{"id":707327,"date":"2026-06-01T01:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T01:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707327\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T01:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T01:33:11","slug":"ksi-announces-his-departure-from-youtube-collective-sidemen-youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707327\/","title":{"rendered":"KSI announces his departure from YouTube collective Sidemen | YouTube"},"content":{"rendered":"

KSI, the social media influencer and Britain\u2019s Got Talent judge, has announced he is leaving the YouTube<\/a> collective Sidemen.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old, whose real name is Olajide Olatunji, has made football, comedy and challenge videos with the group since 2013.<\/p>\n

The Sidemen, composed of KSI, Simon Minter, Josh Bradley, Vikram Barn, Tobi Brown, Ethan Payne and Harry Lewis, have 23 million YouTube subscribers.<\/p>\n

In a post on YouTube, the content creator said: \u201cThis is honestly the hardest video I\u2019ve ever had to make in my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone back and forth on this decision for a very long time. I\u2019ve spent months trying to figure out what the right thing to do is.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after a lot of thought, I\u2019ve decided that I will no longer be doing Sidemen videos. Today, 31 May, will be my final Sidemen video.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven saying those words out loud doesn\u2019t feel real. The Sidemen have been such a huge part of my life for over 12, 13 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor almost half my life, the Sidemen has been my second family. We\u2019ve grown up together. We\u2019ve travelled the world together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built something that none of us ever thought was possible, especially back then when we were making random videos together and playing GTA [Grand Theft Auto].\u201d<\/p>\n

The London-born entrepreneur, who appeared in Saturday\u2019s final of the ITV show Britain\u2019s Got Talent, said he remembered the group\u2019s genesis and that he had \u201cno idea that tens of millions of people were going to be watching us on the channel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Their most popular video is a challenge where they divided into two groups and took holidays on budgets of $20,000 (\u00a314,867) and $200 in Europe, which has accumulated more than 100m views.<\/p>\n

The Sidemen also launched their own fried chicken chain, clothing, alcohol and cereal.<\/p>\n

KSI added: \u201cTogether we\u2019ve done things I never thought were possible. We\u2019ve sold out arenas, we sold out stadiums. We\u2019ve broken records. We\u2019ve made Netflix shows, we\u2019ve done a lot and we\u2019ve shared so many good moments on YouTube and those moments will stay with me for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been there for each other through some of the highest highs and the lowest lows of our lives. I\u2019ve watched these boys grow into incredible men. I\u2019ve watched these guys grow into fathers. I\u2019ve watched them grow into husbands. And I\u2019m so incredibly grateful to experience that journey alongside them.\u201d<\/p>\n

KSI began his YouTube career in 2008, making videos of himself playing the Fifa video game before diversifying into making vlogs and comedy clips and releasing two studio albums.<\/p>\n

The social media star recently bought a minority stake in Dagenham & Redbridge football club<\/a>, who play in the sixth tier of English football.<\/p>\n

Earlier this May, KSI\u2019s team Prime FC won the Baller League UK season 3 championship<\/a>, a six-a-side football competition featuring celebrities, content creators and former professional players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KSI, the social media influencer and Britain\u2019s Got Talent judge, has announced he is leaving the YouTube collective…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-707327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}