Gabbie Hanna backlash erupts after YouTube videos about Jessi Smiles & Bianca Devins
YouTube: Gabbie HannaGabbie Hanna’s new YouTube series, ‘Confessions of a Washed-Up YouTube HasBeen’, is only two episodes in, but it has already come under scrutiny for its treatment of issues like Hanna’s relationship with Jessi Smiles and the coverage of online personality Bianca Devins, who was murdered in 2o19.
In the second episode of her YouTube series, Gabbie took aim at “drama channels” such as Dustin Daily, Ready to Glare, Repzilla, The Viewers Voice and Angelika Oles for referencing Bianca Devins in videos calling out Hanna in February last year.
In their videos, the creators criticized Gabbie for talking about Devins in one of her earlier videos. In her video, she included a picture of Devins while discussing what an ‘E-girl’ was, while the context around Bianca and her murder wasn’t discussed.
Over a year following the backlash, Gabbie discussed the situation in a video entitled: ‘Hold Tea Channels Accountable (Justice for Bianca Devins).’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QuFqUlLm4U&t=137s
During the video, Gabbie said that she “did the right thing” and tried to deal with the situation quietly, and hit out at the channels for publicizing the issue and “exploiting” Devins for clout. “This should have never been news,” Hanna added. She also questioned why these videos were monetized, and whether any funds were donated.
While Giulia-Christina Philip, the maker of drama channel Ready To Glare, released a video apologizing directly to the Devins family, she also clarified on Twitter that she didn’t profit over her video critiquing Hanna and that she had not covered Bianca’s death apart from this following a request from a family friend of the Devins’.
in no way fathomable would i EVER disrespect a grieving family even though Gabbie did that shit to me. i just rewatched my video and i was honestly very calm. she’s deflecting because she doesn’t want to own her own shit. she is actually a crazy person.
— Dustin Dailey (@ThreeDailey) June 25, 2021
Meanwhile, Dustin Daily said in a Tweet: “Yeah, let’s make this about Bianca whole slew of s**t Gabbie has done aside from that.”
He then listed several other controversies Gabbie had been involved in, including the accusation that she had been “mentally abusing Jessi [Smiles].
Jessi Smiles hits out at Gabbie Hanna
Jessi Smiles, former friend of Gabbie Hanna, also called out the YouTuber for a video in her new series. In the first video of her new series, entitled ‘Preface’, Hanna included footage of Smiles crying.
In a series of Tweets directed to Gabbie, Jessi said that if she was going to address their past, “I sincerely BEG you to leave my trauma out of it.” She continued: “Stop using clips of me crying. You’ve done enough. Leave this out.”
And she put this clip over audio of her talking about people who tried to put a “target on her back.” I get it, Gabbie. We had a toxic falling out after our friendship ended. Please leave me alone now.
— Jessi Smiles (@jessismiles__) June 26, 2021
Smiles then followed this up with a Tweet saying: “Please leave me alone.” Following the Tweets, #ApologizeToJessiSmiles started trending on Twitter, while fellow YouTuber Lily Marston showed her support for Jessi by referencing Hanna’s call-out of drama channels talking about Bianca Devins in her latest video.
Marston said in a Tweet that Gabbie using footage of Smiles crying was a “pretty bold move for someone who just spent an entire episode talking about how disgusting it is to exploit and monetize someone’s trauma.”