Top 20 YouTubers Who Quit

By the early 2010s, vlogging had become all the rage, and George Miller looked to satirize the concept. He created the character Filthy Frank and later started the channel TVFilthyFrank to focus entirely on his odd creation. Despite his rather hostile and shocking sense of humor, Filthy Frank became a cultural phenomenon, launching numerous memes and even starting the Harlem Shake trend of 2013. Remember that? It was a good time. But Miller announced in 2017 that he was permanently retiring the character, citing health conditions that were interfering with his work, as well as general disinterest. He then pursued a career in music and now performs under the stage name Joji.

Success can really take its toll! The always informative YouTuber Tom Scott published a video in January of 2024 declaring that he would no longer be making videos for his channel, and his millions of subscribers. The reality was, while he loved the work itself, maintaining the quality of his content would either require more work, or more employees– neither of which were optimal or sustainable options for Scott. It’s sad to see a truly educational channel no longer exist, but we hope that Scott continues to spread his knowledge wherever he ventures next!

Ready for a throwback? VenetianPrincess was one of the biggest names in YouTube in the late 2000s, known primarily for her music parodies. Her “7 Things” spoof gained widespread recognition and praise, while her subscriber count was, for a time, unprecedented for women on the platform. However, VenetianPrincess stopped uploading on a consistent basis in 2013, but occasional videos have still appeared throughout the years as a little surprise to her fans. Recently, VenetianPrincess has primarily moved to TikTok, where she humorously self-identifies as “That chick that used to make parodies on youtube.”

We come to a disappointing story with Leafy, real name Calvin Vail. Leafy was one of the biggest names on the platform, known for his Let’s Plays and reaction videos. However, Leafy became the target of intense criticism beginning in the mid 2010s, with perhaps the most well-known coming in the form of iDubbbz’s “Content Cop.” Most of the criticism stemmed from Leafy’s transphobia and cyberharassment. Leafy quit YouTube in 2017 until 2020. However, his career on the platform came to an end that year, when YouTube permanently banned his channel due to continued strikes. Leafy attempted to revive his career through YouTube competitors Rumble and Storyfire, but he has since quit both.

With one of YouTube’s more silly and interesting personalities during the late 2000s, Mike Mozart loved making videos that shared his thoughts on children's toys and games. His biggest series was the "Fail Toy Review", where he played around and shared his dislike for some very poorly designed toys. This was until 2012, when he decided to stop creating videos and instead continue his work as an artist. He has since uploaded more videos, especially since 2022, much to the delight of fans everywhere.

A creator of a variety of content, but mainly focused on comedy sketches, Mac Freeman just seemed to enjoy experimenting with different kinds of ideas. His most notable video was "Lightsabers are Fun!" which was viewed over 6 million times. This was a pretty big deal for the YouTube of 2008. He continued uploading comedy sketches to his channel until the fall of 2012 when his last video, "In My Mind" was uploaded. This was an entry for a music video competition, which indicated that maybe Mac had ambitions of making more serious content. Unfortunately, he basically left the site without a word after the release of that video.

Grand Theft Auto is often the subject of online discussion, and many people even have channels that focus exclusively on the controversial game series. RedKeyMon was one of those channels, with videos that showcased cool stunts, short films and other things that revolved around GTA V. However, during the peak of the channel’s popularity, he left without a word. This led numerous fans to speculate about the reason for his disappearance. Some said that he wanted to move on and do something else, while others claimed he had passed away. Thankfully, he reportedly eventually clarified that he was alive and well.

We’re going way back in the YouTube time machine for Troye Sivan. YouTube was founded in 2005, and Sivan began singing on the platform just two years later. Its potential as a talent-sharing outlet was immediately obvious, and Sivan took great advantage of it. In 2012, Sivan also got into vlogging on the platform. Around this time though, he was also taking his music more seriously and veered in a professional direction. Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and has since released a number of successful albums and singles, including the Australian top ten hit “Happy Little Pill.” In 2015, his debut studio album “Blue Neighbourhood” was released. He hasn’t been a “YouTuber” for years, though the platform allows him to showcase his music.

Kersey began her internet career on Tumblr and became widely known for creating drama and engaging in problematic behavior. Kersey eventually moved to other social outlets, including Instagram and YouTube, where she continued chronicling her personal life. This included a famous relationship with her now-ex, musician Jairus Kersey, with whom she eventually had three children. Drama and criticisms about seemingly everything, including her parenting, continued to follow Kersey throughout the years. It all ended up being too much, and in 2021 Kersey announced that she was retiring from social media. However, this retirement didn’t last long, and Kersey returned to YouTube in 2023.

As a creator of pop culture related vlogs and videos, Kingsley became fairly popular in the early days of YouTube – earning around 1 million views on every video that he uploaded. However, in 2014, Kingsley decided that making this content wasn't exactly something that he enjoyed anymore. He explained that the platform was becoming more of a business for certain people, and this caused him to take a break for a while. However, after years of inconsistent uploads, he returned to making videos more regularly in 2017.

