Earlier this month I attended the highly anticipated Creator Clash, a YouTube boxing event hosted by vaunted online personality iDubbbz. The event…was good. Great, even. The pacing, action and production quality were all solid. The crowd was electric and engaged throughout the entire three hour show. It was well worth the price of admission. Credit to where credit is due; Creator Clash was a success in every measurable aspect. It seemed like everyone in attendance got what they wanted and then some – and that’s good for them.
But what about what I wanted, Ian?
For as much as I enjoyed watching the 20 fighters in the spotlight, I couldn’t help but be bothered by one glaring omission.
On January 8th of this year, I was treated to one of the most compelling YouTube videos that I had seen in quite some time. The eternally controversial comedian and provocateur, Sam Hyde, posted a nearly-two-hour-long assortment of footage from what was a (presumably) canceled collaboration with iDubbbz. It was a crossover event even more surreal than the Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour. Sam’s video quickly became the talk of the town. The revelations within were truly bizarre, perplexing, and mysterious.
To summarize the situation on display: In March of 2021, iDubbbz traveled with a small team to Rhode Island in hopes of gathering footage for a planned documentary about Sam. Ian’s intended vision for the project has never been fully explained, but it’s reasonable to infer that whatever it was, it did not go according to plan.
In a later interview, Sam would recall what he perceived as Ian’s intentions when he initially reached out. There were immediate suspicions of Ian organizing the whole project as a means of “punking” Sam and his crew. Whether it was out of resentment for Sam’s perceived political affiliations or a desire to humiliate a washed-up comedian, Sam anticipated that Ian was not planning the documentary in good faith. Regardless of Ian’s true inclinations, his presence would end up instigating an arms race of hijinks. Ready or not, Ian was about to quickly learn that Sam Hyde was a bit more lucid than AirSoftFatty.
Prior to Ian’s arrival, Sam and his lackeys would hatch a plan to turn the troll-er into the troll-ee. They essentially formulated a two-page list of ideas to make Ian’s experience as awkward and uncomfortable as possible. During his approximately five day stay, iDubbbz was taken to the cleaners. The concerted efforts of about a dozen members of the Sam Fam made Ian start to believe that he had entered a portal to Toon Town. If Ian was expecting a smooth and cooperative week of filming, he was in for a rude awakening.
Sam and his crew would later go on to clarify that none of their mischief was intended to make Ian look bad. Whether or not this was the case is debatable, but if one thing was for sure – it certainly wasn’t received that way. Sam’s footage of the fiasco pretty clearly shows that Ian was unnerved and frustrated throughout most of the filming process. He was apparently so perturbed, that he pretty much took his ball and went home. The proposed Sam Hyde documentary would sit dormant for nine months, before Sam started to lose his patience. After claiming to spend weeks of time and thousands of dollars on the accommodations for the shoot, Sam was seeking some kind of return on investment. Communication between the two parties had apparently broken down, prompting Sam to release his portion of the footage and put Ian on the hot seat.
Sam had just played his biggest bargaining chip, and it paid off massively. The video exploded to over a million views in just a few days. It was probably the most visible thing Sam had done since he was on television. More importantly for our story, it shed a lot of negative attention on iDubbbz. Viewers came away from it thinking that Sam had beaten him at his own game. The optics of the situation were not at all flattering for the former Content Cop. As someone who was renowned for brazenly exposing others, Ian was caught rather embarrassingly with his pants around his ankles. He put himself in a vulnerable situation with Sam, then got hung out to dry. For once, Ian had found himself on the wrong end of the online spectacle, and with pressure mounting, it was only a matter of time before he capitulated.
Less than a month after Sam released his footage, iDubbbz posted the completed documentary. It was a solid video in its own right. Uncle Dane and SoundSmith did a tremendous job with the overall production quality. However, I thought that Ian’s direction left much to be desired.
