With over 5.71 million YouTube subscribers, Gabbie Hanna has built a name for herself as a content creator. For those who don’t know who Hanna is, her channel features her music, her storytime videos as well as her other vlog-style content. However, what Hanna is most notorious for on the internet is all of the drama that she has been involved in. After years of scandals and petty fights, Hanna has taken things to a new level by unfairly targeting smaller creators.
The two creators that Hanna has marked over the last few weeks are Rachel Oates and Angelica Oles. Oates has 221,000 subscribers on YouTube and Oles has 561,000. While both of these creators have clearly reached some level of success on the platform, their subscriber counts still pale in comparison to Hanna’s 5.71 million. Not only is it irresponsible and petty for Hanna to be sending hate their way, but the cruelty that she is sending isn’t deserved by the creators in the slightest.
Rachel Oates
The main victim of Hanna’s wrath over the last few weeks has been Oates. In 2019, Oates posted a video on her channel titled “Gabbie Hanna’s Poetry is BAD [part 1].” The video was followed up by a part two a week later, and Oates has also posted video reviews of Hanna’s second poetry collection, “Dandelion.” The video was titled, “Gabbie Hanna Sent Me Her New Poetry Book” because yes, Hanna actually sent Oates a free copy for an honest review.
In the first video about Hanna, Oates reviews her first published poetry collection, “Adultolescence.” Oates was respectful and well-spoken when she voiced which parts of Hanna’s poetry she believed simply did not work well. She explains in the video that she has a passion for reading poetry, and provides Hanna and her viewers with tips on how the poems could have been improved. The video was a critical analysis of “Adultolescence,” which was backed up by intelligent close readings of the poems.
The video titled “Gabbie Hanna’s Poetry is BAD [part 1]” helped Oates’ channel blow up on YouTube’s algorithm. It currently has over 1.2 million views and a lot of people were able to find Oates’ content after watching the video. The video was similar to the other posts Oates makes, as she has reviewed countless other books and poetry collections on her channel. She has made videos on poems by Trisha Paytas, Lili Reinhart, Bo Burnham and even Rupi Kaur.
Noting the other videos Oates has put out is important because it is clear that Oates is not using her platform to solely criticize Hanna’s work. However, Hanna seems to believe that the only videos Oates makes are about her.
In April 2020, Hanna posted videos on her Instagram story where she claimed that Oates only talked about her poetry for views: “When she talks about me, she gets hundreds of thousands to millions of views, and then she posts a little makeup ‘get ready with me’ and gets four thousand. That’s why she cares about my art.”
Hanna continued the rant by saying, “She’s not a f—ing artist, I don’t care about her f—ing opinions because she has no accomplishments in art or has proven to me that she is actually intelligent enough to understand art. I accept my criticism from talented, smart people, not abusive, toxic, exploitative bullies on YouTube.”
After Hanna went on her Instagram story to slander the smaller creator, many of Hanna’s fans flocked to Oates’ Instagram and reported the account. So many people reported Oates’ page that it got taken down, even though Oates didn’t do anything to violate the community guidelines. Luckily, Oates was able to get her account back, but the entire situation raises a lot of concerns.
Hanna has been irresponsibly using her large social media platform to send undeserved hate to smaller creators. All Oates did was critique a published poetry collection, which she has done plenty of times before for collections authored by other people. Hanna took the review to heart and lashed out because someone was vocal about not enjoying her art.
That is unacceptable behavior. Imagine a famous author went on a tirade on social media because someone gave an honest evaluation of their novel. When you publish your work, you open yourself up to criticism. People don’t have to write their own poetry to know what they do or do not like.
Hanna trying to claim that Oates isn’t a reliable reviewer because she “has no accomplishments in art” is absurd and shows that Hanna doesn’t understand the purpose book reviews are meant to serve. They generally aren’t intended for the author to read; they’re used to help other readers decide whether or not a book or poetry collection is worth their time and money. With an honest review, Oates was able to save many people from wasting their time and money on “Adultolescence.”
Angelica Oles
YouTube commentator Angelica Oles stood up for Oates on Twitter once she heard about the situation, and she also faced Hanna’s wrath. Once again, Hanna posted multiple videos on her Instagram story slandering Oles just like she defamed Oates. Additionally, the situation continued to repeat itself when Hanna’s fans flocked to send Oles hate on her social media platforms just as they attacked Oates.
Final Impressions
It’s impulsive and reckless for a larger creator to use their platform in this aggressive manner. Oates provided an honest review of “Adultolescence” and “Dandelion,” and Oles gave a genuine commentary on the situation between Oates and Hanna. Though Hanna accused both of the smaller creators of being bullies, in reality, if Hanna just looked in the mirror, she would realize that she is the one abusing smaller YouTubers and sending hate their way.
This isn’t the first scandal Hanna has been involved in, and it won’t be the last. However, it is one of the first times that Hanna has targeted smaller YouTubers instead of creators with a similar subscriber count to her own. Hopefully, Oates and Oles are able to use the publicity and attention Hanna is sending their way to build their platforms even more and continue creating candid and conscientious content.
