oh my god i actually drew that creeper in the thumbnail at 2:27 back in 2010 when i was 14 years old and i guess leafy found it somewhere and used it. so fucking surreal.
i don't really mind, it was just some silly thing i made on deviantart and at some point i think people started spreading it around without a source. the most surreal thing by far was when i was playing tf2 (this was before i knew the drawing had gotten any popularity) and i suddenly saw it on a wall as someone's spray. i was like ".....wait isn't that........WAIT."
@@annie_the_great Did you not just speak your mind in this comment here? Cyberbullying is against the UA-cam rules, if that's what you consider being no longer a viable platform for discussion then I hope you stay away from the vulnerable online, as it seems your idea of discussion is the harmful type that makes UA-cam unsafe. People haven't "become" anything. It's just that the sensitive and marginalized are finally starting to obtain a voice now that places like UA-cam are fighting against oppression. You are the one who is having a meltdown and failing to hold opposing thoughts in their head. By not understanding WHY leafy is banned and WHY what he was doing is banworthy, you yourself are guilty of what you accuse us of. I honestly don't get why you don't understand this because you yourself accuse ppl who are offended by Leafy as being unable to hold opposing thoughts in our brains, but it's clear you yourself are unable to hold two points of view in your mind at once, and are incapable of including a mind that wishes online platforms allow for safety from bullying. BTW none of this matters because Leafy broke UA-cam terms of service for years, went away, and came back while continuing to break said TOS. It's no surprise he's banned.
@refresh I understand that, I see it as a need for balance. Believe it or not people saw Leafy as a role model. I'm all for not making yourself the easy target I think that's an important lesson, and taking some ridicule can be an effective way of learning it. I just think sometimes things go too far and I also like to see the authority or a professional step in when necessary (like removing bad behaving accounts from some internet spaces)
@refresh np, I'm still firm that Leafys ban is a positive thing but you've provided a lot of nuance, of course I have no intention of sucking up to google or UA-cam as a corporation, that doesn't mean I can't praise certain decisions as progress, even in small increments. It is good to read the replies, I dont think there's a need for every comment to try and change someone's mind, just offer a perspective.
@@DanzelGlovington Bans and censorship can never be positive. Even if a person is universally despised, allowing them to be censored creates an amazingly "slippery slope" that quickly hurts everyone, like the hysteria we see on the modern surface web. The belief that anything is bad or morally wrong is subjective and giving the power to make those determinations for everyone to an entity will inevitably lead to that entity's subjective opinion being enforced upon those who disagree with its beliefs. Just wait until something comes up that you disagree with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc about and then tell us it's positive.
In English class, we're reading Shakespeare, specifically Macbeth, and I feel like it's pretty similar to what happened with Leafy. Macbeth is about a Scottish warrior who sees a chance to become king and takes it. To do so, he does horrible things, he kills the king to take his place, and after becoming king, even stabs his best friend Banquo in the back simply to maintain his position. In the end, his power corrupts him, and eventually, even his own people turn on him. His downfall ended up being because he let his lust for power get to his head. The English army, a force far greater than his, came to his castle and even still he believed himself to be invincible, until it was far too late. Leafy saw making commentary videos tearing down people lower than him as an opportunity to be king of UA-cam I guess you could say. All the while not realizing he was doing anything wrong. He stabbed his friend Keemstar in the back to maintain his place on top. He kept doing bad things, treading deeper and deeper into dark water, until a force came in and stopped him, call it Content Cop, or UA-cam. Leafy rode the wave all the way down, and never really realized his mistake, and looking back it makes you think. Was it really Leafy's fault? The tale of leafy is a classic Shakespearean tragedy, Leafy started as a good meaning boy, who saw an opportunity, and taking it, he became successful, but not realizing it his once noble actions became negative, and his lust for power took control of him, his hamartia. The crisis happens, Peripeteia aka TommyNC, leafy makes his first error in judgement (making fun of an autistic kid) setting him in an unknowing downward spiral. He continues on his path, not learning from his actions all the way until the catastrophe, in Macbeth's case the raid on his castle, or in leafy's case, the raid on his channel. In the end, both of them perished, but started with good intentions, but they both begin to corrupt, and finally, ride their fading wave until it crashes overtop of them. Lol if only leafy paid attention in school
But who was Leafy's Lady Macbeth? Was it not she who tempted Macbeth to sin in the first place? Was it not she who destroyed the good man that once was?
King Chungus I’m with you on this. The sub count that continued to rise was as deceiving as Macbeth’s wife. The more subs Leafy got, the more untouchable he felt he was.
I remember that at one point I loved returning home and watching his content. It took me like 4 months to realise how repetitive his content got. He was quite the beast and now he serves as a fascinating study.
I remember watching his videos aswell as idubbbz's videos, thinking they were the 'good guys' and thinking keemstar and h3h3 were the 'bad guys', but after a while I just started watching leafy less and less because he became less interesting, and then idubbbz made his content cop, after which I completely stopped watching leafy videos.
The combination of All Caps, a cartoon of Saint Patrick, and colored footage of snakes to lead into the reptilian section was just one of the unexpected moments of brilliance in this documentary about a youtuber. Very well done as always.
@@justsomegoosewithinterneta4199 all caps by the great MF DOOM. one of the best rap songs of all time by the best do ever do it in my opinion, you should definitely check it out along with his Madvillainy & MM..Food albums.
@@bluesolace9052 probably not gonna be unbanned since its been a month. But yeah according to leafy, UA-cam emailed em that their looking into his requests to be unbanned.
Found your channel while stuck in an airport all night due to a canceled flight, gotta say you're really helping me through this shit XD Great vids man.
you can tell EmpLemon really wants his channel to die. Telling people to unsubscribe didn't work so now he went and exposed UA-cam's closed-door conspiracy to kill off Leafy's channel, ensuring a retaliatory measure against him.
i cant believe this video is 5 years old already, Its so mind boggling that i first saw this when i was 15 and have kept coming back to this video because its just THAT good
he needs to make an update vid dude like a full idubbbz documentary and downfall/decline, not that i care that much abt leafy or idubbbz or anything but this guy made all of ts feel so captivating and important 😭 love emplemon for real❤️
Hey you know how leafs work, trees create them as small sprouts before they become big bright and green leaves. These leaves will absorb all the sunlight. But in the autunm, the tree will slowly kill of its leaves by cutting it off from the food supply the tree has been sustaining his leaves with and drains all last remaining power out of those leaves before they fall off and are left to wither away. Then next year, no traces of those leaves will be present and others will have taken its place. You could almost say his name forshadowed his own fate.
Your theory about UA-cam burying Leafy surreptitiously seems highly likely to me. The only thing that makes it a bit questionable to me is that Keemstar was also included in the Tower Dog memo. However, it's also likely the Keem would have been better equipped than Leafy to work something out with UA-cam behind the scenes.
It is an interesting theory, but we have never seen such a thing happen again. It is more the combination of many factors along with his hubris that was his real downfall. Besides, Leafy's content is not sustainable as his audience inevitably grows up and move on. Drama Alert will be on a similar path as UA-cam cracks down on content creators behaving badly which is Keemstar"s bread and butter.
Did Leafy have a big community/following outside of the UA-cam platform? Keemstar has about 2.5 million followers on Twitter... Even if he's censored on UA-cam, his promoting a new upload on Twitter would seemingly help his views stay at least stable and relevant. Especially since he tags other big creators, getting even more attention. Leafy posting on social media seems like it would be a yell into the void, reaching only his most dedicated fans.
TicTacP leafy hated twitter. It was also hacked at some point and never got it back. He was just like fuck it. I see where he's coming from. Twitter is such a worthless time suck. But if you're trying to be a successful UA-cam creator these days you gotta be on all the social media
Now here’s an informative program that’s actually entertaining. Unlike what’s been on tv recently, good job once again mah boi. (Also, 42:40 THERE I AM GARY THERE I AM!!!)
Others have said it, but you are one of the most captivating people I have ever listened to on youtube, and I've been on youtube a LOT since it first existed. I believe you will continue to have great growth, and at a young age too! Im not much older but as someone trying to grow in the virtual space, you are an inspiration!
Another fantastic upload. For me personally, as someone who watched all of this unfold in real time as it was happening 2 years ago, this is great to see. These events are truly historic for internet culture, and Leafy's rise and fall serve as the perfect cautionary tale, to me, of how to grow a You Tube channel, and how to destroy it. Sad really, as even though I am not a fan of his content like I was as an edge lord 14 year old, I still think back fondly on those times, when UA-cam drama was more entertaining and brutal, the commentary community was a force to be reckoned with, and Leafy reigned king. Twas a different time, and now seeing Pyrocynical slowly move away from commentary and NFKRZ try to resuscitate his dying channel is sad for me, but I guess in the end, this is how things were meant to pan out. Once again, great video, can't wait for more, and keep up the good work.
Turkey Tom yeah I was a long subscriber of leafy drama alert every channel listed in this and saw it all unfold interesting to have seen this history as it happened I've seen the rise and the chaos and the fall of leafy interesting now I never witch hunted anyone like most in that fan base just enjoyed the videos of all of them interesting to look back on all that now saw keemstar idubbz leafy all them very chaotic time period with the drama and such
@@ijneb1248 >*BLEGH* THAT FUPA THOUGH LMAO LOOK AT HIS BEANIE >ethan about to say something insensitive or racist cuz he is that out of touch" >this episode was brought to you by *insert sponsor* >raises eyebrows while reading questions off a preproduced google doc this mans never was good we were just immature anyone besides reddit moved on ehtan isnt funny whatsoever
@@travv88 I don’t see how people will just collectively decide to suddenly have common sense. Seems like humans get dumber every day. The saying goes “A person is smart, a group of people is stupid”, but honestly I think it’s the other way around. As a species we’ve achieved a few amazing things. But if you look at your average person you wouldn’t think we’d be capable of anything.
