Hello, everyone.
I’ve been wanting to get my story out there to whoever will listen and share, and I figured this would be a good place to do so. Full disclaimer: this post mentions some indecent behavior towards minors, so read at your own discretion.
Important information before I start:
River Elias Gibbs is a YouTuber who became popular in the mid 2010s by making Michael Jackson impersonation videos. Nowadays, he makes videos about roller skating and Buddhism.
He groomed me from 2018-2019. I was 12, and he was approximately 20 when it began.
We never ever met up in person, though he had mentioned desiring to do so one day.
I’m not the only person to come forward about River’s behavior. A quick google search can reveal other testimonies.
River’s behavior has escalated over the years. According to multiple online sources, he flat out asks teenagers for hookups now, which is absolutely disgusting and very concerning.
For starters, this all began in the summer of 2018. I was 12 years old and I had just created my first Instagram account. At this particular point, I had been watching River Gibbs on YouTube for a while, so he was one of the first accounts I followed. Within a short period of time, he followed me back, and we got to talking over DMs. This quickly progressed into a deeper relationship, and within months, me and River were messaging daily.
River would always tell me he loved me, and call me little names like “baby” “love” and whatnot. He would tell me he hoped we would meet in person one day. He’d give me advice about things he had no room talking to a random child about. It was really inappropriate, but naive 12 year old me didn’t realize that this was concerning and that I was being groomed.
One day, when I was 13, River stopped messaging me, and at the time, I was heartbroken, but I didn’t realize that this was a blessing in disguise and that he’s a complete pedophile. A couple years ago, I messaged an old friend who had also been corresponding with River when we were minors. She told me that after a year of no contact, River randomly DM’d her asking if he could fly her out to see him. I’m not even joking. Thank God my friend was smart and knew not to take the bait.
Since all of this occurred, more and more teens have come forward on various online platforms about River’s behavior. Some have even tried to report him to authorities, but nothing is done. With that being said, I am dumping all of this here so y’all know the truth about him and what he does.