Plagiarism and You(Tube)

[@hbomberguy]

Second channel video HERE (finally): kzbin.info/www/bejne/amGWlnqhjNtng6M

[@darkknightgamer123]

thank you burger guy

[@RedbadofFrisia]

Lmao

[@Mbewe_SM]

Thanks Hbbomberguy

[@rpgsforyoursoul3902]

Thank you Harris Bomberguy

[@leaffinite2001]

Nice. Looking forward to the donut in the next one.

[@pinxerata]

An interesting realization from this video is that Illuminaughty and James Somerton are both creators who I watched, but failed to keep my attention. As you pointed out, they’re boring, but as a viewer who doesn’t know it’s plagiarism, you can’t tell exactly why. The subjects they present are so eyecatching and suggest an interesting story, but when you watch the videos, they feel like soulless lectures. This is why creatives are so important. It SHOWS when people who aren’t writers try to create things for engagement. They don’t understand the amount of effort that goes into writing a compelling story.

[@liluttec2844]

This is such a good observation! I was kind of feeling this myself but wasnt sure how to put it into words. They're both creators that would occasionally pop up in my recommendations and I'd watch a bit of their stuff, but was never really interested or impressed enough to actively watch anything else of theirs. You can definitely feel their lack of actual passion in their "craft".

[@sailorncho]

This is so freaking interesting to read because I went through the exact same thing I subscribed to Illuminaughty cause I found out about her through one topic and the click but never managed to finish one of her videos, and I found Somerton because I basically wanted more contrapoints content and got a little bored from it when I realized that wasn't quite what I would get, but I could never put my finger on why their videos never resonated with me, always attributed it to my ADHD...

[@pinxerata]

@@sailorncho I had basically the same arc as you! Subbed to James Somerton for about a year and I noticed I was only watching the videos about halfway before moving on. I assumed it was my ADHD but looking back, it’s odd that I assumed that when far longer videos have held my attention the entire time, and I usually go back to videos that were genuinely compelling. I feel like when creators are actually passionate about what they’re talking about, they’ll relay the information in a way where they replicate the emotions they felt while discovering every facet of information. The creators that plagiarize, on the other hand, are more focused on the way that THEY look as writers.

[@MrOttopants]

I made a similar comment about Iiliminaughtii. At first I thought it would be interesting content to listen to while working on stuff, but then it just seemed so impersonal. I'm not saying I felt the lack of engagement, it just seemed pretty flat to me.

[@Spamhard]

Literally same. I'd tried a few Illumi vids just as they popped up on play next (usually after me watching creators like Atrocity Guide), and despite it being similar, interesting content, I just found the delivery so dry and the video feeling weirdly stilted in comparison to similar content. Meanwhile I subbed to James after watching a few vids of his a year or so back, i found the content pretty interesting, but every time I tried to go back to his vids after the first few, I had the same problem again; the videos felt weird, and his delivery was dry and weirdly over dramatic, like he was trying to add something that wasn't there. I especially didn't like some of the side comments he made (like the misogyny and weird jabs at lesbians), funny to learn that was the only content he wrote himself. Figures. Real proof right there that reading content that's not your own, ie audiobooks, is a genuinely hard skill and the creatives who can do it successfully are skilled as all heck.

[@kaitomaitoamv7114]

Catching James having the AreTheyGay video on his timeline is the most actual detective work BBC Sherlock has ever been involved with.

[@ashleywilliams4896]

Underrated comment

[@p-__]

My farts are better than hbomberguy’s farts 💨

[@me_n_the_boys_lookin_for_beans]

@@p-__i will piss in your petrol tank

[@dhruvtukadiya]

​@@p-__how do these bots not realise that they're just helping hbomberguy get more engagement with their spam

[@ashikjaman1940]

​@@dhruvtukadiya My guy please don't respond to the bots

[@lostedge7852]

I suddenly have a great idea for a four hour long video on plagiarism

[@SylviaRustyFae]

Be sure to do stuff like mispronounce Somerton and just say the wrong word entirely here and there

[@madpie5147]

just came up with a fantastic four hour long video idea for plagiarism

[@Platifire]

something came to my mind to produce a four hour long video speaking about plagiarism

[@slowbros1048]

I think I think i saw that one, actually. It was one of the many sources i used in my 4 hour long plagiarism documentary. There was this annoying stuff in the corner i had to blur out though

[@vulpes7079]

@@SylviaRustyFae Jamie Somérton

[@ViktorZieglerTV]

"Or one pretty good video every year?" [looks at description] "11 months ago" ah... it;s nearly hbomberguy season

[@RollerbladeCat]

excited

[@Kawaiipony_Productions]

Hell yeah XD.

[@barkerbeans620]

Soon we will enjoy a feast of huhbuhbohmerguy. Yim Yum!

[@heathercameron1485]

It's been over a year now. We could get a new video any day now... and it could be about literally anything!

[@benenbrady9503]

​@@heathercameron1485 I think he teased a Messiah review coming out February of 2025. Could be wrong though

[@illustriouscowlover]

You can tell hbomberguy wrote this script because he constantly tries and fails not to go down rabbit holes in it

[@SnakebitSTI]

"But where did the mistaken weight for the rock come from!?" lol ... I am genuinely curious though. Dear hbomberguy, please make a follow up video if you find out, thanks.

[@dhruvtukadiya]

​@@SnakebitSTIif you convert pounds (the currency, not weight) to dollars, you get 33. This is information that I definitely found out myself and didn't plagiarise from another comment that I can't find anymore.

[@sacripan4425]

​@ville__Did he steal the milk your father was looking for too?

[@SnakebitSTI]

@ville__ The only content you have is is posting that repeatedly lol

[@rannvamacdonaldarnskov4794]

HBomberguy is the little Red Riding Hood, his videos are the basket for granny (We are granny). His one braincell is the Wolf saying "Hey wouldn't granny like some of those nice flowers over on the meadow?". As he picks one, he finds another, prettier one deeper in the woods. Granny must have this flower! And there! Another one just a bit further in... (Kat might be the hunter reeling everything in in the end)

[@bridgettmeskis9857]

I'm in the middle of exam season as a university student and this has been oddly reassuring. My essays might be shit, but at least they're my, properly cited shit.

[@starrynight2004]

Thank you for this lovely comment! As a fellow university student, I wholeheartedly agrees

[@MaticTheProto]

too true. And my sentences are so grammatically questionable and convoluted that it‘s clear ChatGPT didn‘t write them either lol

[@evitaviitala6189]

same lol

[@BlackDeckerRiceCooker]

literally just turned in my 10 paged research paper 3 days ago and still feel it wasnt enough. Happy to know what I wrote was at least out of my own efforts update: my professor liked my paper so i passed the sem knowing ive done more for my own benefit than james somerton ever could 🎉🎊🥳

[@vulpesaustralis1452]

This! Like, I get all anxious about whether the sentence I wrote sounds maybe very slightly a bit like something else - I can't comprehend the audacity of these people!

[@ackee39]

what makes illuminaughtiis case funnier is that she has been well known to diss any creator who quotes from wikipedia and even criticized other people for not doing as much research as her, even though all she was doing was just copying wikipedia anyways… jesus christ

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

"Rules for thee and not for me" as they say

[@larissabrglum3856]

Projection seems to be quite common among people who have a habit of knowingly doing shitty things

[@culwin]

@@larissabrglum3856 Because they think everyone else is like them

[@FukaiKokoro]

Often people are the most critical of others what they think of themselves. Projecting.

[@Saiyusa]

Blair being so cutthroat about Cruel World Happy Mind's bashful approach addressing potential plagiarism brought to her by a viewer was clearly not an authentic response but making an example of her because she knew she would not be the last.

[@casihamilton3773]

So I was trying to find info on what ever happened to Telos Films and I wound up on wikitubia. At the bottom of Jame's page under trivia there is one thing. "He is Gay. [citation needed]" I don't know why but that is the funniest fucking thing I've seen all day.

[@1998_MIN]

At this point I don't know if James Somerton is even his real name! He could be Armin Tamzarian for all we know

[@Jaxymann]

James could tell me the sky was blue and I’d still have to double check to make sure he wasn’t lying.

[@Bighomie39]

​@Jaxymann You would be talking to him on a sunny day, he tells you the sky is blue, and the instant you look up to check, the entire sky is overcast

[@spongecakes1986]

Help this made me choke

[@Lifea16]

@@JaxymannFuck are we at the James Somerton event horizon [Also, Tommy technically inspired this idea, his mother is very proud]

[@SqueakyNeb]

hbomberguy being hard on himself for overusing "it turns out" but it turns out that with the topics he covers IT DOES REPEATEDLY TURN OUT

[@IcoOst]

first I wasn't not sure, but it turns out that this is actually a good comment

[@JaneDoe-v7c]

yeah! if you see this, hbo: it's never felt like a weird phrase to me at all, even used so frequently. it comes off as a natural expressive hallmark of your style. (if you'll let me cook) it gives the impression you're just passively observing and drawing connections along with us as you present info, always returning the personal reaction to the public story unfolding; you leave your agency in the way you investigate and uncover info, and the way you reflect on the implications of people's behaviour, but you let the facts and patterns of people's behaviour just 'turn out'. I think people sometimes overemphasise style, when most of us are really craving substance, idk. I often ramble insufferably (as above) and I get that as a public creator you're concerned with being easy to parse, but the real quality of good writing is being able to convey your perspective in a connected way. hbomb comes off as a real conscientious, careful guy and that goes a long way imo. hm, makes me think, though - about the genre of 'video essays'. they don't generally have very good writing... obviously there are loads of dogshit video essayists, but even the 'good' (imo) ones aren't great at making cogent, connected points and theses. they're more loosely connected interesting observations and incomplete explorations; fodder for you to idly absorb. the tropes everyone makes fun of are exactly to do with this lol. careful composition that's reluctant to just make a clear point.

