Good morning. Jordan Haber decided to read the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement for fun (yes, fun—he’s heading to law school in the fall). In doing so, he found a loophole that made him, a college senior, eligible for the NBA Draft in June.

One viral TikTok later, the Barclays Center (this year’s event venue) invited Haber to attend the draft and document his trip. Haber told us that the stunt was “nine months in the making.” We’re rooting for him to get picked first overall. 🤞

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Why Video Essay Creator Lindsay Ellis Left YouTube

This month, video essay creator and author Lindsay Ellis—known for her sharp, comedic deep dives on media and film theory as well as a pair of bestselling science fiction novels—returned to creating videos after a year-and-a-half hiatus.

What’s changed: Ellis won’t be uploading new video essays to her over 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube. Instead, she’s sharing them on Nebula as the creator-owned streaming platform’s first-ever exclusive creator.

“The hope is that we can create something that’s never been done before…there aren’t any other streaming platforms that are creator-owned and operated—and, you know, offer this freedom for people from the ‘yoke’ of YouTube,” Ellis told us.

Unpacking Ellis’s journey to Nebula:

• She started creating videos on YouTube competitor Blip.tv in 2008 and moved to YouTube after Blip shut down in 2015.

• She quit her job as an assistant editor and went full-time on YouTube in 2016.

• Following the release of her first two novels (and a notable online harassment campaign against her), Ellis stopped uploading to YouTube in late 2021 to focus on her writing career.

What makes Nebula different: Ellis told us she’s excited about what the platform is bringing to the table—she’s releasing five full-length Nebula Originals (scripted by Ellis and purchased by Nebula) throughout 2023, distributed without the algorithms and comment sections that took a toll on Ellis’s mental health in the past.

FYI, Ellis previously monetized her content through AdSense, brand partnerships, and a successful Patreon.

“I only ended up on YouTube out of a lack of other options…2023 is the year of testing new waters [for me], and seeing if Nebula is able to offer something that viewers are interested in,” Ellis told us, “especially in an economy where there are so many streaming options.”

Creator News Roundup: International Edition

Here are three creator and platform stories we’ve been following from around the globe…

• Comedy creator Nigel “Uncle Roger” Ng is banned across Chinese social media platforms. The London-based creator tweeted a clip that poked fun at China’s authoritarian government. FYI, the ban is part of a crackdown by Chinese authorities on comedians—including standup comedian Li Haoshi and a fan who voiced her support on social media.

• Pakistani YouTube creators document the dangers of illegal immigration from Pakistan to Europe. One creator, Asad Ali, published a 104-minute documentary on YouTube that’s been viewed some 1.4 million times. The goal? To discourage dangerous illegal immigration from Pakistan to other countries, per Rest of World.

• The European Union fines Meta a record $1.3 billion for violating privacy rules. The EU also ordered the U.S. tech company to stop transferring users’ personal data—such as names and IP addresses—across the Atlantic for the use of targeted online ads.

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iDubbz Apologizes for Past Insensitive Content

In a video titled “I miss the old idubbz,” YouTube creator Ian “iDubbz” Jomha apologized last week for “cultivating a culture of apathy and cruelty” during his controversial “Content Cop” series that ran from 2015 to 2017.

• The series featured Jomha using racial and homophobic slurs while critiquing (and sometimes even harassing) other creators such as Tana Mongeau.

Jomha recently unlisted several old videos. He also acknowledged that he’s profited from “bigoted content” over the years and shouldn’t be able to “walk away from it” with one apology video.

So instead? Jomha said that he doesn’t want fans to defend his old work, but he’s hopeful his new content and nonprofit endeavors (he said he donated the apology video’s AdSense revenue to charity) will be a better representation of who he’s become.

FYI: 32-year-old Jomha started his “iDubbzTV” channel in 2012 and has over 11 million subscribers across several YouTube channels. He also co-founded the successful creator boxing event series Creator Clash.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Video essayist Patrick Willems travels to India to document the rise of Bollywood.

• Colin and Samir moved their merch line to PressPublish.Store—the ecommerce-focused domain powering the merch stores of creators, artists, entertainers, brands and more. Learn more about .Store here.*

• Adobe introduces Generative Fill, an AI tool that helps users “summon” new layers in Photoshop.

• A TikTok creator in Indonesia could go to jail for trying pork in a video she uploaded.

• John Green delivers a heartwarming response to his brother Hank’s cancer diagnosis.

• Newsletter creator Wolf of Franchises launches a subscription database for franchise business owners.

• Good Good previews the course for their Good Good Championship, which starts Thursday.

• Travel creator Chris Broad’s autobiography tops Amazon’s Travel Writing charts in the U.K.

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