The popular commentary YouTuber Cody Ko, who has over nine million subscribers across five channels, has been embroiled in an ongoing controversy after fellow YouTuber Tana Mongeau alleged that he had sex with her when she was 17 and he was 25.
Mongeau, 26, raised the allegation in May, during a live recording of her podcast Cancelled, which she co-hosts with another internet personality, Brooke Schofield. During the show, Mongeau said she slept with Ko when she was 17 in response to a question from an audience member.
“Oh my god, no one look at me. Cody Ko,” she said onstage in a video that was recorded from the show and later posted online. “I can say that. I was literally 17.”
While Mongeau’s comment made rounds on social media and was covered in publications like Rolling Stone, it mostly flew under the radar. In July, however, another YouTuber, D’Angelo Wallace, brought the issue to wider attention when he posted a video titled “An Uncomfortable Conversation About Cody Ko” to his drama channel. In the video, which received over two million views in less than a week, Wallace called on his viewers to take Mongeau’s claim seriously and not let it be “an open secret and swept under the rug.”
Unpacking Tana Mongeau’s allegation against Cody Ko
Mongeau gained popularity online for her “storytime” videos, where she’d regale audiences with elaborate stories, and has a history making sometimes controversial content with other creators. In 2018, Mongeau attempted to host a rival creator convention to VidCon and named it TanaCon. But the event ended in disaster due to disorganization and an underestimation of how many people would attend. According to New York Magazine, the venue that was booked could only hold 5,000 people but an estimated 20,000 people arrived and waited in blistering California heat for hours to check in. Some were eventually turned away when the event was canceled.
