James Somerton: What has the queer YouTuber been accused of by Hbomberguy?
The YouTube star has been accused of plagiarism, misogyny, misgendering, and more. (YouTube/James Somerton)
Queer-content creator James Somerton has become the focus of a controversy raging across the internet, but what has he been accused of by fellow LGBTQ+ creator Hbomberguy?
Gay YouTube star Somerton, known for creating long-form content on “uncomfortable things like social unrest, queer theory and anime” seemingly disappeared from social media after it was alleged that a number of his videos used stolen content.
Accusations against Somerton came to light after British political YouTuber Harris Brewis, better known as Hbomberguy, claimed he had plagiarised content from queer writers and content creators for several years.
In a video lasting close to four hours, published on Sunday (3 December), Hbomberguy claimed that at least 26 videos from Somerton’s YouTube library, including private or deleted content, used other queer creators’ work in some capacity.
One video, Hbomberguy claimed, lifted almost 10,000 words from at least 18 different sources.
“I wish I could show you everything he copied, we would be here for ever,” Hbomberguy said. “This is just one video and he makes so many of these.”
Hbomberguy also accused Somerton of misogyny, including during a segment in The Troubling Thirst for Jeffrey Dahmer, in which, while allegedly stealing from another article, the latter said women and “mostly teenage girls” are “swooning” over the notorious serial killer because he only killed gay men.
“And why not?” Somerton says in the video. “To our knowledge, Dahmer never killed any teenage girls or any women at all so there’s a level of disconnection.”
Women “see gay men as nothing more than a fancy accessory” and teenage girls “lust for the perfect gay best friend,” Somerton continues. “A boy whose sex life is secret so you never have to hear about it, but he’s always there to tell you if your boyfriend’s being a jerk.”
In another video, Reclaiming the Q Word, Somerton falsely claims that a case involving lesbian poet Radclyffe Hall was thrown out of court because of her sexuality.
In reality, Hall was found guilty of obscenity, and all copies of her book, The Well of Loneliness, were ordered to be destroyed, Hbomberguy pointed out.
A similar but later trial in America resulted in the case being dismissed, with the help of the prominent American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, Morris Ernst.
In a segment of his video, Shipping – The Good, The Bad and the Thirsty, Somerton says he believes that gay men are less able to represent themselves in media than queer women.
He then misgenders two trans creators: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power creator ND Stevenson, who is trans masculine, and non-binary, Emmy-Award-nominated Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe.
What has happened since James Somerton was accused of plagiarism by Hbomberguy?
Jmes Somerton has seemingly attempted to purge his presence on social media and the internet since the row erupted. While his YouTube channel and videos are still available, his account on X, formerly Twitter, was deleted shortly after Hbomerguy’s video went live.
In a since-deleted apology post on his Patreon crowdfunding page, Somerton wrote that he was “very sorry” and that he was “in a terrible headspace right now.”
He went on to say: “I know people want an immediate, detailed response but I’ve never found immediate responses to anything to be as fair and as honest as they could be.
“I will say more soon, though. But for now, I want to apologise. I’m heart-broken that I’ve lost your trust and just hope that someday, with a lot of work, I can get it back.”
His Patreon, which had 4,050 backers, has been deleted.
The content creator has also lost 49,000 subscribers from his YouTube channel at the time of reporting, with live counts indicating that the number of people unsubscribing is increasing rapidly.
PinkNews has approached James Somerton for comment.
