- Joined
- Jun 3, 2018
Life sure does come at ya fast...
Preface: For those wanting a TL;DR that skips past the specifics of this overblown drama, I've included a summary from @Neil at the end of the OP. Though if you want a more detailed retelling of this trashfire, I've also included misc videos toward the end of the OP, with some delving into far more detail.
Brief Intro
Super Mega is a fairly popular lets play and variety channel run by Matt Watson and Ryan Magee (think like a discount version of Game Grumps, which Matt was a former editor of). The duo have collaborated with numerous other creators, personalities, and figures either appearing in their videos or working with them behind the scenes. Unfortunately for Matt and Ryan, a few of these former collaborators would go on to not only burn bridges with the duo, but go on to threaten their very reputations and livelihood.
Before diving into this massive dumpsterfire, here's a small appetizer that happened not too long ago:
Matt and Ryan had to sue Jackson, one of their editors who was treated like a third member, for embezzlement. Main takeaway is that this guy allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars of Super Mega's money on misc personal things, such as $10k on booze and "more than $450 spent on a 'Persona 25th Anniversary Deluxe Vinyl Box Set' described to his fiancée as an 'investment'."
For the detailed documents and discussions for when this news first broke, you can redirect to the quoted thread links below:
The Alleged Cover Up
In July 2023, a cosplayer known as Lex Updogg put out some very damning allegations against Super Mega:
For context, Lex was a friend of the channel and was previously dating Super Mega's thumbnail artist, DonDRRR, who she claimed had sexually assaulted her and that both Matt and Ryan tried to cover up this incident. As if that wasn't bad enough, Lex had put out some other allegations against the duo, such as her becoming homeless after she and a friend were essentially kicked out of the Super Mega office where they were allowed to crash for some time without paying any rent. She complained about how despite living at the office rent-free, the place was very trashy and she often had to clean up other people's messes. She would later claim that Matt had offered her $10k to find an apartment in LA to live in, yet she declined, as she felt it was some kind of bribe (to not come out against them in the future) or was fueled by other ulterior motives.
In addition to the sexual assault coverup and her essentially being made homeless, she had made a handful of other allegations against the duo, with the most egregious instance involving her friend Rav dealing with his partner attempting to kill themselves. Despite Matt and Ryan also having dealt with a very close friend taking their own life in the past, the two expressed little sympathy. According to Lex, Matt had called Daniel a coward for committing suicide twice in front of her.
Once the story got out there, there was a strong wave of support toward Lex, followed by a ton of hatred and resentment toward SuperMega from many of their own fans. Don himself had tried to share his own side of the story on Twitter (archive), which could be chalked up to him recognizing that he overstepped and made her uncomfortable while they were intimate, though he had completely stopped when she asked him to do so. Unsurprisingly, Don's response was completely dogpiled in the replies, and at the time of writing, he hasn't been back on his main account ever since.
Other individuals would also weigh in, either sharing their own stories or repeating the various allegations being put forth against SuperMega – some very petty, some quite personal, and some that were actually serious. To keep things organized, here's a rundown of the more notable figures involved:
- Leighton- Former employee who handled merch for SuperMega
- Alleged that Matt and Ryan were homophobic toward him on numerous occassions
- Made gay jokes to poke fun of his sexuality
- Made fun of a suicidal gay fan when Leighton tried to get Matt and Ryan to send the fan their autographed merch
- Claimed that Ryan constantly misgendered his partner behind [her] back
- Even worse, alleged that Matt and Ryan sexually harassed Leighton
- The duo compared their assholes in-front of him
- They recorded him while he was peeing at a bar (after a recording of "Drunk Simpsons Drawing")
- “Yeah we’re just in this bar we’re getting blasted then at one point I go to the bathroom and I go under the stall and I close the door and I’m peeing and the next thing that I know is that Matt’s now entered my stall that I’m in that I closed the door and his camera’s put out and he’s filming my dick and balls. He’s filming me pee. I didn’t know what to think of that. Now I know that’s beyond harassment, it's insane to think that he would do it. Earlier that night he did it again. The first time was at the office and I was in the bathroom with the door closed peeing and he just barged into the bathroom and took a picture. So I’m sure Matt has a picture of me pissing as Ned Flanders in the SuperMegaPlex”
- Was forced to write an apology and act as the fall guy for a merch-related issue he was not responsible for
- Matt and Ryan made numerous references to the dreaded "N-word"
- Claimed that he was threatened by Matt and Ryan's attorney, as after being fired, there were rumors of him badmouthing and spreading lies about the duo to his friends
- Worst of all, Leighton also put forth the allegation that Matt and Ryan repeatedly madefun of their friend Daniel for killing himself
- "If anybody wants to know for sure I know in the two and half years I was around those guys. They made fun of Daniel. I maybe heard about 5 jokes, like 5 clear jokes making fun of Daniel where his suicide was the punchline of the joke. Matt and Ryan make fun of Daniel for killing himself. They make fun of him for killing himself."
