(Image via dexerto.com)
Staff Writer: Maya Arruda
Email: marruda7@umassd.edu
What do the Kids’ Choice Awards, armed robbery, and unethical business practices have in common?
The answer is the YouTuber Alia Marie Shelesh, AKA SSSniperwolf.
She won two Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for best gamer in 2019 and 2020 (but was exposed for faking all her gameplay content in her husband’s class action lawsuit against her in 2023), was arrested for armed robbery in 2013, and arrested again for disorderly conduct for fighting in 2016, and has been known for lazy and repetitive low effort “reaction” content often without crediting the original videos she is “reacting” to.
Shelesh has also been historically homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and racist. She has made jokes about suicide on Twitter and YouTube, not to mention the additional video where Shelesh asked two minors to twerk for her in exchange for flashing her boobs on Omegle.
Consequently, SSSniperwolf is highly disliked within the YouTube sphere by everyone over the age of twelve.
In an iconic power move, another YouTuber named Jacksfilms criticized Shelesh’s content by creating a parody account, JJJacksfilms, with fifty-six videos of SSSniperwolf criticism. While the videos may seem excessive, in all honesty, they are completely valid points against Shelesh and her style of content that is about as far away from an original thought as Pluto is to the sun.
JJJacksfilms is primarily about crediting the original creators in this type of “reaction” content.
Shelesh did not take too kindly to this criticism and instead tried to pin JacksFilm’s criticism of her lazy content on misogyny.
A typical SSSniperwolf “reaction” video features the original (uncredited) video running in full while Shelesh makes gasping noises, chuckles, or asinine comments that just give a verbal recap of whatever is happening in the video.
Her additions seemed to be solely there so she could use the original video under fair use laws. Still, most people with more than two brain cells agree that her contributions could hardly be considered “transformative.”
And yet, this low-effort content gets millions of views that all go to her channel without giving credit to the person who actually did the work (i.e., the original creators).
Unfortunately, this content theft dressed up in a suit is not unique to just the SSSniperwolf channel. Shelesh is just the biggest channel with these types of videos, sitting at 31.4 million subscribers. Shelesh has made millions of dollars off of these videos, which are really just theft.
All of her videos were fully monetized before her most recent “controversy,” and by “controversy,” I mean “actual crime.”
Shelsh clearly did what any stable, good person would do in response to criticism and doxxed Jacksfilms by posting a video of her outside his house with the caption “Let’s talk like adults” on Instagram, where she has around 5 million followers. Because stalking, harassment, doxxing, and threatening people are perfectly normal responses to online criticism.
Alia Shelesh, who has a criminal record for fighting and armed robbery, hunted down this man’s address and showed up to pick a fight. Moreover, she revealed his address to millions of rabid SSSniperwolf fans. Jacksfilms and his family’s safety have been put in jeopardy just because this one festering puss clump of a human being didn’t like being called out for content theft.
People were mad. Rightly so.
So, in response to the cries of the masses, YouTube stepped up to respond to this horrible violation of privacy and criminal activity. YouTube, in all its empathy and wisdom, made a public statement on Twitter that blamed both Shelesh and JacksFilms and gave Shelesh a slap on the wrist by only temporarily demonetizing her.
This is the same company that terminates smaller creators for even joking about doxxing. But once one of their bigger moneymakers actually doxxes someone, they do practically nothing.
I’ve seen less bullshit on a dairy farm.
Shelesh later apologized on Twitter after receiving backlash. In her apology, she gave an apology that was as real and genuine as a $3 bill and thanked YouTube for “holding me accountable.” She then attributed her actions to a lapse in her judgment, which has the same vibes as that Logan Paul apology.
Unsurprisingly, this apology held up about as well as a piece of paper in a typhoon when she was caught ban-evading using a second channel that still has full monetization. Shelesh had just re-uploaded the videos from her main channel to the second account to get around the temporary demonetization.
She is not currently facing any legal repercussions. However, it is very likely that Jacksfilms will pursue legal action in the future. Hopefully, the court system will provide the justice and punishment Alia Shelesh has essentially avoided thus far.