Getting Away With It lacked insight. The project as a whole felt almost…aimless. Ian’s tone throughout sounded dismissive and disengaged. The lore and history behind Sam’s career was briefly touched on, but was treated more like a footnote. I was hoping for a bit of nuanced commentary about Sam’s significance to online content creation, but it was mostly absent.
One aspect I found odd was how Ian refused to acknowledge Sam as an equal. The documentary featured several vignettes that seemed almost designed to minimize Sam’s accomplishments as a content creator. The whole thing came off as rather condescending, attempting to frame Sam as some kind of desperate freak who was unworthy of the following he had. Ian was acting as if Sam’s whole schtick was somehow beneath him, frequently admonishing Sam for his unsavory history. Even a cursory glance at Ian’s own past reveals just how nonsensical this posturing was.
If they existed in fiction, iDubbbz and Sam Hyde could be aptly described as character foils. They both rose through the ranks in similar ways, only to end up on radically different trajectories. Ian’s rise on YouTube is well known. It’s practically the stuff of legends. Within a few months he went from Filthy Frank’s kooky friend to one of the most beloved personalities on the entire platform. He had established one of the most loyal followings by being edgy, abrasive, and unabashedly raw.
The very same descriptors could be applied to Sam Hyde: A comedian who knows no limits for offensive humor. He could be argued as the progenitor of entire genres of modern day content. As part of the comedy troupe Million Dollar Extreme, he harnessed online fandom to cultivate a niche but loyal following. While most comedians have their share of edgy jokes, Sam took the concept of “offensive” and made it into a science. He would deliberately place himself in situations designed to enrage as many people as possible. Had he rose to stardom in a different era, his brand of humor could have been much more widely accepted. Unfortunately for Sam, he entered the fray at a time when everyone decided to act as sensitive as possible over the slightest controversy. His career got as far as a short-lived show on Adult Swim, one that fell through the moment his comedy touched a nerve with the people in charge. Sam was not just taken off the air, he was effectively blacklisted from ever appearing on television again. According to several interviews after the fact, the feeling was mutual.
Following his banishment, Sam took the rather unique route of continuing his career through totally independent means. He rejected mainstream platforms to embrace the decentralized cult following that brought him to prominence in the first place. Currently, he distributes content directly to viewers via the crowdfunding site Gumroad. Sam’s story is significant because he succeeded in doing something that is often considered but rarely attempted: He sacrificed his career prospects to preserve the integrity of his work.
We live in an age where content creators live in ever-present fear of being deplatformed by our draconian Silicon Valley overlords. There is a constant pressure to bite your tongue over any remotely contested issue, because one wrong move is all it takes to get your entire profile banned. We tolerate these authoritarian institutions because of this prevailing belief that we depend on these sites to advance our careers. For someone like Sam Hyde to survive without these oh-so-necessary public platforms, it’s a big deal.
iDubbbz, like many others, had to mellow out his content over the years to conform to a broader audience. It’s just part and parcel of succeeding in today’s climate. We accept this gradual watering-down of our work because we fear the consequences that will happen if we don’t. There comes a time in every creators’ career when they have to make that choice. Sam Hyde deserves to be studied because he shows us the road not taken.
With this documentary, you had almost a built-in story of two creators who began their careers in very similar ways, but ended up at totally separate outcomes. Hell, both Sam and Ian have an old series where they lampoon Kickstarter products. This was a tale begging to be told; Ian finally meeting his match. Unfortunately, Ian decided to take the project in a different, far less interesting direction. He kept trying to portray himself as a formal third party to Sam, when the reality of their relationship was much more personal. Failing to capitalize on this narrative thread was such a missed opportunity.
Overall, the documentary came across like a project that was abandoned part way through and then hastily resurrected. It was as if it was only released as a way to say “here it is, now get off my back”. There was little to no attempt to convey to the viewers why Sam even mattered at all. Ian seemed somewhat unwilling to work with any of the content Sam had provided. Rather than adapting to the unexpected situation, Ian remained steadfast and refused to deviate from what looked to be his pre-ordained vision. It was almost as if he had already made up his mind about Sam before he even met him. This documentary had the potential to be epic, but I personally found it underwhelming. At face value, it was fine. I just thought it didn’t live up to the intrigue of its subject.
