YouTube will not be posting a Rewind this year, which is probably for the best.
The company’s annual video recap of the year is infamously panned by creators and viewers alike. Although YouTube has taken different approaches, from scripted skits featuring different creators to last year’s roundup of videos, Rewinds consistently receive abysmal feedback from the community. 2018’s YouTube Rewind was the most disliked video in the history of the platform. It was so universally criticized, YouTube scrapped the skits entirely and for 2019 simply put out a list of the most liked videos of the year.
Whether it’s the fact that it’s put out by a company that creators claim unfairly demonetizes their content or that YouTube Rewinds just make viewers cringe, at this point, hating on the annual YouTube Rewind is a holiday tradition.
But this year, YouTube scrapped Rewind completely. In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, the company said it will not publish a Rewind because it “doesn’t feel right to carry on” as if 2020 hasn’t been an unprecedented string of disasters.
“Whether you love it — or only remember 2018 — Rewind was always meant to be a celebration of you. But 2020 has been different,” YouTube’s statement reads. “And it doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t. So, we’re taking a break from Rewind this year.”
YouTube didn’t mention whether it would resume Rewind next year.
“We know that so much of the good that did happen in 2020 was created by all of you,” the statement continues. “You’ve found ways to lift people up, help them cope, and make them laugh. You made a hard year genuinely better.”
While some creators promised to make their own versions of Rewind this year in YouTube’s place, others celebrated.
zack this is one less disaster for 2020. smh
— Kirill (@Kiriil_17) November 12, 2020
Says the company consistently fucking over its content creators. Have fun being only hosting mainstream cringe that people fled from in the first place.
— Don Banini (@BaniniDon) November 12, 2020
2020 has taken a lot from us, but the opportunity to mock yet another YouTube Rewind is just icing on the cake.