talk about the fact that his expenses have surpassed his income. When asked if that makes him nervous, Paul said, obviously sardonic, “Yeah, absolutely, I’m terrified. I think it’s the beginning of the end.” (It’s worth noting, though, that Paul has for years lived a noticeably lavish lifestyle, and judging by his recent videos, that hasn’t changed and isn’t overly likely to.)

Paul’s declining income inarguably stems from the notorious January 2018 incident where he filmed the body of a suicide victim in Japan’s Aokigahara forest and included the footage in a vlog. As a result, YouTube temporarily yanked his monetization — though it was restored shortly after — and cancelled his YouTube Premium film The Thinning — though that’s now back on.

But not all consequences were so temporary. In his 2018 wrap-up video, Paul admitted the vlog had destroyed his “image” and severed “every professional relationship I had.” It also had a major, measurable impact on his primary source of income: YouTube views. His monthly view count dropped dramatically, from between 300 and 400 million to, now, less than 100 million. (It’s worth noting that his brother Jake has also said Logan’s behavior had a drastic negative effect on his income; in October, he told Shane Dawson that the Aokigahara video cost him multiple seven-figure brand deals and “dramatically affected my business.”)

Paul’s monthly YouTube views from August 2017 through June 2019

However, Paul also has another source of income: live events. We’ve written about how Paul and his so-called ‘YouTube World Championship’ boxing opponent KSI likely grossed millions off their event last August (minus expenses, the cost of which we don’t know). Paul and KSI apparently intend to follow up that match with another fight sometime in the future, but Paul’s not waiting for that — he’s going ahead with another YouTuber versus YouTuber event this Saturday, July 27.

The competition (which Paul says will raise money for charities including the Special Olympics) apparently came together thanks to this tweet from Paul:

I’m the fastest YouTuber and I’m willing to put $100,000 on it

— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) June 23, 2019

Competitors (including Logan, Jake, and creators like Alex Wassabi, Austin McBroom, FaZe Rug, LaurDIY, and Deestroying) will face off in various track and field events, like a relay, long jump, and 100-meter hurdles. Each event has a cash purse that will be donated to the winner’s chosen charity. It’s not clear if the cost of tickets (between $30 and $250 to see the event live at Long Beach City College Stadium) will also be donated to charity.

Paul will stream the event in its entirety on YouTube, beginning at 5 p.m. West Coast time. Whether it will be behind a paywall like his battle with KSI was, we’re not sure.

You can watch a trailer for The Challenger Games below.

Filed under: Uncategorized by James Hale
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Coachella isn’t the only music fest coming to YouTube this year. The platform has announced it will exclusively livestream the Fuji Rock Festival, Japan’s largest annual outdoor music event.

The festival, which has been running since 1997, takes place at the Naeba Ski Resort in Yuzawa, Niigata — a port city on Japan’s main island. Last year, it drew 125,000 attendees. 2019’s Fuji Rock runs this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and will stream live on its official YouTube channel (115K subscribers), where you can see videos from past festivals, like footage from 2017, when YouTube provided virtual reality-optimized coverage.

This year’s lineup of guests includes Sia, The Cure, Superfly, The Lumineers, Jason Mraz, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and Anne-Marie.

Along with the the stars’ performances, YouTube’s streamed coverage of the event will include exclusive interviews with performers. Those tuning in can choose to experience the concert’s stream with video and audio, or with audio-only mode. There will also be different playlists of event coverage — although what content the playlists will separate out isn’t yet clear.

You can check out a trailer for the event below.

If you plan to tune in, don’t forget the festival and the live stream are of course happening on Yuzawa time, which is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard.

Filed under: YouTube by James Hale
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Dennis ‘Cloakzy’ Lepore, a pro gamer who has risen to renown for his Fortnite acumen, has signed with Loaded — a top digital talent management firm in the space. Loaded will manage Lepore’s digital distribution, merchandise, brand partnerships, endorsements, personal appearances, and more, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“They have continued to set the bar as one of the top management firms in the game,” Lepore said in a statement. “I can’t wait to see where this will take me.”