@@Omnihilo_ There is a dysgenic process going on right now in the Western world, I believe it is being done intentionally. It is plain to see, glad you can see it.
HAHA ISN'T IT FUNNY? I was going to ask..they basically shadow banned him right? He’s acting like this is a conspiracy but UA-cam does it all the time. I know this video was awhile ago but still..
this is one of the best videos ever, well researched, well scripted, well edited, i've watched all of your commentary videos and this is your best. have you noticed that gameplay reaction commentaries are being popularized again? all the old commentators that were friends with leafy like nfkrz and pyrocynical went in different directions and leafy just rotted, the leaf went orange/red just like his sub count...
To this day this video stands as a master piece. The music, the editing, the comedy, the perspective, everything about this video is timeless yet only something that could have been made in the final years of that era. Many of us consider it our childhoods, i don't have a name. All i know is that I miss this era, 2016-2020 was something else. But despite everything the world keeps getting stranger.
I already knew the vast majority of this, but something about the way this is presented made me stay from start to finish, it felt so fresh! Seriously, this might be the only video on UA-cam over 20 min that I’ve sat all the way through. Keep these coming!
Thats the thing behind the meme I already knew was a degenerate and the video didn't interest me much. This was much more captivating as I witnessed parts of Leafy's existence first hand and didnt only hear about how bad he was.
@@tomhill3248 I am subscribed to over 500 channels, what is your definition of good, ill keep on supporting them through ad revenue, thanks. That would cost me around 50,000 a month if I was to support every channels I consider good and deserves revenue. Thanks and go fuck yourself.
All star had to do was make a farewell video for tf2. But instead he made a series of videos passive agressively making fun of the game that made him famous, like what the fuck?
He wasn't making fun of the game, he was making fun of the whiny dipshits that begged him to play more TF2 when he clearly didn't want to. Ironically, he became a whiny dipshit in the process.
wow.. I just watched through that whole thing and I have to admit, I never thought I would watch a documentary about a youtube nerd for almost an hour and not get bored. The production quality was insane and the effort and research put into it almost makes me question how much effort actual documentary producers put into their own works. Incredible video putting a less common view on a subject that I was also once part of. Thank you, for letting leafy go.
I had to check the video time when you said "Almost an hour." It honestly did not feel like 51 minuets. I guess that foes to show you how interesting he makes the topic seem.
2015-2017 was an entertaining but oddly toxic time for UA-cam. It was like the entire internet collectively went through it’s edgy, mean, insecure teen phase. Even as someone who was as once subscribed to him for a bit, I’ll always look back on Leafy as an immature nobody with an equally immature fan base that gave him an overinflated ego that he couldn’t keep in check. The kind of content creator who probably never should’ve become popular in the first place. It’s kind of ironic how he took the massive gamble to overhaul his content which resulted in his spike in popularity, but he didn’t take the same risk in his brief return and chose to hide his newer videos under the guise of clickbait drama that made everyone turn on him in the first place. And while the Content Cop video may not have been the killer of Leafy’s channel, it certainly exposed one fatal flaw with his character: Don’t talk shit if you can’t take a hit.
I would argue that phase started in 2014. 2005-2013 seemed like the Golden Age of UA-cam and when you compare the content that came after it, there was a lot more edginess as said. I never paid attention to Leafy during his popularity but did notice the effects he had on the platform.
He gained great success. He was far from a nobody and is a multi-millionaire today, my guy. And immature, yes but on the internet. That was his persona online. You just let it get to far up into your head. Haha!
This actually makes me anxious about UA-cam. After watching this, it's pretty clear that YT was likely behind Leafy's demise. My question is: *will they do it again?*
Well him coming back and gaining a shit ton of subscribers, kinda proves that he was supressed by UA-cam. Because his videos were not deliberately demonetized.
I used to work at one of those third parties being hired to monitor content, relevance and what not by the algorithms used by big sites...and yeah what EmpLemon says is really fitting to the way those sites operate behind the scenes. Of course most of those employees are under NDAs so it will still take some years for more testimonies to come out.
I feel that this theory emp had is also a larger narrative UA-cam slowly changing rules over time. But I wonder if team UA-cam will ever go against the makeup community because of drama surrounding it.
Ikr if a movie came out about a guy like Leafy, who starts out making innocent content but then rides a toxic trend to fame, and then you see him mishandle his celebrity status making more and more enemies, until his tragic downfall when everyone (even the megacorporation of his own platform) turns against him, that'd probably be a fucking good movie
DammitSinged he doesn't have a day job. He's rich. Hes been in Europe travelling for the past 7 months. I talked to him like 2 months ago. He said he was thinking about making a comeback but he's afraid everyone still hates his guts. I feel bad for him. He's actually a pretty cool dude
He could make a comeback by "trying to reform", and then go back into his old habits... because as much as people threw hate at him, it was just the bandwagon effect. Once he seems to be reformed, people will grow bias for him, and then he can go back to his old ways. "I'm reformed!" -> UA-cam remonitizes his videos -> new viewers come in -> toxicity subtly returns -> remains partially reformed to keep the viewer gates open (and I don't use "toxicity" in a negative way... toxicity is good for entertainment)
i mean he could quite honestly pull it off, member sam pepper? that nigga is currently streaming with ice poseidon and has an average of 1k viewers on his stream
I used to be subbed to him. I think your UA-cam murder theory might be valid cause I remember there was a point his video's just flat out stopped appearing on my feed. I remember having to actively search his channel to see if/when he uploaded. And that got tedious enough to where I lost interest in his video's, then gradually lost interest in his genre all together.
Leafy's story is a a tragedy in the sense that the protagonist falls from grace, doomed to an existence of lurking in the shadows while his former comrades like Pyro went on the path to glory; but also it was also an epic victory as justice was served to someone who thrived off of hate leeched off of drama. And in the end, It was his weird chin that did him in. This story is just so poetic
Your videos are fantastic. These are some of the only videos I see where no one is saying stuff like “pin me” or “17:41 lol” or “wow so deep” or some idiotic childish one off remark. These comments are long paragraphs, reflecting and more often than not adding to the topic of the video. It is highly impressive that emp has been able to keep his audience, and keep his intelligent audience. If only leafy had been able to do this, we may look at him through a different lens. Not to mention, these videos are incredibly well researched. Emp goes into the deepest corners of the internet to find his evidence, and find his points, and is able to keep the visuals intriguing and active for 51 minutes. I just can’t imagine how much time emp took to create this. And I’m grateful people like emp are willing to take their time to entertain us. I would wholeheartedly take this over National Geographic.
This has got to be one of the best and if not most well researched videos on the site. This was such a nostalgic trip for me because this marks the time where I used UA-cam the most. I subscribed to leafy when he had around 30-40k subscribers and was familiar with DramaAlert and Grade and Idubbbz through other means (Minnesota Burns, Jinx Content Cop, etc.) so I got to watch all of these events through all of these years unfold through my eyes from everyone's perspectives, and to be honest, this is the best and most accurate retelling of the story I've ever seen anyone even attempt (trust me, I've thought of tackling this beast of a topic before as well lol). Props aside, I also think your theory on Leafy being the first demonetized channel is pretty interesting, and plausible, but it also brings up the question that if this truly were the case, without Leafy, would demonetization and the strict regulations on UA-cam today even exist? I believe that Leafy existed as a catalyst for every major change to the site since 2015-16, as well as the many personalities who would gain massive subscriber counts as he fell. I think you missed a good opportunity to bring up Pyrocynical in this though, because he's like the "Good Future" version of Leafy in a multiple endings video game. He was almost identical to Leafy at the time in terms of content, and even fanbase, yet he didn't make all the same mistakes that Leafy did, for lack of a bigger subcount and a bigger ego, thus with minor tweaks to his content after Leafys decline, his channel thrived. All of the possibilities you talked about in the end exist in Pyro so it's really interesting to actually see what Leafy could've been, but then again, without his downfall, people like Pyro's success, or others who adapted the genre wouldn't have even been possible. Longass comment aside, tl:dr, I really loved this video, was really nostalgic and accurate, Leafy represented what would happen if a common channel got big overnight and was ultimately one of the most influential villains the site ever had. Kthanks bye nerdout over :)
agreed on most of it, though I thought the theory on Leafy being the catalyst all the addpocalipse was common knowledge. Still is interesting to see how one person is kind of responsible if not the original patient of demonetization and the hole mess that came out of it.
