HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Steven Jay Williams (born July 24, 1974), better known by his online alias Boogie2988 or just Boogie, is an American
YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...
best known for his video rants about
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s and
nerd culture A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...
as a character named "Francis".


Early life and education

Williams grew up in St. Paul, Virginia. His father, Carl Williams (May 1, 1935 - September 2, 2001) was a coal miner, and his mother, Wanda Faye Williams (née Privett) (December 6, 1941 - June 10 or October 8, 2009) was a teacher. He has two older siblings. Williams described his childhood as a "sad" time period in his life, due to dealing with
obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...
, lack of friends, and suffering verbal and
physical abuse Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...
from his mother. Despite this, her death in 2009 while he was in the same hospital as her has been considered the saddest moment of his life. He had already been depressed because of his father losing his battle with cancer. Williams had
gastric bypass surgery Gastric bypass surgery refers to a technique in which the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch and then the small intestine is rearranged to connect to both. Surgeons have developed several differ ...
due to morbid obesity on August 1, 2017. Williams graduated from St. Paul High School in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and attended
University of Virginia's College at Wise The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) is a public liberal arts college in Wise, Virginia. It is part of the University of Virginia and was established in 1954 as Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia. The United S ...
, but did not graduate. He later moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where his life improved momentarily but soon worsened, and he did not leave his home for seven years while being supported by a friend. It was then that he discovered YouTube and started to create videos, which he said gave his life a meaning.


YouTube career

The Francis character is based on stereotypes of nerdy video game players and often parodies trending video game news, reaction, and culture. Williams based the character on his early life experiences and has said that he wants viewers to hate the character for embodying gamer stereotypes. Boogie2988 videos range from absurd rants to serious discussions on daily life, such as the ethics of paid promotion on YouTube channels, and his experiences with mental health. Boogie won the Trending Gamer award at
The Game Awards 2016 The Game Awards 2016 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2016. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2016, and was live streamed across several platforms. At the ev ...
. In June 2016, Boogie's YouTube account was temporarily closed due to an anonymous hacker. The unidentified person got hold of his phone number via
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
during his time at
VidCon VidCon is an annual convention for fans, creators, executives, and online brands. The event primarily features prominent video stars from across the internet. In October 2020, VidCon Now relaunched as an ongoing, free digital offering. Vetera ...
and was able to gain access to his accounts associated with it, including his YouTube channel. His channel was restored less than a week later.


Controversies

In October 2018, Boogie faced scrutiny due to his relationship with the controversial counseling service
BetterHelp BetterHelp is a mental health platform that provides online mental health services directly to consumers. The online counseling and therapy services are provided through web-based interaction as well as phone and text communication. BetterHelp wa ...
. He and other YouTubers sponsored by the service were accused of profiting from mental illness, which led to Boogie publicly terminating his partnership with the company. Later that month, Boogie was removed from a ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'' charity event due to concerns from
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
activists. In February 2019, Boogie joked that he would "make a better team leader" over another player due to their parents' divorce and correlated it with anger issues during a live stream of the game ''
Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a free-to-play battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo Switch in March ...
''. He became the subject of criticism following these comments. In April 2019, Boogie admitted to potentially committing tax fraud. He stated that he purchases ''
Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...
'' cards for his channel, writes them off as a business expense, and then resells them without claiming the income on his taxes. The
IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
states that income above $400 from self-employment must be reported. In June 2019, Boogie faced criticism after clips from older live streams of him making racially charged comments resurfaced. He commented during one live stream, "That's a lot of money, I guess, for a person of color, or is it not?" after receiving a $3 donation from a follower who frequently donated to him on his stream with the message "I am a black person". On June 27, 2019, Boogie announced on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that he had purchased a new Tesla automobile. Following his announcement, Boogie held a live stream in early July in which he sarcastically asked for money to help pay for the new car, upsetting some of his viewers who took his comments seriously. Boogie subsequently received harsh criticism for his live stream, prompting him to clarify that he did not actually purchase the car, but rather only put a down payment on it, and that he had cancelled the order as a result of the backlash against him, among other things. In August 2019, Boogie made a controversial statement against his internet trolls where he claimed "I think that there are rapists and
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
out there who... are more redeemable than you because at least they're doing something they believe in." In August 2020, Boogie announced on Twitter that he was teaming up with Palangi Studios co-founders, Matt Murphy & Joe Boyajian, for an upcoming project. After no other details were announced regarding this project, Boogie tweeted about two guys who tried to hustle him into receiving a Playstation 5 before the release date was verified by
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
. There was significant backlash from the Palangi Studios community who felt that Boogie was blatantly insinuating the co-founders had been behind the scheme. Boogie eventually deleted the tweet and apologized for the situation during a livestream, later blaming a recent panic attack for the accusations.


Personal life

Shortly after his mother's death in 2009, he met Desiree "Dez" and she moved to Arkansas to live with him. She later became known in his content as Dez2988, taking on his numerical suffix and occasionally portraying the
unseen character An unseen character in theatre, comics, film, or television, or silent character in radio or literature, is a character that is mentioned but not directly known to the audience, but who advances the action of the plot in a significant way, and w ...
of Francis' sister. In October 2013, Williams and Desiree got married. On December 19, 2017, Williams announced that Desiree filed for divorce and had planned to for a while, but waited until he sufficiently recovered from his gastric bypass surgery. The divorce was finalized on February 13, 2018. He is a theist. In November 2022, Williams was diagnosed with
polycythemia vera Polycythemia vera is an uncommon myeloproliferative neoplasm (a type of chronic leukemia) in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. It may also result in the overproduction of white blood cells and platelets. Most of the healt ...
, a type of
blood cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...
.


Aggravated assault charge

In September 2020, Boogie began trending on Twitter after news broke out of an ongoing conflict between him and Frank Hassle, a YouTuber who began harassing him over the course of several months after suspecting he was the cause of his channels' termination. After Hassle had made his way down to Boogie's home in Arkansas, the two were interviewed by
Keemstar Daniel M. Keem (born March 8, 1982), known online as Keemstar, is an American YouTuber, podcaster, and Video game live streaming, streamer. He is best known for being the host of the Internet popular culture news show ''DramaAlert''. Early li ...
, in which Boogie threatened to kill Hassle if he stepped on his property. The next day after Hassle showed up at his house wearing a GoPro, Boogie, pulled out a gun and fired a warning shot into the air. Hassle eventually left and the entire incident was caught on camera. A police investigation was launched shortly afterwards. On May 7, 2021, a warrant was issued for Boogie's arrest on a charge of aggravated assault with a $5,000 bond by the
Washington County, Arkansas Washington County is a regional economic, educational, and cultural hub in the Northwest Arkansas region. Created as Arkansas's 17th county on November 30, 1848, Washington County has 13 incorporated municipalities, including Fayetteville, the ...
sheriff's department. Boogie turned himself in on May 12, was processed over the course of three and a half hours and posted for bail. He
plea In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response ...
ded not guilty during his court session. On March 7, 2022, Boogie stated that his case was settled on a deferred adjudication.


Filmography


Television


Web


References

{{Portal bar, Video games 1974 births Living people American YouTubers English-language YouTube channels People from St. Paul, Virginia Video bloggers Twitch (service) streamers YouTube controversies People charged with assault YouTube channels launched in 2008 The Game Awards winners