This is seriously gross. I do like that Ethan ties it back to Esports a bit too at the end and says how it cheapens Esports, and this is something I've been saying for a while for why there will be road blocks for Esports really taking off as broad mainstream entertainment. Like Jai Alai and other new sports that get big, quick investment but lack legitimate regulating bodies, there isn't a great mechanism for preventing sketchy people from taking advantage of others.
I honestly think these guys should be cooked in court. They can try to go back and retroactively edit videos, change descriptions, alter their social media persona, but all that does is incriminate them further if charges are brought up against them.
This isn't just lies and deception, it's legitimate fraud.
There's some guy named Long Sensation on twitter saying that it's just jealous smaller YouTube channels that are trying to take down a more successful one. Are these people blind? Or just stupid?
A mixture of both. There is so much ignorance in new media or the presumption that new media is immune from regulations and best-practices of traditional media, and because inexperienced business people are making money in new media, they've convinced themselves that they're immune to the regulations of traditional media.