Comedian Emmanuel Hudson blasted his former YouTube collaborator Spoken Reasons during a recent episode of Wild N’ Out, calling out the YouTube funnyman for failing to pay him for one of their most-watched videos.On the latest episode of Wild N’ Out, Hudson wasted no time in addressing his misgivings about Reasons, whose real name is John Baker Jr.
The two collaborated in 2012 on the hilarious comedy rap song, "Why You Asking All Them Questions," which went viral at the time and now has nearly 70 million views.
"You want to tell the people why we never did another video? Five years, I'm tired of being merciful. Nick, I know this is Wildstyle but this one is personal. Y'all remember 'Asking All Them Questions'? You know it came with a big check until he snatched it from me. Then he went missing and started acting funny. He did a movie doing comedy, you know acting funny. To tell the truth Nick, I really want to smack this dummy. But you're telling me to chill. Questions with small change, I'm still spending 'She Ratchet' money," Hudson said, referencing his other hilarious, widely viewed YouTube hit from 2012.
"Act stupid. I know you mad clueless. The only reason why you on this show is 'cause my name was attached to it. I'm gonna put you in your place. Your most viewed video shows nothing but my face. So tell the people, right now before I get mad and start to rise, you got a chance to clear your name. Right now n***a, apologize," Hudson rapped.
The long-simmering feud dates back to the popular song they wrote and performed together. For years, fans wondered why the two never capitalized more on their success together. There were always rumors of a dispute over money, which were never confirmed by either side until recently.
Reasons explained the situation in an interview with KevOnStage's Righteous & Ratchet podcast last September, where he said the problem had more to do with the YouTube platform than anything else.
Reasons said he flew Hudson to Orlando and paid for his hotel while they worked to create the hit song. Hudson wrote the song, but Reasons edited the video. When asked why they never worked together again, Reasons told the hosts that it was just a job and that he wouldn't necessarily call on people again after specific work is finished.
The hosts then plainly asked Reasons about the "urban legend" that Hudson was never paid for the video.
"That's not true. The song is registered on BMI. He owns the majority of the song. I only own like 20% of that song. At the time people looked at [Google] AdSense, and it was on my channel. The problems came in [because] I uploaded the video first on my channel," Reasons said.
One of the hosts added that whatever money came from the millions of views did not go to Hudson because it was on Reasons' channel.
"It was all new. We just now doing this. I've never flown nobody to me. It was just all new. That taught me a lot of lessons because that's when I started doing paperwork. I didn't do no paperwork before that and after that, that's just what it was. I can understand how he felt some type of way. We talked about it at Wild N' Out back in May. We had a chance to talk about it," Reasons added.
KevOnStage jumped in to note that, at the time, YouTube did not separate what video made what money. YouTube does tell you which videos make what amount of money based on views, he said, but back then it did not.
"At that time, it was just 'here's your money for all your videos.' I could see if you were going viral, you can't really say how much this does. Obviously you'll have an uptick, but years later you don't necessarily know. So I can see how that is," KevOnStage said.
Reasons went on to say that his YouTube page is representative of his network of viewers.
"I can understand how people from the outside looking in … have their opinions about things. … But it's like you created that channel, it's your channel. And the video is on his channel. It's 50-something million on mine and 20-30-something million on his. I wasn't the only one to upload it. And he owns the majority of the song. These is facts. He knows this. … He owns the majority if it and my producer owns the second most percentage and I own the least. Because I wasn't in the gym as far as the studio. I did the editing and it was my idea," Reasons said.
Once the Wild N’ Out video went viral on Twitter and Instagram, Reasons even shared a photo of the contract they signed.
— Spoken Reasons (@SpokenReasons) April 15, 2020
Despite the proof, many in the comments noted that the photo and Reasons' explanations still did not address the core issue Hudson seems to have with him. Many Twitter and YouTube users said that Reasons' statements in the interview were a tacit admission that he never paid Hudson a cut of the advertising money initially generated from when the YouTube video was first released.
He still kept money from him. By uploading the video first I’m his page those views SR took that money when in fact he didn’t deserve it
— Ridiculous CUNT (@Tee_Dubbez) April 15, 2020
Reasons said in the interview, which followed after the Wild N’ Out episode was filmed last year, that the two spoke about it following the taping and aired out their differences.
