Gus Johnson Abuse Allegations

About

Gus Johnson Abuse Allegations refers to allegations against sketch comedy YouTuber and Twitch streamer Gus Johnson. In October 2021, Johnson's ex-girlfriend Abelina Sabrina revealed in a YouTube video that "a boyfriend" of hers had been neglectful and emotionally abusive to her in regards to a pregnancy-related surgery and the trauma she suffered as a result of it. The alleged "boyfriend" in the video was revealed to be Johnson days later after he issued an apology on Twitter, in turn causing memes to be posted about it on Twitter and Reddit.

Background

Gus Johnson and Abelina Sabrina began dating sometime in 2018.^[1] The first video^[2] that the two collaborated on was posted to Johnson's channel on February 11th, 2018, and is titled, "The Failing Couples Of Facebook." The video (shown below) received roughly 2.4 million views and 97,000 likes over the course of three years.

The two kept dating going into 2021 and began posting content together on Sabrina's YouTube channel starting in February that year.^[3] However, in September 2021, Sabrina received plastic surgery on her nose,^[4] and during the process, Johnson was reportedly neglectful of her trauma.^[5] This reportedly caused the two to break up in late September 2021.

Overview

On October 22nd, 2021, Sabrina uploaded a video^[6] to her YouTube channel titled "My pregnancy." Within the video, Sabrina detailed a story from her past related to an ectopic pregnancy that she suffered, which is when the fertilized egg or embryo attaches outside the uterus, most often within the woman's fallopian tube.^[7] Moreso, Sabrina faced this crisis alongside "a boyfriend" who she never specifically named.

She detailed in the video how the boyfriend was initially aggressive about the pregnancy even happening, saying to her that he'd allegedly resent the child and her if the pregnancy went through. Once she began showing painful symptoms of the ectopic pregnancy, the boyfriend was neglectful still, opting to remain at a bar with friends instead of being at the hospital with her. He eventually came but only hours later. Sabrina then underwent emergency surgery because the ectopic pregnancy was immediately threatening her life. She was told by doctors that she wouldn't survive the next day and maybe not even the surgery.

She then detailed in the video how the surgery and situation left her with lasting trauma. She was afraid to tell her family and loved ones that she had a life-threatening operation or even tell them that she was pregnant in the first place. These were both things only the boyfriend knew about. However, the boyfriend was dismissive over several months in relation to her trauma, insisting that she was overexaggerating and that anyone else would have left her by now. Having undergone her most recent nose job surgery, a lot of the trauma from her previous operation resurfaced, causing more tension between her and the boyfriend. The video (shown below) received roughly 269,200 views and 27,000 likes over the course of four days.

Although she never named Johnson outright, speculation began to arise that "the boyfriend" mentioned in the video was Johnson. On October 23rd, 2021, Redditor^[8] mac4112 posted to the /r/gusjohnson subreddit a post titled, "The timeline of Sabrina’s pregnancy incident." Within the post, mac4112 made a timeline of Instagram posts from the couple alluding to the pregnancy's occurrence in 2018. The post received 557 upvotes over three days. Two screenshots^[9] mac4112 provided from 2018 are shown below.

On October 24th, 2021, Twitter^[10] user @SatxBatman tweeted a screenshot from a /r/gusjohnson Reddit post detailing that Johnson had been emotionally negligent to her recent plastic surgery, opting instead to livestream on Twitch him opening Pokemon cards. The tweet received roughly 2,700 likes in two days.

However, "the boyfriend" wasn't confirmed to be Johnson until he tweeted an apology to his Twitter^[11] on October 25th, 2021. In the apology, he stated that he wanted to apologize for his actions and that he and Sabrina were, "young and not remotely prepared to deal with the realities of a long-lasting traumatic medical situation." He also stated that his upcoming live shows were canceled and that he was going to take some time off from his podcast. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 8,600 likes in less than 24 hours.

Online Reaction

The most amount of online reactions came after Johnson's Twitter apology on October 25th. However, the earliest known meme posted about the situation was posted on October 22nd, 2021, by Redditor^[12] AidanHC whose meme (shown below, left) received 807 upvotes over four days. Twitter^[13] account @Yukinari11 also posted a Gus Johnson meme on October 22nd, following the Evil X Be Like format. The meme (shown below, right) received roughly 2,900 likes over the course of four days.

Multiple memes began to surface on Twitter after Johnson's official apology. Most Twitter users reacted to seeing Gus Johnson trending in the search bar but then clicking on it and being disappointed at what they saw. For instance, Twitter^[14] user @AJLucis used the Traumatized Mr. Incredible format to demonstrate his feelings. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 4,900 likes in less than 24 hours.

Overall, it seemed that many of Johnson's fans weren't "blindly taking his side," something mentioned in a tweet posted on October 26th from Twitter^[15] user @imalyssam who received roughly 2,600 likes in less than 24 hours. Other internet users reacted to the cluster of internet-related headlines accumulating at once on October 26th, 2021, those being news of YouTuber Keemstar retiring and other YouTuber JonTron being revealed as a proponent of the anti-vaccination movement. Twitter^[16] user @httpmfjon tweeted about this coincidence and received roughly 2,300 likes in less than 24 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References