Dream, a well-known YouTuber, has hidden his identity for the majority of his career, keeping even his fellow video producers in the dark about who he really is. He hyped the event up before the announcement by face-timing many of his gaming friends for the first time. Clay is his true name.
Who is Dream?
After years of blogging under an alias, Minecraft YouTuber Dream disclosed his name on Sunday night because there had been “a little bit too much” rumours surrounding him. Dream, a 23-year-old content producer with more than 30 million subscribers, has only ever appeared in public wearing a supple, cheery face mask in eggshell colour. Gamers have been familiar with Dream for a while, but they were ignorant of his physical appearance.
In a video uploaded to YouTube that has received more than 27 million views, Dream finally took off the mask to reveal his face. Dream identified himself as Clay in the video and said that after finding it too challenging and hard to maintain his mystery image, he eventually made the decision to give up his incognito.
The Live Stream
1.2 million people tuned in live, and 14 hours later, the video got more than 18 million views, according to Forbes. To put it lightly, the fact that Dream revealed his identity was a significant issue for both his neighbourhood and Minecraft as a whole. The dream has 30.7 million YouTube subscribers, 5.7 million Twitter followers, and 3.3 million Instagram followers.
According to a report by the BBC, Dream’s most successful videos have had tens of millions of views, with one of them having been viewed more than 115 million times. In the five-minute clip that has received more than 12 million views, he introduced himself as Dream and stated, “Hi, my name is Clay.”
“Perhaps you’ve heard of me; perhaps not. Perhaps you watched this video out of pure curiosity and have no interest in me. nonetheless, since you’ve seen my face. ” He spoke after first showing his face.
Dream confessed, “I’ve been bunkered up.” He even said, “the people trying to leak my face, trying to find out what I look like.”
Public Reaction
Popular video producers, including Marques Brownlee of YouTube and Addison Rae of TikTok, expressed their delight upon first seeing Dream’s face; Brownlee dubbed Dream’s reveal as “one of the most exciting social media campaigns I’ve ever seen.”
The reveal surprised many fans, who enthusiastically reacted.
Backlash from the followers
Others appeared strangely dissatisfied; it’s unknown what they had anticipated. Soon, memes comparing Dream’s face to cartoon characters started to circulate online.
Some of the jokes and memes were intended to be amusing, but when Twitter users insulted Dream’s face and the hashtag #PutTheMaskBackOn trended in response to the revelation, the tone quickly changed, becoming nasty and hateful.
The criticism eventually became overwhelming, leading some content producers to surmise that the prevalence of face filters, strategic angles, and well-manicured Instagram pages had distorted the public’s idea of what content producers should look like or even what individuals should look like.
A 23-year-old being bullied for revealing his face may be a new low for the parasocial crowd, but the mental strain of being a hugely successful YouTuber already seems nearly intolerable. It is widely known that being continually watched by a fanatical mob of obsessives has severe effects.
The producer of the video is reduced to another piece of content once they reach a certain degree of fame, and fundamental human decency is lost in the din. This is especially true of YouTubers and TikTokers.
Contrary to typical celebrities, content creators frequently engage in direct communication with their followers. At this point, backlash in response to scandal is anticipated but not in reaction to a face reveal.
In contrast to the negativity that permeates the internet, Dream told his supporters in the last moments of his face reveal video that he is “live proof” that anyone can succeed.
He remarked that he didn’t want his face to be revealed to diminish the idea that anyone could be hiding behind the mask. (Source: Forbes)
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