Launching a multitude of personas and channels since 2011, Yousef “Fousey” discusses his new projects with Dr Fykaa Caan. Erakat is a Palestinian-American YouTube personality and one of the channel’s biggest success stories. With over 17 Million followers and over 1.7 Billion views across three Youtube channels, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, and Facebook, Fousey is known for it all. Parodies, vlogs, comedy sketches, movies, motivational speaking, music, and the list goes on. This fall, Fousey releases his first memoir, Warning: This Is Not a Motivational Story.
A Muslim-American celebrity YouTuber, Shorty, and Streamy Award Winner, Yousef Erakat (with Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson), who is known to his billions of fans as “Fousey,” reveals for the first time, his struggles with anxiety, depression, shame, and haters, and how he has reinvented himself from rock bottom to the top of his game. Fousey is one of YouTube’s biggest success stories. The book outreach will be coupled with a comedy book tour to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and beyond. Warning is now available for pre-order now on Amazon.com). Launching a persona in 2011, he believes in constant reinvention:
Social Media Channels
FouseyTUBE = 10.6 million subscribers, 1.7 Billion views
Doseoffousey = 3.5 Million subscribers, 557 Million views;
Fousey – New YouTube Channel (launched in January 2021) = over 216K subscribers and 12 Million views
Twitter = 1 Million followers
Instagram = 3.8 Million followers
Twitch = 141K followers
How it all happened? Of Palestinian descent, Yousef broke into YouTube as an undergrad at San José University by creating sketches about growing up in a Middle Eastern family, playing not only himself but also his Mama and Baba—inspired by one of his favorite comedians, Tyler Perry. Even though his acting teacher called YouTube a ‘total waste of time,’ because of Yousef’s popularity, he appeared in six movies, including two by Tyler Perry himself.
Homelife for Fousey? A Muslim, Yousef was raised by an emotionally distant father and a deeply religious mother. He began suffering with anxiety in high school, spurred by his shame over his developing sexuality.
Addictions- From adolescence, Yousef has suffered with depression and bipolar disorder. He has also struggled with drugs, alcohol and suicidal thoughts.
When it went horribly wrong: High on drugs, Yousef envisioned and hyped a Coachella-like event, to be held on July 15, 2018, in which he would headline A-list artists, including Drake, and deliver a motivational speech with the power to “put an end to racism.” Cancelled due to a bomb scare, the July 15 event turned out to be built on fantasy and lies. In the wake of the debacle, Yousef became widely ridiculed and vilified across the Internet.
How Fousey turned it around? At his lowest point, Yousef left Los Angeles for Bali to reinvent himself. While there, he suffered a severe emotional and physical breakdown. How FousetWith the support of his family, Yousef returned to his hometown of Fremont, New Jersey, and found a therapist who was able to help him manage his depression and recover his self-esteem.
Fousey and Keemstar launched Happy Punch PromotionsTM to revitalize the boxing and social media scene. Recognizing the success of former boxing production companies like Showtime Sports, HBO and UFC, Fousey and Keemstar announced their first fighter, Deen the Great.
Now it is great to see Fousey going from strength to strength. The future looks very exciting and he is looking forward to his successful new projects.
Article by Dr Fykaa Caan
The Hollywood London Magazine
