Jacksepticeye

Seán William McLoughlin was born on 7 February 1990 in Cloghan, County Offaly.[4][5] He was given the nickname "Jack Septic Eye" after an accident during a football match in which he injured his eye.[6] As a teenager, he moved with his parents to a log cabin in Ballycumber, County Offaly.[7] He became the drummer for a melodic death metal-influenced metalcore band called Raised to the Ground, with whom he released one EP titled Risen from the Ashes in 2009.[8][9] He then moved to an apartment in Athlone, County Westmeath.[10]

McLoughlin in September 2018

McLoughlin joined YouTube on 24 February 2007 but did not start uploading videos until November 2012, when he started to work on his channel under the name "jacksepticeye", posting gameplay videos. In 2013, he was mentioned in a PewDiePie video, causing him to go from 2,500 subscribers to 15,000 in four days.[11] During July 2014, his channel gained over 57 million views. At the time, his channel had only 800,000 subscribers.[12] By February 2015, the channel had reached one billion views and 3.2 million subscribers.[13] In January 2016, he was one of the initial YouTubers signed under PewDiePie's network, Revelmode.[14][15]

Throughout 2016, McLoughlin continued to upload 2 videos a day while also making frequent collaborations with other YouTubers, a common series of videos was where he would play Prop Hunt with fellow YouTubers such as Markiplier, LordMinion777, and Muyskerm.[16] This was also the first year he competed in the "annual" bottle flip challenge against PewDiePie, in this competition they would flip a bottle and whoever's doesn't land, they'll have to look a Reddit 50/50, after the first episode made in December 2016, the tradition was put on hold until they made another in May 2019 and then once again in May 2020.[17][18][19]

McLoughlin co-starred as the antagonist of the second season of the YouTube Red show Scare PewDiePie. However, the season was cancelled before its release due to controversy surrounding PewDiePie.[20][21] The series was planned to premiere on 9 March 2017.[21]

On 18 February 2017, McLoughlin released a video called "Let's Talk!" to his YouTube channel which discussed PewDiePie being cut from Maker Studios for his use of anti-Semitic imagery. In it, he clarified that while he had tweeted in support of PewDiePie he did not condone his actions and believed he could have been more apologetic. Overall, McLoughlin states, "You can still be friends with someone but not agree with something they do. I don't think the world is that black-and-white."[22]

However, the next day he tweeted that he regretted focusing on criticising PewDiePie in the video saying that he had been "naive". In a Tumblr post he said his main regret was not commenting on the mainstream media's reporting of the controversy stating, "there were some unethical practices at play with the media, a lot of misquoting and misrepresentation."[22] Following the controversy, it was confirmed that the Revelmode network had been shut down by Disney.[23] McLoughlin then signed to the Disney Digital Network.

In June 2017, Polaris, a division of The Walt Disney Company, announced that McLoughlin would be featured on D | XP, a television programming block on the channel Disney XD. The title of the series featuring McLoughlin is Polaris: Player Select.[24] He and YouTuber Strawburry17 hosted the Level Up! games panel at the D23 Expo 2017.[25][26] In July 2017, it was announced that McLoughlin would be a playable character in the strategic prison-escape game The Escapists 2.[27] In September 2017, McLoughlin was featured on the RTÉ 2 Rich List in the "top 30 under 30" category.[28] McLoughlin toured throughout September–October 2017, in the US with the How Did We Get Here tour, and then returned to the UK and Europe to tour with the Game Grumps for the Ready Player 3 tour.[29] In August 2017, he obtained a new electric drum kit and announced plans to occasionally upload drum covers to his channel,[30] starting with a cover of Chop Suey! by System of a Down on 30 August.[31] On 8 October 2019, he uploaded a cover of Unholy Confessions by Avenged Sevenfold.[32]

In January 2018, it was announced McLoughlin would produce exclusive content for Twitch as part of a multi-year deal with Disney’s Digital Network.[33] In February 2018, McLoughlin released dates for a US and Canada run of the How Did We Get Here tour.[34][35] In April 2018, it was announced McLoughlin would be a part of the comedy line-up for the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival.[36] In May 2018, McLoughlin uploaded a video of him and Ryan Reynolds playing the Deadpool video game.[37]

