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Growing number of Mormons gaining fame on YT


dairyfreelife

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Has anyone else taken notice that a number of famous YouTubers are from Utah and are Mormon? 

Ones that come to my mind are:

*April and Davey-5 kids, Mormon, have a couple YT channels and hit it big.

*Ellie and Jared-their family has hit it big as well-sister Ruby of 8 Passengers, some other siblings also, but not sure their channels. 8 Passengers is a bundle of crazy, so if you never watched them, I advise against it.

*What's Inside-dad and son, Mormons living in Utah, started the channel and have hit it super big just cutting things open.

*Tannerites-which is an unfortunate name, but they have 7 children, hit with the YT gravy train and don't give a shit about their privacy. I did one google search with the dad's name and instantly their names and children's names and their address came up and I did not seek that out, which concerns me for his family. FYI, one video was all I watched and I got their names and where their children go to school because their parents were stupid enough to show the school in plain view, which is why I did the search. Maybe I am just paranoid, but it unnerves me how little they care about their privacy or their children's safety. Neither parent seems to work though they never say what they do to afford 7 children and that nice house before YT while not working. And just a little obvious note, eldest Branson is about 19, the parents are 36 and married for just about 17 years. Yeah, think you can do the math. Also big Mormons. 

There are others also, but am surprised by how many channels with large numbers of subscribers are Mormons. Suppose it's the large family aspect that draws people in? The desire to likely convert others via their vlogs is a bit concerning, but considering how crazy most of them are, don't think they will win many over if that's the eventual goal. 

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2 hours ago, dairyfreelife said:

 I did one google search with the dad's name and instantly their names and children's names and their address came up and I did not seek that out, which concerns me for his family. FYI, one video was all I watched and I got their names and where their children go to school because their parents were stupid enough to show the school in plain view, which is why I did the search. Maybe I am just paranoid, but it unnerves me how little they care about their privacy or their children's safety.

I think Dooce established a privacy boundary so far out there that no one else will ever come close, unless they a) have the following she once had, and b ) post their home address, photos of their house, and a floor plan online. Years ago she posted so many details of where they live, that I could not only have found her house in under 30 minutes (and I don't live in that city) but identified from outside the room where her daughter slept.

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I've heard it explained that the church has always encouraged Mormons to journal, and blogging and vlogging is an extension of that. But it also seems to be an outreach method to me.

Kimmy, of She's in Her Apron, is another Mormon Youtuber, popular in the "clean with me" category. She and her husband go to monthly YT meetings in Salt Lake City where all the vloggers get together and discuss strategies. From what she says, they get lots of attendees.

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One other thing I've seen Mormons do on YT is when they get their mission assignment in the mail, not only do they invite all of their friends over, they show the envelope with their actual mailing address visible before opening it on video and in front of everyone. I think that's a concern, as anyone could just look up their addresses on Google Street View. One thing I do have an issue with is that one Mormon step sister even set up a YT channel for their 7 year old daughter, which is something I think is risky in my opinion.

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I started watching Ellie's sister Bonnie's channel while I was reading Under the Banner of Heaven recently and didn't realise at first they were Mormon. While obviously the book is about FLDS, it's still interesting observing their life through a lens of Mormonism now, especially after the detail Krakauer goes into about the Book of Mormon and the establishment of Utah as a state.

There's some good observations on ytmommadrama and apparently there's talk that the LDS church encourages the vlogging as a way of advertising the religion. 

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One of my daughters watches a Mormon family vlog. Their name escapes me... They are pregnant or just had their 5th child and live in Salt Lake. She adores them. I think they are annoying!

All my kids like Studio C and even went to a local Mormon church to meet 3 cast members when they were touring to gather donations for some outreach. I've never heard talk about Mormonism on the show. In my homeschool group there was a few who vehemently opposed us allowing Mormons in our co-op because they said Mormons were so nice that their children might fall prey to "the cult" too easily. That was smacked down by our leadership in about 2 seconds but what gets me is that those same people LOVE Studio C and how clean it is. I guess it's not threatening when it's online...