[@johsonug92]

This is a gold star comment.

[@AdallynD]

hbomberguy wasn't lying That it really do turns out

[@thomaskarnick9539]

People dont think it be like it is but it do

[@Fruckert]

Little "five hours later" update: James nuked his discord and Twitter, and then posted on Patreon that he was under attack again for "Something we already cleared up". A good chunk of his patrons were not pleased.

[@kohalurker]

delicious

[@Hawkatana]

Glad to see his former fans aren't putting up with his bullshit anymore.

[@Yamartim]

Let's gooo another career successfully ruined by our guy of the hbombs

[@TuesdaysArt]

He seems to have lost ~6K subscribers so far, if Social Blade is reliable

[@carpevinum8645]

That post has now been deleted and a new one is up saying he is sorry and taking a moment before responding.

[@lazarpeuraca9618]

this video was amazing for my mental health, because no matter how shitty i'm feeling and how strong the imposter syndrome is, i can at least look into the mirror and say with 110% confidence that i'm not james somerton

[@lisahiselius6539]

Ah me too!! I'm glad I'm not the only one hahaha!

[@readwrecks]

That’s a really great insight! I usually rewatch the Spider-Verse movies to help with my imposter syndrome, but they haven’t been that much help lately.

[@tigerwoods373]

I have a feeling being gay is his whole identity and has nothing interesting about him.

[@coleflames]

You sure? Check again.

[@goldengolem4670]

And you have a disco elysium profile picture so you are already a gigachad, love

[@scribesorcerer4967]

Halfway through a rewatch I realized something. During the Man in Cave segment, I had completely abandoned this video the first time through to go read the article. And frankly, Hbomb was good to include this. The article is honestly really good and makes the whole thing feel harrowing, tense, and horrible. Every paragraph between hours starts to feel as agonizingly long as it might have for Collins, because you’re just begging to get to the part where he’s alive and safe. It’s amazing. Real credit to the writer.

[@michiyaslana5974]

Imagine being caught plagiarizing by a guy who half-assedly listened to your video while he was building an ikea bookshelf. Beautiful.

[@LogCabinMusic]

not even an ikea bookshelf. an *argos* bookshelf. that's a whole new low

[@jesseerven4859]

this youtube also got busted for plagiarizing the same way so that is some irony

[@wavierdig]

Imagine being caught plagiarizing by someone who quarter-assedly listened to your video while he was building a bookshelf. Fantastic

[@AverageConsumer-uj8sm]

@@jesseerven4859 ?

[@adammgolan]

@@jesseerven4859 hbomberguy? Where have you read this?

[@halfmettlealchemist8076]

With the death of Henry Kissinger, the last seal on Harris Hbomberguy’s power has broken and he has finally achieved his ultimate form: the 4-hour video essay

[@IfWeRanTheWorldXers]

Don't forget the expulsion of George Santos from the US House of Representatives

[@hakulives2613]

As if I needed more reason to be thrilled about that fucking GHOUL finally biting it

[@prospero2405]

I listen to a podcasts called Behind the Bastards that talks about the very worst people of history and I like it a lot, but going there and being the show it is you just know the people there are the scum of the earth, it's not a slow discovery with a twist like hbomb's videos, but still fun to me. Most have one or two parts. Kissinger has SIX parts. So I went to their reddit sub the day Kissinger died and I was not disappointed lol fuck that guy

[@14ElmStreet28]

It's kind of funny since the whole reason it's so long is because he keeps playing clips in full, instead of just summarizing them

[@bozotheclown1142]

​@@14ElmStreet28He needs to post the clips in full, to make an example out of them. He's criticizing Blair for not showing his full tweet video after all, if he turned around and went "Oh btw Internet Historian copied a whole article just trust me I won't show clips just trust me bro" he'd be a hypocrite

[@echo12345ish]

Subbing to someones Patreon because you admire them only to realize they stole your work without crediting is a whole new level of fucked

[@conker13245]

Yeah that part hit like a mack truck

[@Peapodzilla]

I missed this part. Whos Patreon?

[@GCAbleism158]

​@@Peapodzilla2:30:45 you'll get the info there.

[@jacklee469]

@@Peapodzilla someone who subs to James Somerton's Patron found out that he literally stole her intellectual property

[@mintybadger6905]

I actually gasped out loud.

[@elineitz2428]

Nothing hit like watching this for the first time, BEING A JAMES SOMERTON FAN, thinking the reveal was gonna be some rando and then just pausing in shock. Feels like someone reached out of the screen and grabbed me

[@pancakes8670]

Thats how I felt with the Internet Historian segment. Was a huge fan of him a year ago. Now I can't trust the guy ever again. If he plagiarized one video, how many other videos of his are stolen content? I don't even care that he "apologized" or "got permission from the author", he should have did that BEFORE he made the video. He only did those things because he got caught. It begs the question of whether or not he would do something like this again in the future. I'm glad Ordinary Things doesn't talk to him anymore.

[@AuroraCurios]

So I was also a James Somerton Fan and I'd just been broken up with an hour before and thought "Oh a Hbomberguy video has come out that'll cheer me up" before destroying my brain, I remember literally going "No no no no" when he came up, but afterwards it made so much sense 😭

[@elineitz2428]

@ Oh damn 😭 yeah that beats my story lol

[@elineitz2428]

@ Thankfully I never watched the guy but he might have been the sketchiest one besides James. Hiding behind his audience and not giving the full story would make me feel so used.

[@nolongerdebbieschannel8880]

Oh yeah when he mentioned there was gonna be a bigger part of the video dedicated to someone else I was really intrigued bc half the time I don’t really know who he’s referring to and then all of a sudden I see a guy I watched casually that made one of my favorite videos about queer horror and my jaw dropped and I had to pause the video for a minute. Even looking back on it it’s still kinda surreal that the guy I liked but only really watched some of his stuff was like this and would steal so much from other queer creators.

[@cthulhu8164]

Ah yes, "If I replace all the words, is it really plagiarism?" the infamous Ship of Thesaurus argument

[@OsoUrsa]

"Ship of Thesaurus" makes this comment so much better

[@viviantompkins7925]

A++

[@Demi_Purple]

I actually read that as "theseus" twice before I finally noticed the pun

[@kjj26k]

​@@Demi_Purple I had to read the first reply twice over to notice the pun...😅

[@catharinechen8443]

I'd give you money for this comment if I could

[@Catxukluth]

Every single subject in this video is the epitome of “Why would I need to take an ethics class? I’m a business major”

[@Terratops474]

Not sure if it's better or worse that most business majors (not sure where he graduated from) actually do take ethics classes as part of the degree program.

[@DeathbatOfSpades]

@@Terratops474im convinced they use them to get around actually using ethics

[@silverthedruid4754]

​@@DeathbatOfSpadeswe do

[@duncanluciak5516]

I dunno, maybe if they paid attention in high school English, they may have caught enough to be less shit.

[@AxelSpinnet]

@@Terratops474 Lots engineers do as well, but then the Department will basically be financed by the Military Industrial Complex anyway.

[@Chlocean]

James Somerton: "I'm going to demonstrate how queer women have it easier in society by taking credit for a queer woman's work and SOMEHOW getting more attention for it somehow."

[@zephyr8072]

That is fairly typical of the misogynistic mindset, sadly enough.

[@9bang88]

It's just misogyny, it's very common with male homosexuals for a whole laundry list of both traumatic and vane motivations. He probably thinks so little of women that he doesn't care that, that's what he's doing.

[@THEJPIndustry]

I watched this video so often i just love that there are regularly nrw top comments So that i can read new stuff for my 14th warch

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

bro they do have it easier. Than _anyone_ You are literally crusading for them right now and don't even fuckn know it. Most demographics don't, in fact have an army of citizens protecting them from the basic social accountability the rest of society is held to.

[@shmuel5352]

@@ChadDidNothingWrong is it really easier to believe that queer people, a people that have been oppressed throughout most of recorded history, are now shadow puppeting society for their army so that they have it better than ANYONE else. OR the people that have held the dominant power throughout most of recent history have been making everyone else's lives worse for their own personal gain using their literal armies that they currently have right now

[@TailsModGuy]

I just noticed at 2:29, when Harris puts down the book he's pretending to read, two of the books already on the table are 'The Celluloid Closet' and 'Tinker Belles and Evil Queens', and the board game about caving is on the floor in the background. Well played, Harris.

[@erraticonteuse]

And Lindsey Ellis's novels are in the trash can 😂

[@mavg.]

​@@erraticonteuse ? 2:30

[@MoonShadowWolfe]

​@@erraticonteuse Ha! Those are her books! Oh, Harris.

[@NoticeAssemble]

And Trapped! by Murray and Brucker is about the Floyd Collins cave rescue. There's also the magazine of Film Comment, which was supposed to have (but iirc didn't actually have) the article that the plagiarized Monster Madness 28 Days Later review was stolen from.

[@emilybaker9703]

​@@erraticonteuseone more thing Lindsay should pay for

[@mystic-malevolence]

My favorite part of the Alexander Avila bit is the defense that he didn't steal from Avila, he instead stole from someone's highlight reel.

[@dodixaber8968]

Yeah as if he was not aware that the problem was not who he stole from but rather the act itself was awful.

