Popular YouTube channel iilluminaughtii is facing a host of accusations from her former collaborators.
Blair Zon— the creator behind iilluminaughtii who posts anti-MLM content and scam-related deep dives to her 1.5 million subscribers— has been embroiled in controversy this month after she accused another YouTube channel of plagiarism.
The flimsy accusations sparked a wave of online backlash that has since resulted in disputes between Blair and several of her former friends and collaborators.
iilluminaughtii accuses LegalEagle of plagiarism
The weeks-long saga kicked off on April 20th when Blair posted a series of tweets (since deleted) accusing YouTuber and lawyer LegalEagle of copying her editor’s style.
According to Sportskeeda, she also posted an email from LegalEagle’s editing team asking for information on her editing style.
“not @LegalEagle editors broaching my editors to take my video’s style and when they didn’t give up the info they literally copied it (and btw i have the messages from my editors and found an email from them too) just changed the color from purple to blue, huh? interesting,” she tweeted.
LegalEagle responded to Blair’s claims in a quote tweet, calling it a “big misunderstanding” and insisting that “no one on my team is trying to copy you” as the editing “styles” mentioned by Blair are very common.
In relation to the email to Blair’s editor, he clarified that his editor “was just hoping to find out what plugin your team used on a particular video (a very common practice among editors). He was not looking to copy anyone’s style.”
“YouTube is great because it’s collaborative and the rising tide raises all ships. My team and I always try to provide original, high-quality, informative content,” LegalEagle tweeted. “I didn’t know that Danny reached out to you, but I don’t fault him for doing so. If anything, I think everyone on the platform should be more open and sharing.”
iilluminaughtii is accused of plagiarism herself
These accusations against LegalEagle’s editor put Blair in the line of fire and she was soon accused of plagiarism herself— with YouTuber and Twitch streamer Hbomberguy claiming she ripped off parts of her script from her Debunking Anti-Vax series directly from a documentary by Brian Deer.
Sad Milk creators collectively call out iilluminaughtii for poor behaviour
The storm of backlash around Blair prompted some former collaborators to speak out against the creator.
On April 23rd, Mark Deck of The Click YouTube channel posted a Twitter thread accusing Blair of similar behaviour while they were part of a collaborative channel, Sad Milk.
Sad Milk was a channel formed by a group of creators who reacted to Reddit posts and memes. Members included iilluminaughtii, Oz Media, The Click, Wonderstruck Guy, Damien Lee, Salty, Flinders, and One Topic at a Time.
“Lashing out at friends and fans, paranoia and generally poor anger management. To name a few. Eventually I believe pretty much the whole group left her,” he said of Blair’s behaviour during their time working together on Sad Milk. “I left along with several other members, half the group at the time. She spent the next few months spreading lies and half truths about us on the Sad Milk reddit page, and vague post on twitter.”
One day later, Wonderstruck Guy gave his perspective on what it was like working with and living with Blair (they lived together for 30 days, according to his thread).
He appeared to imply that Blair was abusive toward him mentally and emotionally. He also claimed that she withheld payment from him.
Oz Media, who also lived with Blair for a period of time, backed up these claims in their own Twitter thread, saying the threads by “wonder and Click, and what they have stated about Sad Milk is the truth.”
Oz called Blair “an aggressor” with a “habit of starting fights.”
On April 25th, James Mason of the YouTube channel One Topic at a Time also added to the discourse via Twitter.
One Topic explained how the Sad Milk channel came together and that it ultimately unraveled as the stress of working together on multiple different time zones took its toll. He said that three members of the channel opted to leave once they realised the channel was “too far gone.”
“we didn’t learn about the rumours, and stories, that were told about us until a short time later. hurt. who we thought of as friends were maliciously spreading falsehoods about us to justify how a project we walked away from was better off without us,” he wrote, presumably about Blair’s behaviour following their exit.
Amid the backlash, Blair apologised to LegalEagle on Twitter for making “inaccurate” claims that the LegalEagle editor plagiarised aspects of her editing style.
“I jumped the gun, thought hastily, and should have messaged you privately to has things out. I am sorry,” she wrote.
