Boogie2988
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About
Boogie2988 is the online alias of YouTuber Steven Jay Williams, known for his portrayal of the character Francis, an immature adult who is prone to delivering rage-induced rants. Boogie began posting on YouTube in 2006 and branched out to other platforms like Twitch[4] as he gained a following, also delving more into commentary-style videos alongside his Francis content. In late 2022, Boogie was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.
History
On April 5th, 2006, the Boogie2988 YouTube[3] channel was created. The first video uploaded to the channel featured footage of a Dungeons and Dragons tabletop RPG game (shown below).
On July 14th, 2009, Boogie2988 uploaded his first video performing the character Francis, who rants about 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons (shown below, left). Boogie2988 continued to upload videos featuring the Francis character. On February 4th, 2010, a video titled "Francis Gets His Warcraft Account Hacked" was uploaded. The video was featured by YouTuber RayWilliamJohnson[1] on February 15th, and subsequently gained over 3.8 million views and 28,000 comments in five years.
On January 10th, 2012, Boogie2988 uploaded a video in which Francis has a mental breakdown when he cannot find his Mountain Dew soft drink (shown below, left). In the first three years, the video garnered upwards 6.8 million views and 29,000 comments. On April 10th, 2013, Boogie1988 uploaded a draw my life video, describing his upbringing in southwest Virginia (shown below, right).
On August 24th, 2014, Boogie2988 uploaded a vlog commenting on the Zoe Quinn online controversy regarding her relationships with a gaming journalist (shown below).
Divorce Announcement
On December 13th, 2017, Boogie2988 tweeted that he had spent the morning with lawyers and his wife to finalize his divorce terms but that they were "splitting amicably as friends (shown below).
On December 19th, Boogie2988 uploaded a video discussing the divorce, in which he discussed the problems he had experienced with his wife throughout his marriage, including issues related to his anxiety disorder (shown below). Within 48 hours the video gained over 1.55 million views. In the comments section, Boogie2988 announced that the comments were disabled out of respect for his ex-wife.
Tax Fraud Controversy
On April 3rd, 2019, Boogie2988 appeared to admit to tax fraud in one of his streams, manipulating the sale of Magic: The Gathering cards so that he can keep more of the money and not pay income tax. The stream reached the top of /r/LivestreamFail[8] that day.
According to a thread in /r/subredditdrama, Boogie appears to have gone into the comments of the thread to defend himself, but the comments have since been deleted.[9] The drama was covered by Dexerto.[10]
Frank Hassle Shooting Incident
On September 28th, 2020, YouTuber Frank Hassle went to the residence of Boogie in Fayetteville, Arkansas where an altercation between the two occurred. The event followed months of verbal confrontations between the two, with Williams alleging that Hassle had harassed him for months and threatened to come to his house.[11]
When Hassle rang Boogie's doorbell and egged him to come outside, Williams opened the door with a gun in his hand and fired a warning shot into the air, pointing the gun at Hassle afterward. Hassle left before the police arrived while memes of Boogie2988 pointing the gun circulated online.
On May 7th, 2021, the Washington County, Arkansas sheriff’s department issued a warrant for Boogie's arrest[12] related to the September shooting incident (shown below).
Boogie then confirmed the news that same day in a tweet posted to his Twitter[13] account, thanking his supporters but adding that he couldn’t comment much more “for obvious reasons.” The tweet (shown below) received over 2,000 likes and 100 retweets in 14 hours.
Boogie Goes Broke Investing In Crypto
On January 18th, 2021, Boogie posted a video to YouTube[17] titled, "I Am Finally RICH – How Crypto Made Me Rich" (shown below, left). In the video, he says he took every dime he had in liquid funds and invested it into crypto at the suggestion of YouTuber McJuggerNuggets, who promised to help Boogie out if it crashed. He discourages people from investing, but says he doubled his money by investing, gaining over 200,000 views in a year. On October 5th, 2022, Boogie posted another video to YouTube[18] titled, "I need your help," where he explains how he lost all his money to crypto, asking viewers for help (shown below, right). The video gained over 300,000 views in a month.
The two videos were edited into a single meme, which spread across social media as people discussed Boogie's loss of money. For example, on October 13th, Instagram[19] user garbagehuman4.0 posted the image, garnering over 4,500 likes in a month (shown below).
Alleged Blood Cancer Diagnosis
On November 15th, 2022, Boogie announced on Twitter[14] that he had a rare form of slow-spreading blood cancer called Polycythemia Vera, which causes a person's bone marrow to produce too many red blood cells, thickening the blood and slowing blood flow, making him more susceptible to heart failure.[15] In the tweet, he writes, "It’s extremely slow moving and many people live with it for decades. No big deal." He uploaded a video to YouTube[16] that same day elaborating on the diagnoses, claiming it is a side effect of the injectable testosterone supplement he's taken for the past "seven or eight" years and he knew it was a possibility (shown below). The video gained over 142,000 views in a week.
Cancer Scam Allegations
Boogie2988 Cancer Scam Allegations refers to accusations that YouTuber Boogie2988 faked a cancer diagnosis in order to raise money from his fans. The allegations went viral in July 2024 on social media after streamer Destiny confronted Boogie2988 during a livestream, after which multiple creators online offered him money if he provided medical records to prove his diagnosis. Around the same timeframe in June 2024 when Boogie's Faddy crypto scam resulted in backlash against him, he responded and said that he used the money he received from it to pay for cancer treatments.
Social Media Feeds
On August 3rd, 2010, the Boogie2988 Facebook[2] page was launched, which accumulated more than 189,000 likes in the first four years. On February 13th, 2013, the /r/boogie2988[5] subreddit was launched for discussions about the YouTube channel. As of September 2014, Boogie2988 has over 129,000 followers on Twitter[6] and 13,000 followers on Vine.[7]
Search Interest
External References
[2] Facebook – Boogie2988
[3] YouTube – Boogie2988
[4] Twitch – boogie2988
[5] Reddit – /r/boogie2988
[6] Twitter – boogie2988
[7] Vine – Boogie2988
[8] Reddit – /r/livestreamfail
[9] Reddit – /r/subredditdrama
[10] Dexerto – YouTuber Boogie2988 under fire after seemingly admitting to tax fraud on stream
[12] Washington County Arkansas Warrants – Steven Williams Warrant
[13] Twitter – Boogie2988
[14] Twitter – Boogie2988
[15] Mayo Clinic – polycythemia vera
[16] YouTube – boogie2988
[17] YouTube – boogie2988
[18] YouTube – boogie2988
[19] Instagram – garbagehuman4.0
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