Controversial Former YouTube Star Onision Sued For Alleged ‘Grooming’
Disgraced former YouTube star Onision has been accused of using his popular YouTube channel to “recruit, solicit, and groom” underaged children into having sex with him, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday.
Wednesday’s case is the first known legal action to be taken against the YouTuber following several allegations of abuse and grooming in 2019. Onision, 37, also known as Greg or James Jackson, did not reply to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. But he has consistently denied claims of abuse and grooming. According to plaintiff Regina Alonso, Jackson and his spouse Lucas Jackson used the channel’s popularity to “groom” Alonso from age 14 to 17, encouraging Alonso to send “flirty” messages and naked photographs. The three began dating, according to the lawsuit, with the intent to solicit sex from Alsono during a suggested visit to the Jackson home in Washington State. Alonso claims the relationship caused her serious “physical and psychological” harm.
Jackson first joined YouTube in 2006. Under the name Onision, he became well known in 2010 for several viral videos, including the “Banana Song” and other parody-themed sketches. He attracted many young followers by posting videos about “body image, appearance, self-identity, and suicide ideology,” all topics that helped him appeal to young girls “questioning their self-image or identity, or seeking answers and guidance,” according to the lawsuit. At the height of his popularity in the mid-2010s, he ran several additional accounts and had at least 2 million subscribers on his main Onision YouTube page. But for a creator of his size, his main drawn was his close interactions with fans, who were encouraged to message him through a personal forum and send him photos of themselves to “rate.”
In 2012, Jackson began messaging with 17-year-old Lucas. Lucas — who has gone by several names, and is identified by a previous name in the lawsuit — was an Onision fan and became a major part of the channel’s content after their 2012 marriage. According to the lawsuit, Jackson, with the help of Lucas, used his online forums to connect with younger fans and “groom” them for sexual acts and relationships with the couple. In 2019, Jackson and Lucas were accused by several women of grooming them while they were underage. Six other women, who had past relationships with Jackson, also came forward and accused him of abuse. Jackson denied the allegations on his YouTube page several times, but in November 2019, he was banned from Patreon for violating their doxxing terms by posting one of his accuser’s cell phone numbers online. In January 2021, a Discovery Plus documentary with To Catch a Predator’s Chris Hansen presented the claims of Alonso and two other women, who alleged Jackson had groomed or abused them and then used his fame and YouTube notoriety to undermine their stories and encourage harassment. A day after the series finale, Onision announced he would be leaving YouTube because his channel had been demonetized.
In a screenshot shown in the now-deleted video, a statement from YouTube read: “We are also concerned about continued allegations of off-platform behavior related to child safety that could cause significant harm to the community, violating our Creator responsibility guidelines within our YouTube Partner Program policies. These guidelines explain that we don’t allow egregious behavior that has a large negative impact on the community. Therefore we have determined that your channels (Onision, OnisionSpeaks, and UhOhBro) will be indefinitely suspended from the YouTube Partner Program and no longer eligible to monetize.”
YouTube is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that by continuing to monetize Jackson’s channels, even after several journalists and users notified them of the allegations, YouTube profit-shared with the Onision channel. It also alleges that by demonetizing Onision but not removing the channel or its videos from the platform entirely, YouTube is still profiting from the content.
“YouTube Partners, such as Onision, acted with impunity and even worse, YouTube contributed to and profited from the enticement, grooming, and exploitation of children while promoting known predator and YouTube partner, Onision,” said Lisa Haba, a partner at The Haba Law Firm in a press release Wednesday. “YouTube could have prevented all of this harm, but it inexplicably racked up revenue and provided a sanctuary for Onision to lure, identify and recruit vulnerable children for grooming and ultimately, exploitation.”
Onision and YouTube did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s requests for comment.