Lepore has won a number of Fortnite tournaments alongside his partner, Turner ‘TFue’ Tenney, who is currently embroiled in legal drama in regards to separating from the gaming collective to which he is signed, FaZa Clan. Lepore counts 3.2 million followers across all platforms, including 1.5 million followers on Twitch and 1 million subscribers on YouTube. He has also previously streamed alongside some of the biggest names in gaming, including Twitch’s most-followed star, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, as well as the altruistic streamer Ben ‘DrLupo’ Lupo.

Blevins and Lupo are both repped by Loaded — as are Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop, Brett ‘Dakotaz’ Hoffman, Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham, and Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere. Loaded is a part of Popdog — a technology and services company in the esports realm that also owns Twitch discovery and analytics product NoScope, as well as the esports division of Catalyst Sports & Media — an advisory firm for businesses seeking to enter the gaming space.

Filed under: Gaming by Geoff Weiss
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Breakout NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. is the latest figure from the world of traditional celebrity to launch his own YouTube channel.

Beckham and his business partner Ajay Sangha are partnering on the YouTube venture with Wheelhouse Entertainment, with whom he has formed a new content company called ITN Productions. ITN will specialize in unscripted works for digital and linear distribution. Joining ITN on the venture will be digital production firm Portal A, which also helps other celebrity athletes produce YouTube content, including Stephen Curry and Adam Rippon.

On his channel, the Cleveland Browns wide receiver will share an off-the-field glimpse at his life — including pre-season training workouts, weekly game-day cleats, and gear reviews. The hub already counts 42,000 subscribers — though Beckham is far more followed on Instagram and Twitter, where he counts 13.4 million and 4 million followers, respectively. He also counts 1.4 million followers on Facebook, having launched a docuseries on competing platform Facebook Watch last September.

Beckham is repped by WME, which brokered the deal with Wheelhouse — a multi-faceted entertainment company that also works with Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central (Crank Yankers), author Jeff Benedict (who wrote the Tiger Woods biography), and more.

In the launch video that dropped yesterday (95,000 views) below, Beckham describes his motivations for launching the venture. You can check it out below:

Filed under: YouTube by Geoff Weiss
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The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) settlement with Facebook is not only forcing the social media giant to pay a record $5 billion fee, it’s also mandating that Facebook implement changes specifically aimed at stopping CEO Mark Zuckerberg from having “unfettered control […] over decisions affecting user privacy,” the agency said.

In a response to the settlement published on Facebook, Zuckerberg said his company will abide by the settlement as part of its continuing efforts to improve how it handles data, but also made clear he thinks the settlement terms — which we go into below — overreach above what U.S. law requires when it comes to user data privacy protection.

“We have a responsibility to protect people’s privacy. We already work hard to live up to this responsibility, but now we’re going to set a completely new standard for our industry,” he wrote. “Overall, these changes go beyond anything required under U.S. law today. The reason I support them is that I believe they will reduce the number of mistakes we make and help us deliver stronger privacy protections for everyone.”

The settlement stems from user data privacy concerns related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where nearly 90 million Facebook users had their private information harvested without their knowledge by the titular data firm.

Under the settlement terms, Facebook must establish an independent privacy committee composed of Facebook board members, Variety reports. The company also must appoint compliance officers to ensure Facebook’s actions concerning users’ privacy are in accordance with the terms of this settlement and a 2011 FTC settlement that ruled Facebook was “barred from making misrepresentations about the privacy or security of consumers’ personal information.”

Those compliance officers are required to be overseen by Facebook board members, not by Zuckerberg. However, both Zuckerberg and the compliance officers must submit separate quarterly reports — called certifications — showing Facebook is abiding by the settlement, plus an annual report on top of those that again certifies Facebook is handling users’ data properly.

If Zuckerberg or the compliance officers falsify any of their certification reports, they’ll be subject to individual civil and criminal penalties, per the settlement.

“Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information in shared, Facebook undermined consumers’ choices,” FTC chairman Joe Simons said in a statement reported by Variety. The purpose of the settlement is “not only to punish future violations but, more importantly, to change Facebook’s entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations,” Simons said.