[@krisdoesart9643]

Yeah his line "I took it from a highlight reel, y'know, to highlight the queerness" cracks me up every time cause like, no, James, that's not how that works-

[@PhotonBeast]

Right? Like, even a highlight reel requires watching the show (or whatever) and snipping out the parts you like or want to use. Saying that a highlight reel snipped out clips not from the show itself but from another video just means that the highlight reel is ALSO doing a plagiarism and thus one is doing a second degree plagiarism by ignorance when using the highlight reel. But even THEN, if you KNOW that you're grapping from a highlight reel.... why not just go to source itself and grab your own clips that will probably fit whatever point you're trying to make better? Like, maybe if you were using an official highlight reel as a short hand for a point eg. 'this is what the show thinks is important', sort of way, but even then presumably, you'd want to cite that it's an official highlight reel in order to make your case. It seems to go back to the other excuse he seems to use a lot which is "Well, I didn't have time [and so I didn't want to/have to/didn't plan for it over and over and over again]" as if even that bit of work was too much. But deeper still... no one was forcing him to post videos that fast; he's has total control over his own schedule. Particularly at the scale of audience that he has/had, as Harry notes, even with expenses like a co-writer and the like, he's not really under the kind of time pressure of having to post a video every week or whatever.

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

“I didn’t steal from this fairly popular fellow KZbinr! No, no, no. I stole from a much smaller creator who is much less likely to fight back!”

[@oncreativemode5486]

friendly reminder that james stole a legend of korra shipping amv for another plagiarized video

[@dgf3308]

The funny thing about 'Man in a cave' is that if he had made a collaboration with the author to animate the story, everyone would have enjoyed it all the same.

[@octagram2955]

I don't get this hate though. He's saying IH stole the article and reworded, but also that IH got stuff wrong even though it was in the thing IH was stealing from. Doesn't make sense. But I think this is heating up, one of these two may fall

[@gdmnsdgl]

the author might not be the rights holder, it’s probably the media company he’d contributed the material to; can’t see it happening

[@half.blight]

Visiting the video now, it seems the video does link the article as its source. Was it added recently or was it always there?

[@mirfalltnixein.1]

@@half.blightKeep watching this video to find out!

[@grundergesellscahftmkii6196]

it got added after a while.

[@georgedaole-wellman3950]

The bit where Somerton is basically setting up his co-writer to take the fall for plagiarism allegations made me go from "this guy's an asshole" to "this guy is actually evil".

[@naten1570]

Genuine sociopath behavior, gradually developing a relationship with someone he always intended to ruin if things got hot. Watching him deliberately set Nick up whenever plagiarism was mentioned is chilling. I’m deeply glad HBomb went out of his way to show that Nick was going to be scapegoated so Somerton doesn’t get to play that card and Nick doesn’t get his career ruined.

[@ThePhantom4516]

@@naten1570 I'm glad this video is getting as much attention as it is, him & others must be held accountable. It is not simply about plagiarism, these people are beyond toxic - dangerous even

[@ninashewchuk8976]

The way he was always so darkly, eerily lit in his videos seems very fitting in retrospect.

[@Skelath]

I'm surprised how fast he turned off comments and deleted his social media.

[@avelynn5976]

​@@Skelath lol he took the flight response instead of coming up with one. far easier than writing an explanation, i suppose.

[@HolicChan]

Hating on women just to steal their works over and over and over and over is so beyond infuriating to me. I can’t take it.

[@DallasSean]

hello, all--and thanks for having my back, I very much appreciate it. Harris, I very much appreciate your plans to divvy out whatever funds you may accumulate from this video with those who you mention that have been plagiarized. It's an incredibly honorable thing to do. Please take whatever might be my portion of those funds and divide that up among the rest. I am doing fine financially, and would rather have the money sent to those who may truly need it. (And, if anything, the spread of this video will likely spur sales of "Tinker Belles and Evil Queens"!). All the best

[@weewooweewoo906]

hope he sees this, bless yahs

[@tiacat11]

I'm genuinely so sorry for your book, you were directly stolen from and used for profit and I can't begin to muster up the words for why that's wrong. Currently going through a rough patch, financially, but I'd very much like to read Tinker Belles and Evil Queens when I can. I'd love to hear your insight, from you. Here's hoping this changes how we engage with media.

[@shelbygraham4923]

I did in fact order your book because of this video, it looked really interesting

[@tibbygaycat]

Hi as a transwoman I love seeing queer authors get recognition. Thank you! And thank you for posting this here! It's nice to see that we queer people aren't alone! Also I might possibly order your book but I already have a lot to read. Regardless I'm glad that these authors are getting recognition! At the least this is a good reading list!

[@antiksur8883]

​@@DroolRockwormHis book did, which did not fall upon this earth fully formed.

[@slashcammas]

I plagiarized like this once. The difference is I was in 4th grade and it was for a report on sharks. I failed that assignment. Learned my lesson real quick.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

I plagiarized a poem about fish in elementary school and got an A. Still learned not to do it by middle school

[@hedgehog3180]

In Denmark before submitting any high school exam you literally have to sign a legal document stating that this is all your original work and that you agree to be expelled if it isn't.

[@inkuii]

For me it was in 2nd grade on a report about some kind of flower. Now I am ass about my citations

[@PsychoPyro813]

I met people who were upperclassmen in college who didn't understand that if they did not include in-text citations (which are VERY EASY TO INCLUDE, *especially* in APA style), they were effectively plagiarizing. The amount of peer-reviewing I did where that was an issue was astounding.

[@Degnique]

Same here. I was in 2nd grade and for my essay I just copied a portion of a Crash Bandicoot 1 walkthrough. lmao

[@airborneice7988]

underrated gag in this video is hbomb labelling the sections with roman numerals but pronouncing them all "eee", making it utterly incomprehensible to anyone listening to this in the background

[@apatshe8188]

He always adds a slight jab to the audio only listeners. The one from Pathologic video springs to mind

[@Helperbot-2000]

@@apatshe8188 blind people are in shambles 💀

[@1998_MIN]

The "Party Time" line always gets a chuckle from me

[@GrifoStelle]

O.O What. I thought he was just vocalizing. I’ve seen this so many times I had to have noticed it. But in this moment my mind is blown

[@TobiasFangorIsntCis]

Yeah

[@lordfelidae4505]

I think you deliberately added jokes referencing your sexuality to the video to make sure your bisexuality was established to the viewer ahead of time. I didn't realize you were bi until you made those jokes and I thought to myself "huh. Is he gay?" Well done, real subtle, no joke. Makes the clear anger and frustration you feel about James Somerton feel even more 'real,' somehow.

[@killthepandas.]

yeah lol I only realized he was bi when he straight up said it. then when i rewatched this video for the second time and then the first jokes made a lot more sense

[@1998_MIN]

Telling someone who stole from you that you'd still have sex with them is an iconic power move

[@k0w0res]

Also super clever since Somerton loooooves to call homophobia on anyone who calls him out. Preemptive defense XD

[@FirstnameLastname-bn4gv]

@@1998_MIN I felt it was pretty weird and inappropriate, honestly.

[@timob1681]

@@FirstnameLastname-bn4gv not sure why you thought that other than just, being homophobic? he also didn't say that he would have sex with him, he said Luke looked like a "fuckable twink" i.e. that he is effeminate. this was intended to be jokingly pushing back at Luke telling Hbomb to get testosterone shots.

[@mitchm4992]

Watching Somerton say "if I had been plagiarizing, I wouldn't have a channel" after he deleted his channel feels real good.

[@leileyaravencroft]

Oh, he finally deleted his channel?

[@arahmarborealis4425]

​@@leileyaravencroftNot quite, the channel still technically remains, but it's been wiped of everything except its name. No videos, no community tab notes, not even a profile picture. I think he's also deleted or made private pretty much every bit of the rest of his online presence as well.

[@Blueeyesthewarrior]

Ah, nature is healing

[@Ehh.....]

A man of his word!

[@craigslist6988]

​@@Ehh.....well, someone's words anyway.

[@NinjaDuckie]

I love that the release of an hbomb video basically now means a death star firing test that kills exactly one person

[@ClownCar666]

This comment rules

[@philipsalama8083]

The "stop, he's already dead!" Meme comes to mind.

[@blackosprey2219]

It's certainly thorough.

[@katie-ampersand]

this comment goes so fucking hard

[@QuickQuips]

Or a few Guinness World Records.

[@GoodSirReginald]

Say what you will about Tommy Tallarico, but even he was able to properly cite his sources on the topic of who was proud of him (his mother).

[@Sedric-and-Charlie]

Joey Kuras: The one person James Somerton HASN'T stolen credit from

[@rottenisee2751]

@@Sedric-and-Charlie*yet

[@claytonandres1194]

Oof

[@no1legobatmanfan]

his mother is very proud!

[@americankid7782]

@@no1legobatmanfanTHERE IT IS

[@GeeElBee]

My least favourite part about illuminaughti is that It's such a shame that a username and character that cool was wasted on shit content

[@Porkey_Minch]

It reminds me of Spirit Science. Their youtube videos are about as factual as their name would imply. They present as a character named "Patchman" whos design is kinda neat, but they bought the design from a fellow student for $20. I wonder how the original artist feels about their character being used to shill conspiracy theories.

[@1998_MIN]

@@GeeElBee I don't know how the legal status of that avatar works, but it'd be amazing if someone else just started using it for making way better content; I'm sure the original artist would gladly let someone else use it!

[@Larkatiel]

REAL. The only reason I remembered her content in the first place was because the avatar looked really cool. If it was just some voice doing video essays then I would've forgotten any video of hers I had seen within a day.

[@TheBlueEyePirate]

James Somerton has the power to do the funniest thing in the world by making an apology video entirely plagiarized from other bad apology videos.

[@rakino4418]

He'd never think of something that original

[@surpriseandterror9698]

TOOT TOOT Toxic Gossip Train pulling into the station yet again!

