YouTube has cancelled YouTube Rewind for the year 2020. The announcement was issued on Twitter just a day after the company experienced widespread outages. In the statement, YouTube said that Rewind has always been meant to be a celebration of its users, but that celebrating wouldn’t feel right at a time when the world are still combating a global pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than a million people so far.
YouTube Rewind is a video series produced and created by YouTube and Portal A Interactive. These videos are an overview and a recap of each year’s viral videos, events, trends, and music. Each year, the number of YouTube personalities featured has increased. The series’ annual installments are uploaded onto YouTube’s official channel.
About Rewind this year. pic.twitter.com/oVayH8iyqG
— YouTube (@YouTube) November 12, 2020
Rewind videos are tough to make, even without the influence of COVID-19. In the past, people have ridiculed YouTube’s efforts for being too cringe (or not cringe enough), and it’s hard to summarize an entire year in a way that will please everyone.