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I think Mormon mothers try to make money while staying at home. So blogs, vlogs, and YouTube channels are a way to do that. I've also heard from people who live in Utah that Mormon SAHMs are also big into MLMs and extreme couponing.

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2 hours ago, Gabe said:

Studio C and Piano Guys are also Mormon yt hits although they aren't known for being uniquely "fundy"

And David Archuleta  (American Idol) . In my opinion he's on his way to become the Mormon version of TFDW

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Has anyone ever watched the channel Zelph on the Shelf? It's a couple of ex-Mormons who read apologetics and other media and basically just rant and refute it. It's not super structured but I find them very articulate for responding to Mormon media off the cuff.

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I watched the Shaytards in the past, they are basically THE original family vloggers and first it wasn't even clear they were Mormon. If anyone doesn't know them, they basically got very rich through youtube and made millions through a company sale. They planned on stopping vlogging this year and they did just recently because the dad was caught sexting a camgirl.

I am really not that interested in watching family vloggers anymore and I have to say I believe a lot of them don't know what they are getting themselves into by filming their kids and exposing them to the world on youtube. I think a lot of people saw the success of the Shaytards and other  and want that for themselves but there is definitely a price to it.

Another famous Mormon youtuber I can think of is Shonduras, he's friends with Casey Neistat and does all kinds of Skating/Snowboarding/etc.

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17 hours ago, faraway said:

I watched the Shaytards in the past, they are basically THE original family vloggers and first it wasn't even clear they were Mormon. If anyone doesn't know them, they basically got very rich through youtube and made millions through a company sale. They planned on stopping vlogging this year and they did just recently because the dad was caught sexting a camgirl.

I am really not that interested in watching family vloggers anymore and I have to say I believe a lot of them don't know what they are getting themselves into by filming their kids and exposing them to the world on youtube. I think a lot of people saw the success of the Shaytards and other  and want that for themselves but there is definitely a price to it.

Another famous Mormon youtuber I can think of is Shonduras, he's friends with Casey Neistat and does all kinds of Skating/Snowboarding/etc.

Yeah, most definitely a price. They can be nice to watch, the kids can be cute, but the things many put online, there's just not a single ounce of respect towards the privacy of their children at all. Shoving cameras up in their faces while they are upset, sick, it's just not okay to me. I think back to my childhood and no doubt there's things I said or did I am glad I didn't grow up in an internet world and also that I don't think my parents would have ever considered posting such things. Way too often I feel parents lack any respect for their children as people. Would they have wanted that shown to the world if it were them? I'm going to guess the answer is no. So don't fucking show it dipshits! 

They are all too often the same, going for the same trends, the same fame-catching titles, wanting a slice of the money and fame. What's interesting though is that most of them already appear to have a nice lifestyle. They start and have a nice house, nice cars, etc. It doesn't appear that they really need the money. They seem to want the fame more and are using their children to do so. 

There are more famous Mormon or I think are Mormon youtubers like Shot of the Yeagers, Ohana Adventures, likely more, these are just ones I've stumbled across before. They all seem to get 10s of 100s of thousands of views a video, have lots of children, do all the challenges and such that others more famous have done to get and keep viewers. 

I don't feel at all for the parents, they choose this. I feel for their children who never get a say in this and who are too young to understand or be aware of fame and the consequences of such fame or their own exploitation. We protect children in the entertainment business and have just recently started with laws to try and protect children on reality TV, but there's nothing to yet protect children being exploited on other platforms like YT. Are these parents giving any of the money they are earning from their children to their children? Some likely are, others I bet are not. Personally, I feel if a child, no matter the platform, is making money for anyone, said child deserves a good chunk of that money. If you put a video of your child on YT, for example, and it goes viral and money starts to come in, it is the child who should be receiving the money. I wish we had laws that allotted for this and sought to it that the money was just into a fund for them for their education and future and adults around them don't take advantage and keep all the money the child makes for themselves. 

