Jenna Nicole Mourey, also known by her stage name Jenna Marbles, has been a YouTube sensation for many years. She started making videos for the site in February of 2010 and quickly gained a following because of her hilarious and often self-deprecating antics. She did everything from performing skits to cooking to playing with her dogs. With time, she rose to prominence as one of the most popular content producers on the website.
However, in February 2020, after ten years of uploading videos to YouTube, Jenna decided to call it quits. Fans had hoped she might return over time, but it now appears that will never happen. That being said, what transpired? Why did she decide to leave anyway? In July 2022, a photo of her and her partner standing with a fan sparked controversy on Twitter, which catapulted her back into the spotlight.
Why did Jenna Marbles quit YouTube?
Jenna claimed she left YouTube as a kind of self-discipline. Jenna expressed regret for the subject matter of some of her earlier uploads in a video that is no longer available on her channel but has been reuploaded elsewhere. She claimed that many people defended her, saying she was an “unproblematic queen,” while others had urged her to admit to wrongdoing. However, she never felt quite at ease with this, as she knew it wasn’t quite the case.
“I’m not completely unproblematic,” Jenna said. “And I’ve tried my best to grow up and to be a better person.”
She claimed she attempted to accept constructive criticism, explaining that she was willing to address why she had hidden so many of her older videos and provide an apology.
To continue, Jenna explained that she had hidden the videos so as not to “send out nasty things into the world.” Once upon a time, she was pleased to have those early uploads on her channel since they represented her development as a creator. But in recent times, she has felt that people don’t bother to look at when they are posted, instead assuming that they reflect her current beliefs without further explanation. The fact that they were offensive remains unabated regardless of when they were posted.
“If that’s the case, where people will watch something and be offended now, I don’t want it to exist,” Jenna said.
She apologizes for using blackface in 2011 while cosplaying Nicki Minaj, mentioning the incident in the video. Although she insisted that she did not intend to portray a black character, she now realizes this is beside the point.
“I want to tell you how unbelievably sorry I am if I ever offended you by posting this video or doing this impression,” Jenna said.
She also referenced a video in which she sings a song she wrote that has racist lyrics directed at Asian people, as well as another video in which she shames women for the clothes they wear.
By the end of the video, Jenna made it clear that she had never tried to sell anything to her viewers, thus, she had never bothered to attract any sponsors to her channel. “I’m literally just here to have a good time, and I don’t think I’m having a good time.” She says, “For now, I just can’t exist on this channel.”
In the video, Jenna explained that she wasn’t sure how long she’d be absent from her channel but that it might not be permanent. She said she wanted to “hold herself accountable” and expressed gratitude to her many supporters.
Jenna Marbles with a fan went viral in 2022
Jenna has been gone from the web for a while, yet she still has devoted followers and millions of subscribers on YouTube. A snapshot of her and her boyfriend, fellow content producer Julien Solomita (who was also in the photo), and a fan went viral on Twitter in July 2022.
me and jenna and julien slaying 🤭🤭 pic.twitter.com/yZMijqgHV3
— ✧༺♥༻✧ (@saaltinthewound) July 26, 2022
This was enough to get some people worried, but for Jenna’s followers, it was a sign that she was coming back to YouTube. Several people banded together to ask the fan to delete the photo out of respect for Jenna’s privacy.
But that doesn’t appear to be a problem either. Another user commented on the photo of Julien posted on TikTok, claiming that it was fine to do so.
“Wanted to say that whenever Jenna or I consent to take a picture (basically anytime someone asks), we are saying yes to [the person who asked] posting it,” Julien said. Nonetheless, he expressed appreciation to those who had ensured their privacy.