The Sidemen are a group of British YouTubers. The group comprises JJ Olatunji, Simon Minter, Josh Bradley, Tobi Brown, Ethan Payne, Vik Barn and Harry Lewis, also known by their online aliases KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123 and W2S, respectively. They produce online videos consisting of vlogs, challenges, game show formats and video game commentaries, as well as selling exclusive merchandise. Founded on 19 October 2013 as an informal gaming group, the group recorded gameplays and challenges together which the members would upload to their respective YouTube channels. As their channels grew, the group began producing a wider variety of videos and other projects and, since 2018, has published primarily on their collective YouTube channels, Sidemen and MoreSidemen., their eponymous YouTube channel has over 8.75 million subscribers.
History
Some of the members knew each other before the group was formed: Josh Bradley and Tobi Brown both attended Bexley Grammar School in London, and JJ Olatunji and Simon Minter both attended Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire. The group was informally created on 19 October 2013, when Olatunji, Minter, Bradley, Brown, and Ethan Payne formed a Rockstar Games Social Club group called "The Ultimate Sidemen" in the then-recently released Grand Theft Auto Online; Vik Barn joined the group soon afterwards. In January 2014, Bradley met Harry Lewis while at a FIFA gaming event in New York City and invited him to join the group. Speaking about the origins of the group's name, Sidemen, Minter explained, "A sideman is basically someone's bitch who just follows them around I was basically JJ's bitch that followed him around." In February 2014, Olatunji, Minter, Bradley, and Barn moved into a house together near London, dubbed the "Sidemen House", which allowed them to collaborate more often.
YouTube content
The group runs two collective YouTube channels, Sidemen and MoreSidemen., the Sidemen channel has over 8.3 million subscribers and 1.5 billion views, and MoreSidemen has over 3.4 million subscribers and 800 million views. On the combined YouTube channels, the group produces a variety of videos consisting of challenges, vlogs, game-show formats and video game commentaries. Since 2018, the group has released a weekly video series named Sidemen Sundays on their Sidemen channel. On 18 June 2018, the group released a web television series titled The Sidemen Show, available exclusively through YouTube Premium. It comprises seven 30-minute challenge-based episodes filmed around the world alongside a number of celebrity guests.
Other projects
Since 2014, the group has sold and distributed exclusive Sidemen merchandise through its company Sidemen Clothing Limited. On 18 October 2016, the group released a book titled Sidemen: The Book, published by Coronet Books, and embarked on a UK-wide promotional tour. A number one best-seller in the UK, the book sold 26,436 copies within the first three days of its release. The group has hosted three football events to raise money for various charitable causes. The first match, in 2016, was held at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, and raised over £110,000 for the Saints Foundation. The second match was held at The Valley Stadium, London, and raised £210,000 for the NSPCC and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust. The third and final match, again held at The Valley Stadium, raised £65,747 for the Young Minds Trust and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust. In 2018, the group helped launch the mobile sports game, BoxTuber, produced by Viker Limited. In March 2020, the Sidemen released a twenty-minute YouTube video titled "#StayHome". The video featured the Sidemen and more than one hundred other YouTube video creators and other celebrities raising awareness of the UK's "stay at home" campaign which aimed to reduce the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK. One hundred percent of the advertising revenue generated from the video was donated to the NHS.
Members
Since 2014, the group has had the following members:
