Donald De La Haye, UCF Kicker, Ruled Ineligible Over YouTube Monetization

University of Central Florida kicker Donald De La Haye was ruled ineligible by the NCAA Monday after he refused to shut down or demonetize his popular YouTube channel.

The UCF kicker’s YouTube channel, “Deestroying,” is closing in on nearly 100,000 subscribers, but NCAA student-athlete rules on players making money off their image came into conflict with this personal comedy channel. The UCF Athletics Department announced Monday that it submitted a waiver earlier this month to the NCAA – that was accepted -- to allow De La Haye to continue producing YouTube videos as well as retain his eligibility to play college football.

However, the NCAA's ultimatum over his specific content was rejected by De La Haye, who “chose not to accept the conditions of the waiver” that would have forced him to stop combining any references to his “status as a student-athlete or depict his football skill or ability.”

Tweeting from his @Deestroying verified Twitter account Monday afternoon, De La Haye simply posted, “Unbelievable.”

The Deestroying YouTube channel run by De La Haye contains dozens of videos from the past year of him doing comedy sketches, jokes about college football and even girlfriend pranks.

De La Haye says the NCAA should not be able to meddle with what he views as a job itself. And that he shouldn't have to choose between being a student-athlete and an entertainer.

“So I’m working hard, basically like a job: filming, editing creating ideas doing things of that sort… Basically I’m not allowed to make any money off my YouTube videos,” De La Haye said in his own YouTube video channel that has more than 91,000 subscribers. “If I do, bad things will happen to me.”

The NCAA said in a statement Monday that De La Haye “could have continued playing football for the university and earn money from non-athletic YouTube videos” following a July 14 waiver, but instead he “did not want to separate athletically-related videos from non-athletic ones.”

The NCAA statement continues: “Contrary to misperceptions, making a YouTube video – and even making money off of it – is not a violation of an NCAA rule. Further, years ago the members gave NCAA staff the ability to review situations like these on a case-by-case basis, consistent with previous actions. After the national office received the waiver request from UCF July 12, that process was used to confirm that De La Haye could monetize his video activity as long as it was not based on his athletics reputation, prestige or ability.”

On his personal Facebook page, De La Haye shared a Comedy Central video on July 12 from the show “Hood Adjacent” that discusses “skirting NCAA Rules with Zach Banner,” as the former USC football player discusses rules for being a student-athlete.

The controversial NCAA rule states that “student-athletes may only be compensated for work actually performed and at the rate commensurate with the going rate.”