The Internet is on Fire: Dhar Mann Drama

In February of 2023, numerous actors from Dhar Mann Studios, popular for its life lesson videos with 17.8 million subscribers on Youtube, banded together in protest against Dhar Mann in demand for higher wages. Many of the actors had gone on to social media to openly speak out against the entrepreneur, holding him accountable. 

The situation had gotten lots of attention on social media, TikTok especially, “I heard about [the situation] on TikTok and I saw all the videos of the actors protesting with their signs.” Said Alice Bell, Central Freshman.

Dhar Mann actor, Colin Borden  (@colinaborden on Instagram), went on to social media, posting a four-part series on his Instagram page explaining the situation himself, stating, “Not a single actor at Dhar Mann Studios can afford rent.”

Borden elaborated further, discussing the absurdity of the situation, claiming how Mann refused to respond and up their wages, despite the hefty amounts of revenue the videos usually get from ads and views from the wide large of reposts and attention the videos get on sites like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. It had been clear how much money the motivatonal-esque videos had been racking in, and that hadn’t added up when it came to their paychecks.

“I believe it’s really unfair for the actors to receive such low pay, especially since Dhar Mann himself is a billionaire. Those actors are the whole reason he’s famous,” said Giulia Bedini-Jacobini, Freshman.

“I was surprised when I heard about it,” Said Liam Ondevilla, “Since its the complete opposite of what he “stands” for.” 

In part two of the four-part video series, Borden had described working for the studio since the beginning, when they would still be working at an apartment rather than the now three sound stages to film on. Even during the studio’s expansion, the actor’s wages stayed the same, barely enough to make a living off of and when they had tried to set up meetings to communicate the matter with Mann, they had been brushed off, aggravating them. 

In response to this, many of the actors banded together going on strike in protest against Dhar Mann, doing things to get his attention such as making as much noise- blowing whistles to disrupt filming and gathering outside with signs demanding proper compensation. 

“It’s important to bring awareness to something like this so everyone is aware how cruel someone like Dhar Mann is for treating his actors poorly and that they all deserve to be paid more.” Says Bedini-Jacobini.