Sam has had comeback after comeback (Pictures: @SamPepper/TikTok/Twitter)

Sam Pepper is one of the most recognisable names in the UK YouTube world – and not for the best reasons.

First rising to fame in 2010, Sam was a contestant on Big Brother, and saw huge success after launching a YouTube career.

However, it all quickly came crashing down when he uploaded some deeply distressing pranks, one of which resulted in him facing sexual assault allegations and being investigated by the LAPD, before the claims were dropped.

Another featured Sam appearing to convince a man he’d witnessed the murder of his best friend.


Despite his monumental missteps, Sam has once again risen to fame on TikTok – a video platform known for its use among younger generations – boasting a following of more than 1.5 million and being rewarded with an official verified badge.



Rarely showing his face in videos, and using his girlfriend as a display picture, you’d be forgiven for thinking the whole thing seems a bit shady.

So how exactly did Sam make such a successful comeback after falling so far?

Sam initially rose to fame on his YouTube channel (Picture: Sam Pepper)

YouTube beginnings

Sam created his YouTube channel in 2010, building a huge following partly as a result of his popular prank videos and his stint on Big Brother.

However, in 2014, he uploaded his video Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank, in which he appeared to pinch unsuspecting women’s bottoms.

Naturally, he faced major backlash for the thoughtless ‘prank’, before uploading a second video, titled The Reveal, just days later.

This time around, he filmed a woman pinching men’s bums, infamously claiming the whole thing had been a ‘social experiment.’

‘It goes without saying you can’t go round touching people’s bums without asking,’ he said in the now-deleted video.

‘I chose to use sexual harassment as the focal point of the experiment. That way I could pass it off as prank, pretend it’s harmless and watch all you guys go crazy in the comments.’

The allegations

Following the video, multiple women accused Sam of rape and sexual assault.

One alleged victim, who remained anonymous, told Buzzfeed News she was attacked during the vlogger’s visit to Toronto where he was performing on tour.

The pair made contact over Twitter and exchanged details, after which he is said to have invited her to his hotel room.

The woman claimed that she, her sister and her friend then went to see if they could get free tickets from Pepper at the concert venue to attend the event, but he refused her sister and friend, and would only allow her into the venue.

After the concert, she alleged that, under the pretence he was taking her home, he took her back to his hotel where he attacked her.

She said: ‘I kept saying no and he laughed and pinned me down. At first, I thought he was joking around, but then I realised he was having sex with me.’

Explaining why she hadn’t come forward before, the woman said: ‘I thought it was my fault.’



The LAPD confirmed to BBC Newsbeat in 2014 that they had investigated Pepper as a result of one woman’s claims, but the site reported that they did not pursue the claim because the alleged victim was ‘not willing to co-operate.’

Sam strongly denied all claims of rape and sexual assault and there are currently no outstanding claims against him.

He boasts a following of 1.5 million on TikTok (Picture: Sam Pepper)

Killing Best Friend Prank

However, the controversy didn’t stop there, with Sam uploading his video Killing Best Friend Prank, featuring fellow stars Sam Golbach and Colby Brock.

While Brock was in on the ‘prank’, Golbach wasn’t and the video saw him appearing to get increasingly distressed.

In the now-deleted ‘prank’, Pepper wore a mask and kidnapped the pair, eventually taking them up to a rooftop and forcing Golbach to watch him appearing to shoot his best friend.

Golbach was left in tears, appearing to believe he’d witnessed his friend’s murder, and the video sparked major backlash as well as hitting headlines.

With thousands signing a petition to have him removed from YouTube, Sam promised to delete his channel – if he was given $1.5 million (£1.1 million) in GoFundMe donations.

Golbach appeared to believe he’d witnessed his best friend’s murder

The Apology

Fast-forward to 2016, and the YouTuber uploaded a lengthy apology video.

In the 20-minute vlog, titled ‘i’m sorry’, Sam told viewers that he wanted to speak to them like they were his friends and be completely honest with them. He also said that he wanted to continue making YouTube videos as the video sharing website was his life.

However, he conceded that his pranks had made him seem like a ‘douche’ and his previous excuses that they were a social experiment were actually ‘bulls***’.


The video also addressed the several claims of sexual assault that were levelled against him, which he continued to strongly deny. He said: ‘If I had done that, I wouldn’t be sitting here now.’

Sam concluded by saying: ‘I know there’s still gonna be people who’ll say stuff.

‘I know there’s still people that are gonna hate, but if I’ve [made this video] and then make content that I really believe in, at least I’ll feel a bit better about myself.’

He’s been awarded a verified badge (Picture: TikTok)

The comeback

Unlike other YouTubers who have faced downfalls of epic proportions, Sam’s never completely disappeared from the internet – but he has been moving around and rebranding.

His main channel, which still has a following of more than two million, contains some of his tamer pranks after the removal of the more distressing ones and the apology video – meaning that if a new viewer stumbled upon his channel, they might not be any the wiser about his past actions.

Two years ago, he stopped uploading to his main channel and began on his second channel, Sam Pepper Live.

Moving in with streamer Ice Poseidon, Sam uploads vlogs, often featuring his girlfriend.

As for the latest rebrand, in 2019 Sam uploaded his first TikTok video of him and his girlfriend ‘saving’ some baby ducks, with it gaining a whopping 1.9 million likes.

Sam’s TikToks have seen him jump on trends, as well as upload challenge videos, life-hacks, and stunts which he urges viewers not to try at home.


He rarely shows his face, although his new fanbase either don’t seem to recognise him from his YouTube days or don’t seem to care.

Sam uploads challenges and pranks on TikTok (Picture: Sam Pepper)

Repercussions

We’ve definitely seen YouTubers making comebacks after monumental mistakes – Logan Paul being the most extreme example, after he filmed an apparent suicide victim, putting the footage in his vlog about his travels to Japan.

Only a month went by before he uploaded his apology vlog, and it was business as usual after that.

But, in the case of someone like Sam, how many chances do you get? Does there ever come a point when an internet creator has their platform completely taken away from them?

In many cases, including James Charles and Tati Westbrook’s explosive feud last year, fans have unsubscribed en masse to a YouTuber, resulting in them being ‘cancelled’.

However, cancel culture doesn’t result in the removal of a platform or, often, the influence of a particular creator. In many cases, it mirrors mob mentality, most prominently shown when a million people unsubscribed from beauty guru James’ channel last year, only to re-subscribe just days later.

Online video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Mixer have afforded us brilliant minds, hugely successful celebrities and, quite possibly, the future of the entertainment industry.

But if disgraced stars are permitted to make comeback after comeback, and rebrand themselves time and time again, it sets a deeply dangerous precedent for the future.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Sam, TikTok, and YouTube for comment.

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