David Dobrik has publicly apologised to Jeff Wittek for the excavator accident that nearly left him blind.
In a new episode of VIEWS, David and his co-hosts Jason Nash and Natalie Mariduena discuss the details of a stunt video they attempted to film back in 2020 for David’s channel. The trio explain there was a lot of pressure to make the video extravagant, as it was meant to be David’s comeback video after taking a hiatus from vlogging amid the pandemic lockdown.
Before diving into the circumstances of the accident and its aftermath, David says he’s always been apprehensive about sharing his feelings on social media as he prefers to create content that can act as an escape for people. He opens up about his recent struggles with mental health, calling the past two years the worst of his life largely due to Jeff’s accident.
What happened to Jeff Wittek during the excavator stunt?
ICYMI, Jeff was seriously injured back in 2020 during a prank he was filming for David‘s channel in which several members of the Vlog Squad spun around on a rope attached to an excavator. David was driving the excavator.
“I tore some ligaments in my leg, I broke my foot, I broke my hip, I shattered my skull in 9 places, I shattered my eye socket, I almost lost my eye, and I almost died,” Jeff later said of his accident.
While Jeff and David initially appeared to be on good terms, Jeff has been publicly speaking out against his former friend in recent weeks. During a February 2022 live stream, Jeff revealed that David hadn’t messaged him to check in after his traumatic injury. “I’m done being fake friends with that motherf**ker,” he said.
He then proceeded to pull out of a collab video roasting Bryce Hall due to David’s involvement.
“I’m no longer a part of the roast of Bryce hall,” he tweeted. “My entire set will be cut due to censorship, and David Dobrik being involved. I refuse to be a part of anything that scumbag is involved in from here on out.”
He also went on to call David a “coward” who “can’t take jokes”.
Why did Jeff Wittek turn on David Dobrik?
Jeff and David seemed to be on good terms since the accident, so fans have understandably been confused about what caused this shift.
During the podcast, David says that he recently revealed during an interview that the excavator stunt was actually Jeff’s idea. After his accident, Jeff apparently asked David to keep that piece of information private— a request he honoured until Jeff began blaming everything on David. David and Jason both believe that interview is what set Jeff off.
David Dobrik addresses claims he was a bad friend to Jeff Wittek after the accident
David then addresses most of Jeff’s recent claims about his behaviour after the accident— namely, that he didn’t check in on Jeff nor did he offer to pay any of his medical bills.
David admits he is not a great communicator and didn’t know how to treat Jeff after the accident, given he was the one who was driving the excavator. He says he figured Jeff wanted space and seems to take accountability for failing to be a supportive friend throughout this time.
The three co-hosts all deny Jeff’s claim that David refused to pay his medical bills— saying that any bill Jeff has sent through to David’s team has been paid. David acknowledges that he should reach out to Jeff more often about his upcoming surgeries, but that his offer always stands.
David finishes by apologising to Jeff. “At the end of the day, like, this has been such a shitty situation from the moment it happened to the last couple months, and um, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about this. I’m so sorry that this happened to you, Jeff. I’m so sorry,” he says.
“I wish we were both better communicators, um, because I know it eats you up, and I know it eats me up and I know for a fact we don’t communicate that to each other properly.”
Jeff has since responded to David’s apology, threatening to take legal action against him for allegedly making “statements here that are very untrue”.