Very invested in Japanese culture, she spent a lot of her time on YouTube cosplaying as anime characters and teaching her fans new words and phrases with her series “Japanese Word of the Week”. She also frequently talked about her love for anime and Japanese toys. However, Hannah mysteriously vanished from the platform in mid-2013, with her last video being a vlog from Comic-Con. Since she left without announcing anything, a lot of her fans produced conspiracy theories and compilations of evidence to figure out what she has been up to all of this time.

This was a channel that was loved by millions but became overshadowed by controversies. Many tuned in to watch a man with an exaggerated Russian accent use different weapons and to see stuff blow up. However, the channel went on a hiatus in 2013. There were many problems behind the scenes that are believed to have contributed to this, including the murder of a member of the production team. While the channel made a brief comeback, it didn’t last long, as Kyle Myers, the star of the videos, was arrested for possession of illegal substances in 2017.

A creator of many comedy sketches and vlogs on different topics. KevJumba was known for his deadpan delivery, hilarious tangents, and his awesome dad. Famous for his video "Nice Guys", a collaboration with fellow YouTuber Ryan Higa, KevJumba was one of the top creators on the platform. He was even popular enough to break into the movie business in 2014. However, everything was brought to a halt in 2015 due to a car accident. He has publicly discussed how this accident changed his life, and how the situation took away his motivation to do anything. Luckily, Kev has since left and returned to YouTube on a few different occasions, though it’s unclear what the future holds.

An enormously popular influencer, Cameron Dallas got his start in 2012 by posting pranks on Vine, becoming one of the platform’s most popular figures. He was also quite prominent on YouTube, with many videos coming in 2014. However, it was also around this time that Dallas started pursuing work off the internet. Folks could find him on Netflix’s “Chasing Cameron” in 2016, and he also started acting professionally. In recent years, Dallas has essentially abandoned YouTube all together and is now focused on a career in music. His first studio album “Dear Scarlett” came out in 2020. That same year, he made his Broadway debut playing Aaron Samuels in “Mean Girls.”

You know what they say– always leave the fans wanting more! That’s exactly what Matthew Patrick– more commonly known as MatPat– did, when announcing his retirement from his channel The Game Theorists. He announced that his final theory is to be published on March 9th, 2024. He and his channel had been a massive hit, garnering over 18 million loyal subscribers since its beginnings in 2009. So why did he step back? No theories needed here– according to his “Goodbye Internet” video, he wanted to take more time for his personal life and, essentially, quit while he’s ahead. However, he hasn’t left his channel behind entirely– he’ll just be taking on different creative responsibilities, mostly behind the camera.

Talk about another Vine throwback. The Dolan Twins were also prominent on the defunct site and started posting videos to YouTube in 2014. Their career on the platform was enormously successful, generating well over one billion views and winning awards including Choice YouTuber at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards. The twins were also later known as part of the Sister Squad alongside James Charles and Emma Chamberlain. But this collaboration didn’t last long, as the Dolan Twins announced in 2019 that they were moving in a different creative direction. They eventually started a podcast called “Deeper with the Dolan Twins,” one episode of which was titled “We're Moving On From YouTube,” which says it all. Unfortunately, this podcast ended in 2021.

Another OG YouTuber, Tyler Oakley started his career back in 2007 while he was a student at Michigan State. He became both wickedly popular and hugely influential, even being placed on The Advocate’s list of “40 Under 40” in 2014. Not only were his videos great, but Oakley was also a public advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and various social issues. But all good things must come to an end, and on December 15, 2020, Oakley announced he was leaving the platform through a video titled “See ya later.” As of January 2024, Oakley has uploaded two more videos to the channel, but much of his creative output has turned to Twitch.

If you were a pre-teen in the late 2000s, then there is no doubt that you'll remember this voice. FRED was a comedy channel run by Lucas Cruikshank before YouTube became the platform that it is today. The show had a very large following, so much so that “Fred” reached the “mainstream” media with the release of 3 separate movies, and appearances on TV shows like “iCarly”. However, as time went on, the show started to lose popularity, and by 2014 Lucas decided to stop making “Fred” episodes. Lucas eventually switched gears, making content away from the Fred moniker.

When her video “How to Trick People into Thinking You're Good Looking” received over five million views in a week, Jenna Marbles knew she was onto something. And that something was a very long and very prominent career on YouTube. Marbles even has the distinction of reportedly being the first YouTuber to receive a wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds New York, so prolific was her output in the early 2010s. But this all came to an end in June 2020, when Marbles apologized for some problematic videos that she had made in the past and announced that she was leaving her channel.

Formerly the most subscribed channel on YouTube, RWJ was a powerhouse on the platform, mainly through his signature show: “Equals Three”. It gained so much momentum that it seemed like it couldn't be stopped. However, as time went by, Ray decided that it was time to move on and try other things. At the same time, he also faced problems with his network, Maker Studios. Therefore, in 2014, he left the show. While he was replaced by a number of different hosts, most of them were met with extreme backlash from fans. Ray eventually returned to the platform, but with different content.