Toy Freaks
Toy Freaks was a controversial YouTube channel run by Gregory Chism, a single father of two living in Granite City, Illinois. The channel was known for its videos featuring Chism and his two daughters in a variety of disturbing situations.[2][3] It was created in 2012[4] and stopped production in November 2017.[5]
Gregory Chism | ||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2012–2017 | |||||||||
| Genre | Comedy Home gardening | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 8,547,801 (November 16, 2017[1]) | |||||||||
| Total views | 6,933,735,324 (November 16, 2017[1]) | |||||||||
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Gregory Chism
In an interview in January 2015, Chism described himself as a single father of two girls, ages 4 and 6.[5][6]
Controversy and termination
In November 2017, the Toy Freaks channel was highlighted by James Bridle in a Medium article, in which he wrote that the channel "...specialises in gross-out situations, as well as activities which many, many viewers feel border on abuse and exploitation, if not cross the line entirely, including videos of the children vomiting and in pain."[7] When the channel was terminated by YouTube later that month, it had over 8 million subscribers, and was one of the 100 most-viewed channels on YouTube.[5][8][9] YouTube removed the channel for violating its child endangerment policy, which they had recently revised in response to media coverage of supposedly child-friendly videos containing disturbing content on YouTube.[10]
References
- Berg, Kara (2017-11-21). "YouTube shuts down local man's million-subscriber channel featuring daughters". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Sblendorio, Peter (2018-02-13). "Don't expect YouTube to boot Logan Paul anytime soon". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
One of the most high-profile examples of a YouTuber getting banned occurred last November, when the account "Toy Freaks" was taken down for what the company vaguely characterized as a "violation of our policies." The account's videos centered on a single father, Gregory Chism, and his two daughters — both under 10 years old — in creepy and often disturbing scenarios. The videos included scenes in which one or both girls ate baby food, pretended to be infants, spit up something they ate or were left in pain.
- Zipkin, Nina (2016-12-27). "Meet Your Future Boss: The Elementary Schoolers Taking Over YouTube". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Smidt, Remy (2017-12-07). "This Dad Got Kicked Off YouTube For Making Disturbing Videos Of His Daughters That Millions Of People Watched". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Geek to Freak Fitness and Lawn Care Interview (23rd January 2015)
- Bridle, James (2017-11-06). "Something is wrong on the internet". James Bridle. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Rosenblatt, Kalhan (2017-11-24). "YouTuber 'Toy Freaks' could do psychological damage to his kids, experts say". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Spangler, Todd (2017-11-17). "YouTube Terminates Toy Freaks Channel Amid Broader Crackdown on Disturbing Kids' Content". Variety. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- Sharman, Jon (2017-11-22). "Father thrown off YouTube for making disturbing videos of his daughters". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-06-30.