Woah. Okay, that was a lot to take in. This was more than a simple recount of events. You dug deep into the impact of Content Cop, and also a potential major conspiracy on UA-cam's end. I haven't been this blown away by a video in a while. If this doesn't pick up big-time, I won't know what to think. You definitely deserve it.
to out myself, I was an absolute leafy stan back in the "golden days" of his channel. I was a full out edgy teen actively hating on everyone leafy made a video about. Around the time where the mysterious decline of views occurred, i stopped watching him aswell. For me the content just grew stale over time. The videos were always the same and got boring. I also started reflecting and looking back at the videos from him I once thought were "the greatest and realest videos on youtube" and was almost disgusted by myself. Realizing hes always just picking on people smaller than himself, who cant defend themself. Realizing that its just always the same insults he uses about small things or funny appearances the "victims" most of the time have no real control over. The content cop coming after this realization was just the final nail in the coffin for me, pointing out many more things wrong with these kind of videos. Maybe there was a secret youtube shadowban too, but I can imagine that a lot of leafy fans felt like I did around that time, getting bored of the repetitive edgy content, aswell as "growing up" and realizing that edgy ≠ funny
I stopped watching him when he started only dropping reaction videos hating on peeps but I remember him from his story time videos. Recently found a channel that reposts old leafy videos and I gotta say, the old story time videos where surprisingly really entertaining and pure. It's sad to go through and see how he gradually gave in to his edgy tendencies though
im in the same boat, i started watching him when he had like 80k subs and he was great, the story times were hillarious and the whole "this dude is so real" was very appealing. The whole making fun of ppl was pretty hillarious for a while too until, as you said, it just got stale... I realized he was often punching down and its not really entertaining watching a grown ass probably millionare at this point making fun of like 13 year olds every single day. i miss when he was a small youtuber who just made funny edgy vids and story time, actually i dont think i would enjoy that today but who knows. I was a HSSSS BOI and this is my story lol
i liked him too but i never attacked anyone for it, i just thought he was funny also after the mysterious algorithm change I did watch him much less but i occasionally came back also i rewatched some of the old storytime videos recently and i actually liked them a lot
Not to sound too much like an English teacher, but you displayed some impressive critical thinking and thorough research in this video, not to mention successfully creating a well made visual aesthetic (a.k.a. nice editing, man). Excellent Job! Definitely one of the better video essays I've seen in recent years.
I don't remember when, it was years ago, I got a recommandation: a Leafy video. I ignored it at first, but it never went away, so I watched it. It hooked me so I kept watching and watcing and then more recommendations of Leafy's videos appeared and I kept watching. I gave in to this type of videos and subscribed to him. I started to watch his videos regularly since, back then, I was too an edgy and angry teen. But then I grew bored of him. I stopped watching his videos and finally, I unsubscribed from him. And then something happend. I noticed that youtube erased every hint of Leafy from my recommandations. Every time I got recommended a type of video I stopped watching, Leafy crossed my mind. I wondered what happend to him, why suddenly I stopped seeing something that once bombarded my recommandations? I didn't even got recommended H3H3's video about Leafy, not even content cop. Not even one video from Keemstar about him (and because of this I didn't even knew about these 'dramas' between Leafy and others untill 1-2 years later). I thought 'wow youtube finally understands when people don't want to watch certain things anymore??' so I left it like that, plus I didn't cared enough to give him a search. But it was still curios how he just disappeared into thin air from my youtube way before that big fall he experienced.
This same thing happened to me, minus the edgy teen part, back then I was very tame and his videos were like shock value jokes to me, hense why I watched them
I love Emp's dedication to consistently quality content. It's great that this video is so long, yet so consistently well written and editited. I get the sense that Emp really cares about what he does. Keep up the good work.
2 years late, but... It's more of "UA-cam brought the gun, loaded it, and Leafy pulled the trigger, then iDubbz took the credit for the kill allowing UA-cam to get away with it."
@@darciheadswillroll Since all the kids that played Minecraft either grew up or migrated to Fortnite, Minecraft is now seen as more of a nostalgic and well-remembered thing.
No, if the time to make and edit this video was put into some low-effort vlogs, then they would be a lot more views... It really sucks that the actually good content on UA-cam is pushed to the bottom by videos that take a hundredth of the time to make.
They do show similarities. Who knows, maybe from this recent trend a new leafy may rise from the Fortnite trend. Perhaps UA-cam is too self aware or proactive to allow another leafy to rise. Or maybe we just don't know another ingenious way to bypass its content restrictions. Time will tell.
Jack Ryan if that happens I'll be watching and paying attention to see how it all goes down. Maybe it can happen with fortnite or with a new trend that could be on the horizen.(it might just be me but I think that for fortnite is dying now or is beginning to die out do you feel the same.)
This is amazing. One of the best movies I've watched on UA-cam. I was never really a fan of Leafy's repetitive content, but I did think he was a funny guy. And I did love what he did to UA-cam in 2016. It was awesome to see the top UA-camrs interacting like they did in the early days of Smosh, Lisa Nova and Daxflame. The 2010-2015 era of UA-cam didn't really have UA-cam celebrities in this sense. Leafy brought that back and made UA-cam what it is today.
WOW! just wow! Very impressed with the scripting, structure, story telling, visual "and just overall" the creation of this video! very impressed with this really held the emotion and tons of research was conducted! you have my subscription OH YEAH! was also very entertaining! keep it up looking forward to what you create next
Wow. You are very positive about this. Not making fun. Not hating. It's just you are so happy you almost sound sarcastic. lol! Well if I could be that positive I would have a life and go outside for once! Keep it up, my guy!
Dayum, never thought I'd watch almost an hour long video about a UA-camr's downfall but glad i did. I started watching UA-cam at the end of 2016, so there were a lot of things i had heard of but didn't know the whole story. I've never watched Leafy's videos but i kind of want him to make a comeback to see what would happen. And great advice/moral, will definitely keep that in mind as a UA-camr.
Leafy just didn't change his content much and got boring. Watching a guy talk shit about kids and weirdos on the internet just got stale after a while.
FrostBug So what's wrong in that? Yes, i started using it in place of TV at the end of 2016 but i was still using it casually before. And it didn't take me that long to familiarise with the platform, that's why i started my own channel and I'm satisfied.
I've watched this masterpiece about 30 times now and every time you bring up Idubbbz and that western music comes on, my heart starts to flutter as I remember those days on UA-cam. I watched it all unfold. Keep your hand on your gun. Jesus christ it gets me every time.
To this day, the Leafy content cop is still a piece of art. Even if it didn't kill Leafy's channel, it certainly did in his reputation. It's probably one of my favourite UA-cam videos ever. The way Ian hones in on Leafy's insecurity and tears him and his entire image to shreds with it is fucking brilliant on its own, but Leafy's awful response where he makes it even more blatantly obvious that Ian got him good elevates it to legendary status. Ian should never have apologised for that video. As much as I'm fascinated by Leafy, he totally deserved that content cop. It's so poetic that what ended Leafy was essentially a Leafy video.
"There is point for that" Just wanted to say opposite, because I forgot to add "no". Rly, there you have deep analisys and original series of "2 min meme review"! Why ever getting rid of Emp?
Rusty the channels that were caught up in the 2016 drama storm are either much different or incredibly successful, both even. Some are no longer active. It’s insane
So you prefer today’s state of UA-cam, where every mature content creator is forced to tone down their humor due to the fear of demonetization? I said one of the *many* golden ages. Personally, I find the 2015-16 era a lot of fun to talk and reminisce about. At least it wasn’t as boring as today’s state of things.
Yeah, I remember Keem tried to help leafy get his login info back after the leaked nudes incident. I don’t think they hate each other’s guts or anything like that, but idk if they’re “friends” friends though? They were extremely close from late 2015-spring 2016. (Or, at least it sure looked that way.) They worked together, traveled together, stood up for each other, etc. I don’t think they’re quite back to that yet. I might be missing something, but Calvin didn’t unlist any of the Keemstar rants - I feel like he should have done this if they were truly back to the way things used to be.
this is something that I've been saying for a while now. I've been using youtube sense its initiate launch. This platform's algorithm has slowly become not about what you want to watch but what youtube wants you to watch. I miss the golden days of youtube.
If IDubbbz is a content cop, EmpLemon is a content seedy private detective with a drinking problem and a late alimony payment.
the max payne of youtubers
@@paulc9853 I just imagine a picture of Emp lemon dolphin diving into a room with two bananas instead of pistols.
Pretty accurate tbh
I picture Dangeresque.
Content detective? Content historian? Idk
Your editing and story-telling is fantastic, you kept me fully engaged for almost an hour. Great video.
kevin here
Hey KEVIN... oh no wait... Greg? Stinker? Im confused
never thought I’d see u here
Its bed time go to sleep
Hey how's it going!
oh my god i actually drew that creeper in the thumbnail at 2:27 back in 2010 when i was 14 years old and i guess leafy found it somewhere and used it. so fucking surreal.
LOL
i don't really mind, it was just some silly thing i made on deviantart and at some point i think people started spreading it around without a source. the most surreal thing by far was when i was playing tf2 (this was before i knew the drawing had gotten any popularity) and i suddenly saw it on a wall as someone's spray. i was like ".....wait isn't that........WAIT."
Mako Ray lol, you still play tf2 (I do)
nah i moved onto overwatch, tf2 has a special place in my heart but you can only play so many hours of the same game
Mako Ray haha, especially considering valve is making THESE DAMN UPDATES TAKE SO LONG!
Moral of the story: Don't fuck with MrBlackDarkness666
Yea he never lifted the spell definitely the reason leafy fell off
@@ibishupessima_ he actuually did in 2019, and a year later, leafy came back but got terminated
@@cerealORRHthe second ritual wasn’t sincere.
2016: Leafyishere
2017:Leafyisgone
2020:Leafyisback
2020:Leafyisgoneagain
2023: LeafyIsDead
2016: LeafyisHERE
2017: LeafyisGONE
June 2020: LeafyisBACK
August 2020: LeafyisDEAD
wait i dont get it what happened 3 months ago do you have a good video explaining?
