LeafyIsHere
Calvin Lee Vail, known online as LeafyIsHere or simply Leafy, is an American internet personality best known for his now-terminated YouTube channel containing reaction, drama, and gaming videos with commentary.[2]
| LeafyIsHere | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Calvin Lee Vail 1995 or 1996 (age 27–28)[1] Layton, Utah, U.S.[1] | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2011–2017, 2020 | |||||||||
| Genre | Commentary[2] | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 4.91 million (before channel was terminated)[3] | |||||||||
| Total views | 1.2 billion (before channel was terminated)[3] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: August 21, 2020 | ||||||||||
Beginning in 2016, Vail was involved in several conflicts with other YouTubers which led to allegations of cyberbullying. YouTube terminated Vail's account in 2020, citing repeated violations of their harassment policies.[1][4]
Career
The LeafyIsHere channel was a drama, commentary, and storytime channel. On the channel, Vail mainly commented on gossip involving online content creators and made videos telling life stories. He had made rants on popular YouTubers such as Onision.[2]
Vail started his channel in 2011 and began uploading content in 2013. He focused mostly on reactions and gaming videos.[5]
Controversies and channel termination
In 2015 and 2016, Vail was the target of a swatting campaign, with repeated police calls from December 2015 to February 2016. At that time, he was in Layton, Utah.[6]
According to Bryan Menegus of Gizmodo, Vail mocked a man in 2016 with a learning disability, and had earlier made fun of an autistic man known as TommyNC2010, after which YouTube and Reddit communities rallied behind Tommy, prompting Vail to release an apology.[7]
In 2016, YouTuber iDubbbz featured Leafy in an episode of his Content Cop series, accusing him and his videos of cyberbullying, among other criticisms.[8][9] Also in 2016, Vail accused YouTuber Evalion of supporting Nazism and antisemitism. Shortly after Vail drew attention to her, Evalion was banned by YouTube.[10] Later that year, one of Vail's videos in which he called transgender vlogger Milo Stewart an "it" and a "creature" was taken down by YouTube. Vail made three videos attacking Stewart.[11]
Starting in December 2017, Vail's YouTube channel went on a hiatus for more than two years.[5][12] After a more than two-year-long hiatus, Vail returned to YouTube with a video insulting iDubbbz in April 2020, following which he resumed posting frequently.[12] In July, Vail began criticizing Twitch streamer Pokimane and her supporters based on speculation about her personal life.[2][13]
On August 21, 2020, Vail's YouTube account was permanently terminated.[13] According to The Verge, Vail's channel had three violations in the previous three months, such as cyberbullying and encouraging viewers to disrupt other people's streams. A YouTube spokesperson said the channel had repeatedly violated YouTube's policies on harassment.[4] Following the ban, Vail began streaming frequently on Twitch.[14] He has also posted on competing video platform StoryFire.[4] He also got into conflicts with YouTuber Ethan Klein.[14]
On September 11, 2020, Vail's Twitch account was also banned. Earlier that day, Vail had tweeted about receiving a strike on his account from Twitch for "hateful conduct and threats of violence against a person or group of people". Twitch did not comment on the ban or indicate whether it was permanent.[14]
References
- Kiberd, Roisin (August 5, 2016). "YouTube's Trolls Are Crying Censorship Over Cyberbullying Rules". Vice. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- D'Anistasio, Cecilia; Grey Ellis, Emma (July 31, 2020). "PokimaneBoyfriend and the Scandalous Reign of Drama YouTube". Wired. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
- "LeafyIsHere's YouTube Stats". Social Blade. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- Alexander, Julia (August 24, 2020). "YouTube permanently bans controversial creator LeafyIsHere". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- Teti, Julia (March 31, 2020). "Leafy Returns To YouTube For 1st Time In 2 Years To Call Out IDubbbz & Fans Go Wild — Watch". Hollywood Life. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
- Reavy, Pat (August 4, 2016). "Popular Layton YouTuber target of 'swatting' pranks". KSL.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- Menegus, Bryan. "YouTube Star Makes Money Bullying People With Learning Disabilities [Updated]". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- Alexander, Julia (December 16, 2019). "YouTube is growing up, and creators are frustrated by growing pains". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
- Romano, Aja (December 13, 2019). "YouTube just made sweeping positive changes to its harassment policy. So why all the backlash?". Vox. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- "Eva Lion, la youtubeuse fan d'Hitler". L'Express (in French). May 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- "Trans Activist Milo Stewart's Never-Ending War on Trolls". The Daily Dot. October 17, 2016. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- Tenbarge, Kat. "A controversial YouTuber returned to the platform after two years of inactivity to make fun his online nemesis after his girlfriend made an OnlyFans". Insider. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- Samuels, Alexandra (August 22, 2020). "Leafy banned from YouTube after targeting Pokimane". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- Grayson, Nathan (September 11, 2020). "Twitch Suspends Leafy, The Banned YouTuber Who Harassed Pokimane". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.