Damon Wayans Makes His Way Off the Web

Damon Wayans launched an online sketch comedy site earlier this year with much fanfare, including a joint press release with YouTube and coverage on the wires. WayOutTV promised to be “In Living Color 2.0,” with a stable of young writers and talent hand-picked and nurtured by Wayans.

But the WayOutTV site has been taken completely offline, and all the videos have been removed from YouTube.

It’s unclear why that happened, though the original idea did seem a bit half-baked, with promises of incubating shows from the drama, action and animation genres as well. And of course it was yet another new tech venture fronted by a celebrity.

Wayans’ YouTube channel reports he last signed in two months ago, and comments dating three weeks back ask where the content went. We were unable to contact Damon Wayans to get his comment. A YouTube spokesperson said that individual content providers are in charge of their own channels.

Wayans reportedly said at a conference that YouTube had guaranteed he would receive 60 million impressions on his channel, though that was not confirmed.

Wayans had come under fire this April for one video in particular on his YouTube channel called “Abortion Man” that depicted a superhero who came to the rescue of a teenage boy who has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and beats her up. It attracted outraged criticism. YouTube reportedly pulled ads from the video after the outcry. That video, along with everything else, is no longer visible.