- Ally Hardesty, a YouTuber, publicly accused an ex-Vlog Squad member of groping her in 2017.
- Insider investigated allegations of
sexual assault against the ex-member, Dominykas Zeglaitis. - Hardesty said
Vlog Squad leaderDavid Dobrik reached out to her recently to apologize.
Ally Hardesty, a YouTuber who currently has over 350,000 subscribers, was one of the first people to publicly accuse former Vlog Squad member Dominykas Zeglaitis of sexually assaulting them in 2017. In a recent vlog, she said that David Dobrik reached out to apologize to her about the alleged incident.
Dobrik was the leader of the Vlog Squad, a group of content creators that included Zeglaitis, who was known in videos as "Durte Dom." The group, Zeglaitis, and Dobrik have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks following an investigation by Insider's Kat Tenbarge into allegations of sexual assault. In the wake of the allegations, numerous brands have distanced themselves from Dobrik, who has published two apology videos on both his podcast channel and main YouTube channel.
Hardesty, a YouTuber and content creator, alleged in a 2017 video that Zeglaitis had groped her and forcibly kissed her without consent at a VidCon after-party that year. At the time, Zeglaitis posted a video to address "stuff that's been going on with VidCon," saying that accusations against him weren't "100% true" but that he was "aggressive when talking to women." Dobrik publicly commented on that video, writing "Proud of you Dom. Being an idiot is easy. Owning up to it is tough! Glad you made this!!!"
Dobrik later specifically referenced Hardesty in his second recent apology video, saying that he wanted to "acknowledge the women that spoke out against Dom in 2018. I'm talking about Ally and then I'm talking about other girls who addressed their problems privately or publicly."
In a vlog published on Monday, Hardesty said that Dobrik had reached out to her to apologize for his previous actions in the wake of her accusing Zelgiaitis of sexual assault.
"Everything coming up the past couple weeks was really triggering, it brought up a lot of emotions I didn't even really know that I had," Hardesty said in the video. "Now basically this is all coming to light because another woman spoke up and there was an article on Business Insider about her basically having an experience with Dom."
Hardesty said that she felt it was important to speak to Dobrik and see "what he was genuinely sorry about," saying that she wasn't sure if he was being genuine given the timing.
"My problem was never really with David," Hardesty said in the video. "Dom's the one who assaulted me, but David didn't stand up for me, he didn't believe me."
Dobrik said in his second apology video that he made the decision to stop filming with Zeglaitis in 2019, but that it "breaks his heart" that he continued to make content without apologizing to the women who spoken out about Zeglaitis.
Hardesty said in the vlog that she thinks Dobrik feels remorse for consent jokes made in his vlogs after he "turned a blind eye" to warnings about Zeglaitis. She also said that she "genuinely" believed Dobrik was sorry and reaching out to women now to make amends, saying that she told him about her previous experiences involving sexual assault and being discredited after she shared her story.
"If you've been through something like that, you know how it affects you, and if you don't, then I don't know if you would get it. And that's why I tried to like, really open up to David and have him understand how bad that stuff does affect you," she said in the video. "It really does traumatize you and trigger you and make you just have like, distrust of people."
Dobrik and Zeglaitis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.