@@boomerfunnyjimgaffigan4998 Leafy got banned 3 months ago for making a video on Pokimane
Should be for 2020: Leafywashere
Imagine a parallel universe where Leafy decided to keep making minecraft videos, and then became famous in 2019
Daaam! That would be awesome
@PanQuakes I guess
PanQuakes nah it'd be good cuz youtube wouldn't be as corporate as it is now
Why would he be famous in 2019
@@fewl6607 Hahahaha. Nice joke.
So I guess MrBlackDarkness666’s curse really *DID* work.
Holy shit you're right
Omg this dude really has connections with the underworld
Oh, now im interested!
LMAO
Oh shit
The fact that this video is demonetized pains me. I can only imagine the work put into this.
Why is it demonetized?
@@apairofglasses775 it has leafy on it
@@StalinkTz ok thanks for answering dood.
@@StalinkTz I’m pretty sure it’s because he talked shit about UA-cam as well
Well it was copyright claimed back for the music used, which is kind of a worse fate
I guess this confirms emp’s theory. UA-cam just deleted Leafy’s channel.
@@annie_the_great Did you not just speak your mind in this comment here? Cyberbullying is against the UA-cam rules, if that's what you consider being no longer a viable platform for discussion then I hope you stay away from the vulnerable online, as it seems your idea of discussion is the harmful type that makes UA-cam unsafe. People haven't "become" anything. It's just that the sensitive and marginalized are finally starting to obtain a voice now that places like UA-cam are fighting against oppression. You are the one who is having a meltdown and failing to hold opposing thoughts in their head. By not understanding WHY leafy is banned and WHY what he was doing is banworthy, you yourself are guilty of what you accuse us of. I honestly don't get why you don't understand this because you yourself accuse ppl who are offended by Leafy as being unable to hold opposing thoughts in our brains, but it's clear you yourself are unable to hold two points of view in your mind at once, and are incapable of including a mind that wishes online platforms allow for safety from bullying. BTW none of this matters because Leafy broke UA-cam terms of service for years, went away, and came back while continuing to break said TOS. It's no surprise he's banned.
@refresh I understand that, I see it as a need for balance. Believe it or not people saw Leafy as a role model. I'm all for not making yourself the easy target I think that's an important lesson, and taking some ridicule can be an effective way of learning it. I just think sometimes things go too far and I also like to see the authority or a professional step in when necessary (like removing bad behaving accounts from some internet spaces)
@refresh np, I'm still firm that Leafys ban is a positive thing but you've provided a lot of nuance, of course I have no intention of sucking up to google or UA-cam as a corporation, that doesn't mean I can't praise certain decisions as progress, even in small increments. It is good to read the replies, I dont think there's a need for every comment to try and change someone's mind, just offer a perspective.
@@DanzelGlovington Bans and censorship can never be positive. Even if a person is universally despised, allowing them to be censored creates an amazingly "slippery slope" that quickly hurts everyone, like the hysteria we see on the modern surface web. The belief that anything is bad or morally wrong is subjective and giving the power to make those determinations for everyone to an entity will inevitably lead to that entity's subjective opinion being enforced upon those who disagree with its beliefs. Just wait until something comes up that you disagree with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc about and then tell us it's positive.
Exactly
In English class, we're reading Shakespeare, specifically Macbeth, and I feel like it's pretty similar to what happened with Leafy.
Macbeth is about a Scottish warrior who sees a chance to become king and takes it. To do so, he does horrible things, he kills the king to take his place, and after becoming king, even stabs his best friend Banquo in the back simply to maintain his position. In the end, his power corrupts him, and eventually, even his own people turn on him. His downfall ended up being because he let his lust for power get to his head. The English army, a force far greater than his, came to his castle and even still he believed himself to be invincible, until it was far too late.
Leafy saw making commentary videos tearing down people lower than him as an opportunity to be king of UA-cam I guess you could say. All the while not realizing he was doing anything wrong. He stabbed his friend Keemstar in the back to maintain his place on top. He kept doing bad things, treading deeper and deeper into dark water, until a force came in and stopped him, call it Content Cop, or UA-cam. Leafy rode the wave all the way down, and never really realized his mistake, and looking back it makes you think. Was it really Leafy's fault?
The tale of leafy is a classic Shakespearean tragedy, Leafy started as a good meaning boy, who saw an opportunity, and taking it, he became successful, but not realizing it his once noble actions became negative, and his lust for power took control of him, his hamartia. The crisis happens, Peripeteia aka TommyNC, leafy makes his first error in judgement (making fun of an autistic kid) setting him in an unknowing downward spiral. He continues on his path, not learning from his actions all the way until the catastrophe, in Macbeth's case the raid on his castle, or in leafy's case, the raid on his channel. In the end, both of them perished, but started with good intentions, but they both begin to corrupt, and finally, ride their fading wave until it crashes overtop of them.
Lol if only leafy paid attention in school
But who was Leafy's Lady Macbeth? Was it not she who tempted Macbeth to sin in the first place? Was it not she who destroyed the good man that once was?
Crazy Chocolate Monkey perhaps leafy's subcount was his lady macbeth
King Chungus I’m with you on this. The sub count that continued to rise was as deceiving as Macbeth’s wife. The more subs Leafy got, the more untouchable he felt he was.
THOSE WHO FAIL HISTORY CLASS ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT
Crazy Chocolate Monkey His Lady Macbeth was the beautiful tinfoil hat wearing man with like 3 teeth and made videos proclaiming his love for Leafy.
I remember that at one point I loved returning home and watching his content. It took me like 4 months to realise how repetitive his content got. He was quite the beast and now he serves as a fascinating study.
I remember watching his videos aswell as idubbbz's videos, thinking they were the 'good guys' and thinking keemstar and h3h3 were the 'bad guys', but after a while I just started watching leafy less and less because he became less interesting, and then idubbbz made his content cop, after which I completely stopped watching leafy videos.
Started getting old around March 2016.
holy shit hoovy?! i didn't know you were browsing this side of youtube! btw best sfms ever my man, keep it up hoovy! ^_^
I agree, and it's weird to see him fall off almost a year after he started to blow up off of "5 reasons csgo is better than COD"
Hoovy Tube Ayyy I like your new video.
The combination of All Caps, a cartoon of Saint Patrick, and colored footage of snakes to lead into the reptilian section was just one of the unexpected moments of brilliance in this documentary about a youtuber. Very well done as always.
What was the song he used there?
@@justsomegoosewithinterneta4199 all caps by the great MF DOOM. one of the best rap songs of all time by the best do ever do it in my opinion, you should definitely check it out along with his Madvillainy & MM..Food albums.
. l.lpll!l.p!lp.pl .l!l p...l.!!llll!!l..l..l. L!p!...l.ll!! l.p.l! p!!!p!p!.lp!!lp pop.! P mool lp.. Ok.!!llpl0lp!p.p! lll mom!l.l
..!l l.l!l.p.lll!! pll.pl.pl!.lp!ll.l!.lll. moo..ppl.l..!!!!l pplpp.!!.!.l.l!l.l.!pl!!l!!...ll...l.!!!!! Moo .l.lp moo. l. lll
!! . moo! P.lp!.p!!pp.! P!!l!!.. moo.. l..lp mom l:lll!p!l...!!pl!!
.p..!l.l!ll.ll lp!l mom p.ppl!.l!.... L!!.l.!l!. Moo mom ll.!..!p.. !p!. l.!p!.!!!.!l !.!.!.llll mom. l!. p.plp!!l.p. moo p!.p!l.!.p!p.!! Lp.p.!....!!p....l.!!pll.!.pll..l.l!...p!lp!!.l pl.!lp.!p p.
....l.l!pl.ll.l.p.!.lll.llp!!!!lplp
.l.lll
Pll.!..p!
p! l.l!l.l!llp.l.l.. Moo. Moo.!!!!!..... p!....l.l.!.. !l!.p!.p!. pp.p..!.llplp.l.ll!.l!!l llp..p.l!p!l!..!!.!l!. lp!l!!!.
.lll.!lp!l.!.!!l!p! ...!l!!.l!p!.!!p! !!.plp!! Mol .lp!.llp.l.l.lpl..¡.!p!p!!!!.!!p.ll moo. plPl!!p.l moll. Moo pl!lpp
Wait where was St. Patrick?
@rekeinserah i don’t think it was saint patrick, i think it was the pied piper in the cartoon, but i might be wrong
I sense something; a presence I’ve not felt since...
Since 5 years ago...
no.......
IT CAN'T BE!!
It...... is happening
He has......... returned....
"Master"
well.... this video aged like fine wine, TWICE so far
@gradeA justinA Possiblily the rise again... Stuff has came out about youtube emailing leafy and the termination couldve been a "mistake".
@@puzza6969 Can you show me a source to it?
@@bluesolace9052 probably not gonna be unbanned since its been a month. But yeah according to leafy, UA-cam emailed em that their looking into his requests to be unbanned.
This is like some dark souls lore shit, next I gots light the flames for a third time
:)
Easily one of the best commentary videos I've ever seen
野島デンジ ok
Found your channel while stuck in an airport all night due to a canceled flight, gotta say you're really helping me through this shit XD Great vids man.
Fax
very well constructed, thought provoking YT doc.
this series is EPIC
Nice vids man.
AlienMyth64 heeey fellow fan here
AlienMyth64 Is it just me or does it feel as if LeafyIsHere is like the Saddam Hussien of UA-cam?