She did not address the allegations from her former colleagues on Twitter (yet).
iilluminaughtii uploads a video “exposing” herself
On April 29th, Blair uploaded a video addressing all of the accusations and drama up until that point.
She further explained the LegalEagle situation from her perspective before addressing Hbomberguy’s tweet about her alleged plagiarism in her Debunking Anti-Vax series.
In response, Blair claimed that the lines pulled by Hbomberguy were used in her video as direct quotes with the source cited. She also noted that her series was published three years ago, and she has since learned to be more “overt” with her direct citations.
Blair then addressed the allegations from her former Sad Milk collaborators. As a blanket response, Blair claimed that she exhibited poor behaviour during that time as she was overworked and was required to step up to keep the channel going because others weren’t pulling their weight.
She apologised to all members for causing them “stress throughout this project.”
Blair then went on to respond to the accusations made by One Topic, The Click, Wonderstruck, and Oz Media individually.
She first apologised to One Topic for raising her voice at him during a group call to discuss the channel and its issues. She admitted to snapping “Can you shut up and let me talk for once?” at him out of frustration that he had spoken over her.
In response to The Click, Blair claimed he frequently used derogatory language and slurs that made her and Oz Media uncomfortable. She then accused him of fostering an environment among his fanbase “that was a breeding ground for inappropriate behaviour” and allowing posts about pedophilia to exist on his Discord server.
She gave Wonder the most time in her response video, calling his claims about how she contributed to his poor mental health and financial instability “baseless.”
On claims that she withheld pay from him, Blair noted that Sad Milk’s pay schedule was bi-weekly, which explained the delay. She also said he failed to adhere to company protocol and did not deliver on his job responsibilities.
She finished by thanking Oz for being with her through some of her hardest times and said she will miss their friendship.
The Click responds to iilluminaughtii’s video
Four days after Blair’s video went live, Click uploaded a response video addressing her accusations that he had allowed for pedophilic messages to exist on his Discord server without taking action.
He claimed he was asleep when the user entered his Discord chat and made those remarks. He provided screenshots to prove that the individual had been banned by moderators shortly after making those comments.
Click rejected Blair’s claims that he used derogatory language or slurs in casual conversation and went on to accuse her of starting a smear campaign against him using fake social media accounts after he chose to leave Sad Milk.
Wonder addresses iilluminaughtii’s claims in response video
In a video featuring Oz Media, Wonderstruck Guy sat down to tell his side of the story as well.
He said Blair weaponised his mental health against him in her video to make her point, despite not being her “story to tell.”
Wonder then showed support for The Click by suggesting that Blair did not have evidence that his Discord server was a breeding ground for inappropriate behaviour. Wonder also insisted that Click did not use derogatory language or slurs and provided an example of a time when Blair herself had used the r-word in a Discord post.
He showed alleged proof that his payments were delayed by months before bringing Oz into the video to corroborate his claims. Together, the two explained that Wonder was given essentially no work to do on the channel despite Blair’s claims that he failed to deliver on his work. He then said that Blair fired him before the deadline for his first video over numerous contract violations. He claims he was not given any further explanation as to how he violated his contract.
Wonder said he was threatened with legal action by one of Blair’s managers if he were to speak out about the dissolution of their working relationship.
According to several users on Reddit, Blair has dealt with the backlash from this drama by blocking accounts and removing individuals from her Discord that comment about it.
iilluminaughtii addresses The Click & Wonder’s videos
In a final attempt to rectify her reputation, Blair took to Twitter on May 27th to address the videos made by Click and Wonder.
She called their allegations “false” and said her and her team have been working behind the scenes to “gather all relevant facts” before taking action.
“Thank you to those who are standing by me during this challenging time. I will not allow these false allegations to be weaponized as a way to silence my voice,” she finished. “I am confident that the truth will prevail.”
On May 28th, Wonder tweeted that Blair had sent him a cease and desist.
Since Blair first made the accusation against LegalEagle on April 20th, her channel has lost over 170,000 subscribers, her views have plummeted, and she’s reportedly been dropped by her biggest sponsor, Hello Fresh.