Had Ian Gotten Away with It? Perhaps. The real question was whether he had gotten over it.
The aftermath of his documentary was quite positive. Ian had quickly won back much of the pride that had been lost to Sam’s video. For as upsetting as the filming process was, he did eventually suck it up and finish the project. The fact that it was posted at all appeared to indicate that Ian was back in good spirits. Even the oft-cantankerous Sam Hyde released a follow-up video giving props to Ian, expressing gratitude for the collaboration. For the moment, all signs showed that the bad blood had subsided.
That was until just a month later, when Ian announced possibly his biggest undertaking yet: The Creator Clash. A charity boxing event run by he and his wife, Anisa. It turned out that Ian had been covertly training for upwards of eight months to hone his combat fitness. He was slated to headline the event and put his new skills to the test. All of a sudden, boxing had become the theme of the year on the iDubbbz channel. Coincidentally, the recently released documentary featured a segment in which Ian and Sam sparred with pads and boxing gloves. (Sam would claim that this incident inspired the whole event; Ian denies this).
Followers of Sam Hyde know that he has taken quite an interest in boxing over the past few years. He recently spent months trying to solicit a match out of political streamer Hasan Piker, going so far as to offer a million dollar prize. When Creator Clash was announced, Sam was surely licking his chops at the idea of some action. Things started to heat up after the former host of EpicMealTime, Harley Morenstein, was added to the card. In an interview with Keemstar, he expressed interest in fighting Sam.
“I TALKED TO HARLEY, and he said that he wants to fight…sam hyde.
– Keemstar
For a moment, Sam Hyde in the Creator Clash seemed like a no-brainer, until Ian and Anisa quickly stepped in to nix the idea entirely.
“He’s a difficult guy…”
– iDubbbz on excluding Sam from the Creator Clash card
In a livestream Q&A, Ian attempted to justify why Sam was not allowed on the card. His biggest issue seemed to be questions over Sam’s professionalism. Considering what had just happened to Ian in the documentary, it was a rather reasonable concern. This event represented a significant financial investment, and Sam has quite a reputation for being a loose cannon. Whether or not you believe Sam would have cooperated, it came down to a judgment call. iDubbbz determined that based on his own recent history with Sam, including him in the event was too risky.
But with that being said, there’s a difference between prudence and paranoia. The more that Ian and Anisa tried to explain Sam’s exclusion, the less reasonable they sounded. In a Twitter Spaces conversation, Anisa repeatedly brought up concerns over the possibility of Sam “headbutting” his opponent. While Sam is quite the eccentric fellow, his motor control appears to be a little better than a coked-up tourettes patient. This excuse felt like Anisa taking the “self-defense situation” meme a little too seriously. To suggest that Sam lacks the basic composure to handle himself in a routine boxing match just comes off as fear-mongering.
“It’s just a massive business risk.“
– Anisa discussing Sam’s prospects at the event
Aside from Sam’s perceived unprofessionalism, the other main argument for keeping him out was Ian’s newfound insistence on keeping the event “brand friendly”. This was just an incredibly baffling point to make, especially for someone like Ian, whose most recognizable career moment was saying the n-word in front of Tana Mongeau. (Now that’s what I call getting away with it). You wanna talk about “branding”? The foundation of iDubbbz’s entire career was laid through edgy and offensive humor. It utterly embodied his rhetorical style at his most visible point on YouTube. It was hardly a regrettable phase that we can all just pretend never happened. Being brand-unfriendly is inexorably tied to Ian’s persona. For him to suddenly use it as grounds to exclude another creator…it was just a complete 180 to what myself and many others thought he stood for. But hey, I guess if you’re the event organizer, your own inappropriate past can just be glossed over.
