Last week, we learned that the YouTuber “Try Guys” had pushed out/fired Ned Fulmer. The Try Guys started at Buzzfeed, but for years now, they’ve been their own stand-alone brand, making lots of money from their YouTube channel, their social media content and their tours. Fulmer was one of the original Try Guys and he was the “Wife Guy” of the group, basically using his marriage as his whole personality. And, as it turned out, using his wife as cover to act skeezy towards women, including a coworker. The official story was that Fulmer had a consensual affair with a coworker. The internet rumors were that Fulmer screwed around a lot and his behavior was pretty gross. Well, now the remaining Try Guys have done a YouTube video explaining all:
The remaining members — Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld — addressed their fans for the first time on Monday since they revealed they no longer were to be associated with Ned, whom they actually fired on Sept. 16.
“Ned Fulmer is no longer working with the ‘Try Guys,’” Kornfeld said in a YouTube video — which they named “what happened” — with Yang and Habersberger sitting beside him on a couch. “By now, we’re assuming you’ve seen the Reddit threads and TikToks and tweets and news articles. We want to give you a timeline of what’s transpired and some transparency into our decision-making.”
Habersberger, who looked somber, continued, “On Labor Day weekend, multiple fans alerted us that they had seen Ned and an employee engaging in public romantic behavior.”
He went on to say that they reached out to the employee to “check on” her before Ned, 35, “confirmed the reports and since confirmed this had been going on for some time, which was obviously, very shocking for us. We just want you to know that we had no idea this was going on. All of that information was just as shocking to us as this has been for you this week.”
Yang, 36, added they spent three weeks talking to various lawyers, human resources and public relations experts to “make sure” they were taking the necessary steps. “We were acutely aware of just how contrary this was to the values of the company we’ve built and those of everyone who works here,” he continued, taking a moment to compose himself. “This is something that we take very seriously and we refuse to sweep under the rug, that is now who were are and that is not what we stand for.”
Kornfeld, 32, then revealed that they “signed written consent approving the removal of Ned as manager and employee,” on Sept. 16, which will explain his absence from the most recent “Try Guys” videos and social media. The team removed him from their merch store and digitally erase him from old videos, as well as any marketing products. Kornfeld even said that their decision to completely scrap some videos where Ned was heavily featured “cost” them a lot of money, but they stand by their decision “proudly.”
Admitting that they could not release the findings of their investigation for legal reasons, Habersberger, 35, said they found “Ned engaged in conduct unbecoming of our team and we knew we could not move forward with him.” He also explained that the reason they took so long to make the matters public was that “real people had been affected,” but were ultimately forced to do after the pics and videos of Ned and Alexandria Herring surfaced.
“We are incredibly shocked and deeply hurt by all of this,” Yang added, holding back tears. “This is someone that we built a company and brand with for eight years. We feel saddened — not just personally but on behalf of our staff and fans that believed in us.”
A tearful Kornfeld continued, “I don’t know that we can articulate the pain we feel at this moment. It’s hard to rewatch old videos that we love and are proud of, we are losing a friend, someone who we built a company with, have countless of memories with […] We are sorry this ever happened and we don’t know what else to say. This will change here, but we hope that within this, there’s opportunity for positive growth and better videos ahead, but it’s going to be hard. This whole thing is going to be f–king hard.”
In some ways, I feel like this is incredibly melodramatic, but on the other side, I wonder if this is anywhere near the whole story. Going off the Reddit and Twitter threads, it definitely feels like there’s been some awareness of Ned’s behavior for a lot longer than a month. I also feel like that’s probably the thing they can’t talk about for legal reasons, the idea that Fulmer wasn’t just cheating on his wife with one coworker and that some of it might be considered sexual harassment and there are huge liability issues for their business. It definitely feels like all of this wouldn’t be *this* big of a deal if we were only talking about one affair, with one woman, and everything was consensual.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, YouTube.
They did a lot of college tours so I’m sure he was skeevy with more than one co-ed.
My husband and I like to watch the try guys, their videos are so dumb they are fun to watch at the end of the day. We both disliked Ned so none of this is a surprise. He always came off as entitled, douchey, and punchable
he is entitled, douchey, and punchable lmao. He’s a known frat guy that went to Yale and apparently came from money
And he’s a Florida Man.
