controversies

Jaden and Jada Pinkett Smith Call Out Shane Dawson for Sexualizing Willow Smith

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Following his recent apology video, Shane Dawson is now under fire by the family of Willow Smith for a resurfaced clip that showed Dawson pretending to masturbate to a poster of then-11-year-old Smith. “To Shane Dawson … I’m done with the excuses,” Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow’s mother, tweeted. Jaden Smith, Willow’s brother, also addressed the video on Twitter. “SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER!!!!!! IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY AND NOT OKAY IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT,” he tweeted.

Dawson’s apology video, in which the YouTuber expressed regret over using blackface and the N-word, did not address the clip of Smith. Dawson instead claimed he would “never talk about a child in any way that is inappropriate.” In the video, Dawson continued, “That is disgusting, that is gross, it is not something I would ever do. It is something I did for shock value or because I thought it was funny or, like ‘Oh my God, my child-molester character,’ or whatever. It’s all gross, and I promise that is not real, that is not me.” He also claimed that the jokes were a result of past abuse from his childhood. “I took that pain and I turned it into jokes,” Dawson said. Dawson has not yet responded to the resurfaced clip or Jaden and Jada Pinkett Smith’s tweets.

Shane Dawson Under Fire for Willow Smith Video