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Jenna Marbles is stepping back from vlogging. After a decade of creating content, the YouTube star whose real name is Jenna Mourey, announced she's quitting the video site for now. Amid the conversations about systemic racism and television shows removing episodes that features blackface, Mourey took to her YouTube channel on June 25 and addressed her past problematic video
In the 11-minute-long tearful clip, Mourey spoke about controversial content she shared in the past where she wore blackface, yellowface, and made misogynistic comments about women. The videos have been set to private after she received criticism. Throughout her tenure on YouTube, the vlogger gained over 20 million followers and over three billion views. The name "Marbles" came from her dog Mr. Marbles, who appeared in clips
Mourey was unrecognizable when she addressed the camera in a sweatshirt, glasses and no makeup. "I feel like we are at a time where we are purging ourselves of anything and everything toxic,"she began the YouTube video titled "A Message."
"I'm being requested that I address things that I've done in my past. I also get a lot of Tweets from people that are saying, like, 'we love you, you unproblematic queen.' Which, always makes me uncomfortable because I'm a person. [For] those of you who are familiar with how long I've been on the internet know that that's not true. That I've definitely done things in the past that weren't great, and I'm not completely unproblematic. And I've tried my best to grow up and to be a better person."
"First and foremost, I want everyone to know that I've always been a two-way street, and that anytime that you criticize me and tell me you would like me to do better, or to do something differently, that I always try to do that, and I try to make fun content, inclusive content, things that don't offend people or upset people, and it's kind of where I am."
"There's a couple things that people want me to address and apologize for. And I'm happy to do that. Because what I want from the people that I support and I like is to have accountability and to know that I'm supporting someone whose morals and values align with my own. And, yeah, there's things in my past I'm not proud of. And I'm getting a lot of Tweets from people, saying, 'why have you privated all these old videos?' and I've spent a lot of the last free days privating almost all of my old content. And I'm sorry if any of that holds any nostalgia for you. But I'm literally not trying to put out negative things into the world."
"I think there was a time when having all of my old content exist on the internet showed how much I had grown up as a person. Which, I'm very proud of. I think now it's hard for that content to exist at all, because people watch it and don't bother to look when it was posted or care about what path I took to get to where I am. It offends them now, and if that's the case, where people will watch something and be offended now, I don't want it to exist. So I've privated a lot of my old content."
"Because I just don't want anyone to feel upset about anything. I don't want to contribute to that. I don't want someone to watch something and feel hurt or offended now for any reason at all."
"The first two things that I would like to address is the fact that there are people that were offended that I did blackface as Nicki Minaj in 2011 and I'll show you the clip. It's incredibly cringey and embarrassing. It's private, it has been private for quite some time, but it looks like this." Mourey grabbed her laptop and showed the clip of her dressed as the rapper in blackface.
"And I do just want to tell you that it was not my intention to do blackface. This is the end of the end of the video where I took my wig off," Mourey presented the end of the clip. "I don't know how else to say this, but it doesn't matter because all that matters is that people were offended and it hurt them and for that I am so unbelievably sorry. This isn't okay, and it hasn't existed on the internet for a long time because it's not okay. And I haven't done anything remotely like that because I heard people say, 'this is blackface, and I don't like that.' I just would never would want to put that into the world. So this has been private for a long time. But I do want to tell you how unbelievably sorry I am if I've ever offended you by posting this video or by doing this impression. That was never my intention, it's not okay, it's shameful, it's awful. I wish it wasn't part of my past."
"The next thing I want to address: this is also from 2011, a bad year for me in judgment, apparently. This video was called "Bounce That D**k." It was made private. I don't want to offend anyone, I'm not interested in it. I'm not interested in making anyone feel bad in case you haven't noticed. Here's a clip, I'll play it for you." Mourey then played the video, which showed her dressed in yellowface. "As you can see I said 'hey ching chong wing wong, shake your king kong ding dong, sorry that was racist, I'm bad at rap songs.' It's awful, it doesn't need to exist, it's inexcusable, it's not okay."
"I'm incredibly sorry if this offended you, then, now, whenever. It doesn't need to exist, it shouldn't have existed. I shouldn't have said that, ever. It's not cool, it's not cute, it's not okay. and I'm embarrassed that I've ever made that, period."
"The next thing I want to apologize for is a video I posted in 2012, and made private it shortly thereafter. This was one of the hardest years of my life, and I made a video that came across unbelievably slut-shamey. And I'm sorry. I just f***ed up. I ranted about girls that ran around and slept around and that's wrong. I had a lot of internalized misogyny, I feel like, at that time in my life. And, I'm sorry if I ever offended you with the things that I said in that video. And that video has been private for a long time. It does not reflect my attitude towards anyone and their bodies, and that's really been eating me up inside for a long time. And I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry if I ever made you feel bad about yourself or your choices or anything."
"There's no one demanding an apology for that video of me right now. But I'm just like, you know what, put it on my tab. Here's another thing I'm sorry for."
"I'm also sorry for — I used to make a lot of content about, like, what girls do, and what guys do, and I know at the time there were a lot of people that enjoyed those videos, but I've privated all of them because I don't think that making jokes about your gender is funny. And I know that there's a lot of people that struggle with their identity and that have varying, fluid identities, or anything. I just don't want content in the world that's like, I don't know, just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense, it can be hurtful. It can be harmful. And I don't want it there."
"Another thing I would like to address is when people Tweet at me, 'I can't believe that you would be friends with this person, or follow this person, that's racist.' Or 'done these terrible things,' and the only thing I would like to say is that I'm just a person trying to navigate the world the same way that you are. So I don't always know what's right, what's wrong, what the truth is, and I'm just trying my best."
"As someone clearly with their own past that they're not proud of, I do just try to see people for who they are right now, today, and that they're not defined by their past. And I understand. I'm trying to do the same thing that you are, and support and be friends with people I'm proud of and that I love. Just know that I'm doing my best. I try to just do what I can. And I'm not trying to let anyone down or hurt anyone, or upset anyone. I'm just not!"
"That being said, I've privated a lot of my old content. I don't want want to hurt anyone, I don't want to offend anyone. In case you guys haven't noticed, there's no sponsors on this channel, I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'm literally just here to have a good time, and I don't think I'm having a good time. And it seems like some other people aren't having a good time. For now, I just can't exist on this channel."
"Hopefully I've taking down anything that would upset someone. And I hope you know that that's just not my intent. That's not what I've ever set out to do, to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone feel bad." Mourey then took a moment to compose herself; she didn't want to be upset when concluding the clip.
"So I think I'm just gonna move on from this channel for now. I don't know if that's forever, how long it's gonna be. I just want to make sure that the things I put into the world are not hurting anyone. I'm just gonna stop now, or forever, I don't know."
"I'll probably take the studio down, because it's embarrassing. I want to say thank you for your support, for those of you who care about me and have been watching me for a long time, I appreciate it. I want to hold myself accountable and it's painful to do it. And it's not fun, and it hurts. And I'm ashamed of things I've done and said in my past, but it's important."
"I hope this felt like something that you needed to hear from me, and I'm not sure if I want to continue doing stuff on this channel, and I don't want to put anything out in the world that's going to hurt anybody. So I need to be done with this channel for now or forever, I don't know. Alright, good talk, see you guys."
Newsweek did not receive comment from Jenna Mourey at the time of publication.
