By John Kenneth Macantan, Courier Staff Reporter
On November 19th, a YouTuber with over 5.8 million subscriber dropped the mic and ended his legacy.
Casey Neistat is revered internet sensation dating all the way back to 2003, when he first released a video about standing up to Apple products and iPods for 18 months. In that video, Casey went around New York City, vandalizing Apple marketing posters and tagging them with the statement: “iPod’s unreplaceable battery only last 18 months.” Apple was a powerful company people would not have dared to go against, but only one man stood up against it: Casey Neistat.
Casey started his career as a film in HBO with his brother Van at a show called “The Neistat Brothers.” Soon after, he joined the YouTube community and continued to pursue his love for filmmaking through the its platform. Beginning with short movies, Casey gained a good number of viewers.
Casey then did multiple advertising videos with sportswear, movies, clothing, and most popularly, Nike. In his advertising campaign called “Make it Count”, Casey promoted a bracelet that would keep count of one’s daily exercises. To this day, it is one of his most viewed videos, with over 22 million views.
It was not until Casey proposed his idea of daily vlogging that he quickly began to gain popularity. Since then, his style and persona have created a standard for YouTube Vloggers. With his iconic Canon 70D and GorillaPod, he has consistently devoted himself to the best quality videos.
The YouTube community has been greatly influenced by his high-quality standard. His daily Vlogs have given millions of people vivid pictures of his daily life, from watching his baby girl grow up to seeing his son off to college. This unique process continued for over six years, accumulating over 710 films and Vlogs.
But like any great film, it would come to an end. On November 19. 2016 he dropped the camera and announced that he would end his daily vlogs and focus more on other projects. “I have to kill this before I can give birth to what’s next”, Casey said. Many of his fans felt a great loss, while others formulated conspiracies after he sold his popular app, Beme, for 25 million dollars due to his departure.
Whether or not it was through his own personal decision, Casey Neistat’s impact in the YouTube community will be something that will last.
