Destery Moore (born: February 19, 1991), better known online as Destery Smith (formerly known as CapnDesDes), is an American YouTube musician and vlogger, best known for his comedy series "WTF 5" on fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson's channel.
He posts videos on pop culture and vlog commentaries on his own channel and is known for his new series, "WTF News", in which talks about weird news stories. Destery posts WTF News videos to his own channel and used to post WTF 5 to Shane Dawson 's channel 'Shane' every Saturday.
He also has a channel called DesandNate, which he started with Nathan Owens (ahoynateo).
Musically, he released a single titled "Caves of Ice" in March 2015, later featured in his pop album titled "Sailing Home" in the same year on the AKT record label.
Falling out with Ahoynateo[]
In or around 2017, Nathan Owens, otherwise known as Ahoynateo was invited to live with Destery and [then girlfriend] Amber for a short period of time, in an attempt to get Nathan out of his home-town in Idaho and closer to his ‘best friend and business partner’.
Though it is not known how long the period of time he stayed with the couple was, sources close to Smith and his ex partner claim Owens was eventually kicked out due to a lack of gainful employment and reportedly had also been bringing an underage girl over without the couple's knowledge in an attempt to seduce her. Though this party prefers to be anonymous, once it was known what Owens was doing, Smith and his ex partner immediately kicked Owens out and he returned to Idaho to live with his parents. Attempts were made to remain friends between the two, but the friendship was ultimately over in the following year, sources say.
The two had apparently shared interest in the same girl, and due to a misunderstanding, sealed their fate and put the final nail in the coffin of their now dead friendship. Owens would go on later to claim that this was 'years in the making' and Smith's behavior was ultimately the reason the friendship ended. Smith has failed to mention his feelings on the subject, saying only "sometimes friendships end, but that's okay. I hope he's doing well."
Controversies[]
In early February of 2021, a TikTok video went viral of a girl claiming she had an unnerving experience with a YouTuber she had been a fan of since 2010. According to the user, Smith had responded inappropriately to a snapchat message she sent him when the girl was 18. Though it was, according to the user, NOT an explicit image of any kind, he had responded with text messages that the user claims were inappropriate.
Many people seemed to misunderstand the original Tiktok video, as it wasn't exactly clear when Smith and the user had begun talking, leaving many to believe he sent her these messages when she started watching his channel back in 2010, and not in fact when she was 18 as she stated. Rumors of grooming then started to circulate, which then sparked a heated uproar in the comments in which several ex-friends and colleagues of Smith came forward with their own stories of manipulation, being used, and general disrespect.
One such account was that of an alleged ex-girlfriend of Smith named Kendra, who claimed Smith had begun dating her prior to her being of age, when he was over 18. A tumblr screenshot was shared where 'Smith' claimed to admit to dating the girl when she was 15, though the source cannot be considered genuine as it didn't come from an account Smith had ever owned, sources say. Reportedly, Smith and the girl had in fact dated when the two were both in high school in Idaho together, he being a Senior and she being a Freshman at the time, according to public record and sources close to both parties. This relationship continued past high school for a year or more, both say.
Another user replying to the video was Destery's ex-friend and work associate, Nathan Owens, who claimed in his own Tiktok video Smith had a long history of 'playing women' and cheating on his significant others. As more attention mounted on his story, many users recalled when Owens himself had publicly dated a 15 year old girl by the name of Leda Muir, otherwise known as LedaMonsterBunny, when he was 19 (according to public record and sources close to the three). Another such account was brought forward via a Tiktok video, where Owens had apparently had relations with a 15 year old when he was 21.
Though the video was only conjecture and can't be considered as truth based on the lack of evidence, Owens replied to these videos after he and his current girlfriend had received threats and attacks on social media. In his video, Owens claimed the things said about him were untrue and pleaded with his viewers, asking 'how can you believe something without knowing it's true?' The aforementioned video was public only for a few days before Owens deleted all his social media accounts, including every video on his personal channel called 'Ahoynateo' which had amassed over 700,000 subscribers. Smith refused to comment on Owens social media and Youtube channel deletion.
