Marques Brownlee addresses speeding controversy but leaves questions unanswered
YouTube: Marques BrownleePopular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee has spoken out about the speeding in a school zone controversy involving him. However, he’s said nothing about being pulled over by police multiple times, once for going 59 MPH in a 25 MPH zone.
In November 2024, Marques came under fire after a video surfaced showing him driving a Lamborghini at 96 mph in a 35 mph zone, in an area marked with signs warning of children.
He later issued an apology on X, acknowledging that test-driving the sports car at such excessive speeds was “absolutely inexcusable and dangerous.”
On December 28, Marques uploaded a year-end YouTube video titled “WTF happened in 2024?!” reflecting on the events of the year. Around the 10-minute mark, he directly addressed the controversy, taking responsibility for his reckless driving and reiterating his regret over the incident.
“I wanted to use this opportunity to address the bigger issue from that whole experience, which was the driving clip, even though it’s no longer in that video,” he began.
Marques Brownlee calls his actions “stupid and dangerous”
“So, there was a clip in that video, since removed, of POV driving a Lamborghini and accelerating over 90 miles per hour in a 35-mile an hour zone. It’s just stupid and dangerous.”
Marques went on to explain why apologized for the controversy, stating that reckless driving could set a troubling precedent for what is deemed acceptable behavior. The 33-year-old added that apologizing and deleting the video was the appropriate course of action.
“Not just for the actual act, which was stupid and dangerous, but also for the potential precedent that it could set,” he explained. “Because we said, I know people watch these videos, and for someone to watch that and think that it’s okay.”
He continued: “So, I apologized, I removed it, which I still think is the correct thing to do. Obviously, never doing it in the first place would’ve been way smarter.”
This comes after the release of police bodycam footage showing Marques being pulled over multiple times for various traffic violations. While he did address the instance of speeding in his own video footage, he didn’t discuss other traffic infractions whatsoever.
Some viewers were clearly not satisfied with his explanation of taking the Lamborghini on a test drive, with people taking to the comments to make some not-so-subtle jokes about it.
“2024 really picked up speed towards the end, huh?” said one commenter. “This year did travel by pretty quickly,” said another.
Many of the vid’s most upvoted comments were some variation of this, though some of his fans were happy to see him be honest and open about it as well.
“Props to Marques for not pulling a Mr Beast and deleting all the comments making fun of him,” said one commenter. Regardless of if viewers were satisfied with his response, many commended and respected him for talking about it rather than pushing it under the rug entirely.