[@itme999]

​​@@surpriseandterror9698i was JUST going to say that I hope it includes a ukulele 😂

[@yogarcia6066]

"I'm not a plagiarist, I'm just an archivist!"

[@ManzanaDeMuerte]

he has a second channel called gays behaving badly and the comments are still open.

[@ShawnCunningham-96]

I used to be subscribed to James Somerton. During one of the few times he admitted that he "accidentally" plagiarized a chapter from a book, I wrote a comment wondering how exactly someone accidentally copies an entire chapter without realizing it. I will never forget what happened next. One of his fans replied to me and asked, "What? Do you want to spank his willy?" I think about that comment often.

[@GaigeGrosskreutzGunClub]

well, do you?!

[@ElMondiola]

This is one of those questions that give you an existencial crisis, both for the question and why it was asked

[@greasygranpapy7529]

Lol

[@clementinedanger]

Well shit, that's going to be my reply to everything now.

[@LimeyLassen]

Destroyed with facts and logic

[@xanathar8659]

"What teenage girl did this to you in highschool James, and why are you inserting fanfiction about her into an article you stole instead of going to therapy?" is easily my favourite quote of this entire video

[@SomeMaoriDude]

It's probably plagiarized

[@stationshelter]

what a huge snub to "most fuckable twink"

[@Sorreltail768]

what is?@@SomeMaoriDude

[@SomeMaoriDude]

@@Sorreltail768 The quote mentioned above

[@matthiasmccormack3213]

I think calling Lukiepoo “the most fuckable twink,” might’ve been an even better line

[@oilchange-gb9vb]

My composition teacher played the entire Illuminaughti segment of this video in class today. So glad this video exists as a crash course on how plagiarism works and why it's bad. I love when teachers throw a bit of edutainment into their classes.

[@ElizabethMidfordHatesCops]

That's awesome.

[@xeldrine66]

I would also love for it to be shown in my college, but since it's a French college, unless there are subtitles, I don't think it will happen. I'm not qualified to translate this entire script by myself, but if someone reaches out to Harris, I'm sure it could be done.

[@SongbirdAlom]

James Somerton quoting the Encyclopedia Definition of “homosexuality” as part of his essay somehow transcends absurdity and almost eclipses into surrealism.

[@cyanthrope]

he's doing the contraponts bit but without a single shred of irony. Huh.. I wonder if he intentionally tried to rip that off without getting the joke

[@el_fucko]

I guess you could almost call it... borderline experimental.

[@LM-MMM]

@@3ln2xnope it's been confirmed that he didn't

[@agent_of_cthulhu]

@3ln2x the rumor has been all over the internet, so it must be true, right?

[@kostajovanovic3711]

​@@el_fuckoI....clapped?

[@notsibb]

Thank you, Tommy Tallarico, for creating this 4-hour long video about plagiarism.

[@davidmcgirr]

I'm sure his mother is very proud.

[@artistdudebro]

Clearly hbomberguy stole this whole thing from Tommy 😤 he needs someone to tell him that plagiarism is not cool

[@TheRealBattleLightning]

He owns the world record for the most watched KZbin video, his mother is very proud.

[@degenReflow]

@@davidmcgirruntil he walks around the water fountain in his Egypt room.

[@David_636]

I was literally relistening to the tommy tallarico video by chance just before i got the notification for this

[@glyph1869]

"If I was plagiarizing people all the time, I wouldn't... have a KZbin channel." - James Somerton, guy who no longer has a KZbin channel

[@sylvan-dreams]

wait what srsly??? i just finished this video and know no follow up

[@glyph1869]

@@sylvan-dreams He deleted everything and ran the day after this video came out.

[@cadekachelmeier7251]

​@@glyph1869 In his apology video that just came out, he says he wants to bring it back. 🍿🍿🍿

[@ashikjaman1940]

​@@cadekachelmeier7251 I hope he gets flooded with copyright claims

[@SomeOne-vf1rs]

@@cadekachelmeier7251Lol. Lmao

[@calebcreel6860]

My mother was a well known author whose novels were bestsellers in her genre during the 80s and 90s. One of her books was blatantly plagiarized and self-published. She brought charges against the individual and was awarded punative compensation and damages. And the individual's ability to publish and credit is ruined forever.

[@DaveTheVader]

Catherine Creel?

[@calebcreel6860]

​@@DaveTheVader Yes. 😊

[@Larkatiel]

Hey, good for her! I don't even have a sarcastic remark or joke, that's just genuinely great to hear.

[@CodexQuinn]

I constantly think of how someone can so easily commit plagiarism. School's one good thing was that it taught me how fucking horrible it is to plagiarize. Having it explained to me that all the work, effort, writers block, and stress i go through to write an essay, and then someone completely copied off my work, and IM Potentially the one who gets in trouble over it, id be fucking furious. How these people can just... Do it without a second thought is despicable.

[@callowguru2611]

Live your life in such a way that Hbomb never has reason to come after you and systematically dismantle you for 4 hours.

[@arcarchivist2638]

I need this cross-stitched across a pan flag

[@whyiwakeup6460]

@@arcarchivist2638then photographed with a fish-eye lense camera and edited to look correct

[@Elkator955]

I will put this comment on my discord status for a day, and I will cite you.

[@screamingseal1137]

did you steal this from tumblr or was it the other way round

[@sporeham1674]

That's my goal really

[@fluffskunk]

To be fair to Blare, she was very busy abusing her boyfriend and collaborators.

[@Sugarman96]

Being a landlord is very time consuming, she barely had the time to not do plagiarism

[@occupyvenus4868]

God forbid women have hobbies /s

[@singulariteas]

@@Sugarman96not her being a landlord too… the more i learn about this woman the worse it gets 😭

[@WarisAmirMohammad]

fr@@singulariteas

[@roseredflechette-vidya]

@@singulariteas i could tell instantly from her voice, they all have the same soulless, disconnected, anti-social drawl. i could perceive more empathy in the sound of a dial-up modem. EDIT: I understand having a dynamic and/or monotone voice doesn't correlate with empathy, but I never said she had a "monotone" voice, and never would have used that word, for the exact reasons people are apparently upset about ("soulless, disconnected, anti-social drawl" is an extremely specific kind of monotone, if anything, but in my mind a landlord voice isn't even necessarily monotone) ..I'm on the spectrum somewhere myself, not all of us have "monotone" voices - me thinking she sounds like a landlord really shouldn't be taken as an attack on fellow neurodivergents... I know a few that not only don't have monotone voices, but are fantastic orators.

[@cursedcontent4207]

Every time I listen to this, there's a new part in the first half that just makes me think "FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY DEVICE IN WHICH-"

[@andiaradan]

Oh thank god I thought it was just me

[@p-__]

My farts are better than hbomberguy’s farts 💨

[@777themoose]

I'm still waiting for the video where he makes a doughnut (if you don't know what I mean stick around after the credits)

[@maddieS117]

One of my favorite things about this video is the shot at 2:30 when Harry sets down a copy of Analog on top of some other books, those books foreshadowing the instances of plagiarism he'll be talking about

[@hannahfanning9585]

​@@maddieS117 oh man I didn't notice that, that's so good

[@n_art_cissist]

I still rewatch this video often. It’s my emotional support video essay

[@1998_MIN]

I know I've been depressed lately because I've been listening to the same 10-12 video essays on repeat every day 🥲

[@syringay1949]

this is my go-to video when i need to concentrate on some chores

[@Manelneedsaname]

Truuue. We're getting close to the new manual hbomberguy video too

[@nickyiscrazy]

same. this is legendary.

[@meeramothilal]

the rabies pride flag???

[@i.hold.vertigo2329]

I try falling asleep to this video sometimes and always get woken up by Hbomb going "RIGHT? .....RIGHT? ...NO!!"

[@RayeRamblesALot]

omg SAME 🤣

[@deeznoots6241]

Release the sleep cut!

[@pleasesnapmyneckmommy3048]

I am so glad I'm not the only one falling asleep to hbomb. It's comforting, in a way, to have some background noise

[@hoshmoggen1746]

​@@deeznoots6241 It's just the same video but he's whispering all the loud parts. lol

[@atomdecay]

This video ALWAYS autoplays after I fall asleep. KZbin always knows.

[@robindaybird]

Honestly Illuminaughti picking a fight with an *a lawyer in good standing* seems like a real act of hubris.

[@3takoyakis]

I was honestly got one of her popped up and it was about 'traditional builder exposed' and 'cutedodo' exposed. She looks real. Then she reappears again with drama on her video then gone to obscurity At least now I know why

[@aegisScale]

I'm not sure what she expected, because taking a reputable lawyer to court (even if it's the court of public opinion) sounds like a great way to embarass yourself in the most expensive way possible.

[@StoutShako]

The Mea Culpa is real

[@brendaleelydon]

A copyright lawyer at that! Like, how stupid do you have to be??

[@dodixaverius9176]

@@brendaleelydon very. not to mention the effect in question was not that. and the editor only want to use the effect he asked (not the highlight or paper thing) for his own personal video. And lets pretend that he wanted to blatantly copy video effect. Was accusing his boss for plagiarizing on public forum the best way to do it? Doubly stupid when that person is a lawyer and triply stupid when you realize said lawyer specialize with copyright law.

