There's some important context that I haven't seen discussed yet, I know upthread I saw a link to one of his "why I'm not a Vegan anymore" videos but there's more to it than just that. I'mma do this kinda freeform for now and try and dig up more sources/links if the interest is there.
So back in 2015-16
Freelee the Banana Girl was peaking on youtube. Freelee would make reaction videos calling out popular non-vegan youtubers, which of course got her a ton of attention. The idea was that the more sensational you were, the more you talked shit, the more shocking statements and images you could throw in, the better because it would get more views and ultimately lead some fraction of those viewers to veganism. (Of course, this is also a good way to make yourself famous and sell whatever dumb 80/10/10 inspired ebook you're shilling.)
Niko was not on Freelee's level, but he was adjacent to her group and an active part of the vegan community on youtube. The vegan youtube community was very active in those days and inserting yourself therein and generating vegan content (endless What I Ate Today videos mostly) was an easy way to gain an online following and maybe even make some money.
So in Fall 2016 Freelee
breaks up with her longtime boyfriend DurianRider, which was very drama and I won't digress into that right now. DurianRider was even crazier than Freelee and had coached her into the scantily clad drama whore that she was at her peak. The community had lost its bike riding, fruit eating, thai vasectomy getting power couple. Freelee was posting less frequently and not being as confrontational as usual and there was a bit of a Drama Vaccuum to be filled.
On December 31st 2016, Niko uploads his video "
I DON'T WANT TO BE VEGAN ANYMORE" and he immediately becomes the talk of vegan youtube. Some vegan response vids from the time:
1 2 3
And then the mukbangs started. Obviously with the intent of pissing off vegan youtube even more, and gaining views from the novelty of an ex-vegan eating stuff like
fish,
eggs,
burgers, and
pizza for the first time in years. It worked like a charm and he was more internet famous than ever AND he had a built-in horde of vegan haters.
I actually lost track of Niko for a while, and then years later when stuff like the Tricia Paytas drama happened I saw his name crop up on youtube and was like "wait... the ex vegan guy? he's still around?" and god, was he.
Basically, imo vegan youtube gave Niko his original crop of followers and Freelee taught him to stir drama. His period of breaking vegan cemented in his mind that all he has to do to stay relevant is to keep creating drama and looping in other youtubers. Vegan content was his goldmine, then the novelty of breaking vegan, then more mukbangs as those got huge, then stirring drama with other mukbangers, and now he's gross and crying to cash in on the hatewatching and "he needs help" angle that he's seen youtubers like Amberlynn get big on. [Edit: his new jam is Onlyfans because everyone is doing that now and duh.]