Jenna Mourey, a.k.a. Jenna Marbles, one of the most popular creators on YouTube, announced she would take a break from the platform in a video apologizing for old and offensive content uploaded on Thursday.
“I think I’m just going to move on from this channel, for now,” Mourey said in the tearful apology video, adding that she doesn’t know whether her step away from YouTube will be temporary or permanent. “I want to make sure that the things that I’ve put into the world aren’t hurting anyone.”
Mourey’s channel has long been one of YouTube’s most popular, with a current total of 23 million subscribers. Over her 10 years on the platform, Mourey’s videos have been viewed more than three billion times. But as noted in Thursday’s apology video, that success did not come without controversy.
Mourey specifically called out and apologized for three of her old videos: one in which she appeared to wear blackface to impersonate Nicki Minaj, a rap parody video in which she used a slur for Asian people, and another she described as “unbelievably slut-shamey.” The creator said she spent the last few days removing much of her old content from her channel, including a handful of videos that played on gender stereotypes for comedy.
“I don’t want to offend anyone. I don’t … I’m literally just here to have a good time and I don’t think I’m having a good time. And it seems like maybe some other people aren’t having a good time,” Mourey said in the video. “I hope you know that that’s just not my intent. That’s not what I ever set out to do, to hurt anyone’s feeling or make anyone feel bad.”