In October 2018, McLoughlin posted a video announcing Cloak, a clothing brand he created with Markiplier.[38] Items were available for preorder at the time of upload, and the brand officially launched the following month.[39][40] Cloak has since welcomed YouTuber and Twitch streamer Pokimane as a third partner and become an ongoing project of McLoughlin's.[41][42]

In January 2019, McLoughlin signed with WME.[20] In June 2019, it was announced that McLoughlin would be a part of the line-up at the Metarama Gaming + Music Festival alongside acts such as Marshmello, Logic, Ninja, and Overwatch League players.[43][44]

In July 2020, McLoughlin made a video declaring he would be going on a break, which lasted for just over a month.[45] He stated that he was exhausted from uploading every day and that he didn't have the same passion in the political state of the world and the internet. McLoughlin returned to his channel with a livestream titled "The Return" on August 10, 2020, 10:00 AM U.S. Central Time.[46] He has since resumed regular uploads but has stated that he would be discontinuing his two-video-a-day schedule as it was mentally and physically draining.

On his 31st Birthday, McLoughlin announced he would be taking another indefinite hiatus from recording and streaming due to personal grief, following the death of his father in January.[47]

McLoughlin uploads once a day to his YouTube channel, usually a Let's Play or vlog style of video.[13] He has claimed an inclusive community is an important part of the Jacksepticeye channel, stating, "One of the main things I wanted to do on YouTube is to keep people together."[11] He calls himself the "most energetic video-game commentator on YouTube".[48] He has also described his content as an "assault on the senses" that people "either love or hate".[13] In an interview with the Irish Independent, he described the format of his videos as him playing and talking over video games with a lot of swearing.[49] He has cited his use of swearing as a key aspect to his success saying, "There's lots of swearing. The more you swear the better. People react very positively to that apparently."[28]

McLoughlin has been critical of the changing algorithms and policies at YouTube, voicing his dissatisfaction. In April 2018, McLoughlin responded to YouTube pulling ads from "unsuitable content", stating, "This is people's careers. To completely switch how you do things and not tell anybody is a sh-ty [sic] thing to do."[50] In May 2018, he responded to a surprise algorithm test from YouTube which changed the order of videos displayed in its subscription feed by stating, "People use the subscription tab to mainly avoid this sort of algorithmic behavior. Please keep that to the home page and recommendations."[51]

In December 2016, McLoughlin was a part of the Revelmode charity holiday livestream #Cringemas, with PewDiePie, Markiplier, Emma Blackery and PJ Liguori. The group raised over $1.3 million under the hashtag #EndAIDS, with matching donations from the Gates Foundation and YouTube.[52] In December 2017, McLoughlin hosted two charity streams to raise money for Save The Children, with Blackery and Liguori. In the second stream Blackery revealed that over $260,000 had been raised for the charity.[53]

Throughout 2018, McLoughlin hosted various charity livestreams for charities such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,[54][55] the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance,[56] GameChanger,[57] a charity with the stated aim of "leveraging technology and innovation to empower patients to play, learn, and socialize",[58] AbleGamers, a charity which creates custom gaming setups for disabled gamers, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital,[59] and Crisis Text Line raising a total of over $1 million for charities in 2018.[60]

In January 2019, McLoughlin hosted a livestream which raised over $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[61] In May, McLoughlin hosted a fundraising stream for Red Nose Day 2019 raising over $110,000 in nine hours.[62] In January 2020, McLoughlin hosted a livestream which raised over $200,000 in four hours for the bushfires in Australia.[63] In April 2020, McLoughlin hosted a livestream which raised over $650,000 in 12 hours for COVID-19 relief funds.[64] Including subsequent livestreams in collaboration with McLoughlin, the campaign raised over $1.7 million.[64] In December 2020, McLoughlin raised over $1.4 million in 10 hours for the Red Nose Day campaign. Including subsequent livestreams in collaboration with McLoughlin, the campaign raised over $4 million. Since 2017, McLoughlin has raised more than $6 million in total in charity livestreams.[65]

McLoughlin currently lives in the English city of Brighton, and has been in a relationship with Dutch YouTuber Evelien "Gab" Smolders since 2019.

He identifies as non-religious.[66]

His father died on 27 January 2021.[67]

• List of YouTubers

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacksepticeye.

• Jacksepticeye's channel on YouTube
• Jacksepticeye at IMDb