Post "Plagiarism and You(Tube) is up!" by "Hbomb"

jayeisntreal

phenomenal video, my 4th watch now

rainbowchewynuggets

Got to the end of this thing again and looked up from my computer just as you were talking about the bit about hoping your work helps someone else. For what it’s worth: yes. I put your videos (and others you’ve shouted out) on all the time when I want to dive into a project and need a little push to remind me what can be great about a weird cool thing made by some random human. I’m currently editing frames for sprites as part of a test video game in a larger effort to make a bigger funner game that catalogues the collective lore of a long-running fandom I love (hopefully better than the shitty wiki sites currently do). I’ve never made a game in my life, but I’m excited to try! Anyway, job well done :)

Based and Tylenol Pilled

Just rewatched this for the 5th time and realized how funny that would have been

Based and Tylenol Pilled

I really wish you had hidden some plagiarism of your own in this video as an Easter egg

hbomberguys fuzzy handcuffs

https://youtu.be/9TBC0LtCqB0 jimmy carr and the bri' ish taxpayers

Wesley Jones

You are not responsible for the choices that others make.

Alex Vaughan

Hey! It’s funny you told that anecdote about monster madness and how watching it made you feel better after a hangover because your videos are always my go to hangover videos! Especially the oof video, it’s genuinely one of the best videos I’ve ever seen and when I can’t think of anything else to watch or need something funny and cosy, I always revisit it. It’s probably been said a million times, but YOU have really become one of the people you’d talk about as someone YOU would look up to. You’re an absolute inspiration, you’re a down to earth, funny, insightful gay hunk. Or bear, or Dilf, whatever you’d prefer to be called hehe. And as an (actual) champion of the lgbtq+ community and especially the bi and trans community, I cannot thank you enough. So, thank you Harry, I won’t be able to ever express how much you’ve made mine and other peoples lives better through your silly little videos. And thank kat for me, she’s so great, I love her.

Tom Clark

You are a true man of character, Hairy Bomber. Rest well. I look forward to 2025's 6-hour video.

Tom Clark

Harris is not his real name, you silly

Tom Clark

Only twice?

jayyy_rayyy

As Hbomb completes his evolution into the Brian Deer of YouTube, all I can say is bravo. <3 Absolute legend. Thank you for doing this, seriously.

Nicholas Clemmer

Just finished this gauntlet. Joined the patreon right after. Really good stuff man. Definitely deserving of the few bucks from me. Really liked how you wrapped it up in the end too. When I used to try and write I always sucked at the conclusion. The conclusion of your video was my favorite part.

kibble

hell yeah i loved the Rachel drone cameo :D

Joel Keene

I haven't watched this one yet was it popular

Mercy

I find it funny that of all the passages Internet Historian stole he chose to switch one word in the one of the most compelling parts. The “sleep, wake, scream” part. He changes “scream” to “yell.” He switched out the word but it lost the power of scream. Do you yell in agony or despair? Maybe… but “Scream” implies a difference in emotion and circumstance. This is why you can’t pick a similar word in a thesaurus. Similar words are not the same words. Other passages are word for word identical but he chose *this* passage to tweak. What an inept plagiarist.

Clockwork Monkey

The slow descent into insanity is what makes this. Don’t ever stop.

orestes

Amazing video as always. Really hoping that the next video at least has fewer rabbit holes for you to fall into, I really want that donut we were promised sometime this year 😂. But seriously, your videos are so consistently great because of the hard work you and the team put in, so keep going down those rabbit holes and keep up the awesome work!

orestes

I believe that she meant "or" as "in other words" rather than in the logic use of the word. She meant "not citing the source" to be a distillation of the definition, not a part of the definition.

orestes

You appear to have misspelled "squid". Everyone knows horses aren't real 🤣

Jarrod Sage

Not sure if this will be seen, but are we going to get a peek at any of the analytics/updates on paying the plagiarized authors? like specific money raised/donated. it’d be nice for transparency reasons and i’d love to see another example of how profound the impact you’re having is!

James

Insanely good video. After watching I felt compelled to become a patron.

David

I AM A 63 YEAR OLD CURMUDGEON CIS MALE FROM THE GREAT SOUTHERN WHITE SUPREMACIST THEM PARK (AKA AUSTRALIA). I AM NOT A RACIST. NO MATTER YOUR SKIN COLOR, RELIGION, RACE CREED, OR CULTURE, I FIND THEM ALL EQUALLY INTOLERABLE . YOU ARE BY FAR, MY FAVORITE YOU-TUBE BALL-BREAKER (BB) OF ALL TIME. (DO YOU STILL DO MPH IN ENGLAND? KPH JUST DON'T CUT THE MUSTARD DO THEY?) YOU ARE NUMERO UNO, NOT ONLY DUE TO YOUR PEERLESS BB EXPERTISE, BUT YOU ARE SUCH A DECENT PRINCIPLED AND FUNNY BB THAT I WOULD FEEL HONORED AND HUMBLED TO BE CALLED OUT FOR PLAGIARISM BY YOU. "WOW, HE KNOWS I EXIST". PEOPLE ARE JUST SO UNGRATEFUL THESE DAYS, THEY MAKE ME SICK. (EXCUSE THE CAPITALIZATION, I HAVE CHRONIC FATIGUE, AND DO THINGS ONCE ONLY, AND VERY POORLY)

Dennis Dimka

You're famous (again) H: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/youtube-creator-james-somerton-plagiarism-accusation-response-rcna130860

P.A.F.

Fantastic video, I must have watched it three times now and I know I'll be rewatching it again. I've been lurking on your channel for a while. This last video essay was just too good so I want to thank you and support you directly for a while. Also : not sure where else to put this but here goes: I'm a Toronto-based public service translator, English to French. I also happen to be a big ol' gay bear and, perhaps luckily, I've never heard of James Somerton before your video in any of my Canadian and American queer history readings or within the Toronto queer community. If you ever want to have the script of "Plagiarism and You(tube)" available in French, I'd be more than happy to translate it on my personal time - free of charge to reflect your non profit initiative. Would take me a while as you can imagine, but it feels like something I ought to offer. I saw that James Somerton gave a lecture in Ottawa for Pride in August 2023, which is a bilingual event. As a former Ottawan myself, that hit way too close to home. I figured it would be useful if this video was available in Canada's two official languages, as a bonus. In any case, thank you so much for all your hard work and thorough research! Truly inspiring. 💙

Ben Hamilton

I kept thinking to myself "surely that's not a little audio clip from Phoenix Wright", and then… the Phoenix Wright bit. Well done (and you got a new subscriber from it).

brandon

Congrats on 10M views. On this, and oof dot mp3!! You deserve it. Take care

Fill3rup_

I've watched this twice already and I reckon Ill dip into the various parts again over the next few weeks,it's a staggering piece of work.. Truly top tier work..

Family Photos Man

hey i don't know if you'll see this, but I was wondering what the song for the end credits is

Rowan Woodcock

After watching this through twice I finally picked out what was bothering me so much about Somerton's cadence; he clearly lacks any actual understanding of the material he's covering. Not only can he not be bothered to write his own script, he can't even engage with the material itself in a meaningful way. It's actually really sad to see someone so thoroughly disinterested in art (though I wouldn't call IT Chapter 2 art).

