Dusty Smith is an American comedian, author, actor, Internet entrepreneur, and musician. He is best known as the host of the controversial Youtube program “The Cult of Dusty” which centers around anti-religious humor.
Dusty was born in Greenwood, Mississippi to parents Annette and Terry Smith. His mother was a devout evangelical Christian and his father was a life long atheist. His parents divorced when he was four years old, leaving him to be raised by his mother. As a single mom, Annette raised Dusty along with his older brother and two younger sisters. The family was extremely poor and lived well below the poverty line. Dusty was raised in a strict religious household where he attended a charismatic, Pentecostal Church twice a week. As a young teenager he became a leader in his youth ministry where he performed in many Christian plays and concerts.
At 20, Dusty discovered a loophole in popular search engines that allowed him to dominate the search results for many of the most searched keywords and by 24 had made his first million in online revenue. At 25 he wrote his first novel, 7 Deadly Sins, which was published in hardback. Later that year he would become one of the pioneers of Reality Televison by agreeing to appear on MTV’s second reality show, “Fanatic”. After a failed stint as an actor, Dusty began writing comedy, which led to a deal with The History Channel to film a series called “Off The Grid.” Before filming, the deal fell through and the show was given to Les Stroud, the Survivor Man, and moved to the Outdoor Life Network.
At 30, Dusty began to research heavily into Christianity in order to prove to an atheist friend that it was true. However, this research led him to become one of the world’s most outspoken atheists. He would later say that his faith was “crushed by the evidence against it.” Soon after he began “The Cult of Dusty”, a Youtube comedy show with the aim of mocking religion and promoting atheism and rational thought. The Cult of Dusty is currently one of the most popular Atheist channels on Youtube with tens of thousands of subscribers and millions of video views worldwide.
