LeafyIsHere explained
LeafyIsHere |
Birth Name: | Calvin Lee Vail |
Birth Date: | [1] |
Birth Place: | Layton, Utah, U.S. |
Years Active: | 2011–2017, 2020 |
Genre: | Commentary[2] |
Subscribers: | 4.91 million (before channel was terminated)[3] |
Views: | 1.2 billion (before channel was terminated) |
Stats Update: | August 21, 2020 |
Silver Button: | yes |
Silver Year: | 2015 |
Gold Button: | yes |
Gold Year: | 2016 |
Calvin Lee Vail (born 1995 or 1996), known online as LeafyIsHere or simply Leafy, is an American former Internet celebrity, best known for his YouTube channel which focused on reaction content. Vail first gained popularity on the site for his commentary on "cringey" Internet videos and culture. Prior, he posted Let's Play content.[4]
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.[5]
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.
Vail started his channel in 2011, at the age of 16, and began uploading content in 2013. He focused mostly on reactions and gaming videos.[6]
In 2015 and 2016, Vail was the target of a swatting campaign, with repeated police calls from December 2015 to February 2016. At the time he was living in Layton, Utah.[7]
In 2016, YouTuber iDubbbz featured Leafy in an episode of his Content Cop series, accusing him of cyberbullying in his videos, 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 non-binary 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.[12] After a more than two-year-long hiatus, Vail returned to YouTube with a video insulting iDubbbz in March 2020, following which he resumed posting frequently. In July, Vail began criticizing Twitch streamer Pokimane and her supporters based on speculation about her personal life.[13]
On August 21, 2020, Vail's YouTube account was permanently terminated. 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. Following the ban, Vail began streaming frequently on Twitch.[14] He has also posted on competing video platforms StoryFire and Rumble. He also got into conflicts with Ethan Klein.
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.
Notes and References
- News: Kiberd . Roisin . August 5, 2016 . YouTube's Trolls Are Crying Censorship Over Cyberbullying Rules . August 24, 2020 . . July 5, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200705111717/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3da5jy/youtubes-trolls-leafyishere-are-crying-censorship-over-cyberbullying-rules . live . en.
- D'Anistasio . Cecilia . Grey Ellis . Emma . July 31, 2020 . PokimaneBoyfriend and the Scandalous Reign of Drama YouTube . . live . August 22, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200803215514/https://www.wired.com/story/drama-youtube-pokimane/ . August 3, 2020 . en.
- Web site: LeafyIsHere's YouTube Stats . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200824181813/https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/leafyishere . August 24, 2020 . August 24, 2020.
- Web site: After a cyber-bullying, a Rally of Support.
- News: Alexander . Julia . August 24, 2020 . YouTube permanently bans controversial creator LeafyIsHere . August 24, 2020 . . August 24, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200824193443/https://www.theverge.com/tech/2020/8/24/21397058/leafy-ban-youtube-permanent-harassment-bullying-policies . live . en.
- News: Teti . Julia . March 31, 2020 . Leafy Returns To YouTube For 1st Time In 2 Years To Call Out IDubbbz & Fans Go Wild — Watch . . live . July 14, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200703141910/https://hollywoodlife.com/2020/03/31/leafy-calls-out-idubbbz-new-video-watch/ . July 3, 2020 . en.
- News: Reavy . Pat . August 4, 2016 . Popular Layton YouTuber target of 'swatting' pranks . . live . August 7, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201002131452/https://www.ksl.com/article/39182143/popular-layton-youtuber-target-of-swatting-pranks . October 2, 2020 . en.
- News: Alexander . Julia . December 16, 2019 . YouTube is growing up, and creators are frustrated by growing pains . July 14, 2020 . . August 17, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200817154139/https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/16/21020323/youtube-policy-harassment-cyberbullying-drama-pewdiepie-steven-crowder . live . en.
- News: Romano . Aja . December 13, 2019 . YouTube just made sweeping positive changes to its harassment policy. So why all the backlash? . August 24, 2020 . . May 14, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200514041245/https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/13/21012611/youtube-coppa-changes-harassment-policy-backlash . live . en.
- News: May 31, 2016 . Eva Lion, la youtubeuse fan d'Hitler . . August 7, 2020 . August 22, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170822184139/http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/eva-lion-la-youtubeuse-fan-d-hitler_1797635.html . live . fr.
- News: October 17, 2016 . Trans Activist Milo Stewart's Never-Ending War on Trolls . August 7, 2020 . . September 3, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190903004858/https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/milo-stewart-trans-youtube-trolls/ . live . en.
- News: 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 . . June 12, 2020 . en.
- News: Samuels . Alexandra . August 22, 2020 . Leafy banned from YouTube after targeting Pokimane . . live . 26 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200824065607/https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/leafy-youtube-pokimane-banned/ . August 24, 2020 . en.
- News: Grayson . Nathan . Twitch Suspends Leafy, The Banned YouTuber Who Harassed Pokimane . 12 September 2020 . Kotaku . 11 September 2020 . September 13, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200913031648/https://kotaku.com/twitch-suspends-leafy-the-banned-youtuber-who-harassed-1845032127 . live . en-US.