E. Filleul

Oh okay I left Twitter a few months ago now so i was completely out of the loop. Thanks for relaying the information.

Joshua Fane

Welcome aboard! Don’t forget the Patreon exclusive Myst video if you haven’t watched it already, it’s quite good

Joshua Fane

He posted about it on Twitter, he didn’t change it himself. But apparently there was a similar glitch afflicting Nintendo of America’s channel recently

Mary Strawser

Hey Harris, I've been following your channel since the whole GG thing happened, and I finally realized today that I get a lot out of your content and I should probably be giving back. So take this subscription with my love and keep doing what you're doing.

Genrich

Have watched it already three times! You are such a good person and your self-Reflexion skills are amazing! I absolutely loved the bit where you say that you don't know what do to about this, if even this video is a good idea and how you are now also profiting from the plagiarism in a way. Not many people would reach that point, and even less would state that publicly. And you, my Friend, go one step above even that and are promising to not earn a penny from the video and spread it to the people who where stolen from. I am in awe

kungfunurse

Hi! I suspect you're being inundated with comments, but I wanted to add my voice and say "thank you". After watching your video on plagiarism, I went back and enjoyed watching your older videos. As a nurse, I'd like to smooch you on the head and give you a hug for your work promoting Brian Deer's research. Instead, I'll just give you a couple of bucks through patreon every month. Thank you for being, as far as I can tell, a genuinely good person.

Anarch Ion

I came here, too, to see if there is a reason why he removed the profile pic.

E. Filleul

Hbomb's profile pic on youtube is just the basic grey 'h'

Lionel L.

I don't know if this is a new thing, but you appear to have become a verb. "Don't bloody Harris bomber guy me," was uttered by science YouTuber Stefan Milo at about 15:20 in his video "The world's most heavily debated footprints." Congratulations! You have arrived!

Ben Harris

When a 4 hour Hbomberguy video is more epic and compelling than Ridley Scott's Napoleon.

Harry Moore

It turns out that this video was so good I watched it twice.

peachycliodhna

I regret to inform you all that I failed the 4-hour video essay challenge. I’m ashamed to admit it took me days to finish, and if it weren’t for Nebula’s feature that remembers where I left off, it likely would’ve been months before I could post an honest reaction. I am not worthy of patreon membership. But in all seriousness, this is fantastic and I hope you are very proud. You don’t need me to say this as all of our timelines have been flooded with your praise, which is well-earned. I am grateful you concluded the video by highlighting LGBTQIA+ creators who produce original and honest works, and while I personally wouldn’t reduce this essay to “drama content” and would be happy to see you personally benefit from its revenue, your work ethic (even before this video) is inspiring. I especially enjoyed your conclusion wrt finding oneself, which I think you modeled quite well in this video, because who you are is what you stand for; it’s what you’re willing to sacrifice for what you believe. You made a strong statement here, and no doubt this will inspire future creators to come. I honestly didn’t expect the video to end on such a hopeful note. No wonder James just showed himself out. I’ll leave this with one of those reaction tweets that really stuck with me. As part of a thread, @Afterthaughts tweeted: —- “Every time he put out his monthly hour-long piece of analysis, I'd have a lil moment of "Why can't I do that? Why do I take so long? Why does stringing words together feel like such a task, could it be that l'm not cut out for this? Are some people just 'naturals?'" —- This broke my heart a bit because it made me think of how many talented up-and-coming creators out there who’ve been effectively gaslighted by plagiarists. And how this gaslighting has possibly made these creators feel they’re not good enough, and possibly convinced them to give up, which essentially robs us all. I’m so impressed with the level of detail you put into this, and am so happy with the reach it’s attained. You did really good work here, thank you. 💗

Anna Milner

I want to be honest, this was the first video of yours I watched, and it sent me down the rabbit hole of your older videos. Your quality has been consistent for years and I'm just disappointed I didn't discover you earlier, and also now that I will probably have to wait another 8 - 12 months for another video 😂 either way, it was an easy decision to decide to join your patreon, because I recognise and support your passion and commitment to producing excellent video essays. You're a great (and very funny) writer, and a strong performer. May your B&Q never run out of wallpaper and your Tesco always be Christmassy.

The Miles Edgeworth

I am honored by the Ace Attorney section 🙏🙏🙏

Dexter-by-designation

His channel is empty now. You had backups right?

Newtnewt

This was fantastic in every way but I especially appreciate the ending. Making a playlist of actual GOOD queer creators so we can see we are not alone, acknowledging reasons why people feel compelled to copy others, doing so with compassion, and generally leaving off on a hopeful note? Excellent. Thank you so much.

Ryan Keeney

I just want to say as a longtime Harris fan (but new Patreon member) that this whole situation is just amazing. It's reminiscent of a Law & Order finale of Justice Served™ with how the overall response of both James and his channels has resolved. I do feel bad for the victims of the grift but they will hopefully find other, more credible avenues of this type of content.

Samuel Zoranovich

I have watched this 2.5 times already. I was barely breathing by the end. I’ve loved Hbomb for years but this is what made me jump onto the Patreon!

Victoria Spencer

I hadn’t heard the phrase “business bro stank” before and now I’m wondering what else my life is missing. Thank you for that little gem.

Tim Stacey

Great video! Impressive depth of research, and a great conclusion in what could have been just a very angry takedown of a thief

Chazie

I like that you quickly mentioned the plagiarism in non english-speaking YouTube, it's quite rampant and there are a lot of knockoffs of popular YouTubers in every country (I think every language has their own AVGN) but also cases of "I'll remake this video in my own language, without even bothering to shoot my own footage, no one will notice because there is very little crossover between languages". Specifically it reminded me of the Math Podcast case in France, he pretty quickly admitted to copying and apologized, but interestingly he used the same justification as Filip: "I love making videos but I'm not a good writer"

Jen Nolan

Amazingly well put-together and researched video. Kudos! (Ok, well, I haven't made it halfway through yet, but I'm going to assume the quality is consistent throughout) And thanks for the supplemental video on the Burger channel. Happy to have joined your Patreon and keep up the good (well-researched and cited) work!

Kav

Thank frig someone else noticed that - I thought my reading comprehension had just... crashed but, you're right, her definition didn't didn't help her in the slightest.

No One of Importance

I didn't mean to suggest that doing research is easy (I've tried it a few times without much success), it's more the things that feel like they should have been warning signs (the rate of videos, the lack of citations, the excuses made in his "about those death threats" video, which came out around the time I started watching his content). I should have found all that suspicious at the very least. Instead, he was the first content creator I became a patron for. And that's depressing. I gave my money to a fraud before I gave it to anyone that deserved it.

Ed Sylveste

As a Brazilian, I feel appreciated with that cadelas ❤️

John McElroy

I hadn't thought about this at all until you mentioned it. Thanks! This is definitely something to keep in mind. Many people focus too much on having a good point, and not enough on delivery like this, that amplifies a good point so much.

WookieShan

So glad I backed this... horse...

Jake Williams

1:50:47 James is a piece of shit, sure, but I think we can all agree that hat is if nothing else accurate

Emil Kowalczyk

the sheer range of the destruction being justified from the activism angle aside, from the pure lazy goblin consuming content for seratonin boosts perspective, the sommerton session could definitely use some more trimming down, analogous to the great illuminaughtii massacre of 2023 (although i'll always prefer the 1.0 unused build of the "repent, harlequin" line).

