Skibidi Toilet Finally Returns After 9 Months, But Fans Aren't Happy
Skibidi Toilet Finally Returns After 9 Months, But Without Original Creator
Custom image created by James Lucas with assets from the official Skibidi Toilet channel.Skibidi Toilet isn't just a thing that kids scream on the bus to their very obviously annoyed parents while you're nursing a hangover and trying to get to work. It's a YouTube series with a wiki worth of lore and dozens of episodes. The relevancy has dwindled somewhat, but that's because the series has been on hiatus. However, unlike traditional TV, it isn't just a pause in scheduling — there's a whole scandal behind it. So, while it's finally returning after nine months for Episode 80, fans aren't exactly stoked.
In 2024, former Paramount Pictures chairman Adam Goodman and Transformers director Michael Bay made a partnership through their company Invisible Narratives with series creator Alexey 'DaFuq!?Boom!' Gerasimovto transform Skibidi Toilet from brainrot YouTube videos into a fully-fledged franchise, spanning movies and TV series.
Soon after, there were DMCA takedowns for Garry's Mod add-ons, as Invisible Narratives attempted to claim ownership of what were in actuality Half-Life 2 assets. The company then rebranded the DaFuq!?Boom! channel simply to Skibidi, while also transitioning away from Source Filmmaker into Unreal Engine 5. During this, alleged leaked Discord messages surfaced that showed Gerasimovexpressing frustration over the direction of the series and how he had been squeezed out.
Episode 80 Is The First Skibidi Toilet Episode Without DaFuq!?Boom!
Petitions such as #LetBoomSpeak were started, protesting Invisible Narratives' handling of the IP, while fans called for boycotts against officially licensed merch to push for Gerasimov's reinstatement and oversight. While he is still cited as an executive producer, and has claimed to be involved, Rolling Stone reported on August 7 that Gerasimovand Invisible Narratives are "not currently collaborating on new Skibidi Toilet content." So, as Dexerto noted, Episode 80 marks the first Skibidi Toilet episode to be released without Gerasimov.
This has reignited the #LetBoomSpeak boycotts and petitions, with the YouTube comments inundated by angry fans saying that "a series will never be alive without the author," and that it isn't Skibidi without DaFuq!?Boom! It's an unfortunately common story across YouTube's history, with creators like Smosh, CollegeHumor, and Ray William Johnson finding themselves trapped under media conglomerates. Not to mention the horror stories of the thousands of up-and-coming creators who made deals with Machinima in the early days of YouTube gaming.
It remains to be seen whether Skibidi Toilet will hold the same cultural relevancy among Gen Alpha when it returns on August 14, or if the nine-month hiatus and Invisible Narratives shadow hanging overhead will dent its momentum.