Ultimately, we agree with the coverage of the Cody Ko situation. There was a surprising amount of nuance, and any speculations were made clear. However, there are a few things that we think should be considered, when it comes to tackling situations that happened a while back in general as well.

The problematic age gap between Cody and Tana is undeniable, and we do think Cody should have been called out and should have faced the consequences for it. Regarding the legalities, Ethan said the following:

"It's literally statutory."
H3 Show #19

"Anyway, it's not even really about like "Oh, he broke the law.". It's about: is it appropriate for a famous 25-year-old dude to be sleeping with an up-and-coming creator who's 17, a literal teenager? Like nobody's, you know, nobody... I don't think this is about trying to charge him or put him in... The legality of this is not even really... it's not the issue. It's the situation itself."
H3 Show #19

"If we start talking about "is it legal or not?", we're just gonna get lost in the weeds. It doesn't really matter. It's more about the situation."
H3 Show #19

It's good it was clarified that the legalities aren't important, but the show played a big part in making these and any potential charges out to be important itself, calling it statutory and having the episode's thumbnail portray Cody Ko in an orange jumpsuit with prison bars. We do agree that this distracts from the situation at hand, allowing people to make it about that instead.

To actually get into the weeds, there has been no clarification on where the situation took place, with both Cody and Tana being from places where 16 is the age of consent, that being Canada, North Carolina and Las Vegas. From our understanding, Cody had already moved and was living in California at the time, with Tana still living in Vegas. Chances are it happened and stayed in Vegas and wasn't statutory, which could possibly make for an interesting story too if it was specifically or deliberately kept within state borders.

If it happened in California instead, or as well, it definitely would be statutory with 18 being the age of consent there. In that case, we think Cody should definitely have been charged for it at the time, whether or not the relationship was predatory in nature. Nowadays, he couldn't be charged for it anymore because the statute of limitations has long expired given the consensual nature of the relationship.

Not that it matters at all, but for accuracy's sake, because Ethan injected a narrative that doesn't apply here, it's worth noting that Tana was already an established creator at the time, with a channel and audience several times larger than Cody's. Any such power imbalance wasn't at play here.

"The cognitive dissonance of defending Cody Ko while someone like James Charles, everybody is foaming at their fucking mouth, is stunning. It's a stunning rebuke of all of your values. You are a phony baloney."
SYNT #73 (Members-only)

We agree with this when it comes to people defending the age gap or the potential age of consent, which are absolutely problematic and should by no means be defended. However, we do think there is something to be said for the amount of time that has passed and that this needs to be considered.

We don't know if Cody did anything to make up for it and to improve as a person over all those years. For example, he may have gone into therapy and he may have apologized to Tana. Putting him on blast for the past would be perfectly fine regardless, especially for Tana who hasn't even done so in as serious a matter, but we need to allow people to change and do better, which he may well have.

Obviously, people are foaming at the mouth regarding James Charles for it being recent and for he didn't show change. If Cody hasn't changed and if he has been denying or lying about the situation instead, people would, or at least should, react in a similar way.

Not to forget that Ethan has personally defended old statutory rape by people much closer to him, so it should come as no surprise that people would defend Cody Ko too.