On March 12th of 2021, Smith posted a video to his YouTube channel 'Capndesdes' called 'my thoughts', which addressed the allegations about him. In it, he admits he quote "was a terrible person and a big piece of s***" in his past. "I was a liar. A cheater. But do I think I am any of those things anymore? no. Do I think I am anything else the internet has been calling me lately? no." He goes on to apologize for the 'things he can admit to' and shed no light or mention to any of the more severe rumors. At the end of the video, he says "If I ever do anything that steps over the line, tell me. I want to be held accountable for the things I actually do." and tells viewers to reach out to him via the links provided in the description of the video. He goes on to say "please make sure it is one of the links in the description, as I have been hacked on snapchat twice already."
According to sources close to Smith, he provided screenshots of the times his older Snapchat accounts, "Capndesdes" and "lolCapndesdes" had been hacked. One such screenshot details an email correspondence Smith had sent to Snapchat about recovering the hacked accounts, as he had apparently attempted to send a message to an old snapchat account, and for the message to have been 'read' but not by him. via Smith's twitter, which is now private, old tweets telling his fans not to add or talk to his old snapchat accounts do correlate with the date and time the email was sent to Snapchat. On the subject, Smith says in his video "I've tweeted people not to talk to any of my older accounts. I've heard horror stories from that", assumingly referencing tweets he previously sent out about fans of his being 'cat-fished' to the point where fans thought they were actually dating Smith.
Soon after Smith's video went live, the video's comments were turned off, and many of his social media accounts were set to private, seemingly in response to the video's mixed reception; many believing the video didn't address everything that needed to be. Smith commented further saying "No situation is black and white. But no matter what, people are going to make up their mind about me one way or another. I'm not going to sit here and provide context to every single one of these false rumors to people who frankly aren't involved in the situation." And saying further; "I admitted fault on what I needed to. I owned the fact that I haven't always been the best person." After no further comments were made, many people unfollowed or unsubscribed to Smith's content, but the YouTuber currently still has over 1 Million subscribers.
In April of 2021, Smith began posting again regularly, and has since released over 12 videos, averaging 30,000 views on each. He has since un-privated all social media besides Twitter, which he no longer posts on. A source who reached out to Smith provided a screenshot of a conversation with him about the YouTuber's return to making videos, music and streaming, where he said quote: "The internet does not determine what is fact and what isn't. I know who I am, I know what I am and what I've done, and I know I'm a good person. Despite what my ex friends and the internet think, I am a good person. The best thing I can do for myself and for my fans is continue to create, continue to be the best I can be, and succeed in spite of those who ever doubted me."
'Lil Mistake'[]
A few months after Destery Smith made his social media accounts private following the February 2021 controversies, those still following Smith on Instagram saw him follow a new account by the name of "Lil Mistake" which had only one post at the time, a single unreleased apparent photo of Smith. Many ex fans and drama channels believe this account was owned by Smith, and that he was attempting to ‘rebrand himself’ as a rap artist in an attempt to come back to the internet under a different persona.
On April 5th of 2021, Lil Mistake released a song entitled 'Weak (expletive) Game' featuring another artist named 'Big Creepi'. Many speculated that this artist was also Smith, but can't be confirmed. The song was met with mixed reaction, with many ex fans of Smith believing it was in poor taste to release such an inappropriate song; with most of the subject matter of the song being sexual in nature.
On May 5th of 2021, Lil Mistake released another song called 'Big Oopsie', which seemed to be lyrically referencing cancel culture as a whole, and of more specific accounts the artist mentions in the 3 minute, 23 second song. One such lyric was; "Tried to keep me down but guess what, (expletive) I ain't done. You thought I'd be worried, oh god the end is so near. all these irrelevant people are trying to end my career."
On June 16th, 2021, Another song was released by the artist called "Middle Fingers Up", which once again references cancel culture in the 3 minute, 9 second song. The song lyrically chronicles a 'falling out' with a best friend, with lyrics like "So my old best friend piled on some more, like a friend's never lied about you before?" and "tried to end my career and you think you've won, but you're 10 times worse than anything I've done." before going into a mocking tone, saying "how can yall believe something without even knowing it's true? Well the same could be said about my situation, dude"
Smith denies having anything to do with the account or the artist, and claims in conversation and in newer videos "[Lil Mistake and I] look nothing alike. Lil Mistake is obviously more handsome than me".
Trivia[]
- He owns cats.
- He has an obsession with The Legend Of Zelda.
- He listens to bands like Death Cab For Cutie and other techno music.