Smosh Saved By Rhett & Link’s Mythical Entertainment
Smosh is a US-based sketch comedy YouTube channel created by two friends, Anthony Padilla, and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Anthony created a website under the name “smosh.com”. Anthony uploaded flash animations to the website, he was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. They together created Smosh’s YouTube channel in 2005 and began to post videos on it. They quickly became one of the most popular channels on the site. Currently, Smosh has over 24 million subscribers on its main channel along with 6 Million Subscribers on its Smosh Pit channel and another 7.4 million subscribers on the Smosh Games channel.
Rhett & Link’s Mythical Entertainment Acquisition Of Smosh
The past two years have been tough times for Smosh. In June of 2017, Anthony Padilla announced that he would be leaving Smosh to pursue independent video ventures due to a “lack in creative freedom”. Padilla further stated that a big reason why he left Smosh was due to the way Defy Media was handling the Smosh brand and treating their employees unfairly.
A year after Anthony’s departure, another disaster had hit Smosh. Defy Media ( Smosh’s parent company ) had abruptly shut down and laid off all their employees in the process.
“They screwed over my friends today, and I feel like I can’t keep faking like I’m totally cool with Defy Media as I’ve done for so long,” Anthony Padilla admitted. While Smosh co-founder Ian Hecox stated that Smosh was “not going anywhere” and that there were plans underway to find a new owner.
Today, Smosh has finally found a new owner. Smosh has been acquired by Mythical Entertainment, the company which was formed by Rhett & Link. There was already a report published last week which stated that Mythical was in the lead to buy Smosh. Hecox stated that these were “Some of the hardest four months of my life,” in a tweet after the deal was announced. He further went on “I’m so happy with where we ended up. Very proud of my Smosh Family. So much more to come!.”
Smosh posted a video on Friday titled “the rumors are true,” in which Hecox along with the other Smosh members announced the Rhett & Link acquisition of Smosh. Hecox stated “It really is an awesome thing. We get to do whatever we want, and we’re super, super excited… We’re starting all over, guys.”
SmoshCast was also announced, which will be a weekly podcast. The first episode of the podcast will address the fallout and aftermath of Defy’s shutdown.
Following the acquisition, it will be interesting to see whether Anthony will return to Smosh, as Anthony was against the previous owner’s, Defy Media and its way of operating the Smosh brand. Read more about the acquisition here.