[@randomperson01]

Citing a pirating website as a source is the best thing I've ever seen

[@iphoneShothand]

Hilariously incompetent

[@oddmerit6530]

unfortunately a rare illuminaughti W

[@Sonichero151]

​@@iphoneShothandit's actually pretty based because not everyone that wants to see the source materials wants to pay for a Hulu subscription

[@0NeeN0]

oh my god blair is on another level of making $hitty "documentaries". I love this material, love you Sir Harris

[@joshm5514]

The fact that she did that is peak comedy

[@silence4193]

I’ve watched this 4 times and only now noticed the subtle foreshadowing of placing the analog mag on top of tinker belles and celluloid closet. Genius

[@larissabrglum3856]

It is a literary device, after all

[@gabbysian2530]

becwuse of your comment, i went back and had a look, the other book 'Trapped' was for the Man in Cave section FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY DEVICE-

[@DadJokeSamurai]

​@@gabbysian2530and his caving game is in the background! Clever clever lol

[@kafnfriends]

this is a small thing but James calling the show “Arthur” instead of “Merlin” more than once is even more evidence that he’s never seen it bc absolutely no one who has seen the show would think of Arthur as the main character. wild behavior all around from that man

[@fishtank39]

That was especially egregious. Like, I have never seen a single episode of Merlin, but I was on Tumblr in the 2010s, so I'm vaguely familiar with its broad strokes. I can't imagine anyone who did any kind of looking into the show to make that kind of mistake

[@undeadMonk]

Imagine you were watching that livestream at the time as a fan and thinking he was talking about Arthur, the children's cartoon

[@blueizumi]

@@fishtank39 right lol never watched the show either but grew up on tumblr seeing fangirls of it and even I know how ridiculous it is to have called it Arthur

[@harmonysummers]

Also, calling it “Arthur” could make people confuse it for the kids PBS show, lol.

[@LadyAstarionAncunin]

That jumped out to me too.

[@ianfreud]

I like that "Telos" is an anagram of "Stole."

[@kuhpunkt]

It's also solet backwards!

[@marychouvarda6875]

Oh my god,I never noticed it😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮.😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@ArjunTheRageGuy]

I bet he knew it already when he decided on making a company with that name

[@main4325]

Ah, I hadn't clocked it!

[@sweetlittlenothing7696]

AND it means "end" in Greek xD

[@suchacaz]

“James never did any work” Let’s be fair here, he did put the stolen work into a program and hit “export”. As Tommy Tallarico taught us, that’s a huge part of the creative process!

[@thesleepydot]

💀😭

[@joannasthings]

his mother ought to be very proud

[@FIXTREME]

Many more have done far less...

[@DoubLL]

(also that's the one part that we know for sure Joey did)

[@IamAlmostRealWitch]

I mean, I really don't want to defend Tommy Tallarico, but at least he actually owned oof sound. He also owned Guinness records. (although he fabricated titles for all awards) James never REALLY owned anything in videos that made him famous. It was all stolen.

[@meeomelovescookiesandhisto459]

The script to this video is seriously great work. I come back to watch this regularly, I enjoy it in a different way every time, and I feel like I really need to scream this into the void at this point. On my first watch, I understood the argument clearly, was engaged and entertained for the entire time, and enjoyed the level of nuance and care going into the video-all of which is proof of hard work and talent! The next few watches, I recognized more and more of the little bits that pull the script together. I most enjoy the repetition of "by any means necessary." It's such great foreshadowing, and on a rewatch, it lets you build up to the climax (teehee) of the argument gradually.

[@1998_MIN]

@@meeomelovescookiesandhisto459 It's funny how this is one of the very few videos where you can leave a comment almost year later, and there's a good chance someone will still read it 🙂

[@octoolivia6745]

Every time I come back to this video, which is pretty often, I see new comments pretty high up. I think hbomberguys videos in general get this and I love it

[@ltdom]

Man, I feel really bad for Brian Deer. The man does humanity a service and his payment is everyone else stealing his work and acting like they did it.

[@larissabrglum3856]

I wonder if he knows about this video

[@lily_flower0686]

​@@larissabrglum3856 yeah he does. He made a tweet about it when it was released

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

Capitalism working as intended

[@arthurpietrogarcia1057]

@@larissabrglum3856 He definetly does, Brian Deer contacted Kat(Hbomber's producer) after the video to thank them for making the video and how thanks to them his book had gotten more sales.

[@hyojinlunyah]

@@larissabrglum3856 considering that hbomberguy has talked to him, he probably knows to a degree

[@MathewMcKenna]

“I didn’t think KZbin videos could have souls but now I’ve experienced ones that don’t” is such an incredible line and so accurately describes such a specific feeling lmao

[@Astra7525]

It is these incredibly memorable lines that make Hbomb's long video-essays so immensely watchable.

[@maxohara1185]

Also a reference to the pathalogic video wherein he talks about his soul being trapped in said video essay

[@dorktriogamer2865]

Man this video got around KZbin lol

[@ChaoticNomen]

Kinda how null hypothesis works

[@bluetiger2468]

That line is so good James Somerton might steal it and claim it as his own.

[@Jessf-rn5lo]

Y'know, I wonder if James Somerton will fall down the gay right wing influencer grifter hole because that's like the only scam he hasn't used and exploited yet.

[@dodixaverius9176]

Eh? As for now, he finally deleted his channel and has not made an obvious comeback yet. Besides judging on his personal belief, it clash with many typical right wing agenda anyway. Plus unless he live like fake socialite in real life, all the money he had from all the patreon + sponsorship + revenue from youtube is probably good for a long while.

[@deeznoots6241]

Pull the whole ‘I was a leftist before the left turned on me for ~~plagiarism~~ being gay in the wrong way’

[@someguyonyoutube-b9w]

As we’ve seen with Ben Domenech and Benny Johnson, the right-wing griftosphere doesn’t care that much about plagiarism.

[@enviisyk]

@@someguyonyoutube-b9w i mean they really don't care about anything as long as their opinions are being parroted back at them.

[@FirePrincess126]

He already hates women so it wouldn't be that much of a pivot

[@birdthebird3396]

Happy one year anniversary of hbomberguy uploading anything

[@Yumil_fab]

"If I was doing plagiarism, I wouldn't have a channel" - Rare instance of James Somerton accidentally telling the truth, just a couple years early.

[@zexionthefirst6767]

Foreshadowing is a dramat-

[@patrikvajgel240]

Sometimes, foreshadowing is relatively obvious.

[@resyrum5301]

Foreshadowing is a literary device in whi-

[@williamd2989]

“If I was f*cking young girls I promise I would be arrested”

[@DarkStarCoreX]

Foreshadowing is a literary device

[@princembat]

cant believe james had a whole video on queer villains and didnt realize he was one. wild

[@RayanNamii]

Art truny does imitate life.

[@IanNBF]

Real question: Is James Somerton *actually* gay or does he hate women so much that he's *convinced himself* that he is?

[@Grievous-nx3iu]

Oh he knew. You can't tell me the lighting, framing, and James' outfit in some videos doesn't make him look like a villain

[@princembat]

@@Grievous-nx3iu you right tbh. not to mention the way he speaks

[@Champiness]

No, he absolutely saw himself as a “queer villain” - just the cool edgy Hazbin Hotel type instead of, like, Colin Robinson.

[@vevetherybovlk]

Iilluminaughtii puts more effort into stalking and digging up old dirt on her former collegues than she puts into any of her videos

[@darkimpulse2829]

Not to mention manipulating her barely legal boyfriend (at the time) to sign for a house because her credit score was so bad and forcing him to pay her back by working overtime editing for her without any money left over for him to support himself

[@PikaPetey]

​@darkimpulse2829 whoa what?!

[@asherthedisaster4724]

i'm pretty sure someone else did that work too

[@darkimpulse2829]

@@PikaPetey Yeah, her ex boyfriend OzMedia (shown in that one piece of fanart in this video) has a video with those allegations against her. Also that she and her lawyer pressured him into signing documents making him pay her back. He had a last ditch charity stream recently and his community raised like 30k in 2 hours to help him out. Its been a while since I saw the allegation video so I don't remember everything, but there was also a part where he talks about how she talked about how either she or he would go to prison over tax stuff or something manipulating him using the fact his mother was or had been in jail

[@darkimpulse2829]

@@PikaPetey Found it again and started a rewatch. Simply put he alleges that towards the start of their relationship she convinced him to co-sign on loans and other bad financial decisions. As the relationship continued he was struggling with the payments so he asked her for help leading to him getting a lower paid role at her company including crypto farm and her keeping a ledger of all the times she helped him out so he could pay her back later. End of 2021 she and her lawyer gave him a convoluted legal doc that amounted with him paying her back 2500 per month, about what he made per month at her company leaving him with basically nothing. During said signing she said along the lines of signing would save their relationship and protect her IRS since she had used company funds to help him out aka embezzlement which his mother had been arrested for when he was 11. He is working on a 110 page video exposing her

[@KitTexas618]

“It wasn’t y’all- it was THEM’LL!” - Hbomber I’m subbing for that 😂😂

[@chizzicle]

So far, after this video came out, James Somerton has disabled comments on his youtube channel entirely, deactivated his twitter account, privated his instagram, deleted his patreon discord server, and nuked the patreon too, after first making 2 posts there trying to explain/avoid responsibility/apologize, neither of which was well received by his patrons. Totally normal things for an innocent person to do, so I am sure this is all just a big misunderstanding :)

[@attackofveganpotatoes1074]

Anyone got the Patreon posts? Or is able to at least paraphrase them? Just curious!

[@chizzicle]

@@attackofveganpotatoes1074 I have the second one still open in a tab, first one was deleted before I had the chance to see it live but can be found floating around in tumblr at least if you happen to use that. Anyway, the second post goes as follows: " Hi everyone. I wanted to say that I’m very sorry. I’m in a terrible headspace right now so I don’t want to post anything too long because I don’t know where my brain will lead me. But I will say something more extensive once I’ve prepared myself emotionally. I know people want an immediate, detailed response but I’ve never found immediate responses to anything to be as fair and honest as they could be. Always more driven more by emotion than anything else. I will say more soon, though. But for now, I want to apologize. I’m heartbroken that I’ve lost your trust and just hope that someday, with a lot of work, I can get it back. " full credit to Mr. Somerton here, assuming he didn't plagiarize that too

[@66Roses]

@@attackofveganpotatoes1074 First one basically said Harry was trudging up old drama for clout and that the community is stronger than this. Patrons saw through that one. The second post admitted that he'd made some "mistakes", and that he'd be able to win everyone's trust back. They saw through that one also.

