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His videos are long, sometimes topping out at more than an hour, but thats by design.
Wallace aims to be a one-stop-shop for internet drama explainers, and he knows that asatisfiedcustomer will be areturningcustomer.
But his channel tapped into a growing interest in seeing harmful YouTubers held to account for once.
The videos seamlessly mesh two concepts: the truth and what a person believes tobethe truth.
Too truthy, and you get a boring PSA.
Too credulous, and you get Logan Paul makinga mockumentary about how the Earth is flat.
Wallace knows hes done his job right when hes perfectly balanced that scale.
If you Google What did Shane Dawson do now?
or Who is Trisha Paytas?
youll find plenty of YouTubers ready and willing to answer your questions.
But none do it quite like Wallace.
His is an imperfect, semi-objective hybrid model that perfectly encapsulates the messiness of the world he covers.
Still, hes always dead sure of what hes saying.
Talking with Wallace over video chat feels like watching one of his videos.
When you ask Wallace a question, hell give you a straight answer.
Its refreshing, a YouTuber who baits clicks with the truth.
Or at the very least, what he truly believes.
Your approach is different than most other YouTubers.
What do you consider yourself?
A documentarian?No.
Theres too many things that I want to do in my videos.
Im definitely not objective.
If I think somethings wrong or it shouldnt have happened, I will just bluntly state it.
I couldnt necessarily get away with a documentary.
Can I makethesummary video of the beauty community?
The story everyone wants to read.So, I read this article about this musician named Gordon Lightfoot.
He was mostly famous in the 60s through the 70s.
Im not necessarily interested in the great voices of the 70s but from paragraph one I was hooked.
We didnt need it, we didnt ask for it, but it was very well done.
Reading this really reminded me of the energy I have a go at have with my videos.
Even if I hit publish and everyones like, Wait, what?
Why did he just upload a video about this … And why is it so long?
Your earliest videos were actually about art not drama.
I just pointed some things out that I didnt agree with.
And that wasthe first videoI made that was kind of like a hybrid art/commentary.
It did so well that I realized I could just pivot fully.
He was doing unethical things with his giant audience.
I just compiled my thoughts about those into a video and put that up.
He had just released the Jake Paul series.
It really showed me how YouTube can wind up affecting real life if were not careful.
They will take everything you say as the gospel truth.
I just am obsessed with the storytelling of it all.
I want to be accurate.
I want it to be very easy to follow, even for somebody who has never watched it.
And you decided to watch a one-hour video about it?
Could this be the video?
It doesnt always have to be happening right now.
But if its still a good video about it, then people will sit through it.
Ill wake up, do my basic routine.
And then Ill start researching.
I had to watch the most videos for my Shane Dawson series by far.
I havent watched a YouTube video at normal speed in months.
I think theyre all at 2x speed.
Like we all suddenly had more time for messiness online?People definitely have more time.
A lot of people dont have a commute anymore.
So they want something to watch thats not a reminder of the insanity thats going on outside.
You used to go there to watch people doing crazy things, but now theres more.
There may as well be seasons.
Before, people were super into it.
They enjoyed this bizarre larger than life world with these people who were so strange that theyre almost characters.
I would even say mine are.
People have a lot less tolerance.
YouTube is slow to deplatform.
It takes a lot before YouTube flips a switch and I think thats good.
Just to be clear, I think its very good that YouTube is not ban-happy.
But because of that people understand that technically there are no repercussions.
They are not going to lose their channel over doing something wrong.
Its just a business decision at the end of the day.
They recognize that they have a lot of leeway.
I basically posted a call-out because I disagreed with some of her methods.
She went on to claim that she had talked to authorities about it.
This is something that people take seriously enough to want to retaliate.
And b: Im able to defend myself in case people want to get me in trouble.
He reviewed some of the claims and speculation that I made in my video about him.
I honestly found that funny.
He wasnt like, wheres my lawyer.
I guess its something that I should expect now because that video about him is nearing 6 million views.
Do you think its possible to be purely objective in YouTube commentary?
I have some insight into their thought process in the first place.
There are some YouTubers though who I would say are very, very objective.
And its just like I feel like they should just be called educational videos.
Hes so good at bringing the research and backing everything up.
So, I would say that kind of specific content would more so be objective.
But Im perfectly fine with being labeled as opinionated.
Is it satisfying to know youre getting under their skin?I think that is my biggest guilty pleasure.
Almost everything I say in my videos, Im actually backing up with facts and evidence.
So even if you want to get mad at it, you cant get mad at me.
You cant get mad at screenshots.
Lets just say Idefinitelyunder shot.
Do you have a lawyer?I do have access to legal counsel.
Its much more of a business than ever before.
I have a team.
Who comprises your team?On the main channel Im still 100% in control of all those videos.
Ive never gotten any editing help with that or writing help.
I think just because those videos are very dependent on me.
So, I have two editors who do an amazing job working on the content over there.
Its a bigger operation [than it used to be].
I imagine myself in scenarios.
Imagine if one day I woke up and I was like, Im going to be an influencer.
There would be no second, third, fourth, fifth chances for me.
There never have been.
But its something I try not to think about too often actively.
I just appreciate the fact that Im here now and I do what I can now that I am.
So many of these influencers and YouTubers and TikTok stars you cover are white and extremely privileged.
I find that strange because I am not the only good one.
Maybe your opinions can still be valid.
Just all the implications that I cant be educated or have opinions.
The thing that literally all people have regardless of whether youre a person of color or not.
You talked a bit in your big Shane Dawson video about how his whole shtick is just a persona.
Shane Dawson, the person is different from Shane Dawson, the online persona.
I cant edit it out.
I make a run at stick with things that I really believe, things that Im really interested in.
I just started to stay true to my own opinions.
I think that makes a more genuine experience.
I dont want to be constantly under attack.
Even if some people want me to be, I just dont platform it.
And on the internet, thats almost like it never happened.
You got candid in Influencer-19, talking about how your grandparents survived COVID-19.
Its not just a trending topic.
It is a matter of a pretty egregious lack of empathy.
More importantly, I see what happens when people are very open on the internet.
People see it as an invitation … they feel like the things on the internet belong to them.
I can understand why they think that but of course thats not always true at all.
There are a lot of things in my life that do not belong to anyone else.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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