YouTuber ImJayStation admits to faking friend’s death for clicks but now says she’s trying to ‘ruin’ his life
A popular YouTuber released a video announcing his girlfriend had died, so why is he facing backlash branding him as “scum”?
Last week, popular YouTuber Jason Ethier, 29, shared some devastating news with his 5.4 million, mostly young subscribers: His girlfriend of “four or five months” Alexia Marano had been killed by a drunk driver.
In the following days he shared more videos (since deleted) of him trying to contact her spirit via an Ouija board (which he’s used to capitalise on the deaths of celebrities including Mac Miller and XXXTENTACION for views in the past) as well as visiting what he claimed to be a roadside memorial at the site where he said Marano was killed.
There’s only one problem for the grieving viral video star: Alexia Marano is alive.
“Alexia was never dead, at all. Let me tell you guys exactly what happened with all these ‘my girlfriend is dead’ videos,” Ethier said in a new video.
The whole thing was a desperate ploy, which Ethier, who goes by the name ImJayStation on YouTube, claims the pair cooked up together to attract more views to their joint YouTube channel, though he did say it was his idea originally.
“Alexia was okay with the videos we made to promote dream team channel and helped me produce them,” Ethier wrote on his most recent video, titled “Alexia Marano *The Truth About Her* ”.
“What’s up guys, this is a very serious video, and in no way is this a joke at all,” Ethier said as he laid out his new version of the story, putting blame firmly on Marano and accusing her of trying to “ruin” his life by telling police he assaulted her with a weapon, which he claims never happened.
In the video is the inaccurate claim that “where I live police can’t arrest you if you have a warrant if you are inside your house”, which the YouTuber said is why two people dressed like Toronto police officers who appear in the latest video couldn’t arrest him despite a warrant.
It’s more likely the police, if they even are real law enforcement officers, didn’t arrest him because there’s no warrant out for his arrest, as Toronto police told Newsweek.
In a new twist, Ethier claims Marano helped him create the videos but then left him.
“Guys I fell in love with this girl, I tried helping her become famous on YouTube, she left me without notice and tried to ruin my life,” Ethier now claims under the monetised video.
The confirmation that the videos purporting to be in mourning for his recently deceased girlfriend aren’t real will come as no surprise to the amateur detectives in the YouTube and online community, some of whom were on the case long before Ethier admitted to faking Marano’s death on Monday.
It’s official everyone. #ImJayStation is now considered to be the scum of #YouTube. What happened was it’s now confirmed that he faked someone’s death just for clickbait. Let me tell you something, that is just so wrong in many ways possible.
— Shahrooz Fermani (@SFermani1996) January 24, 2020
Others have called for him to be banned from the site and highlighted the latest scandal as an example of how YouTube’s community standards and the enforcement of them were skewed.
ImJayStation: * Uses celebrities deaths and lies to get money and views .
— Brighton ( CEO of the E2 class ) (@Leonard07816662) January 26, 2020
YouTube: * Does Nothing
Logan Paul: * Films Dead body
YouTube: * Still nothing
Random Youtuber: * Says a bad word in video
YouTube: pic.twitter.com/0D8NK4QwZJ
#banjaystation @YouTube
— Brandon't Talk 2 My Kids Ever Again (@brand_NV) January 23, 2020
When are you going to remove scums like ImJaystation from the platform?
Profiting off the death of celebrity's and mocking them.
Now you have him faking his girlfriends death for clicks??
Please remove this dude, like tf is wrong with him.
I hope someday someone will make a
— Riverdude Covers (@RiverdudeCovers) January 26, 2020
“CONTACTING IMJAYSTATION BEYOND THE GRAVE!!!! 3 AM CHALLENGE (NOT CLICKBAIT) 😱😱â€
when either him or his channel
inevitably dies
This man is the definition of human trash pic.twitter.com/awwBALRXYx
@TeamYouTube HOW is ImJayStation still allowed on this platform? Manipulating his young fan base with LYING about his girlfriend dying multiple times to milk for some sweet clicks, and exploiting recently deceased people in general? Among many other issues. He is a PROBLEM. pic.twitter.com/yeZMRMdpEL
— Blier (@Blier_) January 27, 2020
JayStation
— KEEM 🿠(@KEEMSTAR) January 23, 2020
Used celebrity’s deaths for clickbait
Illegally broken into multiple buildings trespassing & got arrested for videos
Did suicide forest vid
Made vid of him buying a black slave. (Fake) but wtf ?
Faked be robbed at gunpoint
Faked his girlfriends death.
Ban him!
While not wanting to get into the thorny politics of grief-shaming, Ethier’s behaviour in the since-deleted videos certainly didn’t fit with what you’d expect from a mourning boyfriend or even a distant associate hearing about the death of an old classmate.
“What’s popping guys, back with another 3am challenge, as you guys know my girlfriend Alexia just passed away in a tragic accident guys!” JayStation says frantically as the camera zooms in and out on his face in one video that has been reuploaded by another channel.
“I cannot get over her guys, I miss her so friggin’ much! A tonne of you guys actually been commenting on my videos: ‘dude talk to her on the Ouija board’ guys, a lot of you guys just want to hear one last thing from her guys, so do I! I miss her so much. The last thing I actually said to her was: ‘babe can you pick me up some Popeyes before you come back’, and she never came back guys,” he said.
He also tells his viewers that “1 Like = 1 Prayer for Alexia” in the video in an attempt to juice his engagement numbers.
It’s worth repeating at this point in the story he is still claiming the young woman, his girlfriend, recently died at the hands of a drunk driver.
If the online army calling for Ethier to be banned from YouTube get their way, it won’t even be the first time he’s been kicked off the platform.
His earlier channel, the more simply named JayStation, was demonetised and subsequently abandoned in November 2016 after he was charged with five counts of trespassing.
The charges were in relation to a series of videos where he would break into homes and businesses and stay overnight.
He’s argued he should be able to stay on the platform because he can’t get any other job besides making YouTube videos exploiting celebrity deaths and faking others because he dropped out of high school in year 9 and has a criminal record.
ALEXIA LIVES AS NEW VIDEO GOES LIVE
Alexia Marano responded Wednesday with a video of her own, titled ALEXIA IS ALIVE (truth about ImJaystation).
She uploaded the video to her own account, but it also made its way on to the Dream Team channel.
Marano quickly followed up with another video claiming he stole the video off her channel before uploading it to their joint Dream Team channel, which she also said he has blocked her from accessing.
In another clear sign that Petty 2020 is in full effect, Marano alleges Ethier is now trying to use copyright claims to have the video taken off her account.
“He is trying to sabotage my video all for his own gain and I’m not going to have it,” she said in the follow up, where she also instructs viewers to report the video on the Dream Team channel.
Sometime Wednesday, all videos were removed from the Dream Team channel’s page, in what will surely be regarded as a crippling loss for the arts.
In other news of YouTubers being utter gronks, one going by the name of Jolto has deleted his channel following the backlash he got after uploading a video titled “CALLING KOBE BRYANT AT 3 AM! *OMG HE ACTUALLY ANSWERED* (HES NOT DEAD)”.
Jolto claimed he purchased the phone number to contact the basketball legend, killed in a helicopter crash alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others on Monday, via the dark web.
Is banning a guy from YouTube for faking his girlfriend’s death for clicks a suitable enough punishment? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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