Adym S. “verbalase” Evans feels like a YouTuber from an ancient time. Unfortunately, verbalase’s content isn’t the reason people are chatting about the YouTuber these days.
With 17 years’ worth of experience on the platform, verbalase struck gold with his “Cartoon Beatbox Battles” series back in the late 2010s. If you wanted to see Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob duke it out with their beatboxing skills, or Pennywise and the Joker go to town in a musical showdown, you could turn to verbalase’s channel for that.
Now, his name is cropping up for a different reason. You see, there’s a strange claim floating around that the beatboxing YouTuber spent what could be someone’s entire annual salary on a bizarre Hazbin Hotel AMV—one with some kinky elements. But is it true? Did verbalase drop 50 grand to hook up with Charlie from Hazbin Hotel? Here’s what we know.
The Hazbin Hotel verbalase AMV, explained
The AMV controversy centers entirely around a strange music video called “Hide Away,” directed by a man named Steven Chase. In it, Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel performs an occult spell that draws verbalase into “Happy Hotel,” where Charlie immediately lusts after him. The music video proceeds from there, with Charlie trying to seduce the YouTuber while verbalase tries his best to escape from her clutches.
After giving chase, Charlie eventually captures verbalase, ties him up spread-eagle on a bed, strips him down to his briefs, and finds herself enamored with his … booming beatbox, if you catch my drift. The music video ends with Charlie lying on top of verbalase in lingerie, clearly about to begin demonic coitus with him.
It’s a strange video, clearly self-indulgent in nature, all set to the titular song “Hide Away” from Synapson. You can catch the full Hazbin Hotel AMV on Twitter—just know that it’s a bit NSFW.
How did the verbalase AMV go viral?
According to Know Your Meme, the verbalase “Hide Away” video was somewhat unceremoniously uploaded to YouTube in September 2023 to an account called “HydroHater99.” Supposedly, the account might have been owned by the man who directed the video, Steven Chase. The video gained a modest 62,000 views before being pulled down in January 2024. That same month, word started to spread about the video, particularly after Twitter user @thestartofluck recounted a story about the AMV’s creation on January 11.
Later that same day, Twitter account “Out of Context Western Porn” posted the full verbalase AMV along with an HD upload of the video, causing the animation to skyrocket in viral attention. As of January 17, Out of Context Western Porn’s reupload earned over 9,600 retweets and more than 48,000 likes. Given the strange self-insert nature of the AMV, plus the fact that a two-minute-and-55-second animation of this caliber is rather costly, the AMV quickly puzzled many Twitter users—doubly so because verbalase’s YouTube channel had been struggling with views as of late, as YouTuber Saberspark pointed out in his own deep dive of the AMV.
In other words, blowing a bunch of money on a self-insert BDSM fantasy music video with an A24 demon girl is what many Twitter users would describe as “cringe.” Case in point, Hazbin Hotel creator Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano briefly acknowledged the clip’s existence by posting the Veep “(laughing nervously) what the f***?” meme in response to the video, per Know Your Meme. Medrano later deleted her tweet, but let it be known that the woman behind Hazbin is aware of verbalase’s supposed sexual fantasy.
So, did verbalase spend $50k on the animation?
It’s incredibly hard to confirm whether verbalase dropped 50 grand in cash over the horny Hazbin Hotel AMV. Technically speaking, we don’t have any definitive proof that verbalase commissioned the video, given that the YouTuber hasn’t addressed the viral controversy on his social media channels, nor has he published any announcements about the AMV’s existence. The only information we have on the music video’s creation comes from a series of supposed leaked Discord conversations. These could always be doctored, so read on with a grain of salt.
According to Discord DMs provided by Twitter user @thestartofluck, verbalase supposedly claimed he was “working on a side project” that was “NOT kid friendly,” per Know Your Meme. In those DMs, verbalase said he “spent $47,000” on the music video, using “professional industry animation.”
“Like Disney animators,” verbalase said.
Verbalase proceeded to describe the contents of the Hazbin Hotel AMV in his messages. All together, the leaked Discord DMs imply the “side project” in question was none other than the Hazbin Hotel AMV. If true, that means verbalase already spent $47,000 on the project by 2021, two years before it was uploaded to YouTube. It’s certainly possible more was spent on the video since then, although it’s equally possible that the full project capped off at $47k and required no additional expenses.
So, did verbalase spend $50,000 on the Hazbin Hotel AMV? Until verbalase comes out and says it, or other members of the YouTuber’s Discord entourage confirm it, we just don’t know. We do know, however, that Twitter can’t stop memeing on this strange, strange music video, with all sorts of random characters chasing after verbalase in mini viral clips.
(feature image: Steve Chase)
