A Tobuscus And Kyle Rittenhouse Collab Video Has Many Proclaiming Toby Turner Fell Off
Long-time YouTuber Tobuscus is stirring up controversy after he collaborated with Kyle Rittenhouse, the Kenosha shooter, in a new video that is turning heads online.
Many remember Toby Turner as one of the original Minecraft let's players, the creator of "Literal Trailers," as well as the first Nugget in a Biscuit enjoyer, but nowadays, he's gone down a path of mostly vlogging where the subject matter of his videos is right-leaning and often contentious.
Besides Turner's best-remembered past, there is also a history of controversies, the most notable being rape allegations that were levied against him by multiple women, such as YouTuber Melanie Murphy and Tumblr blogger AprilEfff. Alongside these accusations were claims that Turner was a drug addict, specifically the abuse of "molly."
Despite at one point blossoming outside of YouTube fame and onto TV shows like Cartoon Network's The Annoying Orange series, Turner didn't have much upwards mobility after a certain point in the mid-2010s. That's why it's been shocking and interesting for previous fans of his among Gen Z to see Rittenhouse holding a Nerf gun in a recent Tobuscus thumbnail from his still-active channel.
The roughly 12-minute long vlog featured Turner talking about Rittenhouse, quoted saying, "I really wanted to meet this kid. I was so excited. I wanted to meet him ever since I saw the whole video where he, unfortunately, took the lives of a couple of convicted pedophiles." He additionally stated later on in the video that he relates to Rittenhosue as someone who was also "falsely accused" of something and a victim of media scrutiny and defamation.
Despite the video's title, Rittenhouse is never featured in the video and is overall just Turner venting to the camera in his Tesla. Two days later, Turner uploaded another video about the topic, again featuring Rittenhouse in the thumbnail. However, this second video also does not feature Rittenhouse and is predominantly Turner driving to meet him.
Both videos reference a precursor Instagram post and tweet made by Turner on June 23rd that built hype for his upcoming videos as a kind of publicity stunt. It is speculated that a third video is incoming that will actually show Turner and Rittenhouse together.
Screenshots of the aforementioned Instagram post, as well as those of Turner's recent string of YouTube thumbnails, led to memes and reactions across social media on platforms like Twitter. Most users relayed shock and awe at the state of Turner's 2022 content and many proclaimed that he'd "fell off."
As many await the actual video featuring Turner and Rittenhouse together, the discourse is getting louder regarding the YouTuber's legacy. Regardless, the "clickbait," as some perceive it, is palpable with these recent Tobuscus uploads and TobyGames feels increasingly far away to many in his old, Zoomer fanbase.