[@ruminationstation4200]

​@@66Rosesif you somehow werent convinced James is willfully manipulative after watching the video, his responses sure sealed it.

[@mfizze]

Thank you for this update. I was really interested in the reaction and response to this

[@chirioneVT]

James took the "If you copy from one book, that’s plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that’s research" quote literally.

[@timothymclean]

Maybe business school should teach people about metaphors.

[@eliasmg9144]

​@@timothymcleanand academic research

[@Kaipyro67ALT]

@@timothymclean Business school just teaches you to fuck people over and get yours, unfortunately.

[@uselessindividual]

There is a KZbin video on “the books you’ll never be able to read”. Old books of the past, were often hodgepodge amalgamations of other works. That being said, however, there are clear reasons and examples of actual references. Knowledge can enable knowledge, or it can lead to further ignorance. Idk the whole thing is a farce. The whole James thing just upsets me.

[@calebkelly8221]

But not even that, though!

[@JesseGolo]

It's funny I watch this and think, "Why don't they work harder to hide their plagiarism?" And then I remember that avoiding work is the point.

[@dukstedi]

hah! i didn’t put that together either until i just read your comment.😅

[@LDAR]

It’s literally like the kids who spend their time engineering new ways of cheating on tests instead of studying

[@lord_ozymandias]

@@LDARit’s not really. unlike video essays, tests are a required thing everyone has to do and some kids are not and will never do well in a testing environment no matter how much they study lol

[@poppyonline4034]

@@lord_ozymandiasSo they cheat? Only a certain type of person will cheat, don’t put that on all kids who have trouble with standardized tests.

[@lord_ozymandias]

@@poppyonline4034 obviously not all kids who are struggling will cheat. but if a kid isn’t doing well on tests, and no amount of studying will change that (because the problem is systematic not individual), then they might cheat and it would be more understandable than plagiarism. because kids HAVE to take tests, but people DONT have to plagiarize.

[@crampo458]

When Cinemassacre tried to say it was 'accidental plagiarism', that just made me laugh. There's no such thing as 'accidental' plagiarism. It's either plagiarism, or it isn't, regardless of intention. I was once pulled up for plagiarism in one of my history papers because I had simply forgotten to reference the original work, event the professor knew it was a simple accident and there was no malice but it doesn't matter. Still plagiarism.

[@Estarile]

Which is why your professor went to the relevant authorities at your school and they expelled you for academic dishonesty, because all plagiarism is the same whether it was done willfully or not? People saying something is "accidental plagiarism" are very obviously discussing their intent regarding the plagiarism. Plagiarism occurring because of negligence or a mistake is significantly different than it happening intentionally and should be punished differently. Ya, the Cinemassacre guy was lying, but he was doing so because generally its know that people sometimes f- up and leniency needs to be build into the system for those cases.

[@nordikkai7185]

​@@Estarile that's not even accidental though. There is a huge difference between ripping multiple articles in their entirety and simply forgetting to add a source when (as I'd expect based on context) other sources were provided in the paper. Also, unless you're ripping off whole bodies of work in your paper or your prof/supervisor is a huge asshole, they won't go all the way up at first. They actually do want to know why the potential bit of plagiarism is there, what your sources were, how you handled citing everything else, etc

[@Estarile]

@@nordikkai7185 That was my point. It would be ridiclous to go that far because there clearly is such a thing as accidental plagarism. Plagarism that happened without intent to steal from someone. Lots of people have done it, some of us have nightmares about doing it, qnd the actual intentional plagarists invoke that when they get caught for sympathy.

[@dismurrart6648]

Never forget, when blair said she was getting a dog, people kept giving her advice. She told people to stop because shes too good a researcher to get scammed. Then immediately fell for an obvious puppy mill

[@ninjoshday]

Lol

[@maggiee639]

I think she knew it was a puppy mill, she just didn’t care.

[@tehbeernerd]

I like how telling only one part of Blair’s scandal (“her” video style) makes everything else crystal clear. Why should I believe any of her arguments against the accusations when you’re just reciting documentaries word for word?

[@charlesreid9337]

blair is curremtly at 10% of her past views pee video and keeps her comments locked lol

[@nunyabiznes7446]

@@charlesreid9337 ... Blair pee video?

[@bimpadimp]

plagiarists getting facts wrong feels like they're getting a couple questions on the test wrong on purpose so the teacher doesn't think they're cheating

[@ChristianNeihart]

A good lesson taught poorly is worse than not being taught at all. A bad lesson taught well does more harm still.

[@darkhobo]

Hah like they would put in that much effort

[@p-__]

My farts are better than hbomberguy’s farts 💨

[@wildfire9280]

@@Pedro_Larroza I’m guessing these “friends” didn’t stay around long after?

[@Klinkertinlegs]

Or it is their version of Paper Towns, so they will know when someone plagiarizes them, because if Illuminati is an example, they REALLY don’t like people stealing the things they stole.

[@quel_thalas]

for anyone wondering, james somerton has made every single video on his channel either unlisted/private, resulting in a loss of over 3.5 MILLION views in just a few days. he has also bled 68k subscribers in the same timreframe. This guy is among the worst on youtube plagiarists. glad you spoke out about it! edit: i think he deleted his channel LOL

[@skitt1706]

WARRR IS OVERR

[@juankgonzalez6230]

Harris status: bombin'

[@julianikolich8400]

"if there was plagiarism, I wouldn't have a channel"

[@gabet7193]

aaand his channel is completely gone now

[@joneau261]

At least he kept all his entirely original content up

[@BusinessCasual]

31 million views late to the party... just discovered this gem. Harry, thank you, so much, for talking about this topic. KZbin “knock-off” channels are *out of control.* Everyone who makes original content is suffering because of this crisis. The current trajectory of KZbin is ugly if more content creators do not start talking about this snowballing crisis publicly. If you are a fellow creator, it is literally your duty to share this video.

[@folkloreofbeing]

It has tens of millions of views. It POPS up in everyone's feeds more than once a day. It ALWAYS autoplays in my feed everyday. It does not need anyone to do any "duty".

[@slightlyjim5590]

I know no one will likely read this and its the most benign criticism of James. But a film grad having such poor lighting in his videos is maddening.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

​@@capnmnemooh, a new development

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

​@@capnmnemoWith photoshopped images of his videos to make them look better might I add

[@Berlinbower]

Idk shit about filmmaking and the lighting is still pissing me off lmao

[@kilroy00011]

I have been thinking this since the video came out in December. It's either Argento or sterile dystopia, with no in-between.

[@zubetp]

oh, i read the _crap_ out of this. i think he doesn't understand what makes certain types of lighting work. it's like that ebert quote about the guy who overused the dutch angle, "he's learned from better films that sometimes directors tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why."

[@The10renren10]

“Legal eagle is no longer the one good lib” being read by legal eagle is fucking funny.

[@linasayshush]

Besides, we all know Contrapoints is the one good lib.

[@glugtrop2010]

the serfs has brain damage lol

[@WangleLine]

oh my god I didn't even notice that LMAO

[@CaptainAricDeron]

In the end credits, Legal Eagle is credited as "The Good Lib" and I died laughing.

[@q3st1on19]

I kept on thinking I was mishearing other people's voices till the credits lol. Tantacrul cameo made me loose it

[@Cinnaaaaa]

Mankind has learned to fear the second half of an HBomberguy video.

[@visionvampire1910]

LITERALLY LMAO I can’t wait for when he releases a video about Minecraft and it turns into why PopularMMO’s went to jail or something lmao

[@Pllayer064]

Anybody knows what joke that got stolen from him he was talking about??

[@user-ti6io5hm3d]

@@Pllayer064 Probably one of the ones he stole from Stuart Lee lol

[@durnsidh6483]

​@@visionvampire1910 What happened with him?

[@visionvampire1910]

@@durnsidh6483 just the whole spiral he went on after him and Jen broke up, alcoholism and getting arrested and such. Didn’t mean an it as an actual example, but certainly the type of thing he’d deep dive into lol

[@EB-sw4gb]

On another rewatch, I just want to say, that as a lover of queer history and the written word, this was absolutely the right thing to do. This is important for the discourse surrounding queer art and unknown artists.

[@gupdoo3]

"I included Becky Abertalli in a section of straight authors but I never *said* she was straight" if only there was a concept describing audiovisual mediums that create a link between two ideas by placing them in close proximity without ever having to explicitly mention the link. Such as cutting from a person's intense gaze to a plate of delicious food back to the person. We could call it "structuralist film theory"; maybe James could talk about it in a video

[@FatherIimaginedyoutaller]

Underrated comment

[@Aspirider0220]

He tried pulling a Kyubey

[@briangronberg6507]

Amazing

[@HENTIENCE]

You should seriously consider a career in law.

[@setlerking]

This reads almost like a Colombo monologue lol

[@maxpetra9176]

Opening a nearly 4 hour essay with a quote that includes the sentence "Tell us the story, briefly." is definitely one of the narrative choices of all time.

[@J_Sau]

Oh my god, I've watched this video so many times but never noticed that. That's so funny lol

[@hwelse]

One of the _best_ narrative choices of all time. "The X of all time" implies that it's mediocre, like how people described Mobius as "the movie ever/of all time". Not being hateful, just letting you know

[@bird-uk7eo]

@@hwelse i think that's how the original commenter intended it to sound

[@kat2kool]

Yes! It’s also really funny in context too since it’s being said to Harlan Ellison. The man’s a legit great writer but he’s definitely prone to using 5 times more words than he needs to. That interviewer knew what they were doing.

