How the birth announcement of YouTube star Shane Dawson turned into a trending controversy

One of YouTube’s biggest stars became a major internet trend this week when his first children — twin baby boys — were born via surrogate. 

Earlier this week, Shane Dawson and his husband, Ryland Adams, announced on Instagram the birth of their sons, saying in a post that their birthday, Dec. 7, was the “best day of our entire lives and nothing else will ever compare.”

But instead of receiving public celebration, Dawson, who has 19.1 million subscribers on YouTube, and Adams faced a backlash — a phenomenon that other influencers have faced as a consequence of being so enmeshed in the web.

Dawson has had his old content, including racist skits and controversial podcasts, resurfaced and used against him for years.

Dawson is considered an original YouTuber, one of the platform’s first and biggest homegrown stars. Since 2020, however, his reputation has soured, following a series of issues ranging from his old content to how he interacted with children online. Throughout his career, Dawson has made offensive jokes about child sex abuse and pedophilia that have come back to haunt him. 

On top of those discussions resurfacing, Dawson and Adams’ birth announcement quickly became fodder for anti-gay pundits and anti-surrogacy advocates, all fomented by right-wing influencers who have a history of mocking LGBTQ people.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.