David Dobrik Documentary “Under The Influence” Explores The YouTuber’s Influence

When Neistat and his team first started filming Dobrik, they hoped to provide an inside look at what it’s like to be the biggest star on YouTube. They ended up with a profound case study on the complexities of online fame.

Under the Influence, which premieres on March 12 at SXSW, captures roughly three years of Dobrik’s career, first as an agent of pandemonium, then his subtle metamorphosis into a brand-friendly conduit of stunt charity. It also follows his pandemic-induced break from vlogging and his backlash-induced break from social media.

Dobrik’s “popular kid” reputation took a hit in March 2021 when Insider’s Kat Tenbarge reported that a woman said she was raped by Vlog Squad member Dom Zeglaitis in 2018 after filming a video. (Zeglaitis has denied the allegation.) Dobrik was outside the room during the alleged rape, though the documentary shows that he jokingly tried to break in room throughout and filmed their interaction extensively beforehand.

The woman, who goes by the pseudonym Hannah, told Insider that she had been drinking alcohol that the Vlog Squad provided to her even though she was under 21. She told Insider that she blacked out, which made her incapable of consenting to sexual activity with Zeglaitis.

Neistat’s documentary follows Dobrik as the allegations break, and how he, as the leader of the Vlog Squad, handles its fallout. (The documentary does not address all the allegations that have plagued the Vlog Squad, including racism and sexual assault.) Dobrik did not respond to multiple requests for comment from BuzzFeed News about the documentary.

Zeglaitis — who also did not respond to repeated requests for comment from BuzzFeed News — had previously been accused of sexual impropriety by multiple women during his stint with Dobrik’s group, Tenbarge says in the documentary. Many members of the Vlog Squad, including Zeglaitis, say in the documentary that they play “characters” that are exaggerated versions of themselves. Zeglaitis’s “character” was often sexually aggressive with women, and following Hannah’s allegations, the public began to question the character he claimed he was playing onscreen.

Dobrik tells Neistat in the documentary that he believes he “amplified” Zeglaitis’s persona as “a guy who preyed on girls.” He says he stopped filming with Zeglaitis at some point before Hannah’s allegations were made public, but does not say what prompted it.

Tenbarge, the Insider reporter who broke Hannah’s story, told BuzzFeed News that during her reporting, there was a lot of discussion among her and her colleagues about whether they should focus on Dobrik’s involvement in the situation at all. But ultimately they decided to highlight the working conditions Dobrik created as the owner of the business that is the Vlog Squad, given that the alleged assault took place in an environment in which he created.

“This is what it’s really like going into a situation involving an incredibly famous YouTuber … Hannah was uncomfortable, and from the moment she walked in the door there were cameras in her face,” Tenbarge told BuzzFeed News. “There were no consent forms, no professionalism, no structure. It wasn’t operating like a business, even though that’s what it was. It was operating like a frat house, but bringing in millions of dollars.”

Dobrik posted two videos in response to the Insider story on YouTube. The first — shared to his smallest channel with the comments turned off — was criticized for failing to address his own involvement. A week later, he shared the second video, in which he broke down in tears and apologized to Hannah and her friends for the “environment [he] enabled that made them feel like their safety and values were compromised.” That marked the start of his three-month hiatus from social media.