Onision (person)
 | |
| Username(s) | Onision, Vighkel, Mr. Odd, OniSan, Unision, among others |
|---|---|
| Relationship | Self |
| Involvement | N/A |
| Birthday | 11 November 1985 (37 years old) |
| Channel(s) | See below for full list. |
| Years Active | 2003 to present |
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Onision, (born 11 November 1985) also known as Gregory James Daniel, Gregory James Jackson, Gregory James Avaroe, or James Jackson, is an American YouTuber who is most well known for his 2009 video "Banana Song (I'm a Banana)" and his almost constant involvement in controversy. Presently, he is involved in allegations of grooming and several types of abuse. He and his life are the core focus of this wiki.
Early Life
- See also: Onision: Childhood
Onision was born on 11 November 1985 to his parents Tami and Randy and two older sisters in Auburn, Washington while the couple lived with Tami's parents.[1]
Online Presence
Ever since James was a young teenager, he has shown an interest in acting and making movies. His father and stepmother offered to send him to film school during the time he lived in their home, but he seemingly refused.[1]
After James returned to live with his mother full-time at age 15, he gained access to a computer and began making a number of websites, blogs, and forums starting around 2002. It is only in 2006 that James would create his original Onision YouTube channel. In 2006, James would start posting videos to his channel, and fully dedicated himself to his online career after briefly contemplating suicide in November of 2007. James was among the first and most prolific channels on the platform and it was this early start that gained him a lot of recognition.
Military Career
- See also: Onision: Air Force
James joined the Air Force at age 19, and was a member from 2005 to 2008. It seems that he initially enjoyed his time in the military, but after refusing to kill a rabbit for S.E.R.E. school, he began to feel unhappy. After this event, he attempted to be removed from the military through numerous antics. He was finally released with a general discharge in October 2008.
YouTube Career
James' audience exploded in 2010 after he submitted his video "I'm a Banana" to and was featured on tosh.O. From there, he began making strings of new channels, talking to and berating his fanbase, and posting even more content until taking a severe hit to his popularity the following year due to his heavily publicized relationship problems.
Since the 2019 allegations of grooming and sexual exploitation emerged, Onision has seemingly faded into obscurity. He no longer posts daily to any of his channels, and often will post content disputing the allegations against him. At present, most of James' activity has been relegated to a Wix website that he operates a blog and forum on.
Event and Platform Bans
- See Also: Onision: Calls for Removal
James was banned from VidCon 2012, in connection to his behavior surrounding his ex-girlfriend Adrienne and then-girlfriend Shiloh. It was originally a misunderstanding between the event planners and event host, John Green. However, James eventually swore that he would never attend Vidcon after his initial ban.
During the 2019 allegations of grooming, James was removed from Patreon for releasing the phone number of his ex-girlfriend Billie, thereby violating their terms of service. James would soon be removed from others, including Instagram. After the release of the first episode of Onision: In Real Life in 2020, James was officially removed as a partner from YouTube--meaning he could no longer generate income from ad revenue on the platform. James has continued to upload videos on other accounts on the platform, but their partnership status is unclear.
Controversies
- See also: List of Controversies
Relationships
- See also Timeline of Relationships (Onision)
Since 2010, James has almost always seemed to have very public relationship issues. These issues first started with his divorce from his first wife Skye, in favor of a fan who was almost 10 years his junior, Shiloh. This pattern of dating younger girls and women who were picked from his fanbase has continued until at least 2019. Many of the women and girls James has been involved with have alleged that he was abusive towards him, with many of their stories describing similar behavior that has spanned at least a decade.
This behavior appears to also have been enabled and even mirrored by James' current partner, Kai during the later portion of their relationship.
Videos of Underage Fans
In October of 2016, Onision began publishing videos criticizing or rating photos his fans had submitted of their bodies. Many of these fans were confirmed to be underage and wearing very little clothing in the videos. These videos caused a substantial outcry against James and caused a further dip in his popularity.
Allegations of Abuse and Grooming
In 2019, several of James and Kai's previous partners came forward to discuss the abuse they had allegedly faced at the hands of the pair. Their stories inspired gratuitous public outcry and eventually caused Chris Hansen to start his own investigation into the case. This all culminated in the release of the documentary series, Onision: In Real Life from Discovery+, in which a number of James' former victims speak on their experiences with him and plead to have him removed from any platforms that he could use to find more victims.
Channel List
Currently, Onision has twelve YouTube channels are confirmed to be owned and run by him. His current partner, Kai has two channels that James has access to. There are also two channels that feature Onision's content, but the owner is unclear or implied to be Onision.
Confirmed Channels
- Onision, created 29 January 2006
- Archive, created 3 December 2008 (originally OnisionArchive)
- Speaks, created 11 August 2009 (originally OnisionSpeaks)
- OnisionLive, created 21 February 2010
- Encore, created 14 April 2011 (originally OnisionEncore)
- crovati, created 2 May 2012
- UhOhBro, created 27 May 2012
- OnisionReacts, created 9 May 2017
- Onision Games, created 17 May 2017
- New Channel, created 15 August 2018
- Character Vlogs, created 31 August 2018
- James Jackson, created 4 August 2019
Affiliated Channels
- CoolGuyKai, created 19 February 2015 (originally LaineyBot)
- LaineyBot, created 1 September 2017 (originally BeautyBot)
Unconfirmed Channels
- OnisionSongs, created 11 May 2011
- OnisionsMusic, created 14 May 2011
Bibliography
Discography
See Also
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Asarch, Steven (30 March 2020). "YouTuber Onision's Dad Wants to 'Set the Record Straight'". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2022.