Controversial YouTuber who faked his girlfriend's death said he's 'taking a break' from the platform, but he didn't mention he was demonetized

• Controversial YouTube personality ImJayStation, real name Jason Ethier, announced he would be taking a break from YouTube with a video posted to his main channel on February 21.
• In the clip, Ethier apologized to viewers for his behavior in the pursuit of fame.
• The announcement follows a turbulent two months for the YouTuber, who received backlash online after faking his ex-girlfriend's death in January. Two weeks later, Ethier was arrested on charges of assault with a weapon.
• The break from the platform also comes in the wake of the demonetization of Ethier's channel, which occurred last week, according to YouTube.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

YouTuber Jason Ethier (known as JayStation and ImJayStation to his 6 million subscribers across three channels) is closing out a turbulent two months by "taking a break" from YouTube, according to a video titled "Goodbye..." uploaded to Ethier's main channel on February 21. The 29-year-old vlogger's announcement comes one month after his latest scandal in which he faked ex-girlfriend Alexia Marano's death — and just two weeks after being arrested on charges of assault with a weapon. 

"I've done a lot of stupid things for attention on YouTube," Ethier said in the clip. "I'm just really not proud of who I became. I really lost who I was as a person in pursuit of success."

In the 13-minute video, Ethier detailed his regrets from his YouTube career, from his paranormal vlogs faking communication with dead celebrities to his homophobic videos in which he drinks "gay potion."

"Using someone's tragedy for an opportunity is sick," he said, adding that he felt planned to seek "help" and had already deleted offensive content from his channel. 

"I need to take a break. I just need to stop all social media. I just really need to take some time to figure out who I am," Ethier concluded. 

One new development Ethier didn't mention in the video is that he is no longer making money from his main channel's 5.5 million-subscriber following. 

YouTube confirmed to Insider that Ethier's main channel, ImJayStation, was demonetized one week ago, citing the platform's policy to censure creators whose offline behavior is deemed harmful to the greater community.  

Ethier's video didn't specify how long the break would last. "Could be a week, could be a month, could be a year," he said. 

The video has been viewed over 500,000 times. 

Read more:

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