"When Ryan left the room that day, that's when I knew Ryan wasn't my friend and that Ryan was a coward. I should have knew that all along because Matt and Ryan made jokes about Daniel killing himself, but I put it away and I let it slide somewhat because I was like maybe that's how they handle this trauma."
- "If anybody wants to know for sure I know in the two and half years I was around those guys. They made fun of Daniel. I maybe heard about 5 jokes, like 5 clear jokes making fun of Daniel where his suicide was the punchline of the joke. Matt and Ryan make fun of Daniel for killing himself. They make fun of him for killing himself."
- Alleged that Matt and Ryan were homophobic toward him on numerous occassions
- Morgan / Morgpie- Twitch streamer, OnlyFans girl and professional pornographer
- Claims Matt used her for sex when they hooked up, despite her catching feelings for him
- Also claims Matt was a cheater when they hooked up
- Publicly names the woman Matt was supposedly with at the time
- Reads a message on her stream from someone anonymously claiming that Matt sexts fans, she claims it's the "current speculation"
- Also claims Matt was a cheater when they hooked up
- Most notably, she shares how she's spoken to a bunch of people behind the scenes, including Leighton
- She tries to encourage Leighton to make a video, believing that his allegations would destroy SuperMega
- Claims Matt used her for sex when they hooked up, despite her catching feelings for him
- Ethan is Online- Runs a semi-popular commentary channel that often panders to zoomers
- Caught wind of Matt's girlfriend venting on her private account about the allegations being put forth and how Matt would debunk everything, with Ethan calling out Matt and Ryan for not simply apologizing
- Made a wild claim about Matt liking a tweet of Tony Soprano killing a guy who ratted on him equating to Matt putting out a very thinly-veiled message
- Nick is Not Green - Also runs a popular commentary channel that panders to zoomers primarily covering TikTok drama
- Nick releases a video that gains around 700k+ views titled SuperMega is Full of Horrible People.
- Most of the video involves Nick repeating many of the allegations brought forward by Lex, along with him reading off allegations (from Leighton, Morgpie and others) that were summarized on Reddit.
- Nick does not stress the point that many of these allegations haven't been fully proven, instead repeating them as if they're all very much true
- Repeated the claim from Lex that Matt kept calling the SuperMega brand and channel their "Magnum Opus" when she told him of her sexual assault.
- Nick specifically harps on this ridiculous point as if he's heard it directly from Matt himself
- Smugly plays footage on repeat of Matt (a disgusting 'rape apologist') getting rightfully punched in the face at Creator Clash over and over again, as if he finds it so damn satisfying to watch
- Literally states in his video, where he repeats other people's incredibly damning allegations that go beyond just the sexual assault cover up:
- Most of the video involves Nick repeating many of the allegations brought forward by Lex, along with him reading off allegations (from Leighton, Morgpie and others) that were summarized on Reddit.
- Nick releases a video that gains around 700k+ views titled SuperMega is Full of Horrible People.
With so many damning allegations out there and Matt and Ryan remaining silent on the matter for quite some time, it seemed as though their reputations had no chance of recovering. Unfortunately for those involved, it wouldn't take long before the narrative would be completely turned on its head.
Addressing the Actual, Literal Conspiracy
Having taken the time to properly sit down and get their thoughts all in order, both Matt and Ryan would release their own separate videos to address the allegations. I recommend watching both in their entirety, though I'll give a quick rundown:
- Both of them acknowledge that they should've handled Lex's situation with far more care and apologize for their carelessness.
- They try to give their side of the story regarding how they handled things with Don, as they wanted to hear out both party's sides, yet still chose to cut ties with him.
- They even mention how Don was going to collab with RubberRoss, a popular online artist, yet Matt and Ryan privately reached out to Ross regarding this situation in order to have him drop Don (which runs contrary to the idea of them covering this up)
- They point out how Lex did not at the time want to be publicly outed as a sexual assault victim by Don, despite Nick and co claiming that it was SuperMega's responsibility to publicly warn potential victims of Don's misdeed
- They try to give their side of the story regarding how they handled things with Don, as they wanted to hear out both party's sides, yet still chose to cut ties with him.
