Shane Dawson under fire after comments on pedophilia resurface

Popular YouTuber Shane Dawson is known for his storied career and wildly successful documentary series – but some of his comments from a previous podcast are earning the vlogger mass criticism.

A clip from Dawson’s ‘Shane and Friends’ podcast from 2014 is making the rounds across social media once again, due to his controversial statement therein concerning pedophilia.

In the clip, Dawson described his encounter with a six-year-old fan, who happened to have a massive following on Instagram.

[Timestamp: 7:00]

“She shows me her Instagram, and – first of all, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but she was kind of sexy,” Dawson said of her account.

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His fellow host went on to mention Dawson’s “justification for pedophilia,” which Dawson explained by stating the following:

“Having sex with children or touching children is terrible and you should not do it,” he continued. “But, here’s my thing – people have foot fetishes. People have fetishes about everything.”

Dawson’s comments have since garnered mass backlash, and continue to stir controversy in 2019 – nearly five years after the podcast went live.

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“WHAT THE FUCK – PEOPLE LIKE HEARD THIS AND STILL SUPPORT HIM WHAT THE HELL, HE TRIED TO DEFEND PEDOPHILIA 3 TIMES IN 1 BREATH,” Twitter user ‘jovanforever’ said of the podcast, garnering over 2,000 likes.

“People will say it a joke in his defense, but even if it was a joke, it’s still so disgusting,” another wrote.

Dawson addressed concern over his statement during a YouTube video in January 2018, vehemently denying any claims of being a pedophile due to his comments.

UPDATE: Dawson has since responded to recent outrage due to the podcast by posting his original video on the subject in a Tweet, writing, “For those who missed this a year ago. Here ya go. K going back to editing now.”