Dhar Mann is a social media influencer with a following of 17.8 million on youtube, and 15 million on TikTok. On these accounts, he posts inspirational life lessons “skits” trying to spread positivity and teach people to be respectful to everyone.

Although Dhar may seem like a nice guy and wants everyone to respect each other, recent accusations have brought out another side he didn’t want people to see. Dhar Mann has been accused of treating his actors with disrespect and giving them low pay. Most believe that this is no way to treat people who work for you and support your fame. 

These accusations have gotten to the point where actors themselves have spoken out and started to protest about this topic, carrying fans that support them as well. 

Kathrine Norland, an actor that has been working with Dhar Mann for over 3 years, has come to his defense, claiming that she has never seen Dhar Mann do any inappropriate actions towards his actors/actresses.

However, the accusations far outweigh support on Mann’s behalf. 

“I think Dhar Mann should treat his actors with respect,” said 7th grader Caroline H.  She also pointed out that he makes inspirational videos to spread and influence positivity, and if he believes what he says, the should be doing the same in real life.  His actors are the ones producing/making the video, therefore, they should be getting higher pay and better respect. 

Caroline’s opinion is also backed up by another fellow Longfellow student, Anna T. Anna isn’t a huge fan of the program, indicating that some of the lines that the actors say are “childish” and “cringy,” but that doesn’t mean they should be disrespected. 

“I think that they definitely need higher pay for all of the work put in,” Anna said.

Seventh grader Carson R. was curious about the controversy and did a quick Google search, coming up with a sea of stories on the matter. 

“Dhar Mann has done multiple controversial things,” said Carson.  She found online accusations that  Dhar Mann was a scam artist prior to his success on YouYube, corroborating that he is not giving his actors fair pay and that his behavior is very unprofessional.  There was one claim that he had chased an actor/actress with a knife on set and another that he refused to give a little girl her medicine for her allergies. 

At the moment, all of this is playing out on the internet rather than in court, but it is part of a larger conversation about fans’ expectations that the people they look up to live up to a certain standard.  If you can’t trust someone preaching positivity, who can you trust?