[@einstein951]

2:16:56 "None of us were really aware-" _cut to hbomberguy_ "James is dimly aware what he's doing"

[@JamieHill-he1yf]

the "shouldnt need to do this" segment gives "youre gay because you love men, im gay because i hate women, we are not the same" vibes

[@ringtail99]

@@geekzombie8795 he is gay because he hates women that is true

[@chud-of4yb]

Who said that?

[@guysir1130]

​​@@chud-of4ybnobody, its a meme

[@4203105]

@@chud-of4yb I'm not sure a gay man ever said that, but "political lesbianism" is a thing in radical feminism and basically boils down to "I'm a lesbian because I hate men."

[@frejo1931]

​@@chud-of4ybmostly its a meme

[@emowean]

1:24:05 “and good luck with all that other stuff” is somehow like the best way to end this topic without getting deeper into it and also proves that there is SO much more that COULD be discussed.

[@fdragon77fk]

Hbom exposed a guy so hard he faked his own death about it, only to have an alt account defend himself and eventually just reveal he's still alive. What a wild journey

[@paranormeow]

he was found out through a side account where he posted nudes that WERENT EVEN HIS. They were taken from a Grindr I think. He plagiarized nudes.

[@fdragon77fk]

@@paranormeow the man cannot be honest to save his fucking life, or fake it in this case I guess.

[@nukaghoula]

​@@fdragon77fk the one thing he's been honest about is the contempt he feels towards W̶h̶i̶t̶e̶ women

[@Lupercal6319]

A lot of people were wary of saying it just in case but I was about as confident he was alive as I was that I was alive.

[@doinkstr]

@@paranormeow Honestly at this point it's just kinda funny. The dude can not help himself stealing from other people. From reviews and videos to nudes, none of it is original

[@crispin-freeman]

I want someone to lock Tommy Tallarico and James Somerton in a room together and just observe what they talk about. You know, for science.

[@CirianAlani]

I'm sure their mothers would be very proud.

[@ChiliDUDE27]

I imagine it would be kinda like putting a live microphone directly in front of the speaker it's connected to and cranking the volume, then leaving it to feed back for a long time. It would be ear grating and horrible, but maybe in an interesting way if you can stand to listen.

[@mothslug4387]

divide by zero error

[@jajajasputin8927]

Dude, be careful. That's how you start the Sinister Six!

[@ijustlikebees]

They kiss😳

[@danfelder8062]

Hbomberguy is like an internet cryptid. Once a year they appear, drop a bomb, INSIST ON ELABORATING, and then vanish.

[@psychicbeagle5106]

He's the ancient koi fish who, upon waking from its long slumber, shakes the Earth, ends a fraudster's career, and further breaks that one section of wall.

[@crookedgamer7183]

He is also nonbinary and gay

[@smellycat57]

​@@crookedgamer7183When you refer to someone who is non-binary, you don't usually refer them with "he" unless it's what they prefer. Also, he's bi not gay

[@Roguechild]

Most accurate description I've ever read

[@fraser7530]

It's like the modern day content cop and I'm here for it

[@thestutteringspartan5155]

Somerton plagiarizes so often and so flippantly that I genuinely think someone needs to take a look at his academic records

[@larissabrglum3856]

Somehow that never occurred to me, but I think you have a point there

[@Noxedwin]

Bro, did you plagiarize _yourself?_ That's fucking hardcore.

[@CodexQuinn]

Funny story. On the wikitubia page, or whatever the fuck the youtube wiki is called, his page states that he even lied about fucking going to college. Man didnt even tell the truth about his education. To be a better source of info than he is, google "James somerton wikitubia." You can also find a fucking FUNNY roast, where someone wrote in the trivia section, "he is gay. (Citation needed)"

[@Demi_Purple]

For everyone wondering why just hearing somerton's voice after all this sends you into a frothing rage, it's the revelation that he hasn't done *anything* to earn that condescending, 'bored professor' tone he used for his channel. You are being talked down to by an *_idiot_* wearing the wit of others as an ill-fitting costume. And he made _bank_ doing it, which everyone has a right to be pissed about. Especially the people who he kept tricking into paying him to fail to make a movie, and the author who unwittingly paid him to recite her ripped off material. I hope this weasel in a turtleneck went into hiding. P.S.- I apologize to weasels and the people who admire them for this unfair and insulting comparison

[@beccangavin]

I liked the one video he made about the holocaust but the bored professor thing turned me off from the rest of his content. It seemed contrived.

[@Octobris]

Nicely put

[@1337-Nathaniel]

The more I learned about this Somerton guy, the less I liked him. Also, he might be a pathological liar.

[@Deg40000]

Yeah the guy scammed people with promising creating a web series or something similar that included ace representation but still to this day has not delivered anything for it. Not to mention how acephobic he is 💀

[@norbicsek]

It's hard to tell for sure, because this video was the first time I ever heard of Somerton, but I'm pretty confident that I would hate his demeanor even without the context. He's not even "bored professor", he's like more... You know when people make fun of snobby aristocrat types, with a pretend-wineglass in one hand, talking real theatrically, putting the stress on all the wrong words? That's exactly what he does, but somehow unironically - like an actual parody of himself. This overt self-seriousness is what usually makes me not finish videos, even if I would normally enjoy both the topic and the writing.

[@noheterotho179]

This is like my 4th watch and somehow I still keep mistaking "the sad story of rocket raccoon, the drunk who knew batman's identity, after homelander lost his mind" is one sentence

[@1998_MIN]

I keep getting blindsided by the tight edit that makes James sound like he's saying "medical shmee"

[@sarahgiebink]

⁠@@1998_MIN”medical shmee” makes me giggle every time

[@thedailyshowCondorCalabasas]

lol why on earth would you watch this cringe fest even one time, let alone multiple times. Hes incapable of forming a single argument. He makes a claim, then moves on before he proves or explains it. This is just an opinion piece with literally no evidence or explanation to back up any of it. This is one of the best examples of an inferiority complex on the internet. So are all his fans honestly. Seek therapy. Also I posted a video explaining.

[@idontknoq4813]

​@thedailyshowCondorCalabasas did you miss all the stuff he showed as proof?

[@krismover]

*homelinder

[@galtenoble]

James has used the "yt took down/demonitized my video bc its too queer" excuse so many times I almost feel the need to apologise to yt for believing them

[@gooseherdez336]

I discovered Somerton when he did his "confessions of a HP fan" video. I though he was raw and authentic in that video, and soon after he cried he needed support because youtube monetization, followed by a thank you for the support and announcing a successful patreon. Good for him I thought. I stopped watching his videos soon after, because they rubbed me the wrong way with all the casual misogyny, judgemental tone and stiff, robotic format. Never knew about plagiarisms allegations until now. I'm really in shock, and even wondering if those words he said in the first video I watched of him are even his. Wondering if he can even articulate any idea about the things he supposedly cares about.

[@riverw4204]

Dude, yes. After watching this, I honestly feel kind of stupid for not suspecting that there may have been actual issues going on behind the scenes beyond "youtube think gay = bad"

[@AbsolXGuardian]

Naw that's like apologizing to "the guy who breaks vases" after someone blamed them for breaking your loved one's urn, when this one time it was actually them. Unless so many other cases have been misrepresented as well. That said, malicious reporting is a nigh impossible problem to solve.

[@dopaminecloud]

@@AbsolXGuardian Accurate case by case judgment > Tribalistic overall stance taking

[@PeripheralVisionary]

@@dopaminecloud I would agree, but if someone has a penchance for lying then it is only natural they would not be believed; if someone said creepy things about women and a woman got sexually assaulted, then it is perfectly natural for the creep to be the main suspect. If James Somerton wrote that later accusations of plagiarism in his future videos were the result of homophobia, most of us would be inclined to not believe him. It is not tribalistic, it is the consequences of some entity's, in this case KZbin's, shitty actions in the past against the LGBT community. If you have done terrible things or have acted in bad faith before, do not be surprised when people assume the worst of you. Of course, we should retain some measure of skepticism, but there is no need to apologize to KZbin when they themselves are responsible for having acted in bad faith before. I would argue that is even more tribalistic to take the side of KZbin to such an extent (Siding with one presidential candidate simply because they are not X), rather than in acknowledging this one exception to the rule and still acknowledge the rule.

[@The_Cait]

My favorite part of iilluminaughtii's videos is when she struggles (or fails) to pronounce words that she stole from someone else's work. She'll record herself actively sounding out a word like it's the first time she's ever encountered it in her life, and expect her audience to believe she wrote it 😂.

[@SaleenSundria]

I mean, you can write a word you can't pronounce. take pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis for example. the only difference is that Blair is too lazy and cheap to look up the pronunciation and do another take

[@fursona_au_chocolat]

james somerton comes back to youtube with a fake moustache and says "james somerton was a social experiment, my real name... is james winterton..."

[@thegreatchipman]

The Paul Zimmer manuever

[@totallyreyalfactsfsfs]

​@@thegreatchipman who's Paul Zimmer? I only know Boy Trecker.

[@scootie_scoot]

This is the best comment ever

[@BeanKally]

Now we just need James Springton and James Fallton for the full set

[@rusted_ursa]

I mean, he's apparently on TikTok now just using really bad filters, so you weren't far off.

