The Future of The King of Random : A Message From Janae

Summary

In a heartfelt message, Janae Thompson addresses the viewers of The King of Random channel, reflecting on the loss of her husband, Grant Thompson, and the future of the channel they built together. Filmed at one of Grant’s cherished locations, Janae shares personal stories and insights into the challenges faced since Grant’s passing. She expresses the ongoing struggle to find the right path for the channel without its original driving force and invites the audience to join her as she revisits Grant’s legacy and considers its future.

Highlights

• Janae speaks candidly about the impact of Grant's death on her life and the channel's direction.🗣️
• She shares the emotional backdrop of filming in one of Grant’s favorite spots, highlighting their shared memories.🏔️
• Janae discusses the pressure and challenges of maintaining the channel's success post-Grant.🎬

Key Takeaways

• The channel has experienced significant changes since Grant's passing, leaving a void difficult to fill. 😢
• Janae stresses the importance of honoring Grant's passion and legacy while acknowledging her limitations in taking over his role.💔
• The journey continues as she invites the audience to reflect on past projects and the legacy Grant left behind. 📽️

Overview

Janae Thompson opens up about the emotional turmoil and challenges she's faced since the tragic loss of her husband, Grant Thompson. Known to fans as 'The King of Random,' Grant left behind not only a beloved YouTube channel but also a family searching for direction. Filmed at a location that held special significance for Grant, Janae recounts her journey through grief and how it has affected her and the channel.

She candidly addresses the difficulties in finding a suitable successor or direction for the channel, emphasizing that while many have tried to fill Grant’s shoes, his unique spirit and energy remain irreplaceable. Janae shares her dilemma of managing the channel alongside her responsibilities as a mother, expressing her gratitude for the community’s patience and understanding.

Looking forward, Janae invites the audience to join her in revisiting Grant's most cherished projects. She expresses a deep commitment to honoring his legacy, reflecting on times past and pondering the channel's future. With heartfelt sincerity, she seeks to share this journey of remembrance and rediscovery with those who have continued to support The King of Random.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Channel Changes The chapter introduces Jana Thompson as the speaker, who acknowledges changes on the channel, particularly the absence of Grant, affecting the channel's identity. The video aims to address these changes.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Grant's Legacy and Personal Memories This chapter reflects on the personal memories and legacy of Grant, focusing on his favorite spot near a mountain, which holds significant emotional value as it was his last known location before his tragic incident while paragliding. This location symbolizes his adventurous spirit and the collective loss experienced by those who knew and admired him. The narrative captures the poignancy and nostalgia associated with remembering a beloved figure in such a meaningful setting.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Family and Challenges After Grant's Passing This chapter reflects on a pivotal moment in the narrator's life after the passing of Grant, a significant figure. The narrator chooses to make a tribute video in a location that Grant cherished deeply. This place was symbolically chosen because it represents the freedom and joy Grant experienced, especially when he was flying. The narrator shares this personal reflection to honor Grant's memory and his love for this special place.
• 06:00 - 10:00: Channel Transitions and Challenges The chapter titled 'Channel Transitions and Challenges' likely explores the emotional and professional journey of an individual involved in a creative or entrepreneurial venture, possibly a video channel. It describes how making videos, especially 'king of random' videos, provides a unique sense of freedom to the person, highlighting the contrast between this feeling and their connection to the physical world. The chapter might delve into personal reflections, the challenges faced during these transitions, and the support or contributions from family, such as a spouse.
• 10:00 - 16:00: Future of the Channel and Honoring Grant The chapter focuses on the support given to Grant in pursuing his dreams, starting from the very beginning of the 'King of Random' channel. The narrator highlights their involvement from the first video to the unexpected last video made by Grant. This includes being present through every transition and change within the channel.

