Ned Fulmer, now formerly of the Try Guys, finds himself at the center of a scandal after the confirmation of his affair with a company employee.

The Try Guys built a loyal following of millions on Buzzfeed, Inc’s YouTube channel through their documented comedic stunts on the internet. Eventually they branched off into their own company, 2nd Try, LLC in 2018. Since then, the Try Guys have been known as a foursome: Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger and Fulmer.

Following online speculation and the circulation of a Reddit thread over the last month, the three remaining members announced, after a “thorough internal review,” that the group would be going their separate ways from Fulmer. Shortly after this social media announcement, Fulmer released his own statement, citing a “consensual workplace relationship” for a loss of focus from his priority, which he claimed as his family.

Fulmer’s wife, Ariel Fulmer, shared her own statement on social media within the same day, requesting privacy for the sake of her children.

After the verification that Fulmer would no longer be working with the group, what could best be described as a media frenzy ensued, with robust reactions from fans, celebrities, strangers to the group and former colleagues who worked with the group at Buzzfeed. Twitter users have shared their thoughts on his affair through tweets, citing his statement on memes, seemingly ridiculing him.

As a Try Guy, Fulmer developed a persona as the “wife guy” of the group, with his online personality revolving around how much he adored his wife. By doing so, he monetized his family life, with ventures of his tenure as a Try Guy revolving around his marriage, such as a cookbook with Ariel Fulmer and releasing multiple videos focusing on his children on the Try Guys YouTube channel.

Consequently, fans of the Try Guys have pointed out the hypocrisy of Fulmer’s online persona and his clandestine entanglement with his employee. Furthermore, his position within the company as both executive producer and partner is subject to criticism for the power dynamics that existed within his workplace relationship, as the rumored employee is speculated to have been a subordinate of his. Fulmer’s misconduct raised questions as to how safe the workplace environment is at his former company.

Additionally, the cheating scandal raises thoughts on the morality of the “Wife Guy” persona; a man who publicizes his love for his wife excessively, as other wife guys, such as Adam Levine, is also rumored to have cheated on his wife.

Following fervent public reaction, Habersberger, Kornfeld and Yang published a video statement on YouTube. They discussed the split from Fulmer and addressed the affair with an employee, also while confirming his removal from the company.  In addition they discussed the timeline of their discovery of the affair. Fans were quick to comment on the demeanor of each Try Guy and their reactions to the affair of their former colleague.

The scandal was also the subject for a sketch on Saturday Night Live, which is facing criticism for its ridiculing of a workplace relationship with possible unethical power dynamics.