A Vlog Squad member said he thought David Dobrik wanted his friends to get injured during stunts in a resurfaced clip
- Scotty Sire said he thought David Dobrik wanted the Vlog Squad to get injured during stunts.
- Speaking to Jeff Wittek on a podcast in 2019, he said Dobrik "wants you to fall off or hurt yourself."
- The clip has reemerged following Wittek's revelation about an accident that caused his eye injury in 2020.
YouTuber Scotty Sire said David Dobrik wanted Vlog Squad members to get injured during stunts, in a resurfaced clip of a podcast episode from 2019.
Sire was a member of the Vlog Squad, a hugely popular YouTube collective that rose to fame on Dobrik's channel. Dobrik's vlogs of the crew hanging out, partying, and performing stunts gained millions of views before they went on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic last March.
Sire and fellow Vlog Squad member Jeff Wittek hosted a podcast together between April and November 2019, called "Skotcast." In one episode in June 2019, they spoke about some of the vlogs they had been a part of, including one involving a motorcycle.
Wittek said he didn't know how to ride a motorcycle well, but he was being "reckless" and trying to "help David get a vlog."
"David's in the car and he's filming me and I was like getting the wheelies good, and he's like, f--- he's getting too good now. He wanted something to happen," Wittek said.
Sire said "that's the worst thing" about vlogging.
"When he wants you to do something for the vlog, but you know he only wants you to do it because he wants you to fall off or hurt yourself," Sire said. "That's what's going to make it."
Wittek said he had learned to appreciate life and the fact he didn't "need to do this s--- anymore."
"I've got a lot to live for now," he said.
Dobrik did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The clip of this conversation is recirculating online in light of recent revelations about what happened to Wittek one year later in June 2020. In a documentary released last month, Wittek said he seriously injured himself while swinging from an excavator Dobrik was controlling and released clips of the incident.
The news came after months of speculation, rumors, and hearsay about what actually happened. Wittek wrote in an Instagram caption that he "got in an accident and broke my face and skull in a few places." The next posts showed the extent of the injuries, with multiple stitches on Wittek's face, and photos of him from a hospital bed wearing a neck brace.
The dramatic footage in the documentary of Wittek swinging around the excavator, which appeared to be filmed by someone on the shore, showed him flying around in the air at high speed before crashing into the machine's arm. In follow-up episodes of the documentary, Wittek said he had multiple reconstructive surgeries to realign his eye.
Other clips of Vlog Squad members taking part in dangerous stunts have also resurfaced, such as when Nick Antonyan, who is known as "Jonah," drove a moped off a half-pipe into a pool. He later said in interviews that he was told by doctors he had a 50% chance of dying from his injuries.
In a fan-made TikTok compilation, another Vlog Squad member Heath Hussar is seen limping away with an apparent injury after diving onto a table as part of a video intro.
The Vlog Squad was already enveloped in controversy since sexual assault allegations were made against members in February and March, which has led to more scrutiny of what happens behind the scenes.