Online Influencer Sloan Privatized Video Accusing Bob Saget Of Inappropriate Behavior
I'm trying to understand how the sad, baseless claims hurled towards comedy legend Bob Saget by online influencer Sl04n (Sloan), in a now-privatized YouTube video titled "Inside Bob Saget’s Inappropriate Relationship with the Olsen Twins," were able to gain traction with the Cancel Culture movement. Though I've written about CC more than I would have liked to over the last couple of months, the piece today is about how misdirection and conjecture are trying to plant the seeds of that movement towards the TV and stand-up comedy star.
Written By: Anton Sawyer
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Thankfully, I saw the video and was able to get direct quotes before it was privatized—though it seems some of the damage was done. If you are not familiar with Sloan and what has happened over the last few days on his YouTube channel concerning Saget, it's pretty breathtaking. It is THE blueprint as to how might is right when opinions are presented as fact when it comes to trying to take someone down for both real—and perceived—demons from their past.
Let it be known that I am not in any way a Bob Saget fan. I liked his show "Full House," but that was about it. It was this family-friendly hit along with him becoming the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," his standing as "America's Purest Dad" was cemented. The reality of who he was as a comedian was something foreign to me. This is why when I saw the movie "Half Baked" and found Saget had a speaking role in it, which included the line "I used to suck dick for [cocaine]," my mind exploded. That one segment he had in this late 90s stoner-comedy was a complete shock to my system. When I openly showed my feelings of surprise to the friend I was watching it with, he had to give me some context. I would find out my friend wasn't wrong when I heard some of Saget's material. You see, this filth-laden diatribe was pretty par for the course when it came to Saget's humor. In fact, the only time he wasn't doing this humor was during his tenure on Full House and AFHV.
When you go back to the beginning of Saget's stand-up career, his routine from the early-to-mid 1980s was rife with "blue" material. Once he got the role of "Danny Tanner" on Full House, everything changed. For the next decade, he lived that life professionally. Since leaving those family-friendly shows in 1997, he has done movies with obscene language and has done a few successful tours with his stand-up routine. In a nutshell, who Bob Saget is/was outside of 1987-1997 has been pretty well established. It doesn't appear that way for YouTube personality Sloan.
In a video that has now been made private—you'll find out why in a moment—he used blatant conjecture. Now, as someone who values journalist integrity (please check the Bibliography if you have any doubts), I got the direct quotes from his video prior to its privatization. When I watched it, it had been up for 21 hours. By this point, it had over 107K views, with over 2,500 comments. If anything I write about here is incorrect or inaccurate, then I BEG Sloan to make the video available to the public once more, so they can see if I'm misquoting him. In the event that does happen, I have included the link to his video in that same bibliography.
So let's get into the meat of the video. It begins with Sloan watching the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget. If you have never seen a Comedy Central Roast, they can be some of the most vile-laden exhibits you will ever witness. People I know who find offensive humor enjoyable have even said certain segments made them ill—like the time Any Schumer made a joke to Steve-O about his recently deceased friend Ryan Dunn. It is no holds barred typically. It appears Sloan was completely unaware of this. One part that is worth mentioning is when Jeff Ross set up a rather tasteless Blackjack joke with the punchline being that Saget hit on the Olsen's starting at age 8 and stopping at 21. Sloan responded with, "He claims that Bob hit on these girls from 8 to 18, which [is] a bad joke but honestly probably younger than 8 which is the worst part of it all." Not only did Sloan misquote the age in the joke, but he also presented the information in a way that implies that there's absolutely no way Saget is innocent, that this is a fact. This isn't the worst of it.
During the roast, comedian Brian Posehn made a joke about how Full House kept pedophiles off the street because three of them were on the show—referring not only to Saget, but also his co-stars Dave Coulier and John Stamos. Using the same crack-detective work as Sloan, one would "know" then that all three of them sexually assaulted the young girls on the show. Yet Sloan only mentions Coulier once. He intercut an interview on Ellen the Olsen twins had done where they talked about a shower scene with Coulier—during which both twins were laughing. He made inferences of inappropriate behavior there as well without anything more than conjecture. He never mentions Stamos again. I'm guessing he didn't get enough other examples of hearsay that met the minimum amount to guarantee judgment of someone else.
I understand that when it comes to the internet, you can be sucked into your own world and be cocooned. I have experienced it often myself. When I speak to friends of mine about musical artists that everyone seems to know but me, they're right. I'll check and see that some hip-hop or K-pop artist have over a billion views, all while being someone I've never heard of. This is also how bigoted ideas, conspiracy theories, and other madness can flourish so well online. The thing Sloan is missing is that just because you recently found out about something, doesn't mean it wasn't common knowledge to those who stick their heads out of their shells. Thankfully Twitter shut him down, which will help in stopping the spread of this.
I'm not sure who contacted Sloan and/or his people, but it seems to have been addressed swiftly. Even as quickly as it started to trend on social media, was as quickly as it vanished. Sloan's Twitter was briskly set to private, and the video was privatized as well not long after I witnessed it. These are all good steps, but it never should have gotten to this level in the first place. It's truly terrifying. Not only were about 80% of those in the comment section on his side, they also immediately wanted blood. The fact this video hit nearly a quarter of a million views in about a day and a half, along with Sloan's fan base cheering it on, is the complete encapsulation of why people not only hate but are also terrified of Cancel Culture.
The saddest part about this is when you have seen Sloan's other videos, they are always fact-based. He had always had receipts. Sure he does throw in conjecture at points, but he makes sure that if he says an assertion is a fact, he has a video, direct quote, or the like to substantiate it. His Bob Saget video had none of that. The fact that a comedian made the (tasteless) joke that he hit on the Olsen twins from "8 to 21," and Sloan comes in immediately with "honestly probably younger than 8 ..." is absolutely horrific. There has never been an accusation made against Bob Saget. There haven't been rumors of him assaulting anyone ... well, that's not true.
Bob Saget has had to defend himself before with a similar accusation. In 2020, shortly after the premiere of the Corey Feldman film "(My) Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys," a rumor spread that it was Saget ... again based entirely on his racy history. Quickly, Twitter users began to tweet that Saget was not named in the documentary and that the statement was false. It eventually died as it should have, but it still set a tone. There were people who believed this and were willing to end Saget's career.
I hope this is a learning experience. Whether it's through online influencers, politicians, or anyone who has any kind of cult of personality behind them, they are fallible. People need to realize that any accusation you throw out there needs to be rock solid. If you only know "in your heart" this happened ... it most likely didn't. We need to regain our intellectual status as a leader in the world. We can't know something is right in our heart and run with it, ESPECIALLY if you have a large platform. I hope to see an apology video from Sloan soon. He needs to acknowledge that he was in the wrong. If he doesn't, then neither he nor his horde can truly learn from this mistake.
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The dude literally mentioned in his own memoir that he would pretend to fuck the Michelle stand-in mannequin on set. Source: (https://nypost.com/2014/04/13/bob-saget-dishes-on-dirty-side-of-full-house-in-new-memoir/) Also, for someone so concerned with “journalistic integrity,” this post is riddled with spelling errors. Explain to me how you’re any better than this YouTuber?
Although, I see where you are coming from you also used no factual evidence that he isn't guilty of having a relationship. His behavior that he had on the show in front of the twins and everyone else is completely inappropriate and he shouldn't have acted this way in front of the olsen twins. Or joke about "flirting" with a literal child. That is on him completely for getting this egative attention because the way that he "jokes".