AlienMyth64 its really not.
Hey you it’s been 2 weeks
Dude, the ending of this video is really interesting
+WillyMacShow did not expect to find you here
WillyMacShow The Shining analogy was kind of ass but it fit perfectly somehow
WillyMacShow Oh, hey dude!
WillyMac did mention Emp in his BehindTheMeme video. So I'm not surprised seeing him here.
looked the end of the shining and im pretty sure he was referencing it.
50:17
"Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself"
And that was the tragic story of darth leafy.
you can tell EmpLemon really wants his channel to die. Telling people to unsubscribe didn't work so now he went and exposed UA-cam's closed-door conspiracy to kill off Leafy's channel, ensuring a retaliatory measure against him.
i cant believe this video is 5 years old already, Its so mind boggling that i first saw this when i was 15 and have kept coming back to this video because its just THAT good
I remember the first night this video first came out and I got ready and watched the whole thing - still a fan of leafy today
@@xmichi_3 yeah fr i still like his videos, theyre not as funny as i remember but they are comforting
he needs to make an update vid dude like a full idubbbz documentary and downfall/decline, not that i care that much abt leafy or idubbbz or anything but this guy made all of ts feel so captivating and important 😭 love emplemon for real❤️
Agreed
@@philm.43 check out downward diary
emp has a low-key exposé on idubbz there
Hey you know how leafs work, trees create them as small sprouts before they become big bright and green leaves. These leaves will absorb all the sunlight.
But in the autunm, the tree will slowly kill of its leaves by cutting it off from the food supply the tree has been sustaining his leaves with and drains all last remaining power out of those leaves before they fall off and are left to wither away.
Then next year, no traces of those leaves will be present and others will have taken its place.
You could almost say his name forshadowed his own fate.
Leafy- What you just said
WasHere- Indicates past tense, and leaving(leafing?, hehe)
Neat speech you got over there
As The EMP said...maybe he wasn't meant to be the channel he had become
Leuke naam!
super konijn98 poetic.
Your theory about UA-cam burying Leafy surreptitiously seems highly likely to me. The only thing that makes it a bit questionable to me is that Keemstar was also included in the Tower Dog memo. However, it's also likely the Keem would have been better equipped than Leafy to work something out with UA-cam behind the scenes.
Whang! Ayyy its Whang! Didn't expect to see you here, although now that I think about it...why wouldn't you be 😅
It is an interesting theory, but we have never seen such a thing happen again. It is more the combination of many factors along with his hubris that was his real downfall. Besides, Leafy's content is not sustainable as his audience inevitably grows up and move on. Drama Alert will be on a similar path as UA-cam cracks down on content creators behaving badly which is Keemstar"s bread and butter.
Whang! But what if, leafy stoping making videos was also an inside job, with other social media doing the same to his posts there?
Did Leafy have a big community/following outside of the UA-cam platform? Keemstar has about 2.5 million followers on Twitter... Even if he's censored on UA-cam, his promoting a new upload on Twitter would seemingly help his views stay at least stable and relevant. Especially since he tags other big creators, getting even more attention.
Leafy posting on social media seems like it would be a yell into the void, reaching only his most dedicated fans.
TicTacP leafy hated twitter. It was also hacked at some point and never got it back. He was just like fuck it. I see where he's coming from. Twitter is such a worthless time suck. But if you're trying to be a successful UA-cam creator these days you gotta be on all the social media
> 15 minutes in
> Thinks you're wrapping up
> *51 minutes long*
The gift that keeps on giving, thanks dad
same
It's never ogre
bro your music selection in your videos is nuts, old school hip hop to pink floyd , i love it
Searched up Leafy, and the 2nd suggestion besides his channel was your video
Just checked. On the first page, there were only about four Leafy videos and the first one was the tenth suggestion.
When i checked, this was the FIRST result, other than his channel.
That's a good sign, nice to see Emp isn't getting censored quite yet...
They tried quietly killing him, but that didn't work so they shot him in broad daylight.
Yep. But he crawled to storyfire.
He went out like Gold D. Roger.
Mfw when UA-cam rage quits a stealth mission.
He tried to hide. But UA-cam posted wanted signs and Twitch saw them.
Good riddance
Now here’s an informative program that’s actually entertaining. Unlike what’s been on tv recently, good job once again mah boi. (Also, 42:40 THERE I AM GARY THERE I AM!!!)
Hey have you ever heard of Jimmy Kimmel
THIS is what ALL true warriors strive for!
TV sucks UA-cam is miles better
UA-cam is better then modern television.
Riley Morgan: ua-cam.com/video/uLTeMC81FV0/v-deo.html
Hand-picked just for you.
Others have said it, but you are one of the most captivating people I have ever listened to on youtube, and I've been on youtube a LOT since it first existed. I believe you will continue to have great growth, and at a young age too! Im not much older but as someone trying to grow in the virtual space, you are an inspiration!
Another fantastic upload.
For me personally, as someone who watched all of this unfold in real time as it was happening 2 years ago, this is great to see. These events are truly historic for internet culture, and Leafy's rise and fall serve as the perfect cautionary tale, to me, of how to grow a You Tube channel, and how to destroy it. Sad really, as even though I am not a fan of his content like I was as an edge lord 14 year old, I still think back fondly on those times, when UA-cam drama was more entertaining and brutal, the commentary community was a force to be reckoned with, and Leafy reigned king. Twas a different time, and now seeing Pyrocynical slowly move away from commentary and NFKRZ try to resuscitate his dying channel is sad for me, but I guess in the end, this is how things were meant to pan out. Once again, great video, can't wait for more, and keep up the good work.
Turkey Tom yeah I was a long subscriber of leafy drama alert every channel listed in this and saw it all unfold interesting to have seen this history as it happened I've seen the rise and the chaos and the fall of leafy interesting now I never witch hunted anyone like most in that fan base just enjoyed the videos of all of them interesting to look back on all that now saw keemstar idubbz leafy all them very chaotic time period with the drama and such
Turkey Tom he left out a ton of events.
Honestly I’m happy with the direction pyro went in
Exactly how I feel. Things were simpler back then. I was 14 years old, super edgy, and there was no Paul brothers on UA-cam.
Why are you everywhere I am? Good vids btw
"Back in the day, H3H3 was producing a different type of content."
You mean GOOD content?
I really miss the pre-podcast h3h3
@@ijneb1248 >*BLEGH* THAT FUPA THOUGH LMAO LOOK AT HIS BEANIE
>ethan about to say something insensitive or racist cuz he is that out of touch"
>this episode was brought to you by *insert sponsor*
>raises eyebrows while reading questions off a preproduced google doc
this mans never was good we were just immature
anyone besides reddit moved on ehtan isnt funny whatsoever
@@cyberking158 at least an emoji i more interesting than a solid circle of green
@@cyberking158 >le epic meme arrows
>on broadcast yourself
Shiggy diggy, anon.
@@cyberking158 the fuck are you talking about I've used Reddit daily for a good year and have never seen anything involving H3H3 passing by
"And this isn't just something I'm pulling out of my ass to explain away Leafy's decline."
>puts up a picture of Alex Jones
I like your style.
ua-cam.com/video/Sa52TWoUFCk/v-deo.html
@@MetoagaYT I don't care what you say, the dude who claims Jews are making frogs gay is not to be taken seriously
Other Gopher have you ever watched him without him getting taken out of context by an other source?
@@AlexanderTheGrey I'm far from fucking normal, I'm just not the dumbass who believes in the Jewish conspiracy
yknow everything is fucked when you feel nostalgia for 2016
agreed
I think things will keep going downhill until people stop the current momentum of bs.
what do you mean 2016 was one of the greatest years ever
@@travv88 I don’t see how people will just collectively decide to suddenly have common sense. Seems like humans get dumber every day. The saying goes “A person is smart, a group of people is stupid”, but honestly I think it’s the other way around. As a species we’ve achieved a few amazing things. But if you look at your average person you wouldn’t think we’d be capable of anything.
@@Omnihilo_ There is a dysgenic process going on right now in the Western world, I believe it is being done intentionally. It is plain to see, glad you can see it.
Now that he is permabanned, leafy indeed *was* here.
Instead of silently shadowbanning him, they just went with the direct approach
HAHA ISN'T IT FUNNY? I was going to ask..they basically shadow banned him right? He’s acting like this is a conspiracy but UA-cam does it all the time. I know this video was awhile ago but still..
@@jnkn3497 I feel like he's either revealing it publicly or showing how Leafy was one of the first ones to receive that
HAHA ISN'T IT FUNNY? Yeah that makes more sense. Leafy may have been one of the first to be shadow banned. Thanks
Good riddance tbh
Just watched 50 minutes of a Leafy documentary in december 2018.
And loved every second of it.
Great job, man.
same though
Victor Fischer Missfeld same
Me too
It's almost 5 a.m. I don't know why I'm here
this is one of the best videos ever, well researched, well scripted, well edited, i've watched all of your commentary videos and this is your best. have you noticed that gameplay reaction commentaries are being popularized again? all the old commentators that were friends with leafy like nfkrz and pyrocynical went in different directions and leafy just rotted, the leaf went orange/red just like his sub count...
