The Try Guys members Keith Habersberger and Zac Kornfeld are giving more insight into Eugene Lee Yang’s exit from the group.
During the online segment The Try Guys React To Your Assumptions on Anthony Padilla’s YouTube channel, Habersberger and Kornfield revealed that Ned Fulmer’s 2022 scandal did not play a role in Yang’s decision to leave The Try Guys.
“Two years ago before – right before this all happened – we were trying to look for ways to let Eugene finally work on these projects he hadn’t been able to work on because of his commitment to helping us build the business,” Habersberger said. “He’s had these movie scripts and TV scripts and book ideas before we met him, but he did not have the power or means to be able to make those things.”
After some initial discussions within the team, Habersberger revealed that the group agreed that “the end of 2022” was “the time” for Yang to “step away from The Try Guys to make those things.”
Anthony Padilla/Youtube
However, in September 2022, the group revealed that Fulmer would no longer be part of the group after he was accused of cheating on his wife with a colleague.
In a statement on X (formerly Twitter) at the time, The Try Guys confirmed that Fulmer was “no longer working” with the group “as a result of a thorough internal review.”
“We do not see a path forward together,” the statement continued. “We thank you for your support as we navigate this change.”
In a statement on Instagram, Fulmer admitted to having “a consensual workplace relationship” outside of his marriage at the time. “Family should have always been my priority, but I lost focus,” he said in the statement. “I’m sorry for any pain that my actions may have caused to the guys and the fans but most of all to Ariel. The only thing that matters right now is my marriage and my children, and that’s where I am going to focus my attention.”
Despite the delay pushing Yang’s departure from the group back, Habersberger and Kornfield shared that he “felt a sense of responsibility to help” the group after Fulmer’s departure and it “actually kept him longer” than originally planned.
“If he were to step away at that time, it would have been really bad optically,” Habersberger continued. “It would’ve been really hard for us to manage without him.”
“[Eugene] actually reinvested in cause he was like, ‘Well I need to be here to help us deal with this.’ It was a thing none of us have dealt with before, and it was an amount of eyeballs on us that none of us [had experienced].”
Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage
Habersberger shared that conversations about Yang’s departure eventually came up again in 2023. “[We said,] ‘Okay, let’s get back on this ability for you to go do those creative things again… I think if you can help us carry [out the new ideas] there, we can put your leaving around that same time because we’re making a newer version of the company.’ ”
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The group announced Yang’s departure from The Try Guys in a Rolling Stone interview in May, calling it “bittersweet” at the time.
Habersberger added that “Eugene leaving” was “necessary” for the group as they “keep moving forward.”
Both Habersberger and Kornfield confirmed that despite Eugene’s departure, “he is still a part of our company” and serves as one of the owners and “creatively contributes” to the group. “He still wants to find things for him to come in and do, he’s just not in every video anymore,” Habersberger explained.
