Gus Johnson Bio

Gus Johnson “always had access to a camera and editing computer” because his grandfather owned a computer repair and photography shop. Around sixth and seventh grade, he began creating short videos riding on his bicycle around his hometown with friends, which he described as “stupid sketches that kids would think are funny”. He started his YouTube journey on September 12, 2010 with an original track titled “Ian's Song”, which he wrote in memory of his friend who died at the age of 14 following a swimming accident. In the following years, he continued “his YouTube grind” by posting short meme videos starring himself and his friends. His popularity on the platform took off after the video, “How To Get Free Food From Subway”, uploaded on August 15, 2015, went viral. By the time he completed college in 2018, he was already a fulltime YouTuber with over 400K subscribers, and had signed with a professional agency to advance his acting career in Los Angeles.

Early on in his YouTube career, Gus Johnson focused on music by posting cover versions of a few songs, as well as original music on his channel. In 2015, he collaborated with his hometown friend Joe Dumas on the album Lighting Rods and Leaky Roofs, followed by a second album titled Champagne Seats in 2016. He began the podcast OK I'll Talk with his friend and fellow YouTuber Eddy Burback in 2017. After relocating to Los Angles in 2018, they started a new show titled Gus & Eddy Podcast on a newly created YouTube channel. Also in 2017, he hosted a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a long-form comedy series called Par 9, set on a run-down golf course. In early 2019, he was one of the finalists at the 11th Shorty Awards in the Best YouTube Comedian category. Later that year, he surpassed one million subscribers milestone on YouTube and thanked his fans in a video. Also that year, he signed a talent deal with Viacom which resulted in his partnership with Comedy Central on their “Under the Influencer” program, which was nominated at the next Shorty Awards.

Gustav Emil Johnson was born on June 20, 1995 in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, to Debra Johnson, a volleyball coach and former English teacher, and Pete Johnson, a baseball coach who worked for an electric utility company. He has Norwegian and Swedish descent. He is the eldest of four children and has siblings Sven, Thor, and Hanne, with whom he collaborates regularly. After completing his graduation from Grantsburg High School in 2014, he went to University of Wisconsin-Stout, from where he earned his major in entertainment design with a concentration in digital cinema in 2018. In 2013, he was elected governor of Badger Boys State.

In an Instagram post from October 2018, Gus Johnson acknowledged being in a relationship with fellow YouTuber Abelina Sabrina Rios for nearly a year. The post resurfaced three years later when the two were not dating anymore after Rios, in a YouTube video, opened up about her traumatic experience of going through an ectopic pregnancy in 2018. Apart from revealing how she had to endure “intense pain” because the doctors had ignored early signs of the complication, she also talked about an unnamed boyfriend who allegedly forced her to get an abortion. Furthermore, when she faced a life-threatening danger as one of her fallopian tubes ruptured, he was unconvinced of the severity of the situation and went to drink with his friends instead of taking her to the hospital. Even though Rios did not name him, it was not difficult to piece together that she was referring to Gus, following which Twitter exploded with comments in her support. On October 26, 2021, Gus apologized in a Tweet and announced stepping down from his podcast and cancelling his live shows for the rest of the year. However, Rios refused to accept his “misleading apology with lies in it”, adding, “I don't forgive you.”