Dream's 5 biggest controversies of 2023

Clay "Dream" is a YouTuber who has risen in popularity at an astronomical rate in the past few years. He has gone from being a prominent figure in the Minecraft community on the platform to being viral on the internet for his face reveal. However, he has also become easily recognizable due to the controversies he often is involved in.

Even though he gained over 600,000 followers in 2023, he still became embroiled in drama. This included re-addressing his grooming allegations from 2022 and getting involved in a feud with Nicolas Cantu.

This article dives into the five biggest controversies that Dream has been involved in 2023.

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Allegations of grooming and other four biggest controversies Dream has been a part of in 2023

1) Responding to allegations of grooming

Dream responded to resurfacing allegations from last year (Image via dreamwastaken/X)

Clay was accused by a former fan, Anastasia, of grooming her when she was a minor. She also revealed screenshots of the conversations between the two. The fan even stated that the iconic face reveal done by Clay came into being because he was afraid she would leak it.

However, he promptly rejected the allegations, claiming them to be false and erroneous. Further, Clay alleged that she was eighteen years old at the time of their encounter, and she had mentioned the same in her bio.

In 2023, he revisited the controversial allegations and addressed those trying to cancel him for his alleged actions from the previous year. He stated that he had not groomed anybody and that there was no actual proof or evidence provided by Anastasia to back up her claims.

"No one was groomed. She lied about taking legal action, she lied about providing more proof later, and lied about almost everything that was shared. It’s been over a year since she said she would provide proof."

His addressing the allegations prompted a few netizens to point out that this again brought last year's drama to the forefront.

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2) 'I love miners' t-shirt

In November 2023, Clay uploaded a video on TikTok showcasing a t-shirt he had received in his mail. As he opens it up to see what it says, the video suddenly cuts off after showcasing the apparel with a huge "I love miners" written on it along with two "Steves," a reference to Minecraft.

The streamer later tried to explain the video and stated that it was meant to be funny. He said it was to make light of the "jokes" being made at his expense.

However, this video did not go down well with netizens. They criticized the YouTuber for making a joke, which, according to them, made light of actual victims' struggles. One user pointed out that it made him seem "guilty."

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3) Clashing with smaller accounts on X

After he addressed the older allegations, Clay was involved in a back-and-forth with various smaller accounts who were leveling certain claims against him. One user pointed out the apparent length of the YouTuber's response to the grooming allegations compared to another he had given to the accusations of stealing an idea on Minecraft.

Clay stated that while he realized that users on X do not want to read long posts, it was more important to uncover the "truth" than to make hit posts. The user then mentioned in a post that Clay was exhibiting "fan behavior," to which he made another response.

One user stated that this response constituted utilizing your platform to "attack someone" and stated that Clay was "a grown man" and should "act like one."

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4) Dream wins Gamer of the Year award

The Streamy Awards is an annual event focused on recognizing talented creators and excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing.

For the 2023 iteration of the event, five nominations were made for the title and award of "Gamer of the Year." The nominations included Jessica "Aphmau," Caylus, Clay "Dream," Mark "Markiplier," and finally, Thomas "TommyInnit."

After Clay became the recipient of the award, much to his own surprise, he stated that he "genuinely did not think" that he was going to win the award.

Netizens went wild as many expected other creators, such as Markiplier, to win the award, stating the lack of activity on Dream's channel as the reason. Others talked about how Markiplier got "robbed."

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5) Feud with Nicolas Cantu

The initial conversation between the parody account and Nicolas. (Image via X)

The streamer recently had a full-blown argument with voice actor Nicolas Cantu, who is known for his role as Gumball in The Amazing World of Gumball and Leonardo in the latest TMNT series. Things escalated as both sides started launching serious accusations against the other, much to the shock of users on X.

The entire ordeal began when Nicolas Cantu replied to a parody account of Dream, confusing it with Clay's real one. After the parody account made a p*dophilia-related joke, Nicolas stated that the YouTuber couldn't joke about it since he is "an actual" one.

Clay responds to Nicolas. (Image via dreamwastaken/X)

This caused Clay to respond with another post. It accused Nicolas of physical assault, narcissistic tendencies, and using racist as well as ableist terms.

Nicolas seemingly confirms nearly all of Clay's accusations. (Image via X)

Nicolas responded by seemingly confirming all of what Clay said except the accusations of racist behavior. Dream then ended up blocking the actor, with the latter posting about it on his X profile.

Users were taken aback by the sudden nature of the drama between the two. Some also mentioned the irony of the fact that Clay had previously argued for the use of the same ableist slurs that he condemned Nicolas for.

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Clay "Dream" is a popular YouTuber and singer known mostly for his Minecraft gameplay. He also streams occasionally on Twitch, with nearly a million followers on the platform.

He averages around 71,000 hours watched per month, with Minecraft being the only content he streams on the site. He has an average of 4,500 viewers watching him per stream.