The Future of The King of Random : A Message From Janae Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Welcome To The King of Random I am not your host Jana Thompson and you may have noticed some changes on the channel but one change none of us have missed is the fact that Grant's not on the channel anymore and ever since that point in time the channel has never been the same I am not unaware of this and the reason I am making this video and
• 00:30 - 01:00 I'm making it here in his favorite spot which if I just adjust this a little bit you'll be able to see just right up here this mountain right here this is the last place Grant ever touched foot on this Earth because this mountain right here is where he took off from for the last time when he went paragliding and it then became that fateful day where the world learned that we had lost one of our favorite
• 01:00 - 01:30 YouTubers and that moment changed my life forever and I wanted to make this video and I wanted to make it it's windy here uh I wanted to make it here in the place he loved the most he came here to find Freedom he came here to live his best life he came here to fly because when he flew that's the place where he could
• 01:30 - 02:00 feel and he could feel deeper than anything he'd ever deeper than anything he'd been able to connect with with his feet planted on the earth that's not where he felt free although for him making the king of random videos was the one thing that made him feel the most free on this planet and as his wife
• 02:00 - 02:30 what I wanted to do was support him in living his best life in living his dreams and I did that from day one I did that from the Inception of King of Random and I have been here through every step from the very first video to the very last video which we did not know would be the last video Grant would ever make I've been here through it all and surprising fact I have been here through every transition that's been on
• 02:30 - 03:00 the channel uh some of you have wondered has the channel been sold what's happening to it now we'll know the channel hasn't been sold uh I still have the channel because you know Grant and I created it together and planned on keeping it together but as you all know when a spouse dies whatever the spouse has goes to the remaining spouse and you know Grant and I for sure created this channel together but we all know he was the face of the channel he was the love
• 03:00 - 03:30 of the channel he was the Curiosity behind the success and the genuine love and passion that created The King of Random and guess what I have news for everybody I am not Grant so I can't take over and do what he did that's not who I am that's not you know my passion that's not my role how silly would it be if I
• 03:30 - 04:00 came back here in the backyard and just said I'm going to start blowing up everybody like that would be silly right and you know some people have said hey would his sons want to come on the channel and take over and you know be the King of Random and let me just ask you this as amazing as Grant was and you know the projects that he did and many of you have said oh my gosh I wish Grant was my dad or you know I love doing these projects with my dad this is just
• 04:00 - 04:30 such a perfect um channel for projects for you know kids and their dads and Grant has been like a dad figure to me um but for his boys my my sons they they were really really young when their dad was here with us and you know when he died my oldest was 10 years old and my youngest was two so when my husband died I was left with four children
• 04:30 - 05:00 under the age of 10 and getting kids to you know be available and film and you know do a project it takes a lot of time and attention and that essentially would be like hurting wild cats for me uh now as they've gotten older they're definitely expressing interest in you know YouTube and things like that but how many of you want to take over what
• 05:00 - 05:30 your dad did I mean a few of you do but the majority of you don't and my kids are all so different and I think it's a really hard thing for me to address that question because really what I want is for Grant to do those projects with his boys and that's not an option for me and to watch me do those projects with my boys now that's Entertainment so I know I'm not the
• 05:30 - 06:00 person to do that and unfortunately you know we've never had an ideal situation with any of the hosts that we've tried where you know something like that's possible uh you know I would have loved that but it just hasn't been the case and so as I look at the channel and all the transitions that it's been on and everything that I've been through as a mother as a wife becoming a widow losing my husband you know these past 5 years have been
• 06:00 - 06:30 been tremendously hard for me and I've relied heavily on different people and organizations who have said I can manage the channel I you know I can do what it's going to take to get the channel into a place where you know it'll be what Grant wanted or it'll be successful or you know we can get the views up or we can get the monetization up all of these different things that you know so many people look at a Channel with you know 12 a half million subscribers and
• 06:30 - 07:00 say ooh I can help you with that and you know the reality is is it just has never been the same without Grant and I would venture to say it will never be the same without Grant and for me as I truly start to look at that and accept that and take this channel as this is his legacy this is his life's work this is something that was really
• 07:00 - 07:30 special I have to look at it and ask myself what is the best thing for the King of Random what is the best thing for the channel and I don't fully know the answer to that yet I do know that my most heartfelt deep objective is to remember and honor the passion that Grant had for the projects that he did which is why I had to make this video here because one of the last things he said to me was um
