Popular car YouTubers Parker Nirenstrein, Alex Choi and Damon Fryer have sparked a huge bust-up on social media, with legal proceedings potentially underway for serious accusations made in the public domain.
All three YouTubers produce regular supercar content for their audiences. Choi’s channel has over 595,000 subscribers, Nirenstein’s Vehicle Virgins has around 2.2 million, and DailyDrivenExotics –owned by Fryer – has over 2.2 million as well.
Choi and Nirenstein have worked together on a number of projects over the years, both featuring in each other’s video content – particularly in the early days of their growth on YouTube.
However, unearthed animosity that used to exist between the two has resurfaced. Regular viewers who thought they had squashed their beef from 2017 – where Choi was accused of being arrogant – might have been shocked to see the pair going at it on Instagram on February 9. Accusations raised included reckless driving on Choi’s behalf, Nirenstein apparently taking drugs before drives, among other serious allegations.
Vehicle Virgins had previously uploaded a video to YouTube, explaining how Alex Choi “tried to kill him” after driving recklessly in an electric golf kart – which he said was not clickbait.
In a post to Instagram on February 9, Nirenstein said: “2 months ago at Racewars, Alex Choi asked to give me a ride to my car in an electric golf kart. I was riding behind the kart on the trailer seat (where people are supposed to sit) and he decided to start going recklessly fast. Immediately I told him to slow down but he didn’t listen, hit a turn way too quickly and flipped the entire kart.”
Following the accident, he claims to have suffered a severely sprained ankle, had his camera broken and damaged his clothing – claiming that he should have been compensated for what happened.
That was followed up with messages between Nirenstein, Choi and Damon Fryer about whether or not this should turn into a legal challenge in the future. After that, several potentially detrimental pieces of material were made public – or threatened for release – by Nirenstein.
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Damon Fryer, who runs the popular DailyDrivenExotics YouTube channel, joked about crashing cars in videos after ‘sipping syrup’ before driving. He said: “I don’t think that’s safe for driving? Maybe that’s why you always crash? What a role model. You are 42 with a wife and kids.”
Vehicle Virgins later released a tape which he said features Alex and Damon using racial slurs “aggressively,” posted to his Instagram.
Following on from this, Nirenstein has challenged Fryer to a simultaneous drugs test to prove that he is clean. In another Instagram story post, he said: “I’m not scared. I’ve been sober for a while now man. Sure I drink, but you’re insinuating to fans I’m doing heroin, crack and lost my mind.”
Vehicle Virgins also threatened to reveal details about tax evasion and more crash footage, involving Damon Fryer.
Now that previous issues between Choi and Nirenstein have reared their head on social media, if these posts are anything to go by, there’s no doubt that we’re going to see a lot more controversial and bold posts made on both sides moving forward – especially if at least one of these YouTube stars decides to legally challenge the material posted to the public.
With private messages, theft accusations, drug test challenges, potential evidence of racial slurs and a high chance of more public outings to come, it’s difficult to predict what this bust-up will bring about next. There’s a lot to unpack already.