Some may come back that the parents are giving it to them, blah blah, no proof they aren't, blah blah blah. We have history to prove that adults, who should protect children, especially their own children, don't always do so. There's plenty of cases in history to prove time and time again that adults take advantage of children, use them and the cute kid factor to make money and never give a penny to the child. There's many cases of parents forcing their child into show biz and taking all the money for themselves. So, yeah, I am totally skeptical that most of the parents are actually setting up funds and providing any money that they earn from their children to their children. There is just so much gray area in the era of easy videos and many people being filmed, photographed, including children without their knowledge or consent and there's not any regulations regarding this. People actually film other people's children and put it online, sometimes mocking them and it is clear that neither the parents nor the child consented to this and there's nothing that says people can't do this. It's such murky, even quite dangerous, waters we are in at the moment. The safety of others isn't even a thought. Schools cannot even snap a class picture without the consent of the parents and require parents permission to put on their website, yet any yahoo can film a child and put it on the internet. That child could be in a protection program or a number of other things that could put their life at risk and yahoos out there don't care or give a shit that they may have just put a child or another person in danger. Yeah, may seem extreme, but you just never know. 

I wish we could all stop exploiting children already and find ways to stop the exploitation. 

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On 2/28/2017 at 10:35 PM, servants-heart said:

apparently there's talk that the LDS church encourages the vlogging as a way of advertising the religion. 

1

I've heard the same years ago (back then about blogging). It makes a lot of sense, after all they've also run those "I'm a Mormon" commercials on TV. Really not different from a lot of other fundie groups discussed here, except that the LDS church is much larger and more organized about it. 

45 minutes ago, dairyfreelife said:

there's just not a single ounce of respect towards the privacy of their children at all

Agreed. This privacy invasion aspect isn't unique to Mormon or even religious vloggers in general, and it's icky no matter who is doing it. There's a huge difference between an adult running a YouTube channel about their own hobbies or thoughts where their kids are occasionally shown/referenced, vs. one that focuses on publicly documenting personal or embarrassing moments of their family life for years on end. Kids aren't props. 

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On 3/2/2017 at 4:28 PM, faraway said:

I watched the Shaytards in the past, they are basically THE original family vloggers and first it wasn't even clear they were Mormon. If anyone doesn't know them, they basically got very rich through youtube and made millions through a company sale. They planned on stopping vlogging this year and they did just recently because the dad was caught sexting a camgirl.

Thanks for mentioning the Shaytards, they're the only Mormon YouTube family I know of.

Someone mentioned the Zelph on the Shelf couple, I've watched a couple of theirs as well. What I really recommend is John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories." John got excommunicated back in 2015 but he's still doing Mormon-themed videos (Mormons, former Mormons, Mormons who stray off the reservation but don't get excommunication, etc.). Just this past week he did a video with several other people regarding a secret PowerPoint that was leaked which identified problems in the Mormon church. And who was one of the problems (up there with porn, Sabbath observance, false prophets, church history)? Why, John Dehlin. And then the Mormon church actually verified the PowerPoint was legit by filing a DMCA complaint against it. Too late, like the Scientology secret scriptures, thousands had  downloaded it.

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This just made me think of the Gardner quads. Mom Ashley, dad Tyson, Indie, Esme, Scarlett and Evangeline (Evie, pronounced Ev-ee). Plus dog Bailey.

They have a YouTube channel (daily vlogs except Sundays), blog, FB page, the lot. One of Ashley's short FB vids went viral and the family even appeared on Ellen. They have a home business and they get sent a LOT of stuff by fans. 

Their raison d'être is that Ashley and Tyson suffered infertility issues for 8 years, Ashley had endometriosis. Then she got pregnant with quads (two sets of identicals) through IVF. They're two years old now. 

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  • 1 month later...