Pigeon Queen ?

I'm a fan of your work, obviously, and I've watched this video twice already. In one of my WhatsApp group chats, a friend of mine independently posted a message saying 'oh man I just watched a 4 hour video about a queer youtuber stealing from other queer creators' and most every person in the chat said 'oh yeah that's hbomberguy isn't it, I watched it too/been meaning to watch it' and I was so elated, as they all were, that we all have such great taste and all of us watch this random guy on YouTube without ever discussing it with each other before.

MacKenzie

Thank you for making that Atlas joke for me personally

EM B

Been a fan since like the Sargon days and despite nearly a decade of laughs and 🤔s for some reason this one made me finally become a patron???

EM B

Stupid question I wanted to ask, but what are you doing with Python? I saw the book on your shelf. Experienced Python expert at your service if you need one.

Sata Prescott

Weaponized queer identity is just fucking evil. YouTube kept telling me I'd like Somerton, and I would occasionally watch and think, "These words sound right, but his vibes are SO OFF." He seemed utterly hateful, which might be the business bro stank. So I subb'd but stopped watching his vids. I was one of those who left a comment about The Celluloid Closet on one of the vids, and I thought it weird that he didn't name drop it when so much was just ... THERE. I'm a librarian and an academic, and there's a principle in academia that you SHOULD KNOW and reference the important work in the field you touch on, and failure to do so (not just citing, but proving you know it exists) shows you're an idiot. That's what a lit review in a formal paper is FOR, to show that you know the historical work in the field. Anyway, as always, excellent work. You have once again earned how often I use the animated GIF of you slamming the [citation needed] button. (Also, once I started transitioning, I started losing my hair, and your own hair loss has helped me be less self-conscious about it. Thanks.)

Conzeit

I want to thank you for this video, it made me think about how this is so rampant and what one might do about it. I find that I dont gravitate to the sort of creators who do plagiarism, and I think it might have to do with the media literacy that SuperBunnyHop explains here https://youtu.be/fYHrEp917MI As he explains in the video, he comes from a Journalism background so citing sources is natural to him, as is checking the sources of anything he consumes. I hope your video incites people to take a step in this direction, because if we as an audience begin valuing sources in an intuitive way, plagiarists will have a harder time building any kind of significant audience before we smell out their shitty writing and source hiding practices

Crescent Minor

You know, I think it's really brilliant what you've done here. You didn't lead with James. His aggressive fanbase would zero right in on a video titled about him. They'd never start listening to you. Instead, you told the gripping stories of Filip, Newt, and Blair in a tight, feature-length package, a package that I, a Patreon audience member, thought would probably be the whole project. It feels complete on its own, establishes you as a learned speaker, and the Somerton half plays well as a sequel we can watch right away. A sequel much harder to swallow, with probably worse fans, the subject of which is currently still too successful. Seriously, Harris, I hope everything that comes your way after this is something you're prepared for. You seem to be.

Crescent Minor

I think it's harder for most people than it is for Harris? I don't know, that could be just an excuse for myself that his research level looks hard a lot of the time, but I wouldn't have known where to start researching. Do I have to dig up the brilliant lost media James is secretly quoting? I ... guess I assumed it would be harder to start than just Googling the bastard?

Jacob Calcutt

After watching this I went back through a recent video about difficult books I had watched (won't necessarily put them on blast here). Sure enough, many of the talking points are straight from wikipedia or from one of the sources. Also, quotes from the author are displayed on the screen, and can be found on the wikis or in the references of the wikis

Ella Waldeck

excellent video.

theeladyking

I mean I joined your patreon because of this video specifically, so yeah I'd say it's alright!

Brandi David

For what it’s worth, there are some (but few) captures of Midlands Zone on Way Back Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20230331120955/http://midlandszone.co.uk/ I haven’t dug into all of it yet, but anyone may be able to locate more articles, resources, etc through this tool.

Clare Patterson

my friend Michaela Barton had her work stolen by this fucker, she had no idea until today!

Niels Andersen Dolmer

As someone who works in animation, both making artwork and writing - I really appriciate your words about Midjourney and ChatGPT at the end, thank you <3

Rachel Powell McCurley

You could call this drama, but I think this is a topic that deserved looking deeply into. There is a reason plagiarism is so deeply frowned upon in academia, and I greatly appreciate that you took the time to explain thoroughly why it's so awful.

singuine

Jesus Christ, Splimby, you are the creator of SERIOUS SONIC LORE ANALYSIS! You made THE Pathologic review! What /is/ this?! 4 hours of Youtube drama!? WHY!?

HistoriaGloria

Oooh, thank you so much!

Kemi Alawode

For a queer youtuber to pass the time that does fun vids moreso than discourse vids, I’d recommend Jammidodger

No One of Importance

As a (now former) patron of James, thank you for this. I'm ashamed that I couldn't figure this out myself, it seems so obvious the way it's laid out in your video, but better to have someone else point it out to me than never figure it out.

Mel Vitta

I feel fortunate that I saw the original twitter thread referred to in this video and saw the drama go down. Up until that point I was a casual fan of Somerton, bordering on bigger fan. I had a hard time getting into his stuff, though, because he'd keep coming out with these long essays every few weeks, it was impossible to stay on top of them. Still, I was pretty invested until the Thread. To be honest, it made a lot of things click into place for me: the rapid release schedule, the bland as fuck presentation, then with how catty he was about Jessie Gender getting signed onto Nebula over him (Nebula knew what was up, I think this was an open secret behind the scenes at this time). So yeah, this vid was a long time coming and I'm glad it's all out in the open now.

Keith Gayler

His Patreon is still there for signing up or cancelling your membership. He just took down all his posts so it's hard to find. Just search James Somerton. That's what I had to do to cancel.

Keith Gayler

It's still there for signing up or cancelling your membership. He just took down all his posts so it's hard to find. Just search James Somerton. That's what I had to do to cancel.

Keith Gayler

It's still there for signing up or cancelling your membership. He just took down all his posts so it's hard to find. Just search James Somerton. That's what I had to do to cancel.

Jacob Lehmann

Does anyone know the name of the song that plays during the credits?

Rhiannon Lucero-Moore

Highlight of my year! Well worth the wait. Thank you and your team!

GrimmSalem

God such a great video, i wish we got more but just the detail of the videos are worth the wait. Love the green screen bit

Tom Stoddard

Thank you for making this, you are the best <3

DCS

The full version was great! Thank you!

TheSuperPickle

Been watching your stuff for a long time but felt the need to support after the masterful new video. Thanks Hbomb

Horse Physicist

Obsessed with how your response to Luke (edit: not Filip. I just confused the plagiarism twinks) showing he's never watched your Soy Boy Trilogy (if it was out at the time) went from "a guy [I humiliated] so badly that he stammered out the most pathetic insult I've ever heard" to "femboy twink" to "the most fuckable twink I've ever seen in my life." Chef's kiss.