As far as the other fighters on the card, Ian did make sure to enlist a bunch of straight shooters. It’s pretty clear that a guy as bombastic as Sam would have been out of place in this cast of mostly well-behaved and soft-spoken characters. The temperament of the whole function was downright friendly. Throughout the whole buildup to the event, there was virtually no trash-talk or theatrics to speak of; Not a bad idea for tiddlywinks, but for boxing? Quite the odd promotional strategy. All this talk of “brand friendliness” was nearly enough to distract from the fact that the whole event was based around watching people clobber each other in the face. The show itself featured no shortage of bloody noses, concussions and cursing. Whatever brands were affiliated with the event must have been shocked to see that…
Except, the primary sponsor for the entire event was Fansly, a competitor to OnlyFans which earns revenue from the distribution of adult content. You’re telling me that this company was the arbiter of standards and practices? I suppose it’s possible that the event’s charity partners may have had an issue with Sam, but it would be awfully petty to turn down a six-figure donation to protest one guy on the card.
Issues of “brand friendliness” are typically brought up to excuse factors out of one’s control. YouTubers are all too familiar with this problem, frequently having to neuter their content to adhere to the site’s guidelines. However, the term takes on a completely different meaning when you, yourself, are imposing the guidelines. Ian may have framed Sam’s exclusion as a business issue, but I suspect his true motivations may have been more personal.
There were other reservations mentioned of fighters threatening to pull out of the event if Sam were invited. Anisa stipulated that they risked losing “half of the card.” Dr. Mike was specifically named as an implied no-show had Sam been allowed in. Coincidentally, Brandon Buckingham interviewed Dr. Mike after the event and asked him to comment on Sam’s exclusion. Dr. Mike appeared confused at the decision. For someone who was so adamantly against Sam according to Anisa, you would have never guessed it from his interview. Was Sam’s mere existence such a bother that a majority of the fighters outright refused to participate if he was present? If they really cared that much, then why didn’t anyone have anything to chip-in while the issue was being discussed?
“I don’t know what to say about that, that wasn’t my call.”
– Dr. Mike, responding to the news that Sam was banned from the event
At the end of the day, Ian’s choice to disallow Sam from competing was his own prerogative. Realistically, it’s believable that a few sponsors and fighters may have had a problem with Sam Hyde participating in the event. His name carries with it that much of a stigma to certain people. While organizing an unproven first-time event, it’s important to play it safe and take what you can get. Ian and Anisa’s reasoning, while nebulous, was plausible for the situation they were in. If they were operating strictly within business terms, then keeping Sam off the card was a fair, if unpopular, move.
However, the events that followed would start to shed doubt on this excuse.
While many fighters were purportedly cautious with associating with Sam, one of them was not afraid of taking the massive business risk. After initially wanting to fight him, Sam would extend an invitation to train Harley Morenstein. Whether Ian liked it or not, Sam would have a part to play in the Creator Clash.
In an April appearance on the PKA Podcast, Harley would divulge the early stages of the training process. He discusses flying out to Rhode Island half-expecting to become the victim of a practical joke. Fortunately for him, he would be greeted by a very different Sam than what was showcased in the documentary. Harley was promised training, and Sam delivered. For two weeks, Harley was put through boxing boot camp. He would later post some of the footage to the EpicMealTime channel, showing just how grueling the training was at times. After a parking-lot sparring match, Harley was left physically exhausted. The footage also revealed a side of Sam that few had seen before. He was diligent, accommodating and candid – a significant departure from his prevailing persona. It was clear that for Sam, this training was no joke.
It should have been evident from Harley’s experience that Sam was perfectly capable of conforming to professional standards. Ian and Anisa weren’t buying it, however. While on the PKA Podcast, Harley mentions that Sam was still prohibited from accompanying him to the ring.
“they don’t want him at the event.”