Lindsey Stirling is also Mormon.  And huge on YouTube (I found her through YT surfing and it was a Home Free/Pentatonix bit that led me to Lindsey and The Piano Guys - as well as Tiffany Alvord (another singing/Mormon/YT personality - and now you have me wondering so I've googled Peter Hollens who is not LDS but his wife is.

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Funny, I found Lindsey Stirling via Pentatonix too.  She has over nine million followers on YT.  Nine Million!!  And yeah, she's a 'follow all the rules' Mormon.

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Freckled Fox for the fox/rabbit hole.I bring her up b/c Mormon but not exclusive to YT but everywhere with tres drama.  Google is your friend or GO*I with nearly 900 pages.

 

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Barefoot Blonde is also very famous and I understand makes ton of money off the IG/YT fame. She even started legitimate hair extensions business, as opposed to shilling for some MLM crap company. 

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On 3/5/2017 at 8:32 PM, mango_fandango said:

This just made me think of the Gardner quads. Mom Ashley, dad Tyson, Indie, Esme, Scarlett and Evangeline (Evie, pronounced Ev-ee). Plus dog Bailey.

They have a YouTube channel (daily vlogs except Sundays), blog, FB page, the lot. One of Ashley's short FB vids went viral and the family even appeared on Ellen. They have a home business and they get sent a LOT of stuff by fans. 

Their raison d'être is that Ashley and Tyson suffered infertility issues for 8 years, Ashley had endometriosis. Then she got pregnant with quads (two sets of identicals) through IVF. They're two years old now. 

I strongly dislike the Gardners. At first I was interested in the whole two-sets-of-identical-twins thing but after the girls (or "durls", as Ashley and Tyson refer to their daughters) were born, the parents' true motives came through. They have received quite a few gifts and monetary donations. They are all about themselves - daily vlogs, blog posts, and appearing on the TLC show "Rattled." I've heard that they're lobbying for their own TLC show. They videoed every step of the their pregnancy with the intent of marketing themselves. Apparently Ashley's dad owns a media company.

The girls are cute but they appear to be little toddler tyrants. I've never seen them receive any sort of discipline at all. They're always consuming a ton of sugary foods including weekly donuts. Another snark site has a forum devoted to the Gardners and it's pretty critical.

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What I don't get is the cringe worthy things they put their kids through. I don't think teenage girls are going to be happy as adults having videos of them talking about their periods. Anything to spread the word of the Lord though, right? 

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Ellie and Jared are repulsive.  He thinks he's the second Jim Carrey and she is dumber than a stone.  They announced just today that she's ovulating while on their trip to Disneyland! Rumor has it they make $50k/month with YT and all the sponsorships/deals they get because of it.

Even worse is Ellie's sister, Bonnie.  Her YT is Bonnie Hoellein.  Equally stupid as Ellie, but she's got four kids, which is two more than she can handle.  She is lazy as a parent, is quite open about her fondness and practice of Ezzo-style parenting, and loves make-up and the amount of time she takes to apply it (she and Ellie went to "hair school").  She cooks from cans and proudly admits to making her kids eat what she makes or go to bed -- at 7pm every night -- hungry.  Her husband, Joel, seems sweet but totally whipped.  Her house is her sanctuary and none of the people who live with her are allowed to ruin "her" walls, "her" carpet, "her" floors, etc.  And her laugh -- she never stops laughing.  High-pitched and obnoxious and endlessly annoying.

They have two other sisters -- Ruby (8passengers) and Julie (Deru Crew Vlogs).  Ruby is a bit of a drama queen, but Julie seems transparent and humble, and as normal as any of them can be.

And they all love to promote their church work and the twice-per-year viewing of the LDS General Conference on TV.  They put their kids on blankets on the floor, load them up with candy, and force them to watch the "prophets and apostles" of the LDS church blow "wisdom" out of their asses for hours and hours.  Way to train those kids to be able to sit in church for 3 hours every Sunday!

 

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