In his response, Zuckerberg revealed that as a result of the settlement, Facebook has created a new role within the company: Chief Privacy Officer for Products. Who is taking over this role isn’t clear, aside from Zuckerberg saying it’s “one of our most experienced product leaders.”

Facebook is also on the hook for a $100 million fine owed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced today as well. That’s a separate case from the FTC’s, but deals with related data privacy matters; the SEC levied the fine because Facebook failed to tell investors about data breaches like Cambridge Analytica’s.

Filed under: Facebook by James Hale
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Roughly two years after allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by multiple fans resulted in his firing from now-defunct Defy Media, Honest Trailers creator Andy Signore is speaking out.

The most vocal of Signore’s accusers — amid the ascension of the #MeToo movement in late 2017 — were April O’Donnell and Emma Bowers. O’Donnell alleged that Signore tried to force sex toys inside of her, took pictures of her without her permission, and offered her a job at Honest Trailers‘ parent channel ScreenJunkies in exchange for sexual favors. Bowers said that while she was working for Signore, he managed to get his hands on some pin-up photos she had taken, and then he invited her to his home for a sexual encounter.

After O’Donnell and Bowers shared their stories, several other women stepped forward to describe instances when Signore harassed them or came onto them in an untoward fashion via social media.

In a video on his new Popcorned Planet channel titled #MeToo Misfire — An Honest Defense Of Andy Signore, Signore apologizes for “awkwardly flirt[ing] with and mak[ing] inappropriate comments to some of my fans — despite being married….When I look back, I realize I was sometimes a real jerk. I was selfish, I was arrogant, I was angry, I was way too full of myself…I’ve changed a lot. But to be honest, I’m still angry.”

That anger stems not from the allegations Signore acted grossly inappropriate to a number of fans and previous collaborators, but from the allegations of assault and abuse, which he vehemently denies and says are completely unfounded.

And after settling a lawsuit with Defy Media for breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress, Signore is now providing more insight into his relationships with both O’Donnell and Bowers. Signore claims that he and O’Donnell had a consensual, two-month-long relationship, and shares what he calls “Google-verified texts, emails, Tweet exchanges, and photos” to prove as much. He notes that when O’Donnell’s allegations of assault came to light, he was flabbergasted. He promptly hired an attorney, and provided evidence to Defy Media’s HR team that the affair had been consensual.

At the end of his video, Signore erupts in anger, staying that O’Donnell’s allegations will forever have an effect on his children, parents, and his ability to secure work. (Though he does note that he’s working on a new project about the accusatory nature of our current culture, as well as his own failures). He adds that the allegations “grossly disrespect real victims of sexual assault.”

O’Donnell responded to Signore’s video yesterday on Twitter, saying that when she decided to come forward, she knew that “everything that was displayed in the video today could be made public.” Despite any criticism then or now, she says, “I know my truth and what I did was right.”

Moving forward… pic.twitter.com/4imthujiyz

— April Dawn (@April13Dawn) July 22, 2019

As for Bowers’ allegations, Signore claims that she sent the photos to him of her own volition. Soon after, both apologized for the shift in tone in their relationship.Bowers has not publicly responded to Signore’s video. Her Twitter account appears to be inactive.

As for the dozen other women who came forward saying that Signore had hit on them in their direct messages, Signore acknowledges that his behavior was “appalling and inappropriate,” but says that O’Donnell’s allegations made those communications seem more malicious than they actually were.

In his own video, Signore does not explicitly speak to the ways that he took advantage of the power dynamic between creator and fan. Though he did speak to this breech in a statement to YouTube news and commentary host Philip DeFranco.

“At the time, I had developed a warped idea in my mind that conflated fan support with romantic interest,” Signore wrote to DeFranco in a statement. “A fan should be able to interact with a content marker without that interaction becoming a dating game. I had blurred those boundaries. To anyone I may have made uncomfortable in doing so, I cannot apologize enough.”

Filed under: Defy Media by Joshua Cohen
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