Fans of the YouTube group The Sidemen have been left furious after Netflix released The Sidemen Story on February 14.
The 100-minute documentary is only available on the streaming platform to UK and Irish subscribers, meaning large swathes of their 20 million-plus subscribers are unable to watch.
The Sidemen Story sees the seven British YouTubers take a look at their decade-long journey as pioneers on the platform, with KSI – real name Olajide William Olatunji – at the forefront.
One fan of the collective vented on X, saying: ‘NOOOOO THE SIDEMEN DOCUMENTARY ISN’T ON NETFLIX IN THE US.
‘IM GOING TO CRYYYY, AND ON VALENTINES DAY.’
Fans of The Sidemen (pictured) have been left furious with the group’s Netflix documentary only being available in the UK and Ireland. Pictured: Simon Minter (back-left), Joshua Bradley (back-right), Harry Lewis (middle-left), Vikram Barn (middle-right), Ethan Payne (front-left), Tobi Brown (centre) and Olajide Olatunji (front-right)
The Sidemen Story saw the seven YouTube stars document their rise in their own words
One fan of the collective wrote: ‘Honestly sucks that it’s only available in the uk. I’m from the states and am a big fan and was looking forward to this’
The Sidemen consists of: KSI, Simon Minter (known online as Miniminter), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Tobi Brown (TBJZL), Ethan Payne (Behzinga), Vikram Barn (Vikkstar123) and Harry Lewis (W2S).
They originally formed their fateful bond playing Grand Theft Auto over a decade ago, and at time of writing have worked their way to having the 12th most-subscribed British YouTube channel. KSI’s individual channel sits ninth.
While they grew with a predominantly UK-based audience, The Sidemen’s star has risen worldwide thanks to collaborations with overseas stars such as Logan Paul.
And many of those fans are currently unable to watch the emotional retelling of the group’s journey.
Other frustrated X users commented: ‘The sidemen documentary isn’t available on American Netflix ??? Nah that’s bs [bulls***]…
‘Its not on American Netflix. Rip…
‘Honestly sucks that it’s only available in the uk. I’m from the states and am a big fan and was looking forward to this…
‘Not available in my region [sad face].’
Those who were able to get a Valentine’s viewing of the new doc, however, seemed to overwhelmingly enjoy it, with many brought to tears, on this occasion, for all the right reasons.
They wrote: ‘Just watched the sidemen doc on Netflix and gotta say it was proper class, the doc was nicely formatted and they were just them and I love that for them…
‘I watched it and I cried multiple times, love how far the boys have come. I hate to pick favourites but my favourite person is Kon [their cameraman]. He NEEDED more screen time…
‘It’s amazing to see how much these guys have achieved over the years. From watching them just run around killing each other on GTA to a whole Netflix documentary, its incredible. Congratulations guys!…
‘Listening to @ZerkaaHD talk about anxiety in the Sidemen Netflix doc was really heart warming. I feel like anxiety isn’t talked about a lot and seeing it spoken about and the similarities to my experiences with it, I think will help let people know they aren’t alone. big love <3.’
The Sidemen began to make their name by recording video game sessions from their bedrooms, filming their own commentaries and reactions while playing, and uploading them to YouTube.
The Sidemen began to make their name by recording video game sessions from their bedrooms, filming their own commentaries and reactions while playing, and uploading them to YouTube
However, among those who could see the film, reviews were overwhelmingly positive
They set up a dedicated channel in 2015 and began to branch into other avenues of online entertainment, taking on a series of challenges, including eating tasks, hide-and-seek games and experimenting with parenting.
Over 300 videos have been posted on the channel, which now boasts 20.8m subscribers and nearly six billion views in total.
Its success spawned further channels including MoreSidemen, SidemenReacts and SidemenShorts – all with at least 2m subscribers themselves.
Millions more views regularly roll in on their respective individual channels, too.