[@ImagineTheDragon]

Back for my bi-monthly rewatch of James Sommerton: The Audacity

[@obrunodamacena]

If James were to plagiarize your comment, it would read "queer-monthly rewatch"

[@sonicrunn3r895]

@@obrunodamacena This is such a simple joke and it has me wheezing I CAN'T-😭

[@lames232]

​@@obrunodamacenastraight-monthly rewatch

[@FishBonePendant17]

Ace-Reporter just doing some research

[@Namelessfornow34]

@@obrunodamacena lmao this sent meee

[@coriollis]

not often do you see a KZbinr say to another 'delete your channel' and then see the other guy actually do it

[@JasmineNorman2007]

😭😭😭

[@dovermaskot4441]

Yes, but then again, not often does youtuber put 4 hours of dedication to tell you so.

[@hannibalburgers477]

Wat, which youtuber?

[@princekyle4132]

@@hannibalburgers477James Somerton has mysteriously vanished

[@frightenedsoul]

@@hannibalburgers477hbomberguy is the KZbinr that said ‘delete your channel’

[@CraftyMagicDollz]

Quite literally one of the best videos on KZbin. It's also been suggested to me SO many times, that I must account for over200 watch hours, because I've woken up to the video in its final chapters no less than two DOZEN times. That being said, i have ONE critique; At 20:37 you said "this is the LITERAL definition of content, its like it got squeezed out of a Nintendo branded tube somewhere...." - and I'm so EXTREMELY disappointed that you didn't take this opportunity to INSTEAD say; " this is the LITERAL definition of content, its like it got EXTRUDED froma Nintendo branded tube somewhere..." What a missed opportunity. That is all. 🎉 Congrats 🎉I look forward to everything you create going forward. 🎉

[@esserefveermold]

I can't believe straight white women held poor James at gunpoint and made him plagiarize a ton of stuff and make up a bunch of bullshit and present it as historical facts 😭😭😭

[@JonathanSicoli]

It was me. I was just so angry at. Uh. Gamers

[@judyh3707]

​@@JonathanSicoligaming racists

[@rockydt3720]

​@@JonathanSicoliis it because they're going woke and shoving the woke agenda down your throat?

[@s4tchm0j0n3s]

It's always the straight white women!

[@Redstoneghost133]

@@judyh3707 damn we used to have just gamers or racists, what a world 2023 is where you can have them both!

[@emilydurkee8664]

Imagine, you're an online content creator, someone you know sends you a KZbin link, "OMG you're in this video" you click on it, it's an hbomber guy video, it's 4 hours long

[@dodixaber8968]

That's what happened to James Somerton and it was only 2 hours in and people who are watching are still in the process on watching it. He quickly denied it by saying that it was old accusations that was already resolved (in his eyes). Of course after it finally finished he really had no defense and had to nuke his presence.

[@moongirl-d9h]

if that ever happened to me, if i were a content creator, i would fucking DIE

[@sweetsinnamondaddy]

and you’re not in the first half

[@pantheon6920]

Cosmic horror

[@alaeriia01]

And then it turns out you're mentioned 40 minutes in as a tangential side to someone else he's exposing, and you feel alright, but then he says, "By the way, this other guy? We'll get back to him later!" The part about you starts at 2:35:07 and goes for 90 minutes.

[@Cam_Can_Play]

The rapid and constant cutting between your emotional performance and James Somerton's monotone lecturing was giving me actual whiplash. The difference in your intonations is monumental.

[@nateds7326]

James has a very punchable voice. I inadvertently watched one of his videos (the one about killing stalking I think) and didn't finish it because I kept thinking that the way he was speaking was really condescending. Also, I noted at the time that he used the word "queer" and "LGBTQ" waaaaay too much which is funny in heinsight.

[@finnascrem4088]

Blair does it too. I used to be a fan but stopped watching her a long time ago, long before this. (It was actually related to something on Sad Milk I believe? I NEED to source the info before I repeat it, though.) And hearing how monotone she is now is very jarring after getting to better essayists.

[@occasionalart]

You can just HEAR how extremely little James cares and knows about whatever he's talking about, the most emotion he shows is either when he's trying to defend himself, or when he's complaining about women.

[@RobotPilots]

He literally has the same voice I do when I talk to myself when working on an essay or school assignment that absolutely bores me

[@TenshinSound]

One thing I noticed about James and Blaire's videos is just how boring they are to listen to. It's as though words written with clinical language meant for analysis purposes sound kinda weird when read outloud verbatim by someone who stole it and doesn't care about the meaning behind those words.

[@skootties]

they also generally struggle to inflect the words effectively. this is not very noticeable but I think it's a significant part of why they can't really make sentences that are good on paper sound engaging.

[@alexj01]

it hurts my soul that calling Merlin "the Arthur show" is the funniest joke James has ever made and he will never realize it

[@animeotaku307]

HBomb showed a lot of restraint by not playing a bit of Arthur’s intro after that blunder. TBF, though, that was a gaffe on James’ part. I can forgive that while watching him get torn down for actual shit he’s done.

[@peachy_lili]

@@animeotaku307 I hope you understand that the point of it being put into the video was not to shame James for a brain flub, but to illustrate just how little attachment he actually had to a subject he supposedly was into enough to make a video about.

[@GIR177]

​@@animeotaku307That's not a gaffe, he forgot the name because he didn't watch the freaking show lol

[@justacouplapaninis4986]

And I say HEY!

[@Robots2124]

​​@@justacouplapaninis4986What a wonderful kind of day...

[@Ross516]

Coming back to this after James lied about killing himself to post hole and horny post on his side account is crazy

[@ConradTwigs]

Also the hole pics were stolen 🙃

[@Ross516]

@@ConradTwigs AND THE HOLE PICS WERE STOLEN!!!

[@PiaPancakes]

That’s the funniest shit I ever read.

[@thanatos7246]

This comment thread is like being repeatedly beaten with a brick

[@mattb6704]

@@ConradTwigsplagiarising hole pics. Well I never 😅

[@jeleeson]

James Somerton reportedly deep into writing the script of an in-depth four-hour take-down of James Somerton's history of plagiarism.

[@wetwillie]

It'll be ready to upload in roughly 4 hours.

[@Arsontapir]

I love how if you fall asleep listening to youtube it just defaults to this half the time

[@1998_MIN]

@@Arsontapir It's the home page of the Internet now as far as I'm concerned

[@CodexQuinn]

Good. Hopefully itll subconsciously sink in and start to stick.

[@hakzource8660]

The funniest thing with the Illuminaghtii and LegalEagle situation is the fact that she tried to accuse a law firm out of everyone on KZbin, and cited crap evidence. Yikes

[@PistachioBandit]

Someone should call a helpline on her behalf because she basically committed suicide with that move.

[@Thomas-uc4sg]

wtf I never considered that; not the brightest of choices

[@lilpetz500]

It's wild that she got away with not only so much plagiarism, but also all the abuse of people in her personal life and ironically shady capitalist efforts she managed, all unravelling because she decided to go after. A. Lawyer.

[@TimeTravelerJessica]

It was also such a hilarious non-issue too. Like girl, no, they did not steal your extremely basic visual technique and theirs looks slightly different!

[@punkinholler]

Right? I watch Legal Eagle regularly. I have no idea what kind of person he is IRL, but he is one of the last people I'd suspect of KZbin plagiarism. If he did something like that and got caught, it wouldn't just affect his KZbin career, it would undoubtedly have a huge impact on his legal practice as well. People do dumb shit sometimes but plagiarism is an act of either laziness or desperation and Legal Eagle doesn't strike me as either.

[@karmalotto8587]

After seeing how much Blaire plagiarized, it makes me genuinely confused at WHY she tried to beef with Legal Eagle at all. Imagine having a mountain of skeletons in your closet, but also your closet door is made of glass and anyone can easily see right through it if they're looking. I don't understand what she had to gain from beefing with him. Like what did she THINK would happen? Just... OWWW! My brain, I can't wrap my head around her motivations. Is she just extremely stupid?

[@peachy_lili]

Malignant narcissism perhaps? It does make people act in counterproductive, even self-defeating ways sometimes. Not a doctor etc etc but her right-wing beliefs don't help either

[@pokeguy742]

Blaire probably honestly believed the LE team was trying to steal her patented plug-in grouping (oops, I mean """style"""), which as Harris pointed out is ridiculous to believe, but in an environment where the only prerequisite for having a unique editing style is just selecting a plug-in for your editing software that most other people don't use and pairing it with another relatively unpopular plug-in for transitions or w/e, it can be easy to fall into the mindset of "everything in my videos is uniquely mine, including all these pre-fabbed assets I bought" and see inquiry into your process as attempts to undermine your business, which is probably what she assumed was going on.

[@Korra228]

Like Hbomberguy said, she doesn't even understand the concept of creatives sharing their knowledge or skills because she's never created anything. To her everything is a part of competition in the YT space, even basic fucking editing styles.

[@Korra228]

​@@peachy_liliwasn't she pandering to leftists though? With all the criticism of homophobic companies and stuff like that

[@asmrtpop2676]

@@Korra228Key word: pandering. She comes from a right wing background and that’s her true beliefs. Remember, she follows the money.

[@DerekWrites]

I just realized today that with the extra coverage this got, for some people this is their first Hbomb video and they have no idea why he's in a dirty ruined coat

[@HarleyCringe]

Yup, can confirm I have no idea why he's in a burned lab coat 😂

[@calebharris292]

Imagine going from this to the ctrl+alt+delete video without context

[@zubetp]

@@HarleyCringefor a couple years now he's been wearing the same lab coat and progressively ruining it more each video lol. looks like he might have rinsed off the profiterole though.

[@GRB-tj6uj]

at this point I´m so used to youtubers having wacky gimmicks I just went `he´s probably doing a thing` and accepted it

[@raspberrycrowns9494]

I just thought he was making a weird fashion statement cause honestly, slay.