| “ | I'M A BANANA!!! | ” |
―Onision | ||
James Jackson[1] (born: Gregory James Daniel;[1] November 11, 1985), better known online as Onision, is an American YouTuber and internet personality. He is most recognizable in mainstream media as the creator of the viral video, "Banana Song (I'm A Banana)". He owns multiple other YouTube channels, including OnisionSpeaks, UhOhBro, Encore, and Archive.
Early Life
Onision has never outwardly discussed his birthplace or hometown, but it is believed that he was born or at least lived in Oregon at some point during his upbringing, due to his mentioning going to school in Oregon. It was later stated by Greg on his UhOhBro channel that he had never lived in Oregon. Another suspected hometown would be Auburn, WA, given to us via Archive.org from his old YouTube channel.
Greg's parents divorced when he was two-years-old after his father was convicted of committing a sexual crime against a minor. At age 15, Greg was physically attacked by his father when he strangled him. He retaliated in self-defense by repeatedly kicking his father in the chest. He was afterward arrested and spent some time in juvenile prison. A recurring theme in Greg's videos has been his struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts or behaviors throughout his life.
He has said that he was deeply depressed and suicidal in high school, from which he recovered. He has gone on record stating that he was again depressed and having suicidal thoughts in his adult life, as a result of his on-going struggle with his personal life. He recounts one story where he held a gun to his head while serving in the Air Force. Having recovered from depression multiple times, he uses his experience to aid others as a peer adviser.
Greg is very close with his mother, who has appeared in videos of his, including "Ghosts Caught On Camera". Greg was an airman in the United States Air Force, from which he quit, citing its conflict with his liberal views.
YouTube Career
His first channel was Onision, made back in 2006. In his earliest videos, Greg would refer to himself as Onision, though he has said he initially planned on referring to himself as and being referred to as "Greg." Despite this, the name Onision stuck with him, and it has been his identity since.
He is sometimes described as "The most controversial YouTuber," and "YouTube's most troubled star", having been in many controversies.
Greg created his second channel, OnisionArchive, in 2008. He never went into detail about the nature of this second channel when he started it, but it was used as a secondary channel in the same way many YouTubers utilized secondary channels at the time: as a platform for additional content, as well as to maximize on the earning power of his audience via advertisements. As of 2009, the OnisionArchive channel has been used in the way its name suggests, as a user archive.
In 2009, Greg created the channel OnisionSpeaks (known by him and fans simply as Speaks), as a charity effort to support awareness of vegetarianism. Shortly after its conception, however, the OnisionSpeaks channel became his primary self-help and peer-advisory channel. Because of its nature, the channel has been a source of controversy for Greg, due in part to users accusing him of assigning himself as a professional on the matter of depression and suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Despite these accusations, Greg has never conveyed that he believes himself to be of expert help and has often urged viewers to understand that he can only offer advice.
In 2011, Greg implemented another channel, called OnisionEncore, in which he primarily video blogs. The OnisionEncore channel has the most inconsistent upload schedule of all Greg's channels and is not considered by him or fans as a primary channel of his.
In 2012, Greg created his most recent channel UhOhBro, on which he uploads videos of him searching for a
nd reacting in real-time to various topics, which he searches for on the search engine Google. The UhOhBro channel was his most updated channel in 2012 and continues to see a high volume of uploads on a regular basis.
In 2021, his channels Onision, OnisionSpeaks, and UhOhBro were all demonetized and abandoned.
Novels
Greg has written two novels that are a mixture of real events and fictional ones. "Stones To Abbigale" was published on March 29th, 2015. It follows James who is described as a "better version" of Greg and exploring themes of school shootings and love. The original cover was replaced due to it depicting an inappropriate amount of blood.
His second novel "This Is Why I Hate You" was published on 11th September 2015 and is a darker book compared to his first. It has many similarities to Greg's own experiences in the Air Force and is written in a diary form style.
Both of his books have been critiqued for having many spelling and grammar errors due to a lack of professional editors, although it is said by Onision in a video that he published the rough drafts of his books rather than the edited version. Whether it truly was an accident was never clarified.
