Why 'worst man' on the internet Jack Doherty is facing a dark future

Even YouTube prankster Jack Doherty’s fawning parents have been forced to acknowledge their son’s rude behaviour. 

But it doesn’t take much of a cyber trawl to find far more damning descriptions of him: ‘obnoxious’, ‘unbearable’ and ‘disgusting’ are among the printable terms that keep cropping up.

Yet it seems unlikely that the brattish Doherty, who has built up a huge online profile with over 15million YouTube subscribers by making videos documenting his offensive antics and outrageous stunts, has the time to be even slightly bothered by any criticism. He is probably far too busy counting his money.

Earlier this year, now aged 22, he claimed that he owns a property portfolio of more than 35 houses and has ‘made $40million [£30million] off my iPhone’. 

Although some observers believe he may be exaggerating his wealth, even the most conversative estimates put his earnings well into the millions.

Regardless of how much he has in the bank, though, Doherty now finds himself in a situation that goes beyond money. 

He faces the prospect of a lengthy jail sentence after being arrested last month for alleged drug possession among other charges. Doherty has not made any comment on the allegations. 

While it is just the latest chapter in a story that has been marked by controversy from the beginning, it is by far the most serious development yet.

Doherty, who has an older brother and sister, was born in Long Island, New York in October 2003 to Irish-American father Mark and Polish-born mother Anna.

Even before he enrolled as a pupil at North Shore High School, he had set up his own YouTube channel and – shortly before his 13th birthday – posted his first video showing him flipping a highlighter pen to make it land upright.

From such inauspicious beginnings came a hugely successful career.

 In January 2017, Doherty uploaded two-and-half minutes of footage – titled ‘I Flipped All Of These!!’ – showing him repeating the exercise with a range of everyday objects including pencils, batteries and water bottles.

The video went viral and Doherty became a YouTube sensation almost overnight. By the following year, he had more than one million subscribers and started recording edgier content in an effort to grow his audience.

For the record, his strategy worked. His videos have been watched almost 6.4billion times on YouTube – almost one view for every person on Earth.

One of his preferred tactics when filming involves deliberately bumping shoulders with passers-by in the street and then, when they react, goading them while he hides behind the protection of an imposing bodyguard. 

Doherty has also uploaded footage of himself approaching a table of strangers in a fast-food restaurant and, without saying a word, he suddenly starts eating food from their plates.

Other clips have seen him and his friends commandeering the intercom at Walmart, the American supermarket, and loudly singing songs until staff step in to stop them.

In one infamous episode – which was later revisited on the US chat show Dr Phil – Doherty posted a video of a confrontation with a female neighbour who had complained about the noise from his dirt bike. 

Doherty, who told his followers that he would ride the bike right past the woman’s house again if the original video received 50,000 ‘likes’, later smirked: ‘I don’t care about what she thinks. My fans seem to love it, so I’m going to keep doing it.’

Last year, Doherty crashed his $200,000 (£150,000) McLaren sports car during a livestream after appearing to look at his phone while driving in the rain. 

Footage that circulated online showed him glancing down at his handset before exclaiming: ‘No, no, no!’ as he lost control of the car and ploughed into a barrier.

At one point during the video, he was shown lamenting his wrecked car – while also checking that his cameraman, who had been badly injured in the crash, was still capturing the scene. 

One individual commented on X: ‘Your friend’s face is gushing blood but you make sure he stays filming from all angles... nice.’

There have also been incidents involving other members of the wider YouTube community.

Footage emerged in late 2023 showing Doherty in a verbal row during a Halloween party at fellow vlogger David Dobrik’s Los Angeles home. 

Following the video, legal proceedings for assault and battery were launched after Doherty’s bodyguard allegedly punched another guest.

Even Doherty’s love life hasn’t escaped the gaze of his own cameras. When he took part in a non-legally binding wedding in November 2024 with his then partner, OnlyFans (OF) model McKinley Richardson, he was filmed reading from a pre-nuptial agreement saying his new bride ‘gets absolutely nothing when I divorce her, even if I cheat.

‘If she cheats, she automatically owes $10million [£7.5million]. I’ll also receive 100 per cent of her OF revenue moving forward, even if we divorce.’

Doherty added that Richardson would also be obliged ‘to cook, clean and do my laundry’ after any split.

The couple subsequently parted, with Richardson admitting on a podcast that she felt ‘humiliated’ by the prank which had blindsided her. 

While the 22-year-old said she found Doherty ‘amazing in the beginning’, she added that ‘the person he became... wasn’t the same guy I fell for’.

Yet a disgruntled former lover and an army of detractors may be the least of Doherty’s problems as 2026 dawns. 

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He is facing drugs charges after being arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, last November, with police documents saying a search found ‘half of an orange oval-shaped pill with 3 imprinted on it, consistent with a Schedule II amphetamine’ and three ‘suspected cannabis cigarettes’. 

According to some reports, he could face up to seven years in jail.

For his part, Doherty – who lives in Plantation, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida – insists his critics are envious. 

In an interview earlier this year, he said: ‘They just see how young I am and how much stuff I have and it p****s them off. It would p*** me off too – if I see anyone my age or younger doing better than me, that f***s with my head. I’m, like, I’ve got to get better than them.

‘A lot of people see that and they just hate on me, because they just can’t fathom what’s happened in my life. But if I see someone doing better than me, it just make me wants to do better than them – it motivates me.’

It is certainly a defiant and unapologetic attitude. But it might also go some way towards explaining why Jack Doherty has, as British YouTuber Cam Kirkham – who is famous for his comedic takes on internet culture – puts it, ‘gained a reputation for being possibly the worst man on the internet’.