| ProJared | ||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Jared Lee Knabenbauer August 28, 1985 Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Occupations | ||||||||||
| Spouse |
Heidi O'Ferrall
(m. 2014; sep. 2019) | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channels | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2010–present | |||||||||
| Genres | ||||||||||
| Subscribers |
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| Total views |
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| Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: August 30, 2019[3] | ||||||||||
Jared Lee Knabenbauer (born August 28, 1985), better known online as ProJared, is an American YouTube personality. He is best known for his video game reviews and videos related to Dungeons & Dragons. Knabenbauer also worked extensively with various YouTubers outside of his own channel.
Early life
editKnabenbauer was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He graduated from Bay Port High School in June 2004.[4] During and after high school, Knabenbauer did improvisational comedy with ComedyCity in De Pere, Wisconsin from 2001 to 2009.[5][6] After graduation, Knabenbauer worked at GameStop from 2004 to 2009, becoming a store manager.[6][7]
Career
editIn 2009, Knabenbauer moved to Texas to work for what would become Rooster Teeth, doing reviews and editing for ScrewAttack as well as managing their now-defunct video game retail store called GameAttack.[6] In 2010, he uploaded a review of the game Two Worlds to his own ProJared YouTube channel, which he had originally registered as DMJared in 2006. The video proved popular, and he soon followed it with reviews of motion controllers for games, Kinect and Move. By 2012, Knabenbauer had added a series to his channel called "One Minute Review" which has more than forty reviews.[8]
Knabenbauer joined Normal Boots when it was relaunched in 2014. Here he worked with JonTron (Jon Jafari) and PeanutButterGamer (Austin Hargrave) among others.[9]
Game Grumps added Knabenbauer as a guest host of their Grumpcade series in 2015. In 2015, he also appeared on Nickelodeon's Game Shakers television series.[10][11]
In 2016, Knabenbauer expanded his content to Dungeons & Dragons and a few other tabletop role-playing games. Most notably, he was on D&D's official channel in their Dice, Camera, Action series alongside Chris Perkins and fellow YouTubers Holly Conrad, Anna Prosser Robinson, and Nathan Sharp (NateWantsToBattle).[12][13]
The D&D venture on YouTube grew even more successful on Twitch when it became a livestreaming series broadcasting every Tuesday with Perkins as Dungeon Master.[14]
The popularity of Dice, Camera, Action was further acknowledged when Beamdog announced in September 2018 that the cast of Dice, Camera, Action would voice roles in the Baldur's Gate remasters, available as DLC.[15][16]
Controversy
editOn May 8, 2019, Knabenbauer made an announcement through his Twitter account, stating that he was going through an amicable divorce from his wife of five years, Heidi O'Ferrall.[17] Holly Conrad, who worked with Knabenbauer on D&D projects, voiced support in a since deleted tweet.[17][18] O'Ferrall posted a response on Twitter, stating that Knabenbauer had blocked her account rendering her unable to read his statement, and that he had been involved in an extra-marital affair with Conrad.[17] O'Ferrall further alleged that Knabenbauer used social media for sexting with Conrad and with fans of his videos, and accused him of emotional abuse.[17][18] Within hours, purported fans began posting allegations of impropriety by Knabenbauer, some of whom claimed they were under 18 at the time, with testimonials and photographic evidence.[17][19][20] It was alleged that Knabenbauer used Tumblr to solicit nudes from fans under the username SinJared.[21][22] Within the same day, Knabenbauer's online pseudonym ProJared became a trending topic on Twitter as he became the subject of much criticism.[23]
Normal Boots released a statement on May 9 severing their business relationship with Knabenbauer, noting he had been under internal investigation for "inappropriate conduct" since April 4, 2019.[9] Dungeons & Dragons replaced Knabenbauer and Conrad at "D&D Live 2019" event with Alex Lee (Dragon Friends) and Kelly D'Angelo (Girls, Guts, Glory).[22][24] In July, the Dungeons & Dragons mobile game Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms removed Knabenbauer's character Diath from the game. [25]
On May 17, 2019, Knabenbauer released another statement where he claimed that he and his wife were in an open polyamorous relationship with both of them having partners on the side, which he also claimed O'Ferrall had encouraged.[26] O'Ferrall countered with a series of tweets saying that they had indeed attempted polyamory at one point, but she had "shut it down" later on due to Knabenbauer's lack of transparency regarding the relationship with Conrad, and she considered their subsequent relationship infidelity.[26] On May 20, 2019, Conrad posted a Twitter thread purporting to corroborate Knabenbauer's version of events. She alleged O'Ferrall encouraged Knabenbauer to explore his feelings for Conrad, but expected nothing to happen due to Conrad having expressed asexuality. Conrad further alleged that when the feelings were returned, O'Ferrall became abusive and threatened to ruin their D&D career, allegations O'Ferrall denied.[27] Knabenbauer was inactive on his social media from the statement on May 17 until August 27 when he released a forty-two minute long video on YouTube where he claimed responsibility for his behavior, but denied knowledge of any underage participants in his photo exchanges while providing his side of certain text messages as evidence.[28]
References
edit- ^ King, Channing. "12 things to catch at Indy PopCon". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
- ^ a b "About ProJared". YouTube.