You can feel the anger of Eugene, the pain of Zach and disappointment of Keith. It feels very real to me. Maybe they suspected things long before, but never had any proof of an actual affair in their workplace, which is different for them because of the company. I’m glad they are making this decision
I don’t watch the videos so I can’t personally confirm, but I read that Eugene and Ned’s wife are BFF. That would explain the seething anger for sure.
Eugene doesn’t have a wife. I think his current partners name is Matthew.
I didn’t say he did. I said Eugene is friends with Neds wife.
Eugène is besties with Keith’s wife, but am sure they are all close
Also apparently Eugene is on the record as having some baggage relating to his own parents and their rather messy divorce, so this whole thing is particularly an *issue* for him.
I agree. They probably knew or suspected he had a wandering dong. They probably thought it was on his time. So that would be an issue between him and his wife. His affair at work is much different. He put their whole company and livelihoods at risk. It reflects badly on the whole Try Guys brand.
If Alex turns around and sues they could be ruined. Other employees could also sue citing culture of HR (which apparently Ned was head of).
So it’s a big deal.
This was more than just an affair – it was bad business. It also torpedoed their friendships in the process. Terribly sad, and it makes me wonder why Ned – who is a smart educated person – would have deliberately been so careless and so public
Part of me wonders if he torpedoed himself on purpose, even if he doesn’t realize it
The MAGNITUDE of this fuck up is never ending. This could end up destroying all of their careers and put everyone out of a job.
Yes, this is their business and livelihood and their friend and partner put it at risk. I can understand how they would feel betrayed and angry and frankly disgusted by the behavior of someone they thought they knew. And on top of that he is their friend so on some level they are also grieving the lost friendship. It’s not the same as finding out your friend had a discreet affair that doesn’t really affect you or your friendship.
THIS. What Ned did was not have an affair with a coworker and that was never the Try Guys’ story–that was NED’S story. Ned was a boss and owner of the company which makes consent very tricky and opens the company up to legal liability. So not only did Ned destroy his marriage and job but he didn’t care about how his actions could affect the other three Try Guys and everyone else that they employ. His selfishness affects a lot of people’s livelihoods.
I actually think that the Try Guys handled it well to hire an outside HR professional to due a full internal investigation to understand the full damage and not make a public comment before the investigation was completed. If you watch the video, its clear that it is a prewritten statement that they each take turns reading but their body language says A LOT.
> it makes me wonder why Ned – who is a smart educated person – would have deliberately been so careless and so public
That’s honestly the difference between intelligence and character.
Some very smart, very educated people use that intelligence and education to make excuses for their bad behavior. I was married to a mathematician. Really smart guy, didn’t stop him from being a backstabbing, cheating jerk who managed to ruin not just his marriage but also a lot of friendships and can’t keep a job to save his life. Now he’s a bitter 50-something who thinks he “deserves” so much more than he has because he’s so smart. Well, dude, character counts just as much if not more than intelligence for keeping your job, marriages, friendships, family relationships, etc.
@harpervalleypta, THIS 💯💯💯💯💯
Education =/= intelligence =/= character
Some of the most intellectually gifted (and curious! Can’t overstate the importance of intellectual curiosity) people I know barely got through high school.
Some of the dumbest people I know went to Ivy league schools (and can’t think for themselves or think on their feet or think about anything that’s not about “success” as measured in grades, dollars, and/or career advancement).
And some of the most noble, upstanding, ride or die with your (and can lead people who will ride or die for them in turn) people I know have neither burnished education credentials nor astrophysicist brains. What they do have is character: convictions if what’s right and good and true that don’t change based on the weather or social group, and the courage to stick to and act on those convictions no matter the weather or social situation.
I’m WoC and in several wildly different contexts (workplace, friendship circle) it’s been the women who self-labelled as “white trash” (from poor families in rural/red states, didn’t go to fancy schools. The opposite of northern liberal elite) who came through for me like no one else did. Like, still brings me to tears how each one individually (at separate times, didn’t know each other, so not as even as a group) helped me through. Pulled me through. Shared insight, wisdom, late nights, daily calls, mapped out a strategy for me, made dinner.
And when it was all done and fair weather friends came back and office politics changed so everyone was kissing my ass… When that time came and I spoke of how brilliant they were – crickets. The reaction was just polite “hm, how interesting”… Very “stop reminding us that it sucked for you, stop reminding us that we abandoned you, and VERY stop trying to say that these people we look down on are better than us.”
Remind me to never get on Eugene’s bad side because OOF! If looks could kill. I bet he read Ned for FILTH and had him questioning his own existence.
Righteous fury!
You love to see it.
+1
My guess is they are taking action ahead of a lot of women potentially coming forward with stories of harrassment. One consenting encounter, if discreet, wouldn’t cause them to take this action–I doubt they have morality clauses in their business as a bunch of dudes trying stuff. I think they are taking steps to save their company, which could be bankrupted by this douche canoe.
I think they’re also making it more challenging for anyone to come forward seeking damages from their business. Because they took decisive action, it may communicate to any victims that they would need to sue the asshole directly and not the company. I don’t know if that has any legal validity, but it looks to me like this is 3 guys trying desperately to save everything they worked so hard to build against one idiot with a “I’m Youtube famous” god complex who could destroy it all by virtue of his selfish entitled horndog power-seeking behavior. What a walking cliche that bozo is. Why is it that some folks get a teaspoon of noteriety/fame/money and they think they can get away with anything and everything?
Broad, strong morality clauses come pretty standard now, esp in reputation-based businesses. I’m not saying they put a lot of thought into them when their lawyers drew up the charters/contracts/articles but I’m sure their inclusion is what legally allowed the remaining Try Guys to act so decisively. Sure they had their lawyers and specialists crawling over everything to make sure they were in the strongest possible position and to minimize future legal blowback from not only unknown victims but this douche himself.
That’s not it, I’ve been following them for years, and I understand why they were so broken or ‘dramatic’ as you put it. Not only they were betrayed by someone who they founded the company with but a close friend for so many years. And as they said it, it seems they have also removed him from their life (as of now I guess he still owns parts of the company so there’s that) and that’s gotta hurt and sting a lot.
Yeah they are have always been so transparent and very outspoken for what they stood for. I can understand them not coming out with it right away until they get all their legal, HR, PR lined up. It is a business with people’s jobs on the line. They look so betrayed. Their friend group was so close so this is hits them in all places.
This this. I came to say that I respectfully disagree that they’re being dramatic. This is an enormous deal. Those are some of the hardest working guys in the business and we’re interpersonally very close. Ned was in Keith’s wedding and everyone adores Ariel and the kids. The fans are devastated with them. It was professional and earnest and a case study in good PR imho.
Oops **they’re interpersonally very close.
I remember these guys from the Buzzfeed glory days- I had no idea they were still around or such a big deal! I fell down the rabbit hole last night on all this for a good hour lol
If you believe Deux, at least one of them knew he actively tried to make out with women at bars etc. and one of them is his wife’s bff. Messy messy messy.
This could really f*ck them if the woman sues, I don’t blame them for going through all the steps behind the scenes and making this video. They have to CYA
Anybody check to see how his wife is doing?
Apart from her statement asking for privacy and thanking everyone for their support, I don’t think she’s said anything else. There were some paparazzi photos of Ariel and Ned out and about (I have to think that Ned called them because in real life the Try Guys never get papped) and Ned was smiling and looked happy. I’m sure we’ll get a video from her at some point explaining her side of the story once she has had time to process.
Yes the try guys are normally never papped so that is suspicious. Ugh Ned gets worse and worse.
Not necessarily. They’re in LA. All it would take is someone who sees them around and figures they could make a bit of money selling pics to the agencies. It wasn’t worth taking pics before, now it is.
I have no idea who these guys are, but I watched the linked apology video and I really appreciated the acknowledgement that the internet is much harder on women than on men when it comes to bad decisions. I also liked the multiple reminders about being kind to the families involved who had no say in being dragged into someone else’s messy drama. I thought it was a pretty good video and wish them the best, they seem genuine.
I appreciated that statement when I listened to the video, but it also has another side. If the affair partner gets bullied on social media, doxxed, threatened, etc–she would be even more likely to sue. I feel for those guys. I saw a few of their videos over the years, and they always seemed like great guys to me. I loved their take on ballet! They thought they were building a company on a firm foundation, and it could fall like a house of cards. It’s really sobering how 1 person’s bad choices can sink an entire organization, both personally and professionally.
They aren’t being dramatic. These people weren’t just business partners. Eugene is BEST FRIENDS with Ned’s wife! Keith’s wife, Becky is friends with Ariel as well. They all work together on a podcast. This is about more than just the business. He has imploded their entire friend group while ALSO endangering the business they spent 8 years building together.
From the articles (which I skimmed) to the comments here I had no idea the depths of this mess. If this really could ruin their business and their lives I do feel sorry for them. Hopefully they saved some money they made. Maybe it won’t completely ruin their group.
They said that they already lost a lot of money in the last weeks. I hope that they can bounce back from this and that Ned didn’t destroy everything. They already lost a good friend, they shouldn’t lose their company.
So he’s just like so many other entitled, Ivy League f*ck boys after all. Turns out, he’s always been a tool, and never been as cool/alt as his skinny jeans told us for so long. I think he’s been a player since at least his Yale days and he’s been playing at one thing or another ever since. It’s going to take Ariel time to wake up and out of the fantasy. I hope she does sooner rather than later.
In one of their videos he said that he only slept with two women in his life. His previous girlfriend before Ariel and his wife. I dunno what to believe anymore…
I mean, I think probably shouldn’t believe him.
Nope, I remember one of their try guys game time videos where Zach said Ned “slutted it up hard” before getting married. So yeah, it wasn’t just the one girlfriend and then Ariel. That comment stood out to me then
Man. This is all over my tik tok but i have zero idea who these people are. Note: no need to explain either. The more i read the less i care about this idiot Ned.
From a legal aspect, this could destroy their whole company. If Ned was head of HR, that means any person he harrassed or was intimate with at work, had no place to complain nor any recourse to end the harrassment. How many women left the company bc of Ned’s behavior? How many promotions did Ned hold back bc he was interested in the employee? How many were promoted bc they felt they had to sleep with Ned? So many bad possible situations all around? And if the rest of the Try Guys just found out the depth of Ned’s behavior, they are truly shocked and sadden.
A major part of the Try Guys brand is anti-male toxicity. What Ned did is very toxic. We’ve just been desensitized. This could legally end their company if other employees complain but even without that, it destroys their branding if they look tolerant of Ned’s behavior. Their TV show was already moved to a different slot and probably won’t be picked up for more episodes.
They aren’t being melodramatic, their entire brand was built on their chemistry and real life friendships. Their personal and professional lives were heavily intertwined. Ariel, Ned’s wife, was in a lot of videos and while it’s been awhile since I’ve watched any videos, it looks like she and Eugene were BFF. Keith’s wife Becky is also good friends with Ariel and Ariel is also friendly with Zach’s fiancee Maggie (all 3 ladies have appeared in Try Guy videos). That explains why Eugene’s fury is the most palpable here and EVERYONE in the Youtube comments of the video is commenting on how angry Eugene is. It’s not just melodrama, their friend and coworker betrayed them and everything their company stood for. Zach looks devastated and Keith seems shell-shocked. They are clearly still processing what happened even if they’ve known for a few weeks. Maybe they were aware about Ned’s skeevy behavior but in my experience, guys tend to write off that behavior and don’t see it through the same lens as women.
It would be one thing if he had cheated on Ariel with some random woman who had no ties to the Try Guys–not sure if they would have fired him in that instance but maybe forced him to take some time off from their videos. But he had an affair with someone who worked for them and had appeared in a lot of their videos, no doubt Ariel and Alex were friendly. Their entire social/professional lives have imploded. I feel for all of them and for Ariel–I hope she divorces Ned, she deserves to keep the Try Guys in the split if that is to happen.
Ianne, well said.
This guy went and betrayed his wife, his friends, his company.
You damn right this could end their jobs and cost them the brand/company they’ve worked at for years.
His poor wife, has young children.
This guy, what an a**. In every way.
