In their past eight years as YouTube personalities, the Try Guys have amassed eight million followers on their YouTube channel, went on World Tour, released a New York Times Bestselling book, written and directed their own documentary, and created a Webby Award-winning podcast. The four Try Guys– Keith Habersburger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang– had the world as their oyster. Their chosen creative content with a steady base allowed them to move on to bigger projects; such as Lee Yang’s documentary with Beto O’Rourke, or Habersburger’s Broadway debut in Beetlejuice the Musical. Everything was normal, and then with one accusation, everything changed.

On Sept. 27, after a day or two of videos and accusations on social media, the Try Guys officially announced that Ned Fulmer would no longer be working with the group. In the days following they created a video and podcast episode taking the situation into further detail, and without officially saying names, acknowledged that the rumors of Fulmer cheating on his wife with Associate Producer Alexandria Herring were true.

For me and many other fans, this content was comforting, the closure we needed from such a sudden and jarring announcement. 

I might sound dramatic saying so, but I was more hurt by Ned being fired from the Try Guys than the Queen of England dying. I had been a fan of the Try Guys and their other forms of media for years. It might sound dumb to say I hold a group of middle-aged men I’ve never met in real life on such a high pedestal, but it’s something I’d fallen victim to. To build such a strong belief in this man and his character, to believe with all my heart that he’d never cheat on his wife, and to then face the reality that I didn’t know this man at all? Like I said, I sound dramatic, but it was a genuine topic of interest of mine for the past month.

In my opinion, Ned was rightfully fired on account of the affair. First, he built a persona on the internet of a loving husband and father, making this accusation hurt many fans – myself included. To live in such an ingrained lie that even his close friends (and in this case business partners as well) would believe him to be a loyal family man, for his true character to be revealed as the opposite to what his friends and fans had always known, and to be caught – rather than confessing makes his true character seem psychotic. The other Try Guys –Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, and Keith Habersburger– made an incredibly difficult decision to end a friendship and partnership of almost a decade, and they were right to make it.

Secondly, although Fulmer’s affair was perceived from his social media apology as “a consensual workplace environment”, it was an affair between an employee and the boss and founder of the company. There’s a definite power difference between Ned and Alexandria that doesn’t seem right. And to include Alexandria in many videos about her fiance and her wedding,such as an episode where women in the office try on wedding dresses or pick their bridal parties, makes the dynamic messier. 

However, to those who didn’t know what the Try Guys were until they saw “Ned Fulmer Cheating Video” on Twitter or TikTok, the Guys seemed to be milking their 15 Minutes of Fame brought on by themselves. This was clearly shown in the Saturday Night Live skit, in which actors playing the Guys are breaking news for announcing the scandal. The video took the entire situation out of context and gave backlash to the victims of the situation, the Guys. 

Overall, I think the situation has been taken out of context, hurt those who have been hurt in the events, and hurt the lives of the Guys and their employees for a significant amount of time, if not forever.