RabbidTheNabbit The Trump video was better
Jus' sayin'
+Yoav Mor that one is still in my top 5 best emplemon videos, maybe top 3...
this comment was great until you asked for the heart
+Scuttlebug i got rid of it there ya go
EmpInfo
To this day this video stands as a master piece. The music, the editing, the comedy, the perspective, everything about this video is timeless yet only something that could have been made in the final years of that era. Many of us consider it our childhoods, i don't have a name. All i know is that I miss this era, 2016-2020 was something else. But despite everything the world keeps getting stranger.
Leafy was playing chess...
MrBlackDarkness was playing Yu-gi-oh and summoned Exodia
It's called Battle Monsters in the Anime or Manga, but this isn't the Anime so you are right with that.
*_4D chess right off the handle_*
everyone's playing checkers but i've been playing chess for years
And now MrBlackDarkness makes amazing shitpost animations.
Get Exodia'd
I already knew the vast majority of this, but something about the way this is presented made me stay from start to finish, it felt so fresh! Seriously, this might be the only video on UA-cam over 20 min that I’ve sat all the way through. Keep these coming!
Thats the thing behind the meme I already knew was a degenerate and the video didn't interest me much. This was much more captivating as I witnessed parts of Leafy's existence first hand and didnt only hear about how bad he was.
It was a great nostalgia trip besides being incredibly accurate and well documented with a good amount of references and Easter eggs
1 Ad on an hour long video? +respect
0 ads for me, adblock baby
@@augustopinochet2495 Adblock is the way to go, just give to the patreon of good channels and save yourself 10 minutes a day I say
@@tomhill3248 I am subscribed to over 500 channels, what is your definition of good, ill keep on supporting them through ad revenue, thanks. That would cost me around 50,000 a month if I was to support every channels I consider good and deserves revenue. Thanks and go fuck yourself.
2
@@Moquito315 cool story bro
you went from ytp to feature length documentaries about youtubers i followed in my early to mid teens. you are incredible.
That mention of STAR_, oof.
He was great, r.i.p, Star_
All star had to do was make a farewell video for tf2. But instead he made a series of videos passive agressively making fun of the game that made him famous, like what the fuck?
He wasn't making fun of the game, he was making fun of the whiny dipshits that begged him to play more TF2 when he clearly didn't want to.
Ironically, he became a whiny dipshit in the process.
Muselk also ditched TF2 for Overwatch, then he ditched that for Fortnite, but he was far more successful in transition than STAR_ was
Am i fuckin' just missing this? Timestap that Emp talks about ster?
wow.. I just watched through that whole thing and I have to admit, I never thought I would watch a documentary about a youtube nerd for almost an hour and not get bored. The production quality was insane and the effort and research put into it almost makes me question how much effort actual documentary producers put into their own works. Incredible video putting a less common view on a subject that I was also once part of. Thank you, for letting leafy go.
Couldnt describe it better.
You and me both
Pure brilliance
hondjo .
I had to check the video time when you said "Almost an hour."
It honestly did not feel like 51 minuets. I guess that foes to show you how interesting he makes the topic seem.
Leafy wasnt playing chess. He was playing high stakes Risk,only problem is that he only knew how to play checkers.
And yet he still managed to win right at the very end, what a Chad
Leafy has returned
He was just vibing for the right time.
@Lance Anthony how?
lightxz27 ig yeah he won at the end with his new vid on idubbtz
2015-2017 was an entertaining but oddly toxic time for UA-cam. It was like the entire internet collectively went through it’s edgy, mean, insecure teen phase. Even as someone who was as once subscribed to him for a bit, I’ll always look back on Leafy as an immature nobody with an equally immature fan base that gave him an overinflated ego that he couldn’t keep in check. The kind of content creator who probably never should’ve become popular in the first place.
It’s kind of ironic how he took the massive gamble to overhaul his content which resulted in his spike in popularity, but he didn’t take the same risk in his brief return and chose to hide his newer videos under the guise of clickbait drama that made everyone turn on him in the first place.
And while the Content Cop video may not have been the killer of Leafy’s channel, it certainly exposed one fatal flaw with his character: Don’t talk shit if you can’t take a hit.
I would argue that phase started in 2014. 2005-2013 seemed like the Golden Age of UA-cam and when you compare the content that came after it, there was a lot more edginess as said. I never paid attention to Leafy during his popularity but did notice the effects he had on the platform.
He gained great success. He was far from a nobody and is a multi-millionaire today, my guy. And immature, yes but on the internet. That was his persona online. You just let it get to far up into your head. Haha!
@Fries Yes. Doing the same thing over and over will kill your channel.
I was with Leafy since kids that ddos. Leafy is still alive and is a God.
@@theprofilmstudios 2015
This actually makes me anxious about UA-cam. After watching this, it's pretty clear that YT was likely behind Leafy's demise. My question is: *will they do it again?*
Erick Alden They do it constantly, you just don’t notice it because it’s hidden behind a bunch of shit the average UA-cam watcher don’t bother with.
They did it for the Yogscast. Just watch GameTheory's video on it
They already have.
Erick Alden oh really?
Michael Woodward WHAT?!
I barely noticed this video was almost an hour long because the structure and editing are so well done.
same
Fh it was that long
Same
Me too lmao. I had it on in the background and kept glancing. And I was like "this feels like it's been a while" and I was at 35 minutes in lol
This aged well, and then horribly, and then well again
This shall be top comment
@@poke-champ4256 no It shall not
@@WolfyRed You know what? Here,take my like
Well him coming back and gaining a shit ton of subscribers, kinda proves that he was supressed by UA-cam. Because his videos were not deliberately demonetized.
than horribly
I used to work at one of those third parties being hired to monitor content, relevance and what not by the algorithms used by big sites...and yeah what EmpLemon says is really fitting to the way those sites operate behind the scenes.
Of course most of those employees are under NDAs so it will still take some years for more testimonies to come out.
Aged like fine wine. EmpLemon's theory was right.
Well, he was only too right. You know what they say, UA-cam: actions speak louder than words.
I feel that this theory emp had is also a larger narrative UA-cam slowly changing rules over time. But I wonder if team UA-cam will ever go against the makeup community because of drama surrounding it.
wait i dont get it what happened 3 months ago do you have a good video explaining?
@@boomerfunnyjimgaffigan4998 leafy came back on youtube to troll a bit then got banned for no apparent reason, and with no strikes at all.
wasnt right about the minecraft cultural peak part
Note: he didn’t abandon his Twitter, he stated in a video that he got locked out of it by Twitter for an unknown reason.
Ha, riiiiight
bad muchacho b Proof?
@@thatsoneinterestingpfpyago2521 in one of his videos. forget which one but it's in like the last 10 videos he made
@@BMB He hide after the content cop because he is a insecure bitch
He now has a new twitter.
this video has more dramatic plot than anything Hollywood could produce
Ikr if a movie came out about a guy like Leafy, who starts out making innocent content but then rides a toxic trend to fame, and then you see him mishandle his celebrity status making more and more enemies, until his tragic downfall when everyone (even the megacorporation of his own platform) turns against him, that'd probably be a fucking good movie
Because real life has consequences, not plot points
I guess you’ve been watching the wrong movies then.
Can’t just be watching Disney and marvel movies
this would make a good black mirror episode
Kinda reminds me of catch me if you can but with a darker ending
It’s funny to think that, in some alternate reality, Leafy stuck with Minecraft, then became a PNG-tuber in 2020 when the game had a resurgence.
The potential of Leafy having become a Vtuber is eminently horrific.
now that is Rick and Morty episode
_I wonder where he is now. I can imagine people recognizing him in his day job and he'd just curl into a ball._
DammitSinged he doesn't have a day job. He's rich. Hes been in Europe travelling for the past 7 months. I talked to him like 2 months ago. He said he was thinking about making a comeback but he's afraid everyone still hates his guts. I feel bad for him. He's actually a pretty cool dude
Matt Petty how did you talk to him
He could make a comeback by "trying to reform", and then go back into his old habits... because as much as people threw hate at him, it was just the bandwagon effect. Once he seems to be reformed, people will grow bias for him, and then he can go back to his old ways.
"I'm reformed!" -> UA-cam remonitizes his videos -> new viewers come in -> toxicity subtly returns -> remains partially reformed to keep the viewer gates open
(and I don't use "toxicity" in a negative way... toxicity is good for entertainment)
i mean he could quite honestly pull it off, member sam pepper? that nigga is currently streaming with ice poseidon and has an average of 1k viewers on his stream
Bruh saw you in YIAY congrats man
I used to be subbed to him. I think your UA-cam murder theory might be valid cause I remember there was a point his video's just flat out stopped appearing on my feed. I remember having to actively search his channel to see if/when he uploaded. And that got tedious enough to where I lost interest in his video's, then gradually lost interest in his genre all together.
guilty as well.
Yooo i didn't expect you to be here. Nice job on your warframe videos.
The Reaper Hunter same here, noticed he was toxic to his friends soon after
Same. I had to actually wonder how things were going to see his videos.
I don't think he's returning.
0:00 Opening
1:58 LeafyIsBorn
3:33 LeafyIsNew
6:09 LeafyIsCrafty
10:25 LeafyIsRising
16:34 LeafyIsHere
19:53 LeafyIsCracking
26:45 LeafyIsBlazing
28:47 LeafyIsWounded
31:21 LeafyIsFalling
34:03 LeafyIsBlackballed
45:05 LeafyIsGone
Ok, thx???
thanks
You shall rise to the very top of this comment section
This album rocks, thanks
Oof
Leafy's story is a a tragedy in the sense that the protagonist falls from grace, doomed to an existence of lurking in the shadows while his former comrades like Pyro went on the path to glory; but also it was also an epic victory as justice was served to someone who thrived off of hate leeched off of drama.
