If you watch people like Markiplier or CaptainSparklez on YouTube, then you might know they are part of a YouTube network named Polaris. Polaris is a sub-network to Maker Studios, which was sold to none other than Walt Disney Studios.
Well as we know, with great power usually comes corruption. About 4 months ago, Polaris began an advertisement for a “civil war” type event where they pitted TotalBiscuit and Angry Joe against each other. They would choose players from Polaris to play co-op games that would eventually determine the winner. Viewers had a choice to watch the full game or watching the Recap/Precap videos, which starred Jesse Cox and his comedic commentary.
It would seem, though, that Cox was anything but happy behind the scenes. He posted a screenshot of his YouTube comment to Twitter on January 25th.
Viewers: The follow video was not approved by me, Angry Joe, or any other Civil War participant. Several months ago, I was told Civil War was being canceled. It made sense, since Polaris and the team at the network running it was doing so without any real coordination or structure. Players would never show up or offer to participate, play times and scheduling were always delayed, and after awhile nearly every participant hated being there. This was the case so much so, that in the example cited above in this video – I had to play in the match because they didn’t have enough players for full teams. The original idea was that I would come in as a third team and wipe them all out. But instead I was put on Joe’s. The whole “I’m going to be an evil commissioner” was the initial concept, but the “cheating” was more a result of me having to cover up glaring issues in the running of the civil was as a whole. Only recently was I contacted saying that instead of just not continuing with the series, they would do a wrap up video. I told them, fine and approved the creation of a final video. This was the video they created. When I expressed concerns over the contents, they informed me Angry Joe approved the video if I did. I immediately talked with Joe, who denied this. Saying they had told him “Jesse approves it if you do”. They continued to hound Joe with emails (that I have on record now) stating that “it’s not blaming you, it’s about how this is all Jesse’s fault”. We both asked them not to release this video. To which they clearly did not listen. To make matters worse, this is obviously not at all a wrap up video, as they will continue to move on with a new “host”. I cannot begin to say how insulting and demeaning this is. I have worked for TGS/Polaris since I first started youtube, 5 YEARS AGO… And this is the treatment I receive. The worst part: I have never been so sad to say that people I considered genuinely decent folk were behind this. 🙁
The video that went along with this post has since been made private. It was apparently a new Precap/Recap video that did not have Cox in it.
The one who is supposed to be replacing Cox as host is a YouTuber by the name of CaffCast. He responded on Reddit, saying:
(I’ve posted this on the YouTube video itself, but for fear of it being deleted I am posting here also.)
Hey everyone, Caff of The CaffCast here; I’m the host on this episode of the Recap/Precap. I want to start off by apologising to Jesse and anyone else who didn’t give their full approval for the show to go ahead like this. I genuinely feel terrible at this point for taking part (and, quite frankly, betrayed), so I wanted to explain what I understood the situation to be. I was approached by Polaris to take over from Jesse after which they explained to me (via Email/Skype) they had FULL approval from Jesse & Angryjoe for me to take over in the way you see in this video (I made it clear I didn’t want anyone to be upset or to burn any bridges after having just joined the network). I am still quite a small channel (less than 40k subs) and only joined Polaris recently, so naturally when an opportunity like this comes along I was really excited to be taking part (this was actually my first time taking part in a big production like this). Had I of known Polaris weren’t being fully transparent about the opportunity they offered me I would have never taken part. I hope that this has not caused anyone to think less of me professionally, as I look up to and aspire to be like a number of the Polaris members I worked with on the civil war. I hope to work with you all again in the future with more transparency from the production team.
There has been no response from Angry Joe or Polaris since these posts. We can assume from the taking down of the video that they are either embarrassed, or trying to hide what has actually happened. Cox has not revealed on whether he is quitting Polaris or not.
What do you think about this situation? Do you feel like there is more to the story or that Jesse Cox has helped reveal evil within Polaris? Let us know in the comments.