– Harley; responding to whether Sam would be allowed in his corner
All of a sudden, Sam’s exclusion started to sound a lot more dubious. Keeping Sam off the card was understandable. There’s TV Time, direct fighter interactions, and a lot of other opportunities for trouble – but banning Sam from simply standing in someone’s corner? The excuse of “business risk” just became a lot more flimsy. Were they expecting him to try some WWE-esque shenanigans and poke a fighter in the eyes while the referee’s back was turned? At this point, Sam was very clearly taking the event seriously. He took two weeks out of his own schedule to legitimately train Harley; why would waste all that time just to ruin it at the end? At no point during the whole event did any ring-side attendees receive direct attention. Their role was marginal. They were beside the spotlight. If Sam had been there, it may have drawn some sort of crowd reaction, but the event production could have simply ignored it. Banning him would not just be overly petty, but unfairly punishing to Harley, who would have to fight without the guidance of a significant part of his boxing development.
With a month to go until fight night, there was still time for Ian and Anisa to have a change of heart. But as April turned to May, there was still no word on Sam’s status. To find out where he really stood, we would have to wait until the night before Creator Clash.
On Friday the 13th, I drove into Tampa to enjoy the pre-fight festivities with some fellow creators. After watching the uneventful weigh-in on stream, a few of us decided to head down to the after-party in the hotel lobby. By sheer coincidence, just as I arrived at the hotel, I see who else but Ian, Anisa and Harley talking on the curb beside the parking lot. Before the night was over, I would soon figure out what exactly they were discussing.
Much to my surprise, inside the hotel lobby (among several inebriated YouTubers) were several members of the Sam Hyde crew. As the evening went on, I wound up at their AirBNB along with Brandon Buckingham, who was filming his own unrelated video about the subject. It was there where we learned the unfortunate fate of Sam and the Creator Clash.
According to the sources there, Sam had spent about $10,000 on front-row seats for he and his crew. Since he was prohibited from cheering on his pupil from the ring corner, he was now prepared to do so as a spectator. That day, Sam’s crew had flown to Tampa to scout out the situation. (Sam was expected to fly down at a later time barring any unforeseen circumstances). They arrived at the weigh-in after-party that evening and met up with Harley. Although they were not on the guest list, Harley extended the crew a friendly invitation to enter. Upon entering the function, they were immediately spotted and recognized by Ian, who confronted them. It was there where they were told in no uncertain terms that they were unwelcome at the event. Their front-row fight accommodations were canceled, and the $10,000 admission would be refunded.
“IDUBBBZ PULLED US OUTSIDE AND INFORMED US THAT…
SAM HYDE HAS BEEN BANNED FROM ATTENDANCE.“
– Jet Neptune breaking the news
In a later interview with Brandon Buckingham, crew member Jet Neptune recalled being blindsided by the news. He speculated that if they had not learned the information at that moment, they would have likely showed up to the event with Sam just to be turned away at the gate. He then recalls spending forty minutes in the parking lot pleading with Ian to reconsider. Ultimately, the crew would be relocated from the front row to the nose-bleeds, far away from any of the cameras. Sam, however, was banned from the building. He didn’t even make the trip down to Tampa.
While Sam could not attend the event in person, he was still very much there in spirit. Prior to the fight, Sam’s crew distributed dozens of T-shirts adorning Sam’s face. They ended up transforming their humble downgraded seats into the raucous Sam Hyde section. (There were rumors after the event that the camera crew was told to avoid their part of the grandstands.) After three hours of action, it was Harley’s time to prove the efficacy of Sam’s training. From the moment the bell rang, Harley absolutely wiped the floor with his opponent, Egoraptor, who would soon resemble a stretched and squashed caricature from one of his cartoons. Harley scored an easy victory in just two rounds. In the next match, Ian took a pretty convincing loss to Doctor Mike. Some may have called the outcome karmic.