- ^ "ProJared results". Social Blade. May 10, 2019. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ "Bay Port High School". Green Bay Press-Gazette. May 26, 2004. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ComedyCity De Pere (January 18, 2017). "Veteran ComedyCitizen Jared Knabenbauer". Retrieved May 10, 2019 – via Facebook.
- ^ a b c Knabenbauer, Jared. "Jared Knabenbauer". Retrieved May 10, 2019 – via LinkedIn.
- ^ Knabenbauer, Jared [@ProJared] (December 14, 2015). "I did work at Gamestop in Green Bay" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ ProJared. "One Minute Review (playlist)". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Tamburro, Paul (May 9, 2019). "NormalBoots parts ways with ProJared following his wife's allegations". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Snierson, Dan (July 7, 2015). "Kel Mitchell returns to Nickelodeon to star in 'Game Shakers'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ "Two Girls from Brooklyn Create a Gaming Empire in Nickelodeon's Newest Live-Action Comedy Series, Game Shakers, Premiering Sept. 12 at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT)". www.businesswire.com. September 2, 2015.
- ^ Elderkin, Beth (May 17, 2016). "When Liking And Subscribing To Your Favorite YouTuber Isn't Enough". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Francisco, Eric (July 15, 2016). "10 Cool-Ass 'Dungeons & Dragons' Campaign Podcasts and Web Series". Inverse. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Granshaw, Lisa (April 15, 2019). "Holly Conrad and Anna Prosser Robinson on Dice, Camera, Action's third season and the Dungeons & Dragons livestream experience". SyfyWire. Syfy. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Esteves, Ricardo C. (September 3, 2018). "Dice, Camera, Action! voice Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights". Gamereactor. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Huff, Grant (September 2, 2018). "Members of Dice, Camera Action! (A D&D Livestream) are Recording Voice-Over Packs for Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and More". DualShockers. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Asarch, Steven (May 9, 2019). "YouTuber ProJared Cheats on Wife, Allegedly Sends Nudes to Underage Fans". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Farrell, Paul (May 9, 2019). "Holly Conrad: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Alexander, Julia (May 9, 2019). "YouTuber ProJared accused of soliciting sexually explicit photos from underage fans". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ Deutrom, Rhian (May 9, 2019). "YouTube star outed over cheating scandal by his own wife". news.com.au. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Zimmeran, Amy (May 12, 2019). "How an Elf and a Group of Gamers Exposed a 'Predatory' YouTuber-Husband Obsessed With Soliciting Nudes". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ a b Viscardi, James (May 12, 2019). "Jared "ProJared" Knabenbauer Drops Out of Upcoming 'Dungeons & Dragons' Event in Wake of Recent Allegations". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ Asarch, Steven (21 May 2019). "Commander Holly responds to allegations from ProJared's ex-wife". Newsweek. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ Sheehan, Gavin (May 10, 2019). "D&D Pulls Jared Knabenbauer and Holly Conrad From D&D Live 2019". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "Idle Champions: Year One Champion Update, Part 1". Codename Entertainment. July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ a b Katzowitz, Josh (May 18, 2019). "After infidelity and abuse accusations, ProJared said his wife wanted an open marriage". The Daily Dot. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
- ^ Asarch, Steven (May 21, 2019). "Commander Holly Defends ProJared, Claims YouTuber's Ex-Wife 'Abused' Him". Newsweek. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
- ^ "ProJared Releases Defense Video Regarding Nude Photo Accusations". Heavy.com. August 27, 2019.
External links
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