- Matt and Ryan push back against many of the other allegations made by Morgpie, Nick and especially Leighton
- Matt did not cheat when he hooked up with Morgpie and it wasn't appropriate of her to publicly name his girlfriends
- Leighton himself acknowledged that he was bad at his job
- "I'm really sorry to the both of you that I've caused so many internal and public issues. No one else is messing up as much as I am and especially when there's only six of us I'm sure it really shows. I 100% understand if you guys are ready for me to leave SuperMega and let someone else take care of my responsibilities. It's not fair to you that I keep screwing up."
- Leighton was asked if he was uncomfortable by any of the (gay) jokes they made around him, to which he instead encouraged them to make even more
- Leighton alleged that Matt and Ryan kept sexually harassing him with their nude bodies, despite video proof of him randomly appearing naked in front of them off-screen during one of their recordings
- Leighton had confirmed Matt and Ryan's concerns of him being a disgruntled ex-employee who slandered the duo on Discord servers to get back at them
- Leighton was given $12k in severance which he was offended at for how low it was, despite the fact that his position fell under "at-will employment", meaning he was not owed any severance yet still received it
- The most important point raised was the duo wondering why Daniel Kyre, their close friend who had taken his own life, was brought up at all. None of these people had met Daniel, yet they all took it upon themselves to spread the allegation of Matt and Ryan joking about Daniel's suicide or straight up saying how he was a coward for killing himself.
Rather than take a more nuanced approach, Nick went out of his way to justify his coverage at almost every opportunity, even going so far as to assert once again that SuperMega is Matt's Magnum Opus - therefore, anything that happens in his personal life is a part of the SuperMega channel and isn't off limits. On top of this, Nick would dismiss anyone questioning the allegations by asserting that they're rape apologists for thinking that the cancelation of Matt and Ryan was somehow meticulously planned and coordinated by Lex and/or Leighton. To Nick, this insane "conspiracy theory" was being pushed heavily by gross, jobless Redditors and obsessive SuperMega stans.
While these days, the term "conspiracy" is synonymous with describing outlandish ideas being spread by skitzo anti-establishment-types, the literal definition is not all that far off in this specific context:
Keep in mind, all of the aforementioned people speaking out against SuperMega are all closely connected to either Lex or Leighton:
Source (from a pretty decent video covering the drama)
Although it's unlikely that this cancellation was properly planned and coordinated by those involved, it's completely reasonable to believe that there was a shared feeling of animosity toward SuperMega as Lex put out her allegations, which lead to her friends piling on:
- Beyond her alleged experience with Don, Lex for her part had numerous other grievances to list off in her video, such as her repeatedly claiming to have been made homeless by Matt and Ryan.
- Leighton was difficult to work with due to his BPD and lack of professionalism, especially after being let go, so it's no surprise that he has a vendetta against his former employees.
- Morgpie was practically a jilted ex who resented Matt for limiting their relationship to a one-time hookup, which lead to her disclosing tons of personal details about Matt's dating and sex life.
- Ethan and Nick were former fans of SuperMega who grew to resent them. Ethan in particular had been dating Lex after she was done with Don, so it's unsurprising to see these two happily livestreaming the declining subcount of SuperMega in real time during the height of their cancellation:
Now, even if Lex's sexual assault story is to be believed as 100% true in which Don is truly a horrible human being for what he did to her, so many of the other allegations brought forth against Ryan and Matt are downright petty, outlandish, and complete horseshit.
Take for example the claim that she was made practically homeless by the duo. Never mind the fact that she was living at SuperMega's office in LA with her friend rent-free, was offered $10k by SuperMega to find some other temporary place to stay at in LA, or how she and her friend were driving around the country in a very expensive jeep that she bought.
In addition, Leighton's allegations were also incredibly dubious, such as Ryan's constant "misgendering" of his partner. Leighton had never actually met this person and assumed on [her] behalf that Ryan was misgendering [her] constantly behind [her] back. However, said partner identified as gender fluid, which ironically meant that Leighton was the one misgendering them. This wound up being the one and only claim that Leighton had publicly addressed and retracted at the time of Matt and Ryan putting out their responses:
Archive
Ongoing Fallout
At the time of this drama unfolding, both Turkey Tom and Gokanaru (that one guy who made a viral video criticizing H3H3) had been following it closely. They recognized how the individuals involved were all connected to one another and all had rather clear vindictive motives to go after SuperMega. Tom for his part would not only get other figures like Destiny involved in covering this story, but also put out a very comprehensive video that tried to piece together everything that had transpired:
On top of this, Ryan would put out a tweet that heavily criticized Lex, Leighton, Ethan and Nick for using Daniel as ammunition against the duo:
https://twitter.com/elirymagee/status/1714373306571513994 / Archive 1 + Archive 2
Unwilling to take the L, Nick had been whining about the criticism he received in various social media posts, eventually tripling down in his release of a third video. Not only did he make numerous contradictions based off his past statements, like how he was the one who approached Lex to make a video and spread her story vs Lex approached him with the idea, but he also chalked up much of the criticism to the most extreme takes, such as him covering this story just to chase clout and not how he uncritically repeated numerous allegations that had nothing to do with his friend's alleged sexual assault. As one could imagine, the video was received with an overwhelming amount of backlash by his own community:
Original like:dislikes + choice comments:
By this point, Nick's own audience was turning against him as former fans flocked to his subreddit to express feelings of disappointment toward his callous handling of valid criticism. It was also rather hypocritical considering Nick's entire career has revolved around covering TikTok drama and pointing out how people need to take accountability when they're in the wrong.
