YouTuber Dream has announced that he is putting on a mask again after his viral unmasking video was met with backlash.
The 23-year-old social media personality, who is best known for his Minecraft content, kept his identity a secret for years and would only ever be seen with a mask over his face.
That all changed in October last year when the stealthy Minecraft creator pulled a Hannah Montana and removed his smiley face mask for everyone to see during a video.
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But unlike the love the fictional pop star received after removing her wig, Dream’s video was met with backlash.
Social media users criticised his looks and trolls called him ‘ugly’ in the video, which was titled hi, I’m Dream.
Dream reflected on the unkind response to his face in an interview with Bloomberg shortly after he posted his face reveal video.
He said: “I got texted by so many friends of mine being like. ‘Are you OK?”
"I was like, 'well, yeah'. When you have 30 million eyeballs on you, a million, two million people are going to be making jokes or mean or are not great people. When you take that big of a pool, there's going to be a portion."
Dream explained why he was finally unveiling his identity after keeping it a secret since he began his online career in 2014.
He said: "It's because George [fellow Minecraft content creator GeorgeNotFound] - he's my best friend, he's been in the UK trying to get a Visa to come to America, to come move here and move in with me.
"George is going to be in the airport. I'm going to meet him for the first time. I've known him so long, feels like my entire life.
"My goal was to just start doing things - get out. Meet creators, say 'hi' to my friends, finally.
"Just get out in the world. I've been bunkered up.
"People are trying to leak my face. Tiny bit too much. I love you guys, but sometimes a little, little far."
Dream shared a new video on Friday (9 June) touching on why he decided to delete his face reveal video and his thoughts about the reactions to his face.
Titled bye, from Dream, the video is mostly a skit and pokes fun at the brutal reactions to the face reveal video. We also see him buy a new mask that he can wear comfortably while out in public.
Although people know what he looks like, Dream explained that he will ‘slowly’ delete all the pictures of himself online.
In the video’s description, he wrote: “After face revealing and removing my mask, I regretted the attention and hate, and am walking it back.
"I will slowly be deleting all pictures of me online, and going back to just being a gamer in a mask. Starting with my Mr Beast Video, and my Face Reveal video, ‘hi, I'm Dream’. I will be walking it back. I will be getting rid of everything other than my new mask."
Dream continued: “The same company that made the spider man mask, batman mask, and many other superheroes, made me a mask so that I can be Dream all of the time. Hide my identity, even [in] public, at McDonalds, or any place I need to go.
“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart to those that supported me, even though I am ugly. I appreciate you all more than you could ever know, and I will be working on my face while I'm masked again.”
Gregory Robinson