• 07:30 - 08:00 when I'm here when I see this Red Rock I feel alive and that's when I knew this is where he needed to be and you know looking back this is what ultimately took us from him sorry ultimately took us ultimately took him from us because when he was here he felt so
• 08:00 - 08:30 alive and that connected him to his new passion that he' found which was paragliding and as competent as he was in the air I don't know that there is a more competent pilot than Grant as a paraglider he was an airline pilot he knew how air worked he knew everything that there was to know about being safe in the air and had more experience flying skydiving flying airplanes flying all sorts of different things that he just he loved being in the air it was just one of the things that made him
• 08:30 - 09:00 feel so happy and I loved that for him and what I didn't realize is also how dangerous that sport can be but because Grant was so competent I never worried about him I believed fully that he of everybody in the world was the most competent and capable for you know engaging in a sport like that and and we all know Grant
• 09:00 - 09:30 could do the craziest things and whenever he did them they just seemed to work out and other people would have blown their hands off or there's the wind I think maybe that's maybe that's him saying yes babe you you you hear me you see me because he certainly loved the wind and it was actually this wind here in this area that um that caused his accident so there's something to be said for you
• 09:30 - 10:00 know elements and things that you can't control and one of the things that I can't control is that he's not here and that he's not guiding the channel and quite frankly since he's been gone you know the guidance hasn't been there there hasn't been a Helm at the ship of the King of Random and as much as I know that was supposed to be me not because I wanted it not because I asked for it not because that was my job it just fell on me and I really was not in a position to
• 10:00 - 10:30 take on the kind of time and intense responsibility that a channel like this takes so I have basically just you know done what I can to try and what I would describe as limp along and do my best with the channel and just keep it going until I had the fortitude to really even make this video
• 10:30 - 11:00 and address this problem of what happened to The King of Random and you know it's it's been really uncomfortable it's been really hard it's been a lot more than I'm capable of and this is the first time that I feel like I can address these questions so this isn't to give you a particular answer
• 11:00 - 11:30 but this is just to help me communicate to the audience that loved my husband so much a little bit a little bit of what's happened in the background and so moving forward I I'm going back and I'm looking at what my husband created and I'm appreciating it again and it's a journey that I want to invite you guys on as I figure out what is it that I do with this beautiful
• 11:30 - 12:00 content that my husband created and this movement that he created from the core of his heart from the passion contained within his soul that he lived every day in this world with and it's something that is not ready to be forgotten that will never be forgotten in reality but hasn't been honored in the way that I feel like it should be
• 12:00 - 12:30 honored and so this is a journey that I am starting now 5 years later after the death of my husband and trying to pick up the pieces of my life and figure out who I am and raise four boys by myself without a dad who desperately loved those kids and was the perfect dad for them and is no longer with us and you know that loss has been something that I have grappled with in so many ways
• 12:30 - 13:00 that's made it really difficult for me to even address and hold the channel in the way that it's meant to be held with the time and effort that it deserves and and the truth is I don't know what the answer to that is yet and so I just ask that as I finally face this that you know you have patience
• 13:00 - 13:30 and and and afford me the space to say I don't know if I did the right thing I don't know what I was doing this whole time and it's taken me a long time to just find my footing and feel like I can be a human again in a lot of ways without feeling the devastation that losing the love of
• 13:30 - 14:00 my life has caused me so be patient with me and I'm really grateful that you're still here and just like Grant didn't know I don't know what the future holds you know I thought that he would be still running the channel and he would bringing the be bringing the boys on and they'd be doing projects together and you know our channel would be bigger than dare I say Mr
• 14:00 - 14:30 Beast but you know that didn't happen and it's because the magic of who Grant is is gone but the memory and where it all started is still here and with us and it's my job to figure out how to give that to you in the right ways and I do have some ideas but between now and then what I want to do is share from the beginning where this all started because
• 14:30 - 15:00 it's a journey that I'm revisiting because it's time so as the wind is blowing and maybe that's Grant just saying you got this babe cuz when we did his celebration of life here just in the park down the street that's what I heard him say as I stood in our bathroom and I felt like he was hugging me and he said what I felt like I perceived the
• 15:00 - 15:30 phrase you've got this babe so I don't think that that's true but I do think that maybe maybe there is something that is meant for this Channel that I haven't discovered yet and so I just invite you to join me on this journey as I go back in time and we're going to revisit Grant's best projects and I'm really excited to do that just because
• 15:30 - 16:00 it's time for me to remember because I'm ready so I invite you to join me