Swearing on YouTube: Should You Cut the Profanity?

While you may curse, use swear words, and say all sorts of profanity with your friends, should you use it in your YouTube videos? There's certainly benefits to not swearing in your videos if you're hoping to have as many opportunities available to you as possible (like brand deals), but some creators may feel like they then have to pretend to be someone they're not. What do you think? Do you eliminate swearing from your videos or do you keep it in?

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Video Creators

Tim Schmoyer

OTHER CHANNELS I'M A PART OF

[whocares]

I feel like regardless whether you swear or not, people want your genuine self. being genuine is very important to me. I swear a lot in real life and I am not willing to change myself so that people could feel more comfortable with me. when you decide you enjoy someone you take them as they are, not for what you want them to be. If you can't be true to who you are as a person on YouTube then how could you truly appreciate your success if you ever obtain it?

[kwebbelkop]

I'd say be yourself. Do something you feel comfortable with. *Poop*

[Feedizzle]

all I care about is if it'll get me demonetized or not?

[Kimbyrleigha]

I say FUCK IT and I cuss in my videos when it naturally occurs. It's authenticity and I keep it fuckin REAL!

[studiopapa]

There's no need to censor yourself. If you do it because you want brand deals, and as many people to watch you as possible, then all you really care about is the money.

[thefrugalcrafter]

I think that a channel without swearing will appear more professional. If you ever have hopes to work in TV or radio professionally, especially in a live fashion, producers will want to know that you can keep your composure. Kids watch my channel and I do not think parents would appreciate any swearing ad I think most of my viewers would be offended by it. Swearing can come across as aggressive and disrespectful too. But it depends on the audience, if your audience is all adult and your channel deals with edgier topics it is probably appropriate, just as some movies and cable shows that depict a rougher lifestyle have swearing to help make it believable.  I've let a few choice words fly at home when I have stubbed my toe and such but it is not for youtube...well not on my channel but every channel is different and I am sure I look very "square" to many people:)

[eveRide]

I don't think many people have unsubscrscribed from a channel for a lack of swearing, but im sure that people unsubscribe for too much cussin', because I've done that. As my kids are often sneaking around I've limited what I can watch when they're awake to clean content, then when they're asleep I'm usually doing something other than youtube. So in general I rarely watch channels with a lot of profanity. It only broadens your audience to keep things clean.

[BiteSizeVegan]

i've battled with this on and off, Video Creators.  i don't swear in all of my videos any means but i do have some here and there when i feel it emphasized a point.  however, i *always* bleep them out as a compromise of sorts and to not make it so harsh.  a lot of it is my personality, honestly.  but i have considered stopping it entirely, even with the bleeps.  i don't know- my videos are educational but i get a lot of positive feedback about my personality and personal style.  and even if i do stop the bleeps, there remains the fact that i'm heavily tattooed and hammering home hardcore ethical subject matter, which is not always the thing brands want to jump on.  oh to be a beauty channel!  still, with the fact that i'm concentrating very hard on finding sponsorships to make this project sustainable, this is definitely something to consider.  thanks for the video as always, Tim!

[GuidingEchoes]

I learned a long time ago that your words are powerful. Cuss words are extremely negative, as are the ways in which they are expressed. Cussing once in a while is fine, but doing it all the time is flat out obnoxious. 

People who cuss consistently are energy drainers. They are hard to be around. Sure, there have been a few people who are recognized in part because of their colorful language, but is that really what anyone wants to be known for?

Kudos to Tech Talk  for bleeping out the cuss words. Some folks just don't want (or need) to hear that. 

[SlimKim]

YouTube is trying to become all butterflies and rainbows by not paying people who cuss in their videos. Not channels like the Hodgetwins feel so watered down cuz they can't fully be themselves. People have been watching them for years and know what they're getting if they choose to watch them.

[XEKUTER]

Swearing makes one looks immature, ignorant and obnoxious. I personally gave up using swear words in real life a few years ago.

[OSW]

Tim slam-dunked this question. I think you should do whatever feels natural, but it also depends if you're conscious of advertisers and potentially being flagged as inappropriate (and possibly unable to view by people without an account). I think there's two types of swearing; conversational and intentional. Like "sure the fuckin' thing's broken" vs "what a piece of SHIT!". In my show we use both (quite a bit actually) and after 5m views we've only ever received one negative comment about it, presumably because he let his child watch it before seeing what type of content we produce. I'd recommend just doing what you want, but if you're asking about it then you're obviously conscious of it, keep swearing at a minimum.

Re: Jerry Seinfeld, I think it depends if the swear is the punchline, or the heart of the joke. He's not going for a cheap laugh by swearing. That story about Matt Santoro, I'm glad it worked out for him, but jaysus, he only had to completely change everything about his channel.

[CrashPower]

At first one might make the argument that the (or one of the) fastest growing and most subscribed to channels on YouTube belongs to a foul mouthed Sweed named Felix Kjellberg. Most know him as PewDiePie. However, if the same Lets Play type format of videos can be done without cussing, as long as it doesn't seem like you're trying not to cuss, then I think you're definitely right. Even if the majority of teenage and young adult viewers aren't offended, it's wiser not to alienate the ones that are.

[VideoCreators]

Is it better to keep your videos clean or does a little swearing humanize you?

[homefarmideas]

Hi Tim:) I would like to know what you think about putting God in videos. I am a Christian and so I add to the end of all my videos "God Bless" or I will talk about why I am where I am because of him. I would like to know what your viewers and yourself think. Thanks and like always God Bless!

[UnexpectedObvious]

this seems kind of biased, there are tons of huge tubers that curse all the time with deals and sponsorships

[grahaminatorca]

This is a great idea. Much to think about. I do avoid swearing. I just don't feel comfortable doing it in front of my audience. You don't know who your audience will be!

[GrandpaCanCook]

I have never heard a person say, "I won't watch XYZ because they don't swear and curse", but I have heard people say that they stopped watching someone because of the foul language.
Personally I like to make videos that people are not ashamed to share with their mothers.

[twominutetips]

Absolutely no swearing, passive aggressive comments or anything that might hurt or insult someone.  True creativity doesn't need to take cheap shots.

[CulpFiction]

I've been wondering about this since we started vlogging! We're a young married couple who vlogs 3x per week, and my husband's in the military in which he swears a lot just because he's surrounded by it at his shop, so he's picked it up a lot more. Right now, depending on the amount of time he's in a vlog, there's usually 1 swear word per video, sometimes there's none at all, and rarely does it go over 2 per 15 minute video. On one hand, our viewers are used to it, and we're still growing. On the other, I never know what to do with them when editing. Sometimes I'll just take out that little piece of audio (no censor beep or anything, just a loss of sound for like 4 frames). It's definitely tricky to figure out exactly how to proceed without cheapening on the genuine-ness that we try to have.