And in the end, It was his weird chin that did him in.
This story is just so poetic
"Path to glory" holy fcking cringe
Your videos are fantastic. These are some of the only videos I see where no one is saying stuff like “pin me” or “17:41 lol” or “wow so deep” or some idiotic childish one off remark. These comments are long paragraphs, reflecting and more often than not adding to the topic of the video. It is highly impressive that emp has been able to keep his audience, and keep his intelligent audience. If only leafy had been able to do this, we may look at him through a different lens. Not to mention, these videos are incredibly well researched. Emp goes into the deepest corners of the internet to find his evidence, and find his points, and is able to keep the visuals intriguing and active for 51 minutes. I just can’t imagine how much time emp took to create this. And I’m grateful people like emp are willing to take their time to entertain us. I would wholeheartedly take this over National Geographic.
Dude, you took the words out of my mouth, I couldn't agree more with what you said.
17:41 lol
Now all the cucklords have to reply to my comment with dumb remarks. What did I expect from you, internet...
pin me
.
*instantly demonetized due to the fact that EmpLemon is telling the truth about youtube*
also thx for some history on yt emp!
Hi
People have told the truth about youtube millions of times EmpLemon is doing nothing different lmao
+Karoler But did any of them mention TowerDog's leaks?
Ayy memetastic
You make garbage videos.
I think it was the curse.
Holy Horse You're RIGHT!!!
I believe that it is. I can by personal experience say that magic is absolutely real.
Yep
i was thinking about the curse also when the time it happened O-O
Crap, can someone tell me what the curse is, or am I just autistic?
I joined youtube in 07 and having lived through all of it was really bizarre. Thanks for this Emp
Same
Same... this place is a shell of it's former self. A true fall from grace. What a hole
"Joined 16 years ago" checks out :)
Same
Ok unc
This has got to be one of the best and if not most well researched videos on the site. This was such a nostalgic trip for me because this marks the time where I used UA-cam the most. I subscribed to leafy when he had around 30-40k subscribers and was familiar with DramaAlert and Grade and Idubbbz through other means (Minnesota Burns, Jinx Content Cop, etc.) so I got to watch all of these events through all of these years unfold through my eyes from everyone's perspectives, and to be honest, this is the best and most accurate retelling of the story I've ever seen anyone even attempt (trust me, I've thought of tackling this beast of a topic before as well lol). Props aside, I also think your theory on Leafy being the first demonetized channel is pretty interesting, and plausible, but it also brings up the question that if this truly were the case, without Leafy, would demonetization and the strict regulations on UA-cam today even exist? I believe that Leafy existed as a catalyst for every major change to the site since 2015-16, as well as the many personalities who would gain massive subscriber counts as he fell. I think you missed a good opportunity to bring up Pyrocynical in this though, because he's like the "Good Future" version of Leafy in a multiple endings video game. He was almost identical to Leafy at the time in terms of content, and even fanbase, yet he didn't make all the same mistakes that Leafy did, for lack of a bigger subcount and a bigger ego, thus with minor tweaks to his content after Leafys decline, his channel thrived. All of the possibilities you talked about in the end exist in Pyro so it's really interesting to actually see what Leafy could've been, but then again, without his downfall, people like Pyro's success, or others who adapted the genre wouldn't have even been possible. Longass comment aside, tl:dr, I really loved this video, was really nostalgic and accurate, Leafy represented what would happen if a common channel got big overnight and was ultimately one of the most influential villains the site ever had. Kthanks bye nerdout over :)
Agreed.
History of the entire world, I guess?
I can relate to this comment so much....
Minnesota Burns, now thats another tragic tale, for another time
agreed on most of it, though I thought the theory on Leafy being the catalyst all the addpocalipse was common knowledge. Still is interesting to see how one person is kind of responsible if not the original patient of demonetization and the hole mess that came out of it.
2016 was like a World war on youtube
And i miss it
But in a good way
the great meme war...donaldus vs hitlery
4chan vs shiah
Idubbbz vs cringe
And it's still going on
Leafy was germany
Woah. Okay, that was a lot to take in. This was more than a simple recount of events. You dug deep into the impact of Content Cop, and also a potential major conspiracy on UA-cam's end. I haven't been this blown away by a video in a while. If this doesn't pick up big-time, I won't know what to think. You definitely deserve it.
I think this video will probably get blackholed when someone at YT realizes it's not just about leafy, but a direct accusation of corruption.
to out myself, I was an absolute leafy stan back in the "golden days" of his channel. I was a full out edgy teen actively hating on everyone leafy made a video about. Around the time where the mysterious decline of views occurred, i stopped watching him aswell. For me the content just grew stale over time. The videos were always the same and got boring. I also started reflecting and looking back at the videos from him I once thought were "the greatest and realest videos on youtube" and was almost disgusted by myself. Realizing hes always just picking on people smaller than himself, who cant defend themself. Realizing that its just always the same insults he uses about small things or funny appearances the "victims" most of the time have no real control over. The content cop coming after this realization was just the final nail in the coffin for me, pointing out many more things wrong with these kind of videos. Maybe there was a secret youtube shadowban too, but I can imagine that a lot of leafy fans felt like I did around that time, getting bored of the repetitive edgy content, aswell as "growing up" and realizing that edgy ≠ funny
I stopped watching him when he started only dropping reaction videos hating on peeps but I remember him from his story time videos. Recently found a channel that reposts old leafy videos and I gotta say, the old story time videos where surprisingly really entertaining and pure. It's sad to go through and see how he gradually gave in to his edgy tendencies though
im in the same boat, i started watching him when he had like 80k subs and he was great, the story times were hillarious and the whole "this dude is so real" was very appealing. The whole making fun of ppl was pretty hillarious for a while too until, as you said, it just got stale... I realized he was often punching down and its not really entertaining watching a grown ass probably millionare at this point making fun of like 13 year olds every single day. i miss when he was a small youtuber who just made funny edgy vids and story time, actually i dont think i would enjoy that today but who knows. I was a HSSSS BOI and this is my story lol
i liked him too but i never attacked anyone for it, i just thought he was funny
also after the mysterious algorithm change I did watch him much less but i occasionally came back
also i rewatched some of the old storytime videos recently and i actually liked them a lot
@@questionmarkquestionmarkques Eyy, same!^^
finally a mature response. this is the reason i find so many of emp's older videos so cringey.
Not to sound too much like an English teacher, but you displayed some impressive critical thinking and thorough research in this video, not to mention successfully creating a well made visual aesthetic (a.k.a. nice editing, man). Excellent Job! Definitely one of the better video essays I've seen in recent years.
I don't remember when, it was years ago, I got a recommandation: a Leafy video. I ignored it at first, but it never went away, so I watched it. It hooked me so I kept watching and watcing and then more recommendations of Leafy's videos appeared and I kept watching. I gave in to this type of videos and subscribed to him. I started to watch his videos regularly since, back then, I was too an edgy and angry teen. But then I grew bored of him. I stopped watching his videos and finally, I unsubscribed from him. And then something happend. I noticed that youtube erased every hint of Leafy from my recommandations. Every time I got recommended a type of video I stopped watching, Leafy crossed my mind. I wondered what happend to him, why suddenly I stopped seeing something that once bombarded my recommandations? I didn't even got recommended H3H3's video about Leafy, not even content cop. Not even one video from Keemstar about him (and because of this I didn't even knew about these 'dramas' between Leafy and others untill 1-2 years later). I thought 'wow youtube finally understands when people don't want to watch certain things anymore??' so I left it like that, plus I didn't cared enough to give him a search. But it was still curios how he just disappeared into thin air from my youtube way before that big fall he experienced.
This same thing happened to me, minus the edgy teen part, back then I was very tame and his videos were like shock value jokes to me, hense why I watched them
Ket same, leafy influenced me a lot, hell, look at my name and profile.
same...
I can relate to the "edgy teen" thing....it also happened to me around the time that leafy got popular.
I love Emp's dedication to consistently quality content. It's great that this video is so long, yet so consistently well written and editited. I get the sense that Emp really cares about what he does. Keep up the good work.
The real thing that killed Leafy's channel was Mr. Black Darkness' curse
Idubbbz brought the gun, UA-cam loaded it but it was Leafy himself who pulled the trigger
Beautiful... just beautiful.
2 years late, but...
It's more of "UA-cam brought the gun, loaded it, and Leafy pulled the trigger, then iDubbz took the credit for the kill allowing UA-cam to get away with it."
moral of the story: don't get cursed by mr darkness 666
Lol his channel is kind of dead now
I wonder what happens if he blesses me
Is more like don't git cursed at all
I thought he lifted the curse on the keemstar video but I guess he changed his mind.
Roboko lol
Emplemon: Minecraft has surpassed it's cultural peak, never again to return.
2019: Hold my Notre Dame
minecraft never died...
idk why everyone says that
@@adrianpaul1985 ikr, I guess if its not the most popular game in the world any it died, it still pulls in impressive numbers tbh
@@darciheadswillroll Since all the kids that played Minecraft either grew up or migrated to Fortnite, Minecraft is now seen as more of a nostalgic and well-remembered thing.
+zardiathemuteatsbleach Creepers burned down Notre Dame.
Wisemankugel Memicus WRONG!Creepers don’t cause fire,so the only answer is blazes!(ghasts aswell)I shudder at this misuse of Minecraft lore!
