Yikes, the Obsession debate has taken another messy turn as YouTuber deletes review

Obsession continues to dominate the conversation, but the debate has taken an odd turn in recent weeks, leading to an unexpected drama involving a review of the indie horror, an apology for said review, and both videos being deleted. 

When the film first landed in cinemas in May, the internet was for the most part in agreement: Nikki (and Freaky Nikki) isn’t the real villain. That label goes to Bear, who continues to sexually assault Nikki even after knowing that his wish did in fact work. 

This has since been confirmed by director Curry Barker, who said he turned down major studio offers to finance the film if he made Bear the hero. 

Still, the debate rages on, with YouTuber Alex Meyers – who makes cartoons about TV shows and movies – finding himself at the centre of the chat.

Meyers has deleted his Obsession take and the apology that followed after facing widespread backlash. Fellow YouTuber D’Angelo has since shared a breakdown of the drama on his own account, having kept copies of Meyers’ original videos. 

YouTuber Alex Meyers deletes Obsession video and apology

Meyers’ review was titled ‘Obsession is an Insane Movie’, and as is revealed by D’Angelo, it repeatedly gave Bear the benefit of the doubt, describing him as “just some super socially awkward loser who has a crush on a girl.”

He notes that Meyers repeats “to his credit” when discussing Bear’s behaviour. “And at no point does he ever actually acknowledge that the people pointing out the misogyny are correct,” D’Angelo added. 

Meyers also got called out for repeatedly referring to Bear’s rape of Nikki as sex. D’Angelo added, “The only way for you to justify anything that Bear is doing is by framing all of the assault and rape as sex, which is what Alex does in this video again and again [and is] what people were calling him out for.”

Another major reason for the backlash was the way in which Meyers discussed Nikki, having played into the “crazy Latina” trope. 

In one clip, Meyers says in response to a still of Bear looking shocked, “You wanted the Crystal Mommy Latina experience, and you got the Crystal Mommy Latina experience.”

Following the backlash, Meyers uploaded an apology video saying, “The jokes were too jokey for the subject of the movie. Maybe that was a mistake on my part.”

“I do not condone rape. I do respect women. I do not think women deserve to be raped. Apparently I need to say this very clearly,” he added. 

Again, his tone didn’t go down well online, and Meyers also deleted this apology. The only thing remaining is a post that reads, “I have taken down both videos relating to Obsession. I am sorry to those who were hurt by them. I will be more mindful of my words and jokes in the future.”

The Obsession discourse shows no signs of slowing down

Meyers’ videos are just the latest example of how divisive the conversation around Obsession has become. As D’Angelo noted, the film has become “a litmus test” in terms of revealing how people feel about misogyny and sexual assault. 

Since Obsession’s release, social media has been flooded with debates over Bear’s actions, with some viewers defending the character or arguing that Nikki somehow consented despite the film explicitly showing otherwise. 

As a more blunt take on X reads, “Theory: Nikki is the real villain. This movie is actually about how women nowadays are entitled and don’t respect men’s boundaries.”

Others have criticised what they see as a growing wave of rape apology. “Okay I finally watched Obsession… Bear is definitely a rapist wtf. Why was this even a discussion,” said another X user. 

As Baker told The Hollywood Reporter, Bear was always the villain. “When we were shopping this around, there were companies that told me they would give me $2 million if I just rewrote the script to make Bear a hero,” he said.  

“I was like, ‘I’m not rewriting the script to make Bear a guy that does all the right things. It’s so much more interesting that he doesn’t do the right thing and instead tries to make [the relationship] work and he just keeps making bad decision after bad decision.’ 

can’t get over the fact that a deep writer soul like nikki is over here appreciating ai slop that bear makes, it’s subtle but it really shows how much she changes from early on in the movie just to appeal to bear
obsession (2026) pic.twitter.com/JscCAXdFh6

— lisan al-gaib (@ssagittariusaes) June 30, 2026

“The movie would have been so boring if Bear was going on a journey to figure out the lore of the One Wish Willow. So I turned down more money to tell the story that I was more interested in telling.”

Bear actor Michael Johnston also confirmed this while speaking to Gold Derby, saying, “Absolutely, he is taking advantage of her. But how much he is aware of that changes over the course of the film. 

“I had to not judge Bear for all the awful decisions he was making, because as the actor, I had to justify those decisions. If I had cast my own judgment on him that may have changed the way I played the character. 

“But it was very, very clear from Curry’s script that he’s not the hero. He doesn’t have a redeeming arc.”

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Featured image credit: Focus Features/YouTube/Alex Meyers