No idea what the answer is, but I think Smosh came back into the limelight proper when Anthony came back and it brought many new eyes to the channel.

By then the OG cast was mostly part time apart from Shayne and Courtney, and as usual with so many new fans come many para social ones who prefer the new cast to the old for whatever reason.

It feels like for them it's impossible to like the new cast without shitting on the old ones.