^Nick posting directly to the subreddit, only to face a ton of scrutiny and backlash from former fans
Having no other options, Nick finally conceded in a completely unrelated video about Mr. Beast. He acknowledged that he handled 'this drama' very poorly and did not want it to define his entire career. Not once did he actually state what the drama was about or how he had wronged specifically Matt and Ryan, as he clearly just wanted to be done with it and move on so that his (former) audience would stop shitting on him for being such a slimy piece of shit.
As for one piece of "good news" to come out of this, the video itself has been received quite poorly. Not just because he tried to quietly own up to his bullshit in a separate video, but because his own audience of woke zoomers felt like he was incredibly sexist toward some woman (Rosanna) who tried to cancel Mr. Beast for not winning one of his games.
As for the rest of those involved:
- Lex is supposedly planning on responding to Matt and Ryan's response (and maybe others like Tom), though it's unclear if she truly plans on reigniting this drama. If not a video, she might release it in a word doc or some other writeup.
- Morgpie afaik has either moved on or downplayed her involvement.
- Ethan, who was known for weekly YouTube uploads, hasn't uploaded in over a month. He's likely working with Lex on what their next course of action is, assuming those two aren't going at each other behind the scenes.
- Leighton has tried to own up to his mishandling of the drama, as he was not on medication to deal with his BPD and other mental health issues. There are some points that he did try to double down on, such as how he felt peer pressured by SuperMega at various times, though he is clearly an unreliable narrator that both Lex and especially Nick have since thrown under the bus.
- I can't find the post as he's since privated his account on Twitter, though if I find a screenshot I'll post it below.
- SuperMega's currently on an indefinite hiatus, with both Matt and Ryan uncertain of when, or rather if they'll return to making new videos on the channel.
All of this drama stems from Don allegedly sexual assaulting Lex, who Matt and Ryan not only fired, but told other creators to avoid working with behind-the-scenes. Yet it's Matt and Ryan who faced the full brunt of this cancellation.
So, in summary:
The reason I bothered covering this incredibly convoluted drama stems from a feeling of disappointment. Not as a former fan of anyone involved, but as a third party watching this shit happen on repeat. For those of you that recall what happened to Michael Kucharski, aka Slazo, the guy had been framed by his ex-girlfriend as both an abuser and a rapist. All of his supposed friends instantly took his ex's side without question and publicly relished in Michael's downfall online, only for him to later come out with receipts that disproved the malicious allegations made against him. Once the narrative was flipped on its head, those involved either doubled-down, like ImAllexx having to be forced to apologize, or chose to distance themselves from the drama as it all eventually died down.
Tyler Wirks, aka Kwite, was one of the former friends who came out against Michael at the time. Rather coincidentally, he too would get called out by a former friend who claimed to have endured much of Tyler's abusive, rapey and transphobic behavior for quite some time. Just like with Michael, Tyler put out an in-depth video that provided numerous receipts and flipped the entire narrative on its head, only for the accuser to double-down right before vanishing from the Internet as the drama had died.
And here we are again.
Tyler Wirks, aka Kwite, was one of the former friends who came out against Michael at the time. Rather coincidentally, he too would get called out by a former friend who claimed to have endured much of Tyler's abusive, rapey and transphobic behavior for quite some time. Just like with Michael, Tyler put out an in-depth video that provided numerous receipts and flipped the entire narrative on its head, only for the accuser to double-down right before vanishing from the Internet as the drama had died.
And here we are again.
Update: The duo have since made a return, while Nick has not only had a falling out with Ethan and Lex, but has also apologized for his involvement in the cancellation attempt. Lex and Ethan have hinted at the possibility of putting out another video with more receipts, yet as a few months have since passed from this last update, it's likely that they've decided to move on from it.
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