/s
The song choices in this video are absolutely godlike
Stuff like this is the Future of youtube
Corrupted Beside your Content I hope so!
Probably not but we can hope
No, if the time to make and edit this video was put into some low-effort vlogs, then they would be a lot more views... It really sucks that the actually good content on UA-cam is pushed to the bottom by videos that take a hundredth of the time to make.
Corrupted I hope so
more like the past of youtube, amirite *bdum ts*
in 2011:
making a famous channel is easy, just do minecraft!
in 2018:
making a famous channel is easy, just do fortnite!
Yan's Videos well isn't that the true.
AliA in a nutshell
They do show similarities. Who knows, maybe from this recent trend a new leafy may rise from the Fortnite trend. Perhaps UA-cam is too self aware or proactive to allow another leafy to rise. Or maybe we just don't know another ingenious way to bypass its content restrictions. Time will tell.
Jack Ryan if that happens I'll be watching and paying attention to see how it all goes down. Maybe it can happen with fortnite or with a new trend that could be on the horizen.(it might just be me but I think that for fortnite is dying now or is beginning to die out do you feel the same.)
Jack Ryan
Those are the words of an ancient
2015-2016 felt like it was yesterday. This dude was public enemy #1 on UA-cam.
Now he's public hero #1
Chainsaw [ESK] who ? and how so
sgt.slayer [blue rose] because all the hate has died down and people are missing him now
@@gcnelite5983 the hate hasn't really died down but his fanbase who weren't convinced by the content cop miss him
@@bruh_busta probably it ye
Watching this now with what we know about UA-cam's algorithm and its history is wild. I think you hit the nail on the head.
LeafyIsHeren't
Janis Polikovs get the hell out
*heaven'nt in'nt
Jorlando get the hecc out hater
craptain crunch what're you doing here
Leaf'nt
Why does this feel like a legitimate documentary? It holds my attention so well. Well done.
Pill Grimm Maybe you haven't seen many documentaries? This is not much like those.
Oh mannn... these were the days. UA-cam Drama 2016. Nothing ever got better than that
I know now all we get is this fake ricegum drama
Honestly, I miss it...
Ikr i remember keemstar used to be really big in 2016
SavageBoy69Alt Oh the viner invasion was one of the fucking worst things to ever happen on this site
It’s like it was just yesterday...
To think that Emplemon of all youtubers was my first exposure to MF DOOM
Same lol
Same
Good
oh man such a beautiful well done vid
Wats the beat that's starts playing at 12:10
Danny Don't worry about it
It’s called adult swim 2001 pool theme
@@jonathan34219 I looked it up it's not bro
Danny Don't worry about it
So here’s a link instead ua-cam.com/video/l3Fls0oonfA/v-deo.html
you're the type that produces
This is amazing. One of the best movies I've watched on UA-cam. I was never really a fan of Leafy's repetitive content, but I did think he was a funny guy. And I did love what he did to UA-cam in 2016. It was awesome to see the top UA-camrs interacting like they did in the early days of Smosh, Lisa Nova and Daxflame. The 2010-2015 era of UA-cam didn't really have UA-cam celebrities in this sense. Leafy brought that back and made UA-cam what it is today.
Yooo, didnt expect to see you here. Dig your videos man
Movies? The fuck?
Wow. I've never completely agreed with someone before on the subject of Leafy. You're a smart man, my good sir.
Lul ok
Go outside.
can you imagine spending months on a 50 minute long video, just to get copyright claimed by the outro
SNMtv are you serious
@@silver7405 look at the description
Was binging your videos and I realized, congrats on 1 million! You’re right about to hit it.
This was such a nostalgia trip for 2015 though, awesome style and editing! Wish I had seen this sooner edgy meme man
True dat
this is so incredible! I really appreciate you making this. You earned a new dedicated subscriber
WOW! just wow! Very impressed with the scripting, structure, story telling, visual "and just overall" the creation of this video! very impressed with this really held the emotion and tons of research was conducted! you have my subscription
OH YEAH! was also very entertaining! keep it up looking forward to what you create next
Wow. You are very positive about this. Not making fun. Not hating. It's just you are so happy you almost sound sarcastic. lol! Well if I could be that positive I would have a life and go outside for once! Keep it up, my guy!
same. Besides the outside part
Best thing to ever come out of Leafy was that kid with the glasses who said "I'll get my knife!"
When aren’t you making content this good? Even your YTPs were great. Consistently solid.
FrostbyteFreemanFilms
“Were great “
Don’t say it like that
inconsistent in type of videos but always consistent in being great
his YTPSs are still good though despite the earrape
Dayum, never thought I'd watch almost an hour long video about a UA-camr's downfall but glad i did. I started watching UA-cam at the end of 2016, so there were a lot of things i had heard of but didn't know the whole story. I've never watched Leafy's videos but i kind of want him to make a comeback to see what would happen. And great advice/moral, will definitely keep that in mind as a UA-camr.
Leafy just didn't change his content much and got boring. Watching a guy talk shit about kids and weirdos on the internet just got stale after a while.
Daniyal Khan Tareen End of 2016? God how poor we're you, in which u never used UA-cam?
ボイイイジーキュー And Idubbz pretty much demolished him
Did not realized it was this long 😂
FrostBug
So what's wrong in that? Yes, i started using it in place of TV at the end of 2016 but i was still using it casually before. And it didn't take me that long to familiarise with the platform, that's why i started my own channel and I'm satisfied.
I've watched this masterpiece about 30 times now and every time you bring up Idubbbz and that western music comes on, my heart starts to flutter as I remember those days on UA-cam. I watched it all unfold.
Keep your hand on your gun.
Jesus christ it gets me every time.
“Don’t you trust anyone” Just like h3h3 turned on leafy and leafy and grade turned on keem
Tell me about it. Watching that in realtime was jaw-dropping
I dig the gorillaz track playing
Happy to hear that someone rewatches Emp as much as I do
When you remember the old days of UA-cam, nothing but Minecraft. I am tempted to write a story about the history of UA-cam in a western style
To this day, the Leafy content cop is still a piece of art. Even if it didn't kill Leafy's channel, it certainly did in his reputation. It's probably one of my favourite UA-cam videos ever. The way Ian hones in on Leafy's insecurity and tears him and his entire image to shreds with it is fucking brilliant on its own, but Leafy's awful response where he makes it even more blatantly obvious that Ian got him good elevates it to legendary status.
Ian should never have apologised for that video. As much as I'm fascinated by Leafy, he totally deserved that content cop. It's so poetic that what ended Leafy was essentially a Leafy video.
It's still wild to me that 2015 already feels like ancient history.
Maddafi that sounds more like 2018 I'm kind of confused LOL
2016 sounds more far, it's strange
Mehoy Menoi Exactly.And I See People Saying It Was The Best Year Of UA-cam Lol.
What if EmpLemon is the next target?
*_H E C K_*
Keep manually looking up his channel
*RIP EMP* 🙏🏼
"There is point for that"
Just wanted to say opposite, because I forgot to add "no". Rly, there you have deep analisys and original series of "2 min meme review"! Why ever getting rid of Emp?
Beary Boy what if emp is leafy
2015 was one of UA-cam’s many golden ages. Thank you for taking me back to a time that’s (surprisingly) long gone.
Rusty the channels that were caught up in the 2016 drama storm are either much different or incredibly successful, both even. Some are no longer active. It’s insane
the fuck you talking about? 2015 and 2016 were by far the most toxic and worst era of youtube.
So you prefer today’s state of UA-cam, where every mature content creator is forced to tone down their humor due to the fear of demonetization?
I said one of the *many* golden ages. Personally, I find the 2015-16 era a lot of fun to talk and reminisce about. At least it wasn’t as boring as today’s state of things.
There’s no way this video made any money for Emp but I love it so much
It's weird to think that calvin the destroyer and Jake Paul the terrible existed in the same era
I prefer Calvin the chinless
@Josh Elias Dy _ing._ Not dead.
Jaydubs357 One was rising while the other one was falling. but Calvin is back baby
Josh Elias didn’t know paint was killing leafy’s channel.
Oo
Honestly, I think if Leafy and Keem make amends and become friends again, his channel will come back.
Yeah, I remember Keem tried to help leafy get his login info back after the leaked nudes incident. I don’t think they hate each other’s guts or anything like that, but idk if they’re “friends” friends though? They were extremely close from late 2015-spring 2016. (Or, at least it sure looked that way.) They worked together, traveled together, stood up for each other, etc. I don’t think they’re quite back to that yet. I might be missing something, but Calvin didn’t unlist any of the Keemstar rants - I feel like he should have done this if they were truly back to the way things used to be.
Yes but i dont think leafy died he just got bored of it i think
Wait is leafy Alex? If so why did keemstar call him a nigger? If not who is Alex and what did he do?
Leafy is Calvin, not Alex
Subscribe To PewDiePie Wait then who was Alex and why did keemstar call him a nigger (I didn't really watch UA-cam when this stuff was happening)
It feels like I am a WW2 Vet, going ‘I remember those days’
FuriousBadgerGaming same
Yeah, to think it was only 2 years ago
its pretty much the millennial first world equivalent
Yup I feel the same way
DeathSeller absolutely, including myself since I stopped watching all these youtubers except for Ethan
this is something that I've been saying for a while now. I've been using youtube sense its initiate launch. This platform's algorithm has slowly become not about what you want to watch but what youtube wants you to watch. I miss the golden days of youtube.