Video Styles
Greg's video styling has been known to shift throughout his career. At many points in time, he has been seen as happy, humorous, and cheerful, while at other points he has been seen as mentally unstable. By his own account, he has said to change his personality depending on the video he is releasing, based on what he believes the proper delivery of the particular video should be.
Greg's fan-base is predominantly American females in the 13+ age demographic. Due to this being his primary following since early in his career, Greg has an adept understanding of his community and applies this understanding to his videos of grooming. He has been criticized for this practice, with critics citing that he manipulates his audience by releasing videos he knows they will react to while claiming such videos are his own self-expression – commonly referred to as manipulative production. Despite the accusations, Greg has never commented on whether or not he utilizes any particular production methods to improve his user reception.
Personal life
Greg has not specified his exact place of birth but has confirmed his birth date as November 11, 1985. Greg's mother was told during pregnancy by her doctors that Greg had a high rate of birth defect, and should thus be aborted. He has two unnamed sisters.
Greg married his first wife, Skye Tantaga, in 2005. The two appeared in many videos on the Onision channel together. The couple separated in 2010 at Greg's urge. Greg claimed that the split was amicable, but he later stated that Tantaga had burglarized his home, suggesting that the split was more bitter than he had initially told his viewers. The divorce was finalized in October 2011.
Greg began a highly publicized relationship with Shiloh Hoganson in 2011. Greg and Shiloh moved in together early in their relationship. Greg has said that the two broke up many times, for very brief periods, before splitting for two months in the Summertime of 2011. During this time, Greg dated Adrienne Jourgansen, a little-known YouTuber he had met online. Following his split from Adrienne after only some weeks, Greg had reunited with Shiloh, before they split again in December 2011. The two have not reunited since.
Greg married a second time to Taylor Anderson (better known by her alias on YouTube, 'Laineybot') in 2012. Lainey came into the picture as a fan of Onision in late 2011. After one of his breakups with Shiloh, Lainey began to tweet him. Despite having gotten back together with Shiloh, Onision started to reply to her via his forums and twitter every so often over the next few months. They met in person when Onision (secretly) flew down to New Mexico where she (Lainey) lived. He decided to rent a house there until Lainey graduated high school, as she was only 17. Onision and Lainey had tried to keep their relationship a secret, perhaps because they knew of the backlash he would have received for dating another underage person. Supposedly after their graduation in June, Lainey moved in with him into his house in Seattle.
The two have since made their relationship public now that Lainey is no longer a minor. It was discovered in early 2013 that Lainey was pregnant with Onision's baby. Due to further backlash and threats, especially towards the baby, on social media, Lainey stopped posting baby bump pictures completely by September. They both decided not to post any pictures of their child, not even after birth. However, reflections of the child can be seen in Lainey's sunglasses in a video Onision uploaded titled: "I'll never stop loving you (a song for my son)". It is believed that the child's name is Troy. On January 26, 2016, Onision posted a video titled "I Betrayed My Wife", he revealed that he had cheated on Lainey with her girlfriend at the time.
He claimed he didn't do anything he wouldn't do with a friend, but was unaware that cuddling with the person would be considered as cheating. He added that Lainey and him are separating but not getting divorced yet. They later announced that they were going to try relationship counseling. Such videos were posted on Greg's "comedy" channel and revealed to be made for attention.
Political Views
Greg is an outspoken Democratic Socialist who voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election. He favors elements of Communism, specifically the idea of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", famously cited by Karl Marx himself.[2] Moreover, Greg appears to oppose free market capitalism, and believes in "economic equality”.[3]
Conservatism
Onision thinks critically of conservatism in general.[4]
Abortion
Greg is pro-life to a degree, but thinks favorably of the pro-choice movement.
Immigration
Greg is staunchly pro-immigration, and is largely opposed to the Donald Trump Muslim ban.
Guns
Onision does not want to restrict gun laws or impose gun control. He claims that "according to statistics, most gun owners are responsible".[5]
Subscriber Milestones
- 1 million subscribers: August 10, 2011
- 2 million subscribers: May 16, 2012
Video View Milestones
- 100 million views: June 24, 2010
- 200 million views: October 14, 2011
- 300 million views: June 14, 2012
References