Jade Elaine

I really am feeling complex understanding just how susceptible I am to this sort of grift. I was supporting James Somerton's Patreon until yesterday, and the thing is I just am not really an academic? I have a difficult time parsing a lot of these texts in their raw form. And while I am queer, especially while younger I didn't really have a lot of resources or support engaging with queerness and gender in a cultural/sociopolitical way basically until youtubers like you/lindsay/khadija etc even like let me know that people like bell hooks even existed. And I still haven't read her cause - I just have a harder time focusing on non-video content. Not defending that ideologically. but its something I struggle with. so even though I have questioned the sort of tonal shifts, mispronunciations of names that.. were said out loud in the source media... 'why does he post so much more than the others' or 'why does he lean in some misogynistic things.' Like, I noticed. But I've just really wanted to give the grace of saying - he has his own personal queer experience I don't understand. and I want to give space for that to be different, and perhaps a bit rambly, and messy, or even at times accidentally wrong. I dont personally want to spend my time fact checking the people I watch just to see if they are lying to me. I want to trust creators. And I know at least for a while its going to make me considerably more suspicious of plenty of other people i'm about to be introduced to and may not support who might doing really good work. And that also makes me sad.

Thomas Parkour

Loved the 'text highlight' visual jokes through the video, both petty and extremely funny

szmraam

I just hope that you are well and safe, Hbomb! The internet can be an incredibly overwhelming place, and seeing the response to your video and the buzz it has created I can’t even begin to imagine how impactful it might be for you to see the fruit of your labour. Given your topic, no doubt you expected as much, but still, preparing for something is one thing, actually experiencing it is another. The amount of work and effort researching and putting this together must have been insane, and you choose to do this everyday, which for us is very lucky, but probably exhausting both physically and emotionally for you! So take care and as much rest as you need, you are incredible! ❤️

Macro Finite

First of all, you had me in absolute stitches with the background reveal gag in the middle. The way you set up that whole thing with the extended segment in a previous video about making a CG version of the old set, and the frame at the beginning of this video where it shows the green screen for a second… chefs kiss, best bit of 2023, thank you. Also, this video is getting so much momentum… it’s like 18 hours since upload and you’re at 3.4 million views already. This is going to be talked about in the community for months and I’m very interested to see how it pans out. I’m so glad someone is calling out plagiarism in a grown up, circumspect way. Thanks for your work on this, I think it’s going to make a difference.

xlashe

happy to be the 1000th like on this post. you're a legend harris and no one else does it quite like you. thank you for another fascinating deep dive.

Lax

Was the Uber you paid for where that creator stole your joke the same one that had Jacksepticeye in it?

John McElroy

I've seen people praising every other part of the video, so I just want to say that I appreciate how well it "takes us home" at the end. It's hard to meaningfully conclude something this long, but you did it in a great way.

Ronald W Buie

You've done lots of amazing work over the years, and now I'm not poor. So I'm now subscribed. Thanks for having heart and dedicating yourself to honest exploration and communication. I hope you and your team can keep it up!

John McElroy

I see a lot of people asking this question, why would someone do this? I think it's a simple answer, and the Internet Historian part of the video shows us. IH wants to be IH, he wants to be the famous video guy, but the actual skills required (as shown in the reupload cave video) aren't there. So, he just steals it, and people give him the affirmation he wants. Same with Somerton, it's not that he's too lazy to create, it's that he can't!

Cassid E. Hawk

It’s such a shame about James Somerton. I was *this* close to becoming a patron of his. I literally yelled, “Oh no!”out loud at the 02:31:13 reveal. Excellent work as usual, HBomb!

Chris Stevens

I've been on the verge of joining your patreon for a while, have always loved your videos! Finally pulled the trigger after this absolute unit of a video... Amazing work like always!

Tali Escher

heya - joined patreon for this video, u were awesome already but i guess it overloaded here and i couldn't hold myself ok maybe i should bring this to my therapist

gotcocomilk

I don’t usually comment but I have to say— not only is this a spectacular piece of work (eloquent, entertaining, fair yet not pulling any punches, etc etc insert other compliments here), but it also got me through the most stressful job interview of my life. Thank you even more than usual for the lovely art.

Clara R

Absolutely stellar video, and genuinely moving at the end (might have cried for ten minutes myself)! Think I went through at least four stages of grief on this one, the brazenness of the thieves and suffering of actual creators are abominable, but your message reaffirms us in our drive that creating is always worth it for the joy of it. I am genuinely amazed by the work you have put out here.

Hbomb

OH MY GOD

Marissa Collins

Holy shit, man. Today's one of those days I'm hugely proud to be a patron.

sven terje bang

wow!

Mary M

Incredible video as always. You are a wonder!

A. Rushing

Well, you finally got me. This video was a masterpiece and I couldn't resist the siren song of your patreon. This was brilliant and you (and your team) did a fantastic job!

James Russell

Youtube is still promoting Somerton in the algorithm, by the way. It advertised one of his videos to me while I was watching Todd in the Shadows' video on him. I must say, I have often wished you would make more videos cos your videos are so good, but when you drop an extravaganza like this... yeah, no complaints. And clearly no slacking off.

I have nothing BUT contempt for this court

The Patreon exists still (you can sign up or cancel) but all the posts on the Patreon were deleted (this is the only way to stop comments on Patreon)

Kellen Malone

Another absolute banger. This is why I will happily give you money every month as long as you're creating. Your work goes beyond "internet content."

pre10tious

great vid love u

m0sifer

there's enough internet historian fans out there thinking A) the entire video is about him and B) Hassan's freebooting is somehow worse or the same as plagiarism, that it's actually making Internet Historian look worse.

HistoriaGloria

Again, another incredible video! This is very personal, but I'm currently recovering from gender affirming surgery so I am really appreciative for the recommendation of good queer YouTubers to watch whilst I'm stuck at home

Jo Liss

I think it might also have been Patreon just kicking him off the platform. I can't imagine James would kill his own source of income, especially as he seems to be in full-on denial mode.

Bayes

The brain still doesn't have pain receptors HARRIS

Rohan Naik

I'm so disappointed in James Somerton. I really liked his work and had been watching him for over a year now. I really liked that he did essays on the queer experience. However, the impression I got from watching him was that it was his original work, based on research and pre-existing knowledge of the media he discussed. In hindsight given how quickly he produced videos, I should have figured. It's sad when the people you respect disappoint you, and you have to re-evaluate your opinion of them. Didn't expect this on a Monday evening.

BUTTYIIVII

Luke Stephens posted an apology post on the community section of his channel last night, good to see him take accountability and give props to H :)

Iain Shepherd

Just signed up so I could say thanks for this video (& Oof & all the rest) you & Kat are doing amazing, important, and hilarious work. Thank you.

Josh Yates-Walker

Which is why they work so hard to keep it under wraps and hope they can make enough money in the interim. That, or they are on the way out, anyway and just don't care.

Josh Yates-Walker

I believe that the H in the channel name refers to his RL name: Harris.

Seth

What an amazing video! Worth the wait for sure, as always :) Have a good rest, you (and Kat of course) definitely deserve it.

seraf

incredible work as always man - you always blow me away with the amount of passion, dedication, and research you pour into your work. thank you for what youve done and for sharing it with us!

Bridgette Ryan

Has JS closed their Patreon page? I just went to check out of curiosity, and and it does not look like his Patreon exists anymore.

Anita Karsa

My thoughts exactly! This is the kind of investigative journalism I want to support.

