YouTuber Keemstar Announces Retirement From DramaAlert Show

YouTuber Keemstar has announced he is retiring from his DramaAlert show.

Keemstar - real name Daniel Keem - made his first appearance on YouTube back in 2009, before setting up the DramaAlert channel in 2014.

Described as the 'number one source for news on the social interactions in online entertainment', it has amassed 5.77 million subscribers - but now the 39-year-old is hanging up his boots (or whatever the equivalent is for a YouTuber).

Many thought it might be a wind up when he first announced on Twitter that he was planning on retiring, but yesterday (26 October) he shared a video on his channel in which he explained why he was stepping down.

Quite simply, he said he wasn't enjoying working on the platform anymore.

He said: "It's been almost 14 years that I have been a YouTuber... And quite frankly, I'm not having fun anymore. Recently, things have changed quite a bit.

"It started around the time of the pandemic. There was a shift in the culture where cancel culture became this overpowering thing and people went after YouTubers' sponsors, really trying to just ruin them financially, and that caused everyone to stop speaking their minds, a walking, talking, commercial.

"What happens is, when nobody speaks their mind and everyone's a commercial, there's not really that much entertainment.

"In entertainment, you need drama. Think of the Avengers without drama, think of them without a bad guy. You need some back and forth, you need some battles, you need conflict."

Watch here:

Keemstar also lamented the 'loss of community' on the platform, but he hopes the show will go on without him.

He said: "Over the last, I would say two years, I've been actively looking for my replacement because I just need to do other things. I got other things going on.

"You know I'm involved in the boxing world. I want to get into documentary stuff. I want to leave the house all right."

He continued: "We have now until the end of March to find someone that you like. I think it's very possible. Maybe it's multiple people hosting, I don't know.

"This show that I love so much has become kind of a prison. Everything has a start and an end. And for me, being the daily 24/7 host here on DramaAlert, that end has come.

"I want to thank you guys for sticking with me for all these 14 years. Thank you for letting me keep you in the loop."

Whether this does turn out to be his retirement remains to be seen, as he has made numerous very similar announcements in the past.

In 2018, he said: "I am officially Retiring from YouTube.

"I'm not going to upload videos & get 50 percent less views because of (BROKEN YOUTUBE) nope. The video last night is only 400k lol .. thats f***ing impossible for my channel! Easy 1M by now. Bye h**s!"

Topics: Viral, Community, YouTube

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey