Who the Hell Is Dahvie Vanity?

Chris Hansen, former host of To Catch a Predator turned YouTuber, shared in a recent video that among the targets of his upcoming investigations will be Dahvie Vanity, a name that will likely only ring a bell for those of who had a serious MySpace scene phase.

Upon a suggestion from YouTuber Repzion that Hansen investigate Vanity, the now-host of Have a Seat with Chris Hansen responded, "In fact, Dahvie Vanity is on our radar [at the show]. I promise you we'll take a good hard look at it and we'll be tackling that topic as we move forward with all of these investigations." Several YouTube comments supported the investigation, and as of this morning, Vanity was trending high in Google search results.

But who is Dahvie Vanity exactly, and why do people want him investigated—by Chris Hansen, of all people?

Born Jesus David Torres, Dahvie Vanity was a founding member of the group Blood on the Dance Floor, after becoming popular on MySpace as "The Elite Hair God." Blood on the Dance Floor's bold look, spiky and colorful hair, electropop "crunkcore" sound, Warped Tour appearances, and affiliation with Jeffree Star made them synonymous with scene culture in the early 2010s. The group was decently popular: A 2011 video for the song "Bewitched" holds over 24 million views as of this writing.

As of April 2019, the reportedly 35-year-old singer was living with his parents in Florida. Vanity has rebranded the Blood on the Dance Floor YouTube page as "Kawaii Monster," a stage name under which he has been releasing new music since last year. Through the brand The Dark Arts, he sells items like a "dark ribcage hoodie with bat ears," a cloaked sweatsuit, and Kawaii Monster, Blood on the Dance Floor merch.

Blood on the Dance Floor has always pushed the boundaries of sexual content—especially, as Monroe pointed out, since its fanbase is mostly tweens and teenagers. In a video uploaded in 2012, for example, Vanity can be heard telling the crowd, "You guys are better than sex. I just want to come on all of your little titties tonight." The band's lyrics also promote revenge porn and the sexual degradation and humiliation of women.

But in August 2018, MetalSucks published an expose detailing specific allegations of sexual assault against Vanity by multiple women, many of whom were very underage at the time. Several of the girls described incidents when Vanity physically overpowered them, forced them to perform oral sex, and performed other acts of sexual violence, as well as described emotionally abusive behavior of blatant manipulation and grooming. That investigation also cited a 2009 arrest for sexual assault, as well as claims from former tour-mates like Jeffree Star and Ash Costello of New Year's Day that Vanity engaged in inappropriate behavior with underaged girls in their presence.

By December of 2018, HuffPost had spoken to 12 women who claimed Vanity had assaulted them between 2006 and 2015, including experiences by girls as young as 13, and as of April 2019, 21 women had accused Vanity of sexual assault, per a follow-up investigation by HuffPost.

Yes, several times, including before the major exposés on Vanity were published. He has posted defensive remarks on social media numerous times and has even embedded them in the band's lyrics. The 2010 Blood on the Dance Floor song "You Done Goofed" claims, "Your fiction trash talking is done out of hate. / But I'm about to murder it all, I'm about to eradicate. / Look at me, I'm beautiful, not a suspect of rape!" The 2013 song "Crucified By Your Lies" includes lyrics like: "Bitches with their lies almost pushed me into suicide / Call me a rapist. Here's the truth. Can you take it?" and "My name and reputation won't be the target of a slut!"

To an extent. In 2014, industrial band Combichrist removed Blood on the Dance Floor as their opening act, citing concerns over the group's "past behavior." Following HuffPo's initial report, online retailer Big Cartel ended its business with Vanity, though he appears to still sell merch via Shopify. In April 2019, Billboard reported that Spotify pulled Blood on the Dance Floor's music for "violating its prohibited content guidelines," and not explicitly because of the allegations. While that remains the case for Blood on the Dance Floor's music, Vanity's new work under the name Kawaii Monster is available on Spotify.

Not really. In 2016, Jayy Vonn Monroe—the other half of Blood on the Dance Floor—announced that he was leaving the group, citing creative differences over the sexual nature of Vanity's lyrics and the codependent "weird 'daddy' relationship" between him and Vanity as reasons for the split. Though Vanity's then-girlfriend Fallon Vendetta temporarily joined him in rebooting Blood on the Dance Floor in 2017, as of today, Vanity is Blood on the Dance Floor's only member.

Since October, the former MSNBC host has used YouTube for Have a Seat with Chris Hansen, in which he has investigated sexual misconduct and grooming allegations against the controversial YouTuber Onision. As he announced in a recent video, the series will resume this week—and it seems like we can expect even bigger investigations than Onision from this point forward.