I respectfully disagree, I don’t see their reaction as melodramatic at all. They’re working through a lot and trying to mitigate the damage. Ned’s actions have truly put their business in peril, never mind the emotional losses, the betrayals, the “who in the H*ll have you been this entire time?!” feelings they must have. Ned was living a double life of sorts and he messed up, bad judgment has cost him so much. Cheating is one thing, but having an extramarital affair in the workplace where there’s a clear possibility of a power imbalance was just “country”. Poorly played Ned.
I don’t think this is melodramatic at all. They are Youtubers and their reputation is everything. They all have families, partners who depend on their Youtube dollars… Ned’s behaviour could have completely tanked their business, Youtubers have been cancelled for less. They are doing all the right steps and I wish more male business owners followed their handbook when it comes to dealing with one of their male colleagues
If any of y’all are fans, they do have a Patreon with memberships starting at $3 a month. <3
Also agree it doesn’t seem melodramatic given how intertwined their lives and careers are. Heard their Food network gig got bumped from prime Wednesday night spot to Friday mornings which is a big deal and could tank that before it even takes off. The Ned/Alex thing has also hurt other aspects of the business I’m sure, especially employee morale
I have to agree with several above commenters. These guys do t look melodramatic, they look like they have been in crisis meetings with attorneys and realize how much of their hard work could go up in smoke because of their “friend’s” selfishness and creepy behavior.
From an outsider’s lens – they’re big ol’ pals from way back, practically family, this one dude has been acting like a jerk his whole life, and all the rest just – suddenly noticed?
Nah, they’ve been willfully not seeing the obvious and giving him a pass. Now it blew up and they’re C’ing their A’s. Any melodrama is likely overacting (they’re not, like, RADA alums, are they?).
Ned’s whole schtick is how much he loves his wife. And was this dedicated family man. They are/were? even writing a book about their relationship. I assume that got deep sixed fast. So he probably wasn’t acting like a jerk. He was keeping it on the down low. Until he got sloppy and probably thought he was untouchable. Since the affair had been going on at least a year. Maybe it was an open secret amongst the crew but not the talent.
I don’t think this is about the other guys turning a blind eye to red flags. They were oblivious since they all trusted each other so much. And never expected this from him since he was so public and vocal about ‘how much he loves his wife’.
Ned looks like Chris Martin.
It’s so weird to see these big pop culture things unfold about people you’ve never heard of, but are clearly very well-known and popular.
Seriously -I’ve never heard of these people.
It doesn’t seem dramatic to me. This man was having sex with an employee. How often do we talk of power imbalances? How often do we see an apology and a promise to do better training or some other corporate speak that means nothing will change? Not these guys. These guys are not having it. They aren’t blaming his behavior on something and sending him to “rehab.” They aren’t pretending. I appreciate them taking this seriously and it’s obvious that they are hurting.
I know far too much about these content creators and it’s just YouTube filler but it was all well made & ok. But I do NOT believe they didn’t suspect that Ned was going off the rails.
I think Ned is an entitled (Yale Chemistry) aging internally insecure dude with pressures and a young family who liked the partying/distraction & attention. Prob with alcohol & maybe drugs – the producer he had the affair with was a self-declared partier.
Eugene was spending more time on his own projects, he is thought to be the most charismatic of the bunch. This put a stressor on their expanding company too.
The anon posts that said this was a year long affair and that halfway through Ned had been warned by producer’s fiancée to ‘back-off’ meant that in such close-knit group in a start up company, they knew Ned was a cheater.
I think this is is prob influencer alternative to Bon Appetit and we are going to get a drip of ugly speculation …and then a slow death of their channel?
someone on YT said Ned net worth is about 10 million. And that’s not from the Try Guys. Allegedly it’s inherited wealth. So losing a job is no big deal. And the wife seems locked in. Even if for the kids and financial security. For some that is enough in spite of public humilaion (hello Behati!).
I watched a few videos they are a fun group and had good chemistry. Ned really burst that bubble for them. There latest video they are hella sad and angry at him.
Keith is the parent explaining to the kids that mom&dad are getting divorced.
Zach is the kid trying not to lose it during the talk about divorce.
Eugene is the person about to go scorched earth – Stella lighting a car on fire about daddy cheating on mom.
Yeeeeaaah, apparently Eugene’s parents had a pretty messy divorce when he was younger so this might be hitting a fairly sensitive nerve for him.