Bronte How

Please rest well knowing that my extended, largely queer, social circles are all talking about this like it's 1815 and a shocking gazette has been published about a local notable. And thank you for your defence of small queer creators and the right of queer people to have their words and their work attributed to them. It means a lot.

Kris B.

Hi, I'm here for the former JS supporter support group? I think I'm in the right building. My only complaint.. Harris, why did you wait til after the first of the month, damn it? Dash my perceptions BEFORE the monthly Patreon comes out? I've loved your vids since you voiced what I couldn't really put to words myself of why I just didn't like Sherlock. Looking forward to more of the OOF story.

Maggie McFee

Another new backer here. Simply fantastic work. I can't believe I watched a nearly 4 hour youtube video, but holy hell was it worth it.

Roberto Zaragoza

Hey, Harris. Always loved your videos, but this is the one that finally made me give you money. Been seeing a lot of shitty YouTubers scam people and it's important there's people like you out there not only making great, original, well-researched content, but calling out those that deliberately do not

Curt Clark

My own words (username: Ingonyama) from the Discord chat: I was a supporter of James Somerton's on Patreon. I subscribed to his channel, participated in the occasional AMA and hangout...and I have regretted few things as much as that. I'm not even done watching the video and I feel physically ill, hurt, and betrayed. Not by Harris, but by James, who looked like he was doing what I could only dream of. At least I was already subscribed to Matt Baume and verilybitchie beforehand. I'm sad and hurt and angry right now, but I want to say thanks anyway...it's a hurt that needed to happen. James' Patreon, as of the time of this comment, is no longer available. Whether by his choice or as a part of Patreon's TOX violations, I couldn't say.

CodeTako

Fantastic piece of investigation, but the part that I loved the most is your ending about living life as yourself. It's a simple, but powerful and often very difficult thing to do, and I appreciate more people spreading it. Hope to find myself in they way you've found yourself. Keep up the good work being you.

Charli Harvey

so glad i got bad vibes off of Somerton when I watched one of his videos (and also watched him be weirdly combative on twitter)

Nos4ay2

Have watched a couple of IH videos over the years, the Costa Concordia one stands out (which apparently may have also been plagiarized) but I never super gelled well with it cause the avatar he uses is an actual dudes face that became a meme from stock photos. Which if he bought the rights to the photos is fine but I could never find any evidence for either yes or no so I just avoided the whole thing. Just gave me really weird vibes. With out any more info just gave me the outlook like he stole a man's face ...

Valerie West

Slightly unrelated to the video but I feel very important. As someone who is also recently replaced ikea poang chair, I strongly recommend a papasan chair. All the nest like qualities of a bean bag with the stability of an actual chair.

Longspeak Teller

I shrieked so loud when you got to the part about the Internet Historian, that my son, who's also a patron of you, and also turned me on to you and the Historian, came out of his room, and we had to have a bit of a cry. Okay... I had the cry. He was just angry.

Luis Quezada

Me: ohh shit, a new video is out! Wife: I’m not sitting down for 4 hours. … 4hr later Couldn’t stop talking about it and just flabbergasted. We been checking up on how things are progressing. I am honored to help support you and Kat for all your efforts. Ps: that advice at the end hit hard. Thank you! Take all my money!

ER

Thank you for this. I'm now a former JS fan and I'm sad I wasn't already aware of his repeated harmful actions to the queer community. You and Kat are doing good work. Not just "good" as in well-researched, well-produced, and entertaining; but also having a meaningful, positive effect on the world. I already follow several of the queer creators you recommended and I'm going to check out the rest. By the way, the new video you mentioned being on your second channel is not there.

Maelwys Myrddin

I really enjoyed this video, despite it's fairly depressing topic. You're one of the most entertaining video creators I watch.

Kiwi

That stuff is actually in the second draft of the vid he posted on here

Dragons In Dungeons

his Patreon's ALREADY deleted? damn, this guy definitely knew this was coming, he had his "go bag" fuckin' READY

Dragons In Dungeons

Another wild ride. Feels like a sequel to the Roblox oof vid. Incredible how you keep descending the rabbithole and finding these scummy little guys taking credit for other people's work in ways that are simultaneously outrageous and really funny. I think the plagiarism on display here forms a spectrum or continuum. I feel like illuminaughti's is the most benign, and Somerton's is by far the most malignant. Like she did a *terrible* job SHOWING her sources, then got defensive, whereas Somerton did a *great* job HIDING his, and has already done a runner and vanished from the internet. I wonder if his mother is very proud.

Jacob Garcia

Another excellent video as always H Bomb!

Celozon

These videos are always worth the wait! I guess I'm one of the lucky ones in that I had yet to stumble on James' work. Its does seem like the type of thing I'd enjoy before finding out its all plagiarized (though maybe not after noticing his apparent opinions on women and ace people). So thank you for getting this knowledge out there. I'm definitely going to try and be more aware of potential plagiarism when watching youtube videos from now on and not give that sort of thing my support or attention. It is unfortunate and concerning that these people are finding so much success with this method at all.

Beth

Please

Funny_hat

Great video, what was this about silent hill lore videos? Put those wherever you like, I'm gonna watch them.

Mathnerdmo

The conversation around 1:17:30, about the definition of plagiarism, is bizarre to me. If you define "plagiarism" as 'A' and I define "plagiarism" as 'A or B', then there's no logical "loophole" here: my definition is broader so more actions become plagiarism, not fewer. At the same time, if I then show 'not B', I haven't done anything to show that there was not plagiarism. This feels a _lot_ like the "conjunction fallacy," but on steroids (look it up if you're interested). As a result, I found myself yelling as the video as Hbomb was talking about a loophole... then I ended up watching Illuminaghtii's video, and ending up yelling at that video too! It's not the definition that is at fault. There's no loophole as it was stated. She's just stating a definition and then ignoring it. Bizarre.

Gabriel Lacaille

Finally having some income to spare. Looking forward to any videos you Release :3 you sexy funny mofo

L Clay

This video and the Roblox oof video were amazing! Just had to sub so you can keep making your great work

Mari

First of all: What a nice birthday surprise yesterday seeing this pop up. I say yesterday because OMG 4 hours?! Secondly I was a fan of Blair and James’s content. I’m a bi-cis woman and I felt like I was part of a community. Blair I fell away from due to the overwhelming controversy and mess she made. I think this has helped shine a mirror to many of us. I wonder how much responsibility viewers should have to discern this type of content. I’m guilty of looking for long form content to play in the background while I work and drive and not putting a closer eye on what exactly I was consuming. These people monetarily benefited from my distracted listening. it makes me sick knowing just how many people’s work was exploited. And/Or is some of the blame shared with YouTube? Bad actors will always exist, even when we put safety measures in place, so what is considered “doing enough” I also feel bad for those who’ve financially supported these creators. I saw a screenshot of James’s Patreon. It’s heartbreaking to see their trust so completely broken. Thank you for shining light on these issues. I’ve recently upped my subscription. You and your team do a good service, from breaking me and others out of dangerous and completely wrong beliefs, to helping me understand how I came to those in the first place. (Young earther, anti climate change, nonsense Christian beliefs) it’s like 75% of your content was directed at someone with my upbringing. No monetary donation could truly show how much you have impacted me in a positive way.

quade

such an incredible video!! thank you for your diligent research, i wish people like james took even half the time and effort to make their content instead of just profiting off of other people's efforts. maybe a silver lining: thanks to you i have ordered tinker belles and evil queens and look forward to reading some queer theory!!

