A YouTuber with 1.6 million followers urged fans to get vaccinated before dying of COVID-19 complications

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A YouTuber with 1.6 million followers urged fans to get vaccinated before dying of COVID-19 complications
Brandon Ashur in his last vlog upload on his channel YouTube/ ToastyTime
  • YouTuber Brandon Asher, known online as Bashurverse, passed away from COVID-19 complications.
  • In one of his last tweets, he urged his followers to get the vaccine.
  • Asher rose to popularity for his Minecraft videos before being embroiled in a series of controversies.
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Brandon Ashur, known online as Bashurverse or Toasty, passed away due to COVID-19 complications on Sunday. According to Newsweek, Anesa Ashur, his sister, confirmed the passing of the 36-year-old on her private Facebook page.

"My brother fought covid and unfortunately lost the battle," Anesa wrote.

The YouTuber with 1.6 million subscribers was originally known for his videos about the video game Minecraft.

Robin, a moderator of his Discord, confirmed his passing in a post, writing that "he went as peacefully as we could possibly make it" and "we lost a legend last night." She also confirmed in another post in the main channel that Ashur "was not vaccinated."

According to Ashur's Twitter posts, August 11 was the fifth day he had the virus. Four days later, he tweeted that he was in the hospital with "covid and pneumonia." On August 17, he shared that he was being moved to the ICU and two days later urged his followers to "please get your vaccine you don't want this."

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His last tweet was made on August 26, writing that he had to get "two shots in my stomach everyday."

YouTubers and those that knew him have mourned the passing of Ashur. Michael Green, known as KidBehindaCamera on YouTube tweeted that he "hadn't spoken to Bashurverse in a year or two but I was rooting for him to make a comeback." YouTuber Steven Williams, known as Boogie2988, tweeted that he was "heartbroken" and "speechless."

Bashur started his YouTube channel in 2010, growing his channel with Minecraft series like "The Legend Of Hobo" and "99 Diamonds Challenge." His channel grew steadily, reaching over a million subscribers, until 2015 when a 2004 arrest report and mugshot appeared online that appeared to show that Bashur was arrested in his home state of Kentucky on a charge of "unlawful transaction with a minor."

In a now deleted YouTube video that's been archived online, he confirmed that the charge was legitimate and that when he was 18-years-old, he dated a 15-year-old. He claimed that the charge was amended to sexual misconduct, that he paid a fine, and received credit for time served.

From 2015 to 2016, Bashur was the subject of over a dozen videos on Daniel Keem's "DramaAlert" YouTube channel, being interviewed multiple times about the scandal. His first interview in April 2015 with Keem has been watched 2.3 million times.

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In April 2017, Bashur deleted every video on his YouTube channel, changed his banner and profile picture to a black bar and his username to "-." He then deleted his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, disappearing from the internet until 2019 when he reappeared under the new name "Toasty Time."

In his last vlog from February 2020, he announced that he was moving to Australia and that he planned to start streaming on Twitch. He accomplished both of those goals before moving back to the United States after his mother passed in May 2021.

Robin and Anesa did not return a request for comment.

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