The following week, the news of Sam’s ban would spread across the internet, resulting in a substantial amount of backlash towards Ian. He has thus far not addressed the Sam controversy in any capacity besides affirming a singular Reddit comment. At this point, there would be very little he could reasonably say.
Somewhere along the way, Sam Hyde went from a business risk to the abject persona non grata. Keep him off the card? Understandable. Ban him from the corner of the fighter he trained? Strange, but maybe there’s some good reason. Ban the guy from the entire arena? There is simply no way to justify this. If iDubbbz had a personal problem with Sam Hyde attending his event, he should have just come out and said it. Perhaps if Ian had refunded the tickets immediately, he could have had the smallest sliver of an out. But to completely stonewall Sam and just not tell him until the last possible moment – that’s not business. That’s beef.
I cannot recall a single time in the history of spectator events where the event organizers were held in contempt from the actions of audience member. By admitting the public into the venue, that is simply a risk you take. The entire arena was lined with security at every crevice. Any funny business from Sam, and any other fan, would have been stopped immediately. At that point, Sam’s “risk” would have been minimized to no more than any random schizo who happened to be there. If Ian can name a specific sponsor, charity or fighter who requested Sam to be banned from the building, then I’m all ears. He’s gonna need to do so to make Sam’s ban look like anything other than a personal choice.
All this time, Ian has maintained his dispute with Sam Hyde has existed only out of professional circumstance. There was an implication that he wasn’t the one making the decision to keep Sam out. If this really was the case, then Ian has hardly done anything to show it. Throughout this entire saga, something about Ian has been off, and fans were rightfully skeptical when his lip service did not align with his actions. As time goes on and more details surface, the true reason for Sam’s ban may be getting clearer.
In his interview with Brandon Buckingham, Sam recalled a noteworthy moment from the documentary shoot. He describes iDubbbz pouting in his car, and saying to someone on his crew:
“…usually I’m the puppet master in these situations.”
– A frustrated Ian, as retold by Sam Hyde
The story of Sam Hyde and iDubbbz may simply boil down to a desperate struggle over control. Both creators place a lot of stock in their autonomy. Both have gone through great lengths in their respective careers to ensure that they don’t answer to anyone. When their paths finally crossed, neither was willing to put themselves in a position where they weren’t calling the shots. Back in Rhode Island, Sam refused to give Ian the footage he wanted. 12 months later, Ian created something Sam wanted and refused him. It’s not hard to see that throughout the whole process, Ian never got along with Sam. Their relationship was frosty at best.
The last public interaction between the two would happen when Sam briefly joined the Twitter Spaces event. When responding to Sam, Ian and Anisa sound downright hostile. They are clearly sick of this guy, and want to erase him from their lives. So, at Creator Clash, they did just that. Sam Hyde got boxed out so that Ian could reclaim whatever he lost during that infamous week in Rhode Island.
I really wish they could have worked something out. I think letting Sam into the event could have been wickedly entertaining. Ultimately, the show was still very much a success without him. It’s tough to say how much Sam’s presence could have added, or subtracted – but what’s done is done. The two star-crossed haters have agreed to go their separate ways. iDubbbz is already planning the next Creator Clash, and Sam looks to finally have his shot to box in the upcoming Happy Punch promotion.
Ian’s questionable handling of Sam and his crew looks to be a continuing point of drama moving forward. It’s safe to say that Ian lost quite a few fans by kicking him out, and Sam gained quite a few fans from being kicked out. While Ian has received much worthwhile praise for the event, he should be wary of the criticism as well. Fans have been debating for years whether Ian has lost touch with his roots, and this fiasco certainly added fuel to that fire. If Ian continues to alienate the core audience which thrust him to the spotlight in the first place, then he has many more L’s waiting in the future. If there’s one thing I learned on YouTube, it’s that creators who sell out don’t tend to keep on getting away with it.
UNDERSTAND, WHEN YOU STEP IN THE RING…
YOUR ARMS ARE JUST TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD.
– C.M. Punk