I wanna marry a lighthouse keeper and keep him company

Hi there, new subscriber here based on the strength of this video. Fantastic work. However, I can't believe you have lied to me. In the "Vaccines and Autism" video, you say, and I quote, "I'm never putting this much effort into a video again." That was a damn dirty lie, but I can't be mad. Thanks for doing what you do.

Semilocon

Btw, I noticed on the rewatch, you having that shot in the intro with the Tinker Belles and Celluloid Closet books. Foreshadowing is a literary device! :D

Redaction04

This was more than worth the wait, you truly lived up to the name of hydrogen bomb

Eight

This!!

Comrade Olive

one of your best videos to date, though i keep thinking that with every new video. there seems to be an issue with captions between 3:36:17 and 3:37:30 though, i think you swapped two clips and forgot to swap the captions for them, as they play in reverse order

Jenny He

I was just complaining about running out of good YouTube AND trying to explain to my friend last night that it's ok to not know how to adult/what she wants in life and you covered both in the last half hour! thanks so much, and thanks for the ceaselessly detailed coverage of some truly appalling theft.

Billy Vidal Ruiz III

Thank you Harris as someone who struggles just being just living crippled by a constant internal war of anxiety and depression to the extent where after getting home from work I walking into and stood there for almost 3 hr stuck trying to find the energy the will to go out to the store about two buildings down from the apartments I stay at my anxiety tell me to go! get out! Do something! your wasting time! your wasting your life away and the depression just being unrelentless with why? what's the point ? Or wether or not you should try and converse with the people you live with because you've sat there with them for hours without saying a single thing to them . But then wondering if they think your weird or feeling like no matter what you say would just be weird stupid or unsettling so I just got to the restroom and try to not panic ....in the place I live at with family members I live with!....your videos are hilarious insightful....and those final thoughts always hit my in my heart and on so many of my anxieties in a way that is ... comforting? I'm left feeling connected with others who understand me or how and why I feel the way I feel. It's just a reminder I'm not alone. I do find inspiration from your videos from you ...just to keep on going. to continue to be myself. Again I thank you for everything

Jo Liss

If anyone else was a supporter of James's Patreon, I just sent the following email to Patreon support at https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new?ticket_form_id=12863836871949 to hopefully recover some funds. Feel free to copy it verbatim. ----- Hi there, I've been a member of James Somerton's Patreon for about a year, and am writing to you about obtain a refund. Your refund guide says to contact creators directly for refunds. However, his account appears to have been deleted and the "Message" button on the website does not work. Because of that, I hope you can assist me with my request. I purchased this membership with the understanding that the content he was creating was original; Somerton has repeatedly represented that it was original in his Patreon posts. Since then, YouTube creator hbomberguy has documented a pattern of extensive plagiarism by Somerton: https://youtu.be/yDp3cB5fHXQ?si=3pMYm3nSs0EhL97-&t=6600 I believe that Somerton's strategy of slightly re-wording plagiarized content speaks to an intent to deceive. Because I believe I have been deceived in my purchase, I would like to request a refund for as much as you can claw back from him, up to the total amount I've paid over the lifetime of my membership. Best regards, [name]

Art by Tesslyn

This one hit hard and made me join Patreon. Great work as always, your dedication is amazing!

Hannah Lyons

Also I am now on a solemn mission to get all of these digitised and publicly available. So thanks for the fun project x

Hannah Lyons

Hello I have a minor correction that needs to be made. When you are discussing the Stephen Spinks column, you show the April 2019 cover, when that particular piece came from the March 2019 edition. It's very very minor but I tried to track down the article using that cover as a guide and it was not correct.

LEGO Batman 2

thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this video, and for recommending so many queer video essayists and their works!! i'm in for a very fun week :)

Eliza

I might have missed it, but if you guys still have it, I would love a list of the authors you found were plagiarized by Somerton. I have enjoyed his videos for a while and I'm sure I would love the work of the authors he plagiarized more. Thank you for your hard work and this incredible video!

Tacomouth Damage

Let me know if you got a good source for shiny black vinyl gloves in size “bear”

Zyansheep

For the health of the YouTube ecosystem, and so that people who actually made original lgbt video essay content can thrive, I think this was the right video to make. Good job!

Sarah Hirsch

This video was so thorough. I am still sitting here like, why would someone do this? And yes because money, but like, once it comes out, your credibility is shot.

Amanda Espinosa

What a fantastic video! I'm genuinely so excited to check out all of the recommended videos, as well. This video in general feels like a goldmine of cool videos and articles I never would have heard about otherwise, so thank you for that!

Noah Mendell

Proud of you man. You really knocked it out of the park. Consider me inspired!

Griffin Perkins

what was the joke Harry, I need to know

Bonnie Stewart

So happy yo see Kaz Rowe in your reccs! They deserve more love

Bonnie Stewart

Somerton did a classic right wing media grift on us. I feel SO DUMB for totally falling for it

Little Bear

hey, would it be possible to make a donation link so we could donate some more money to help the writers? much love

Jonas

OMG are ur knees ok??

fisher ilijasic

so sad about IH. his improv work, (non scripted so thankfully not plagiarized) is some of the only stuff that makes me laugh nowadays. shame to hear that Man in Cave was so blatantly ripped.

Novelyst

For what it's worth, there's a pride parade where I am today for some reason. So you were in time for the pride of some people!

ThermopylaeShock

This video is excellent, and it's actually dislodged a lot of anxieties I had about trying this stuff for myself. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I always worried about getting it right, particularly in the area of research and intellectual integrity. seeing so many prolific youtubers be so obviously contemptuous towards the prospect of research and independent work has really helped my perspective. So, thanks for this. seriously.

Eight

Same here!

Kiki

Good job!

Kaleb Galvin

Fantastic video! Although my name seems to be missing from the credits, ah well

Lily Jacks

A friend and I were talking literally yesterday about youtubers we liked (we're both Hbomb fans) and we BOTH REFERENCED the same James Somerton video about Killing Stalking. The speed at which I texted her when I realized who this video is about should have broken my fingers lol. Glad I only ever casually watched his stuff, but I feel genuinely bad for fans and patrons of his. Having the rug pulled out from under you about someone you look up to never feels good.

Josh Yates-Walker

Well, at least I now know where you get your channel name from. When one of your videos lands, it's is has the same impact to the landscape as a shell going off.

Eight

So thankful for your dedication and energy the you put into your topics! Also, another amazing queer creator not mentioned in the shoutout section is LadyKnightTheBrave. She does media deep dives and always puts really thoughtful messaging into her videos and ties the themes meaningfully into real world terms. I’m a big fan! I hope everyone is able to find new creators that speak to them through this less than savory event. https://youtube.com/@Ladyknightthebrave?si=2XrtXx41FEFqEmGp

Nathan Orck

This video is so good. The first part that you'd posted here is great, but the rest of it is Stunning tbh. So worth waiting for!!

