ImJayStation

Ethier received negative responses within the YouTube community over his attempts to contact dead celebrities, such as XXXTentacion and Mac Miller, through paranormal activities (notably Ouija boards and "spirit boxes") late at night (known as "3 a.m. challenges").[5] On June 26, 2019, following the death of YouTuber Etika, Ethier uploaded a video using a similar clickbait title as his previous videos. In this video, he apologized for the content of his past Ouija board and celebrity death clickbait videos.[6]

At around 6:30 p.m. on March 24, 2018, Ethier was arrested at Florida's Walt Disney World on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest. He claimed that he and a fellow YouTuber were in Florida filming haunted vlogs for future content.[7]

Security had been called on Ethier after he became agitated at the fact that his bag had been accidentally taken by another guest at the park. According to staff, Ethier became agitated and refused to check the lost and found or guest claims to ascertain where his items were, instead opting to berate the managers. He was asked to leave the baggage check while filming his experience, which is against WDW rules to protect the privacy of other guests, and was subsequently jailed on a $1,200 bond.[8][9][10]

On Twitter and YouTube, Ethier called for his followers to boycott Disney World, threatened legal action against Disney, claiming the camera stolen by Disney security guards and the Orlando Police Department, the latter of which has no jurisdiction over Disney property.[8]

On January 21, 2020, Ethier announced to his audience that his girlfriend at the time, fellow YouTuber Alexia Marano, had been killed by a drunk driver in Toronto, Canada. Subsequent videos—originally presented as genuine by Ethier—show him visiting a makeshift memorial and attempting to contact her from the grave via a ouija board. Due to the nature of the claims made by Ethier in other videos in the past (such as claiming to have bought children and slaves off of the dark web, summoned dead animals, and become decapitated using a voodoo doll), some viewers and fellow YouTubers were suspicious of the claims.[11]

After Mutahar Anas, the host of the SomeOrdinaryGamers channel on YouTube, had contacted the Toronto and Ottawa Police Services to confirm that Marano was still alive at the time,[12] Ethier admitted that the news of her death was a hoax that was intended to increase his subscriber and viewer counts, and that he had planned to "resurrect" her in a later video. Marano ended her relationship with Ethier after the controversy and has since deleted her YouTube channel.[13]

In a video posted on January 26, 2020, Ethier made the claim that Marano had been in on the scam from the beginning. He also claimed that she had left him and took her belongings with her, and that police arrived at his home to notify him that she had accused him of assault, as well as assault with a weapon.[14][15] Toronto Police confirmed that a warrant for Ethier's arrest was issued on February 3, that he had been arrested and charged, and that he would appear in court on March 16 in Toronto's Old City Hall on charges of assault and assault with a weapon. It is unclear if the charges relate to the hoax.[16]