Austin Jones (musician)

Austin Jones
Personal information
Born Austin Jefferson Jones
December 12, 1992 (age 25) [1]
Origin Bloomingdale, Illinois
Residence Bloomingdale, Illinois
YouTube information
Channel
Years active 2007–2017
Genre Music (cover music, rock music, pop punk, metalcore)
Subscribers 547,000+
Total views 33.2 million+
100,000 subscribers
Subscriber and view counts updated as of November 4, 2017.

Austin Jefferson Jones is a former YouTube Content Creator and musician from Chicago, Illinois, who was active from the years 2007 to 2017, prior to his arrest for various sexual offenses, such as production of child pornography.[2]

On his YouTube account's "about" page, he described himself as an "alternative pop vocalist."[3] After accumulating around 540,000 subscribers and over 20 million video views, Jones became more widely known due to his arrest related to sexual misconduct involving minors and possession and production of child pornography.[1][2][4]

Career

Jones began releasing music in 2007. In 2014, he released an EP titled We'll Fall Together, which ended up at number 12 on the iTunes pop chart. In 2016, Jones released a full-length album titled Pitch Imperfect.[5] Jones was also known for his a cappella videos of song covers, such as My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade", Panic! at the Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", and Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Goin' Down". He also covered every song from twenty one pilots' album Blurryface, in an acapella medley.[6][7][8]

Sexual misconduct controversies

On May 10, 2015, the music website PupFresh reported that Austin Jones had contacted multiple underage female fans online, each time persuading the girl to twerk on video for him, giving her directions how to perform the act while being recorded.[9] A petition to revoke his planned participation in the upcoming Warped Tour surfaced in light of these events, but the petition was unsuccessful in that it did not accumulate enough signatures. Jones, therefore, performed at Warped Tour in spite of the allegations being made against him. Jones later addressed these allegations in a video he uploaded to his channel, "Setting the Record Straight", where he admitted that the allegations were correct and apologized for his actions, but he denied nudity being involved in any of the videos he recorded or any of the webcam conversations.[10]

On June 12, 2017, Jones was arrested at Chicago O’Hare International Airport by agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on two counts of producing child pornography (once in 2016 and once in 2017). In each case he persuaded an underage female fan to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to his directions.[11][2][12] At a June 15 court hearing, Jones was released from federal custody to home confinement in his mother's custody after posting a $100,000 bond, but was ordered to abstain from using the Internet while he awaits trial.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Sokmenseur, Harriet (June 15, 2017). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Allegedly Urged 14-Year-Old Fans to Send Him Sexual Videos". People. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Seidel, Jon (13 June 2017). "YouTube star Austin Jones charged with child porn counts in Chicago". Chicago Sun-Times.
  3. ↑ "Austin Jones - YouTube about page". Austin Jones. YouTube. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Suburban Musician Arrested on Child Pornography Charges for Allegedly Enticing Underage Girls to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos". U.S. Attorney's Office — Northern District of Illinois. Department of Justice. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  5. ↑ Castro, Danilo (13 June 2017). "Austin Jones Arrested: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com.
  6. ↑ Wilson-Taylor, James (14 March 2017). "WATCH: Twenty One Pilots Fan Records Acapella Version Of Every 'Blurryface' Track". PopBuzz.
  7. ↑ Selleck, Cole (October 2016). "WATCH: Dude Covers "Welcome To The Black Parade" With JUST His Voice". WRDA.
  8. ↑ Jones, Austin (1 June 2016). "YouTuber Austin Jones' cover of Bring Me The Horizon's 'Drown' is going viral". Alternative Press.
  9. ↑ Beelek, William (Editor) (10 May 2015). "Austin Jones asking underage girls to twerk for him". PupFresh.
  10. ↑ Crane, Matt (18 May 2015). "Warped Tour YouTuber Austin Jones responds to accusations, apologizes". Alternative Press.
  11. ↑ https://www.scribd.com/document/351203585/Austin-Jones-Child-Porn-Complaint-WARNING-Disturbing-content
  12. ↑ Stutz, Colin (13 June 2017). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Arrested on 2 Counts of Child Pornography". Billboard.
  13. ↑ "YouTube Star Austin Jones Released on Bail, Ordered to Stay Offline After Child Porn Charges". Associated Press. Billboard. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  • Ceron, Ella (June 14, 2017). "YouTuber Austin Jones Arrested For Child Pornography". Teen Vogue. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  • D'Zurilla, Christie (June 14, 2017). "Internet singer Austin Jones charged with felony child-pornography production". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  • Warmbir, Steve (June 13, 2017). "Austin Jones Child Porn Complaint WARNING: Disturbing content". Scribd.
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