Mormon YouTuber put on 'trial' after speaking out against church won’t be able to give eulogy at his parents’ funerals after excommunication
A Mormon YouTuber who was put on trial for starting a channel fact-checking the claims of church leaders has faced heartbreaking personal consequences after being excommunicated.
Back in August 2024, Douglas Stilgoe - known as Nemo the Mormon online - sat down with LADbible’s Honesty Box to candidly talk about his faith.
A month later, he was hauled before church leaders and accused of apostasy, which means renouncing his religion. Shortly after, he was excommunicated.
LADbible’s new documentary Nemo vs the Mormon Church: The Cost of Speaking Out explores how Stilgoe worked to unearth the dark side of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and how he was subsequently punished for it.
Advert
Speaking to LADbible, Stilgoe explained that because of his excommunication, he’s been shut out of pivotal moments in family life.
He said: “I can attend church. I can't contribute. I can't speak up.
“Were my parents to have a funeral in an LDS meeting house, I wouldn't be able to give a eulogy.”
Heartbreakingly, he also won’t be able to take part in key milestones in his nieces’ and nephews’ lives as they grow up.
“Say one of my nieces or nephews goes on a mission trip for the church, I couldn't necessarily speak at their farewell meeting.
“I probably couldn't speak at a wedding either in an LDS chapel.”
And the consequences of his excommunication also extend to the afterlife.
The LDS church was founded in 1830 in the US by Joseph Smith, and now has more than 17 million members worldwide.
While their website describes the church as Christian, many of their beliefs differ from the teachings of mainstream Christian churches.
Mormons believe in a concept called sealing. It means spouses aren’t just married on Earth, but stay married in heaven.
Because the church has branded Stilgoe an apostate, in Mormon theology he will not be able to join his wife in heaven, heading instead to the Mormon version of hell, called outer darkness.
In his excommunication hearing, his wife stood up to ask church leaders if they knew the gravity of what they were about to do.
Stilgoe said she asked them: “Do you understand what you're doing right now? Do you understand the pronouncement you're making on my husband?
“They claimed to understand, so that's on their conscience then, I suppose. That's for them to come to terms with.”
Stilgoe launched his YouTube channel as a university student in 2020 and now has more than 45,000 subscribers. He uses his platform to calmly and precisely interrogate hypocrisies in LDS church doctrine and challenge the conduct of church leaders.
His advocacy has resulted in significant real-world change. In 2023, he successfully helped to campaign for compulsory DBS background checks for UK members of the LDS church working with children.
Yet his videos have also been met with visceral condemnation and caused a painful rift in his family.
“Certain family members won't talk to me anymore because of what I do, equating it to having a paedophile in the family, ‘we don't want our children around you’.
“The irony being that the work I've done is to try and stop actual paedophiles from harming their children.
“Other members of my family have been very supportive of what I do, others merely tolerant.”
Yet despite the personal toll speaking out has taken, Stilgoe is aware there are larger issues at stake. He remains confident the church can change, but only if it is called to account by its members.
“What it takes is others like me to keep making noise. Sometimes the cost of that is your membership in the institution, but children are now safer in the church, and I'd say that's a worthwhile trade.”
LADbible Group has approached the LDS Church for comment.
Nemo vs the Mormon Church: The Cost of Speaking Out is available to watch on LADbible Stories YouTube now
Simon Fearn