A Lesson from the Try Guys

Over the past few weeks the internet has witnessed a very public scandal as Ned Fulmer was seen publicly cheating on his wife with one of his employees. This has resulted in Ned no longer being a member of the Try Guys, and a month of horrible decision making and plans constantly changing for Eugene, Zach, and Keith.

I wanted to take a moment in this blog to talk about how well I think the three of them have handled the situation. The three of them have handled this with incredible professionalism, and every post and announcement they’ve made regarding the situation has made me feel confident that they did everything they could to make the past month as private for their company as they could.

I really do believe based on what has been released so far that until Labor Day weekend the three of them had no idea that Ned had been engaging in a relationship with one of their employees. This development was hard for them personally and professionally, they lost a cofounder and a close friend when they made the decision to have Ned step away.

From reading their statement, to watching their YouTube video, and now listening to their podcast, it makes me so sad to hear all of the ways that this situation has impacted their lives in both a personal and professional aspect. When I first heard about the situation my head first went to the emotional aspect and how sad it must be for them to lose a friend who they had become so close with over the past 8 years. It wasn’t until listening to the podcast that it occurred to me how much they were losing professionally as well.

Zach talks briefly about several projects of his that have been incredibly delayed and now might never see the light of day. Keith mentions his concerns over how this will impact his group Lewberger and others he has worked with outside of the Try Guys.

The Try Guys have done an amazing job over the years of building a brand for themselves. They were widely seen as wholesome, happy content and were a comfort channel to many. This whole mess of the past month has gone so far against the brand they worked so hard to build, and I know they are worried that some people won’t be able to see them that way again and might question how genuine the image that they built ever was.

I’m so impressed with their editing team, who they gave props to several times, for their ability to quickly adapt to the situation and remove Ned from content that was releasing last month. From hearing them describe some of the instances he was removed from digitally, it sounds crazy to me and I would consider myself very familiar with video editing.

My hope for them is that this whole situation dies down soon so they can each get back to their lives and creating content the way they want to again. Obviously they have some figuring out to do as to what the future of the Try Guys is going to loo like, but they handled this situation in a way that they never had me doubting them and their intentions throughout the entire process. This is a situation that companies hope to never find themselves in, and even though I wish the Try Guys hadn’t had to deal with it I’m excited to see what the future holds for them.