One half of the original YouTube duo Smosh is leaving. Anthony Padilla announced today that he will be leaving the comedy group he originated with childhood pal Ian Hecox. Smosh started 11 years ago as a way for Ian and Anthony to make videos to make each other laugh. Smosh then turned into the empire it is today. Smosh now consists of multiple channels with more than 39 million subscribers in total. Their main Smosh channel has 22.6 million subscribers.
Anthony and Ian made a video for the Smosh channel explaining the departure. They cut the emotions with their typical humor, cutting in clips of them together throughout the years and adding a parody of Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You”.
Anthony also made a video on his own channel explaining his decision to leave. He explains that he is ready to venture out on his own and to make his own content. He also says that the pressure to create content was a reason he wanted to leave.
Smosh is part of Defy Media that also has ClevverTV under their umbrella of media content. Leaving a big media company seems to be the reason many other people leave their respective jobs (a la Buzzfeed). Being part of a big media corporation that defines your content and your posting schedules does seem pretty daunting.
Ian and Anthony have made it known that they are definitely still friends and that they are not “breaking up”. We expect to see Anthony guest star in Smosh videos since we don’t think he can completely stay away.
We wish the best for Anthony and can’t wait to see all the amazing content he will be putting out in the next year.