Terra4311

Wining my Video of the year

Freyr Aloysius

Your videos are so good I genuinely don't mind if the next one drops in January 2025 lmao

Harry Moore

This video made me finally pull the trigger on becoming a patron. It was so well done.

Patrick Button

Those are all really good points! This is important but so tricky.

Patrick Button

Your knitting must be amazing.

Patrick Button

Same!

Liz Jackson

I really love your list of queer creators you recommend at the end. Especially Khadija, VerilyBitchie and LadyEmily!

Greg McNevin

This also successfully baited me

Tibor Van Cutsem

This made me decide to support you here on Patron. Thank you for your amazing work.

Kyle Owsen

I don't think I've ever moved faster than I did coming to become a patron after hearing "90 minute backer only Myst video"

Brian

I was so pissed I had to watch it with ads, but it was super worth it.

Lewis Walker

Phenomenal as always. I’m already on my 3rd rewatch (Yes I have no life). Thanks Harris!

BLB

Jesus, Harris, you chose righteous violence. Well done.

With Quiet Eyes

33 lb is what you get if you convert 15 kg into pounds, so I'm guessing that's how the specific number came about. How he got 15 kg, though, is anyone's guess.

Benji

As a former David Greven student I am secondhand furious about this

Orpheus Eleven

Listen, this video was well worth the wait

Todd Christiansen

Congrats on your second place in Jacksfilms' list

Deegcakes

Have been frothing at the mouth waiting for this. At last I can finish my knitting to the rest of the vid on repeat instead of just the first 80 minutes!

Anarch Ion

This was really fantastically put together. Well done. I was literally thinking not two days ago: "hmmm, I wouldn't mind a new hbomb video". This must be evidence horses are real.

Mantz Max

This was worth waiting a year for. Great job!

(micah)

what an incredible video, thank you harry <3

David Farrell

My jaw was on the floor for the entire internet historian section. I loved him, and that video in particular. This was crushing. Thank you for making it. I feel so violated

David Daut

Really good (read: frustrating, infuriating) stuff. Not to pull focus away from Somerton and co. (because clearly they knew what they were doing), but I do also feel like there needs to be some sort of reckoning with YouTube as a platform for pushing people into cutting corners and taking shortcuts. By explicitly incentivizing both longer videos and more frequent uploads, at a certain point these sorts of content mills turning to plagiarism just to keep up with the insane pace of putting out multiple 30+ minute videos a week was an inevitable conclusion. I’m sure the grifters you’ve covered here are just the very tippy top of an enormous iceberg of plagiarism from people hoping to make a quick buck on YouTube. Again, that’s not in any way to excuse the plagiarists themselves (Somerton is especially heinous for using his identity as both marketing tool and shield against criticism from the people he stole from), but I don’t know how we tackle this problem when the platform that facilitates all of this rewards it.

Glyph

This was great. It's a really nice gesture that you forewent the AdSense revenue, but I think that it's a bit of a stretch to say that you don't deserve some compensation for all the work that went into the investigative journalism in the piece. So I'm proud to have thrown in a couple of bucks through this period, and hopefully you're not splitting all your Patreon income :).

CaitSeith

Oh, boy! Compared to the preview, this has about 130 more minutes (and other 2 youtubers ruined). Great job!

David Dalby

Yes! JUSTICE FOR TEEN TITANS! GO! Definitely the most important message to take from this video.

florence dee

i commented something similar on youtube, but my face when the video went beyond what i had seen in the drafts here... omg. i loved what you'd shared so far on here, but i wasn't familiar with any of the creators you discussed, so it was more just really interesting learning about plagiarism on youtube as a whole. and then the internet historian title card showed up, and then it turned out that james somerton was the main topic... i was shocked. i wouldn't consider myself a massive fan of either of these creators (probably why i had never heard of any criticism or drama involving them before), but i was subscribed to both and liked quite a few of their videos BECAUSE it seemed so thoroughly researched. absolutely disappointed in these creators, and honeslty kind of disappointed in myself for not picking up on any problems with their work. NOT disappointed in you though!! amazing video!!

florence dee

bestie 1.2M views in 15 hours... I think people may have notices you put out a new video hahaha <3

Lukas Hellström

You have earned your rest, incredible video :))

Tomasz Inn

First video with me in the credits, i'm so happy that after 7 years of watching you now i have a bit more of disposable income to support your work, thank you hbomberino

Christian von Cramon

After watching this and you choosing to split the ad revenue, I had to bite the bullet and back you. Well done, you're an inspiration man.

Caitlin, purveyor of Gay Frog Water™️

I’m not sure if that would actually explain it, he’s from NZ and GBP to USD definitely isn’t the first thing to come up when you google ‘27 pound conversion’ from here (you get NZD).

Mandarin Medusa

Thank you (and Kat) so much for your hard work, I really appreciate it and am super glad that creators like you (and the ones you recommended) exist, who put so much dedication and care into their own, original videos; a quality (among others) that makes the colossal runtime fly by imo and is definitely worth the wait (besides, I love that there’s so much content to enjoy at once). And now gute Nacht!

Mizra

Increased to Fundie while watching this. 🔥

possiblyneil

Great 69th video, it's nice I think you might have opened a Pandora's box, it'll be interesting to see how many people ask "is this plagiarized?" and how much fallout there will be from it. Truly a Hbomb Thanks for this, you're a gem

Evil Deadite

Thanks for this. I really appreciate all the work that you do, that ending has me tearing up.

Alec J Wiese

This is the funniest answer, and it seems entirely logical. Thank you for sharing!

Audio_Ace

Have spent the first half of the day watching the video, am spending the second half of the day watching the recommended YouTubers playlist.

Marik

Deeply insightful video and thank you for all your hard work shouting out those who's words were so easily stolen and misused. I saw you post on twitter about trying to compile a full list of affected writers and creatives who consent to the publicity. Would that be posted below the video once the research is done or where could we find that in the future? Obviously after you've had some rest. 4 hours. This is a beast

Andrew Tickner

Just subbed after watching this awesome video. Fantastic stuff.

Kandrel

Always worth the wait. Rather later and good than quicker and "content".

ASBR

Fantastic work yet again.

Kirsten Elise

This was an incredible feat and my bisexual hat is off to you

Ciarán Saunders

Also, someone in a discord workout the why IH had the wrong weight of rock. “So I did the above further digging to see how the exchange rate was in the 2 months before the uploading of Man in Cave, and there you go. At one point in August 2022, the exchange rate from British pounds to US dollars made £27 equal to $33.”

Sedric And Charlie

thank god all my favourite youtubers make spooky videos about nonsense. They're never going to end up roasted by-- **wait the next Hbomb video is going to be 'Petscop is bullshit and here's why'???**

stardustphilosophy

Not me watching this in a beanbag

polywogy

Yeah, you wouldn’t want to have ended up making a bad video because you were rushing to get it out during Pride Month. Unlike a certain other person…

S. Wang

I watched the whole thing last night before I went to sleep. That big last segment on Somerton looked like it was very exhaustive. I felt that way just by having to parse through all that. Is there any consideration into making that part its own video? While I’m fine with the runtime maybe more eyeballs would see it if it was not a three hour video.

