Joseth Francois, 26, is more widely known on the internet as Seth, an influencer who was part of megafamous YouTuber David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad. The crew of content creators often filmed the banality of their lives and the hijinks they’d pull on each other — making them pioneers of what’s now become typical YouTube content.

But now, after almost four years and 10 million views, Francois is unpacking his experience from one “prank” video with Dobrik, saying it was sexual assault. He’s also reckoning with the realization that he was used as the punchline for racist jokes as the only Black member of the squad.

Francois told BuzzFeed News he’s speaking out now to “reverse the damage” and to prevent incidents like this from happening in the industry again.

“I honestly didn’t realize how much that situation affected me until the beginning of last year when COVID happened,” he said. “I remember sitting in my room in Atlanta and I was thinking to myself, That video was wrong. I just felt like that shouldn’t have happened to me.”

Dobrik and his team did not respond to multiple requests for comment from BuzzFeed News.

Francois first shared his allegations on H3 Podcast earlier this month. There, he recounted an incident to hosts Hila and Ethan Klein where he felt “pressured to participate in bits that [came] off culturally insensitive.” In one sketch a few years ago, when Francois was an active member of Vlog Squad, he was asked to open a refrigerator, only to find watermelon spilling out.

At the time, he said on the podcast, his association with the successful YouTube collective made him feel like he couldn’t say no to these sketches.

“It was an unwritten thing where you see a pattern of people saying, ‘Yo, I’m uncomfortable with this,'” he said. “All of a sudden they disappear and they’re not in videos anymore.”

Francois told BuzzFeed News in an interview Tuesday that being written into sketches like this enabled fans to openly make racist jokes about him.

“I had fans on my page putting my face on pieces of fried chicken — stuff that was pretty disgraceful,” he said. “I was at a breaking point, thinking, Maybe it’s just my friends and they’re not really tasteful. Maybe it’s my job to educate them.”

After the pandemic was declared and as Black Lives Matter protests were taking place last summer, Francois spent time reflecting and processing the various levels of trauma he had experienced while part of Dobrik’s Vlog Squad.

“The most horrific experience, and I am still experiencing trauma, is that bit with Jason Nash,” Francois told BuzzFeed News. Nash didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In June 2017, Dobrik published a video titled “HE THOUGHT HE WAS KISSING HER!! (SUPER CRINGEY)” that’s now been watched almost 10 million times. In it, Dobrik says he’s going to pull a prank on Francois by making him believe he’s making out with another Vlog Squad member, Corinna, who was supposed to be wearing a disguise. In reality, he was making out with another member, Nash, who was the person in disguise.

On Wednesday evening, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki delivered her first press briefing of the Biden era. To sum up the social media response to Psaki’s performance, it was viewed widely as delightfully (p)sane.

we’ve had no insults yet. no meltdowns. no smears of the “fake news.” pic.twitter.com/KfpwCgAwsA

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)

I’m having some difficulty here. I’m not sure which part to clip since no one is holding up paper or yelling at Acosta pic.twitter.com/M7Ak9GTIMX

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn)

Jen Psaki is blowing me away.

— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump)

It’s so crazy watching a White House press briefing that is not just a bunch of journalists being grossed out by an extended presidential ego fluffing while OAN cheers

— john r stanton (@dcbigjohn)

New press briefing is harrowingly normal and not bizarre.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm)

Truly blinding level of professionalism and normalcy at this briefing

— Amanda Katz (@katzish)

Watching this press conference really is the oddest thing after the last four years.

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten)

Some noted how Psaki’s performance didn’t even include insane lies about the size of the inauguration crowds that could be easily disproven by photographs, as Sean Spicer delivered in his second day on the job four years ago.

The new press secretary briefs. Notably, the focus is not on the size of the president’s inauguration crowd. pic.twitter.com/rqWIfMndq2

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur)

Yeah @jrpsaki is definitely sober and has not lied in the first 2 minutes of her briefing. So way better than all the Rejected Racist Funko Pop Dolls that had the job under Trump.

— john r stanton (@dcbigjohn)

The press conference was mostly generic ‘getting to know you America’ platitudes about transparency and “telling the truth” that read as frantically refreshing following four years of deranged lunacy and constant falsehoods meant to placate the world’s biggest egomaniac and liar. But there was indeed also some substance.

Psaki promised a return to the normal schedule of daily press briefings and regular COVID briefings. She said that Anthony Fauci would be representing the United States at a meeting on Thursday of the World Health Organization, a group from which Trump tried to withdraw the country.

She maintained Biden’s position that—independent of his calls for national unity and healing—it was entirely up to Congress how to handle an impeachment trial of Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection. She also maintained that they could work on his agenda while dealing with an impeachment, but Sen. John Cornyn—a top ally of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—immediately poured cold water on that idea, which is something the press can ask her about at her next press conference on Thursday while expecting a rational and truthful response.

Psaki also reiterated that the president was committed to trying to win over Republican support for his $1.9 trillion relief measure, while also saying that the matter was urgent and that he would not be removing the option of passing a quick bill through budget reconciliation.

Psaki also indicated that the president would not be negotiating against himself to reduce the pricetag of the relief bill to meet Republican demands. “The package wasn’t designed with the number 1.9 trillion as the starting point, it was designed with the components that were necessary to give people the relief that they needed,” she said. “So what’s challenging is: What are you going to cut? Are you going to cut funding for vaccinations? Are you going to cut funding for unemployment insurance? Are you going to cut funding for reopening schools?”

As Psaki was making these remarks, it was reported that Sen. Mitt Romney—one of the moderate Republicans Biden would need to go along with any bipartisan package—thought the proposal was “not well-timed.” Opposition from the likes of Romney would seem to leave the possibility of wide bipartisan support—enough to break a filibuster in the Senate—off of the table going forward. This might force the Democratic majority to move quickly to reconciliation if it wants to pass the measure as urgently as Biden and Psaki indicate it is needed.

How the Biden administration decides to move forward with that bill given that Senate dynamic is something that members of the press can ask Psaki about—and expect to receive sane, rational, truthful answers to—tomorrow.

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