Spanian
Spanian | ||||||||||
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| Born | Anthony Lees 1986 (age 38–39) | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2018 - present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.12M[1] | |||||||||
| Contents are in | English | |||||||||
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Last updated: 28 Jul 2025 | ||||||||||
| Website | spanianofficial | |||||||||
Anthony Lees, better known as Spanian, is an Australian drill rapper, social media influencer, entrepreneur and former criminal.
Early life
[edit]Lees grew up in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales. He had a troubled early life, developing a heroin addiction in his teenage years[2] and serving a number of custodial sentences at Cobham Youth Justice Centre for crimes including a school siege using a knife (28 days), a break and enter (100 days), and a ram raid on an ATM (six months).[3] He was originally known as "Spaniard" because his father is half-Spanish and then the nickname eventually got shortened into Spanian.[3]
As an adult, he was tried and convicted of numerous crimes including armed robbery, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and reckless wounding (pled down from the initial charge of attempted murder).[3] His final conviction in 2011 was for operating a criminal group that dealt drugs and recruited underaged children, leading to an eight-year sentence.[3] In all, Spanian spent over 12 years in prison.[4][5]
Career
[edit]After his release from Bathurst Correctional Centre in 2017, Spanian embarked on a new career as a drill rapper and a YouTube video maker. His YouTube series Into the Hood, where he travels around Australia and the world to visit neighbourhoods widely considered dangerous and crime-riddled, became "incredibly successful"[3] and transformed him into an "eshay influencer".[6] In 2022, Hachette published the book Spanian: The Unfiltered Hood Life about his life.[7]
In May 2023, he was dropped by his label One Day Entertainment after a "series of homophobic and transphobic rants" on social media.[8]
In March 2024, a Spanian fan event in Logan, a suburb of Brisbane spun "out of control" and led to three police cars being damaged.[9][5] In April 2024, police arrested and charged Lees with "one count of instigating the commission of a simple offence" while he was filming an Into the Hood video in Bridgewater, Tasmania. The video's filming, entitled "Inside The Hoods of Hobart", led to large turnout of locals with police alleging hooning, public order and damage to property offences took place. While the charges against Lees were eventually dropped, police charged several other people, and seized a number of vehicles. Police also alleged that three of their cars were damaged and two officers were assaulted.[10]
In 2024, Spanian opened his first branded kebab truck on Parramatta Road, Sydney.[11] The kebabs went "viral" on social media and now operate on a franchising model, with seven trucks operating as of July 2025.[12] In May 2025, a Spanian Kebabs truck in Melbourne burned down in a suspected arson attack.[13]
Bibliography
[edit]- Spanian: The Unfiltered Hood Life. Hachette Australia. 1 December 2021. ISBN 978-0-7336-4813-7.
References
[edit]- ^ "About Spanian". YouTube.
- ^ Riley, Christopher (27 October 2022). "Spanian: The Unstoppable Rise Of A Social-Media Superstar".
- ^ a b c d e Mitchell, Thomas (26 March 2024). "From criminal to cancelled: How Spanian became a social media sensation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ Hennessy, James (8 February 2022). "'It's Not Realistic to Be a Criminal Anymore': Spanian Says He Deserves to Be a Superstar".
- ^ a b "'Eshays' erupt amid YouTuber's visit".
- ^ "What Spanian got wrong - and right - about Wollongong's public housing estates". www.illawarramercury.com.au. 24 January 2024.
- ^ Spanian; Au, Christopher Kevin (1 December 2021). Spanian. Hachette. ISBN 978-0-7336-4812-0 – via www.hachette.co.uk.
- ^ Robinson, Ellie (1 March 2023). "Sydney rapper Spanian dropped by management following homophobic and transphobic rants". NME.
- ^ "Police seek several men after police cars damaged at 'large hooning event' involving YouTube star Spanian". ABC News. 10 March 2024 – via www.abc.net.au.
- ^ Wilson, Amber (10 July 2024). "Tasmania Police drops 'instigating' charge against YouTube star Spanian after visit to Hobart". The Mercury. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
- ^ Taylor, Nathan (24 September 2024). "Viral kebab truck Spanian's Kebabs to open in Penrith • The Western Weekender".
- ^ "Locations - Spanian's Kebabs". 18 December 2024.
- ^ "Social media influencer's Melbourne kebab truck burnt in suspicious fire". ABC News. 31 May 2025 – via www.abc.net.au.