YouTube Rewind has been a staple of the platform over the last decade. It neatly summarised the year while showcasing YouTube’s biggest creators in a fun and quirky manner. That is, until Rewind 2018 was an unmitigated disaster (video below) and they chose to keep Rewind 2019 as uncontroversial as possible.
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For the first time since it started in 2010, YouTube has announced that there will be no Rewind this year. Most people will probably not protest, seeing that 2020 is largely accepted to be a dumpster-fire of a year.
About Rewind this year. pic.twitter.com/oVayH8iyqG
— YouTube (@YouTube) November 12, 2020
YouTube Rewind has become an occasion every year for the millions of people that consume most of their content on the platform. It summarised the year in terms of YouTube’s biggest moments, but also tapping into international trends, memes, and newsworthy moments.
YouTube said in a statement that “2020 has been different. It doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t. So, we’re taking a break from Rewind this year.” It thanked the millions of creators on the platform, large and small, as well as the viewers who stick with it even though there are plenty of issues in the community still to be resolved.
The filming of Rewind usually entails many of the platform’s creators to come together for the various shoots. Google doesn’t want to revert to this format as a result of the global pandemic, especially at a time where the virus is running rampant in the US with record breaking infections being recorded at the moment.
Below is the controversial Rewind 2018 which broke YouTube records for the most disliked video on the platform. It included many themes that the public thought was too on the nose, especially when it comes to political correctness.