Simply Shamus

Working my way through the vid now and it has been well worth the wait. Get some rest Hbomb, you earned it. Looking forward to what comes next

Sallie Drazzi

So happy to see the whole video, and what a doozy it is! Literally so tearful at the promise to donate the adsense

Roberto Zoreda Ichaso

Thank you so much, as an ex patreon suporter of James I wish I knew sooner, this has opened my eyes. And as always it's also quite entertaining to watch your stuff so that soothes the pain and how dumb I feel.

Dyllan Miller

I’ve already watched it once on my own and am watching it again with my fiancé. You did such an incredible job with this one, it’s fantastic. Thank you for all your hard work!

Angerboda

Thank you for making it

Kimberley Challis

this video is incredible — i’m sorry i looked at the runtime and thought OH GOD WHHHYYYY 🙇🏼‍♀️🙇🏼‍♀️🙇🏼‍♀️ enjoy some well-deserved time off and look forward to next year’s video! xxx

AshAmphora

It's a superb video. I've been meaning to sub to your Patreon for a while and this was the catalyst. Enjoy your well-earned break!

Matthew McCoy

Started watching it last night, figuring I would watch about half the video, finish the rest tomorrow. Which I technically did, since I finished watching the whole thing at around 2:30 AM today :D Great work, amazing video, and thanks for working in a reference to Repent Harlequin, Said The Ticktockman. Somebody other than me remembers that story!

James Rule

Jokes on you, you can't ruin any of my favorite youtubers, because I don't have any. Ha!

Taylor Rhett

The video was quite a ride. Fantastic work!

Corrine Schaible

Love how the feedback for the first draft of this was "seems like an illuminaughtii hit piece, but I love the discussion on plagiarism". Come to find out it was a bait and switch. Love it, I was gooped, gagged, etc etc wig

Seb Jones

Get some rest Mr Splimby! Well deserved!

Shea Harkness

Really good video, and I always appreciate thorough over fast

Matt

It was amazing and well worth the wait, thanks and enjoy your rest!

Dan Bryant

Loved the video, as always. Also I'm starting to get used to Harris saying "I love her" in every video in variously earnest ways, and that's just quite nice.

GenerallyBananas

This was well worth the wait! I half watched in one sitting while working on my stop motion shortfilm and will be going back in to appreciate the visuals better in the coming days. My film is forever marked and whenever I see the shots I did today I will be pleasantly reminded not to plagiarize ever

WM

You've done an immense, amazing amount of legwork, along with Katy and everyone who made the video what it is, take the break(!!), you've done an immense amount of good, I've learned a lot about the queer youtube scene through you, it made my day - and the days of others - much better! :)

Ben, A Human Hair

The Myst video is good fun if you haven't watched it already

Erika Stewart

one of my students wrote an essay plagiarizing the pathologic video just a few weeks ago. i hope he watches this one lol

Kav

...well, my reaction to seeing this probably confirmed who my favourite video essayist is. SuperEyepatchWolf and Jenny Nicholson are extraordinarily good and also post infrequently but, even with them (or Lindsay Ellis' return on Nebula), I've never quite been this excited when they've posted something that's taken way longer than they expected.

Triscaleon

I stayed up way too late to watch this video and it was worth destroying my fragile 30+ year old sleep schedule for. Thank you for all the work you do

Dylan Roy

What an absolute banger of a video. I can see why it took so long, and also why you kept the second half under your hat. The way James wears his turtleneck is not for the faint of heart.

Conformist

Oh hell yeah I love bonus videos

Drhertz

Thank you for being so thorough, it was more than worth the extra time needed to get the video done. I'd seen the draft which was already amazing, but the addition of the second half of the new video was... Eye opening and quite shocking tbh! Thank you again for that.

Ryan Stasel

Been a fan for a while after your FO3 and NV videos (I think pointed to you from MATN). This video was so good, and amazingly detailed, I just started backing you. Amazingly well done. Finally watching Sherlock video that I was scared to watch (as you called, I thought I liked it... lol). =) Awesome job!

Evan Pappas

James Somerton doesn't have that George Santos swag

herehavemykid

Thank you once again my liege

TitaniumTeddyBear

Absolutely top notch.

Lev

new hbomb uploads are the event of the year for mentally ill people <3

Dexter-by-designation

By goddess, you fully destroyed him. This was worth the wait, I'm glad you cut out the Triangle stuff a bit so we could see your primary focus in all its glory. I have already subbed to Hburgerguy, and will watch his career with great interest.

Phillip Burns

I hope at some point you get to make a video about something light & carefree! However, I think we all genuinely appreciate the time, effort, and energy you (& Kat! & Rachel who really does exist!) dump into these. Thanks for giving a damn.

Captain Chaos

Was really invested in this one and surprised by the turn from the previous drafts posted here. Applause for your commitment to the plagiarized creators

Azzinita

Well, it's like you actually do your own research instead of just copying Wikipedia word for word. Love everything you do and happy to support you no matter how long it takes.

Jacob Hudson

Thank you! Please know that you've inspired much of my professional writing, and the standard to which you hold yourself and your work is awesome.

Wongree Lionhat

The wait for the story completion was worth it!!!!

Caleb Phillips

Loved it the first two times!

Hila Peleg

I looooOoooooOOOOOOove it! Once the full list of plagiarized sources is compiled, could you share it with us? There's one or two Somerton videos I'd love to go read the original sources for in full.

LLXX

I still have an hour left of the video but I think it’s one of your best. Thank you for the time and effort you put into it.

Laur

Love the video so far (almost done with my first watch through) and it's great seeing your progress and the changes in drafts and how they evolve. Thank you for the investigation and work that clearly goes into these projects

Rufus Riefler

The documentary was FANTASTIC. Despite your misgivings about adding to “drama YouTube”, I think it’s important that this issue gets highlighted. If this documentary ends up doing very well and makes some waves, it has the argumentative potential to convince some average YouTube viewers to be more credulous about what they watch. Stunning work, my mouth was agape most of the time.

Harold holt

Beautiful video, literally just finished watching it

timberhill

Just finished and got the notification. Thank you

yotam42

I went from being appalled earlier by the runtime to coming over here. Amazing video! maybe like ten minutes could’ve been cut but the video is nonetheless great

Maelwys Myrddin

Finally a friend!

Jesuis

Video was amazing, and the recommendations at the end are awesome. Thanks so much for the work you and everyone else puts in to these videos, they’re always amazing to see. Hope you’re all taking care of yourselves!!

Clean Beans

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!

Ben, A Human Hair

Meanwhile James Somerton no longer even has a Patreon (or Twitter)

William Lynch

Wow Tommy this is yet another amazing achievement to add to your collection good work!

stardustphilosophy

Currently watching it. It's fantastic, thank you so much!

Malcolm Macleod

gantin for this you guys

X-wingMario

This video is phenomenal investigative journalism, incredible work!

Jake Williams

Crushed it dude

Chase

Congrats man. This is a massive video. Truly impressive work.

Thomas Reed

Lol, i loved the video. Great work!

Ciarán Saunders

I am now calling the Vaccine, Roblox_Oof, and Plagiarism videos your unofficial “An ADHDer’s response” trilogy. 👏

EmmytheEwok

video absolutely slapped bestie, rest up!!

Glenn Case

I'm absorbing it for the second time, and you've outdone yourself yet again. I rarely set aside the time to watch a movie, and yet I will watch/listen to your videos on repeat. Thank you.