Over the weekend, the Internet came out en masse to stick up for Jonah Mowry, a bullied 14-year-old who posted a distraught plea to YouTube.
Support poured in from sources ranging from Reddit to Lady Gaga and had an immediate effect on the teen. But a new video that Mowry posted—and immediately deleted—has made the YouTube community wonder if it just got played.
“I would just like to say, to the people who think nobody likes me, almost my entire school loves me,” Mowry says in the video, a copy of which was obtained and uploaded by Jinxus25. “I don’t want to sound like, stupid or conceited or anything, but yeah,” says Mowry into the camera, in the deleted video.
Since Dec. 4, Jinxus25’s copy has been viewed 1.4 million times, collected more than 28,000 outraged comments, and spawned dozens of response videos. YouTubers have taken to calling Mowry an “asshole,” “douche bag,” an “attention-whore,” “a fake,” and even a “troll.”
“Sadly, this kid is going to cry wolf. He complained about the hatred people showed to him before, but now he’s really going to see hatred.” wrote IAmJaySwanny in a recent, top comment on the video. “He got his attention he needed, and then at the end of the video he’s smug enough to laugh and basically call us ‘Einstein’ … and this is why its hard to trust each other in this society. Bitches be trollin’. And we fell for it.”
One of the most popular response videos to the Mowry outrage was uploaded by JustTurnOnTheCamera. His video, titled “Jonah Mowry ‘APPARENTLY’ LIED about his ‘Whats goin on..’ video!” has received almost 200,000 views since December 5.
“I don’t think he realizes the entire world was on his side,” added JustTurnOnTheCamera in a video update, “and then he basically makes a video saying he is almost unappreciative of the support everyone has given him.”
It’s not just the lack of appreciation that has some YouTubers upset. In “WHY JONAH MOWRY & PEREZ HILTON HAVE FAKE INTENTIONS,” TheAngelColour, a photographer and stylist, asserted that Mowry grabs attention for himself instead of raising awareness about bullying or helping others.
Or perhaps it was just an immature mistake by an insecure teen with mixed emotions.
On Twitter, Mowry addressed the outrage, writing: “I made a rude follow up video. I was excited for what was happening so i adressed the h8ers my mssge came across wrong.”
For some YouTubers, that’s too little, too late.