Jeff Wittek appears on H3H3 Frenemies podcast to clear his name from Durte Dom sexual assault case

Currently, the vlog squad empire is crumbling from within as their former member, Durte Dom (Dom Zeglaitis) is facing a rape allegation from a woman who appeared in one of the vlog squad videos. From all the people involved in the video, only one vlog squad member is publicly addressing the situation from the start and that is Jeff Wittek. Though he has made a few mistakes, appearing on the H3H3 Frenemies podcast with Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein was a step in the right direction.

Before appearing on the podcast, Jeff Wittek made a video on his channel telling his side of the story

Jeff Wittek shared his side of the story, ‘MY TRUTH’, but before doing that he shared it was not to ‘discredit the victim’:

My heart goes out to the victim and this video is not to discredit her. What Dom did to her was horrible and disgusting and it makes me sick.

Wittek also added that he didn’t know about the entirety of what happened even when he was reached out by Kat Tenbarge (the Insider reporter who reported the story) to comment on the situation.

He also further reiterated the fact that he had no involvement in the supplying of alcohol to the underage girls.

Some things that were said about me were completely false. I’m sitting here watching these videos where they’re dissecting the article and the video itself and the actions that happened that night. And I am mad at myself because of the way I look. I genuinely am upset with myself and I know that  I didn’t do what they’re saying that I did but the way it looks I can understand why people are pissed off.

He further explained how David Dobrik’s vlog videos worked, calling them a ‘sh*tter version of SNL’ where it’s half-scripted and half improvised.

Why it’s important to know who supplied the alcohol on the day of the sexual assault

The day the sexual assault happened, a group of girls answered the vlog squad’s offer of being in the video. The question was phrased in a way that implied that the girls would have to have a ‘threesome’ with Durte Dom. However, the girls weren’t completely giving their consent to a threesome but were interested in filming with the vlog squad. When they arrived, they were not in the mood to have any sexual encounter. Then alcohol was supplied to them, after that the vlog shows a clip of Dom going inside his bedroom with two girls. David Dobrik’s voiceover is telling the viewers that after some ‘master negotiation’, the plan of Dom having a threesome is a success.

One of the girls claims that it was not consensual for her. She was too drunk to make any decision, let alone give her consent. The victim says that Dom had raped her while she was under the influence. She told him this after a month via text messages and he did not take her seriously. He only informed her that the video was taken down after she asked him to. Now, a major factor in the assault case is who supplied the alcohol.

Two witnesses say they saw Jeff Wittek with the alcohol

Trisha Paytas, who was there when the alcohol was being given, says it was Jeff Wittek and Todd Smith who came back with the drinks. Meanwhile, the victim’s friend (who was sober) also remembers the same thing. However, when Wittek made the video, he had not read the full article and said:

The only one that was allegedly saying that I bought the alcohol was Trisha – Trisha wasn’t even there when the alcohol supposedly arrived

Wittek didn’t discredit the victim’s story but said that this information was false and the way the Insider article phrased the words put him in a guilty position.

Moreover, Jeff Wittek said that the only reason his name is linked and associated with Durte Dom’s rape case is that he is the one who is publicly addressing it. But he vehemently stated that he had no part in any of this.

Rather if he saw such a thing as sexual assault taking place, he would be the one to stop that from happening.

Wittek got angry at the reporter was painting him in a misleading light

He also came after the Insider reporter that broke the story, Kat Tenbarge. He showed clips of a recorded phone call conversation between the two and tried to tell the audience that the reporter misconstrued the words of his story and that her words painted him in a false light. Wittek also put up her Twitter profile which later led to many people sending hate messages to the reporter.

Jeff Wittek also added the fact that the Insider article is behind a paywall so he thinks the reporter’s intentions are for profit and not for justice. Further, he maintained that the Durte Dom sexual assault case should be properly investigated since it is a crime.

Later, Jeff Wittek appeared on the H3H3 Frenemies podcast with Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein and owned up to his mistakes

The first mistake was that he didn’t read the article and then immediately came after the reporter for misleading the readers with her words about his story. Furthermore, his mistake was that he was discrediting the story of the victim’s friend. The victim’s friend, Sarah, did see him coming back into the apartment with alcohol. Jeff Wittek owned up to both these mistakes and apologized for them. Though, he still reiterated the fact that he wasn’t the one who bought the alcohol and he didn’t know who it was.

He also understood why he was wrong to attack the reporter who broke the news

This situation with the reporter. I understand that she doesn’t run Insider. I apologize for putting her  – I threw that video together pretty quick. And I just felt I was being accused. My mom was texting me and stuff, she was worried my name was linked with this stuff. It was impulsive to put out a video like that so quick. So, there were things that weren’t perfect in it – I apologize for putting her name, her twitter up because I wanted to send  people to attack her. That came off wrong. I apologize for that.

https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/1374111629202223104

 

Moreover, he added that still he would have appreciated if the reporter had worded things  a bit better.

Ethan Klein then tried to explain to him where he went wrong with his YouTube video:

What you’re doing when you question the motives of the author is that you’re basically saying that there is no article about this that will be acceptable to me.

Wittek listened and understood the situation and agreed with Ethan. But he also countered by saying that the article was behind a paywall which makes it hard to believe that the intention of the article was purely for justice.

Ethan Klein added to that saying that David’s lawyers were ‘threatening them’ non-stop. Jeff Wittek wasn’t aware of this, to this Ethan Klein said it was all in the article and that he should have read it before speaking on it. To that, Wittek agreed and then they moved onto other subjects.

Jeff Wittek also directly apologized to Trisha Paytas too. Before this, he had privately reached out to apologize as well. Wittek shared that another reason why he discredited Paytas was because of his personal loyalty to Jason Nash, her ex-boyfriend.

Frenemies podcast hosts praise Wittek for taking accountability

Later on Trisha Paytas also praised Jeff Wittek for owning up to his mistakes and take accountability. Ethan Klein also applauded Wittek’s efforts:

Listen, I hear you. I’m sorry for all the things you’re going through and everything. I hope that you can push forward and everything’s going to be okay with you. I think that you don’t deserve to be canceled. And I hope that you can keep doing your show. And I know your fans are going to keep supporting you. You know with time you can get through this and get strong and this doesn’t destroy your career. I don’t think it will.

Jeff Wittek admitted to his mistake of not reading the full article and jumping to the conclusions and only caring about himself in the article. Moreover, he said that he plans to do better in the future.