For Millennials. By Millennials.
So, the highly popular “Frenemies” podcast has come to an end. Co-hosts Trisha Paytas & Ethan Klein have parted ways, after a spat right at the end of episode 39 of the podcast. However, the drama did not end there as the two sides engaged in calumny, making the entire drama quite convoluted. But, that’s what we are here to solve. Here’s how it all went down, that too chronologically.
Related: Ethan Klein & Trisha Paytas talk about James Charles’ comeback
What went down between Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein, in chronological order
This isn’t the first time that Paytas has had beef with Klein. In fact, the Frenemies podcast itself came out of a feud that the two had in May of 2019. Back then, Klein criticized Paytas (who uses they/them as pronouns) for photoshopping their body in a video, which soon after went viral. In order to settle their differences, however, the two sat together in October 2019 in Klein’s podcast. Interestingly, Paytas soon became a regular on his podcast, thus eventually resulting in the birth of the Frenemies podcast. However, it seems the frenemies may finally be turning into enemies after 39 episodes of the podcast, as Paytas has called it quits.
1. The debacle of the Frenemies podcast
This decision transpired after the spat between the co-hosts right at the end of their last podcast. The conversation started with Trisha Paytas complaining about the Q&A session being boring and verged into questions about Paytas not being able to hire production crew members and complaining about their cut of the profit. Klein mentioned in the podcast that he takes 5% extra for production cost and the revenue from the highlights while handling the core business himself. Whereas, Paytas was visibly upset at their creative input not being valued in terms of the content, hiring of the production crew, and so on.
However, Klein responded to Paytas, saying they got a “generous” cut from the show’s profits. Moreover, Klein emphasized that they were hired as one of the show’s talents, not a producer, in which case Klein does possess the power of decision making. In the end, Paytas insisted Klein prematurely end the podcast, to which he obliged. You can watch the spat below from 1:29:00 onwards.
Related: Trisha Paytas clarifies their gender identity and says they are non-binary and gender-fluid
2. Paytas announces that they are leaving
Soon after the podcast went up on YouTube, Trisha Paytas released a 22-minute long video on their YouTube channel announcing their departure from the Frenemies podcast. The reason they cited was:
I’m leaving to ease the tension everywhere…I don’t want to be the toxicity in their machine.
Furthermore, Paytas released another video the next day on 9th June, this time revealing more about the conversations around production costs and revenue. They further complained that the crew Klein had hired was from the H3 productions and that they never consulted Paytas for any of the content or in decision making. They also said:
The crew was not happy with me because one of their girlfriends was hired … and he was upset because it was the girlfriend’s idea to do the Q&A.
Related: Trisha Paytas regrets being negative towards Manny Mua?
3. Ethan claps back, and officially ends frenemies!
Soon enough after Paytas’ response, Ethan Klein responded to their claims and launched a polemic. He revealed that his crew received unprecedented hate after Paytas’s YouTube videos, so much so that they had to go private on Instagram. Klein tweeted:
Whilst Trisha keeps complaining about money, every single cent I’ve ever made from Frenemies is tied up in Frenemies merch that doesn’t come out for another month – of which she will still get 50% of the profits. Paid for, designed, produced by us. And I am treating her unfairly…
Furthermore, Klein also highlighted how instead of talking things out with him, Paytas instead resorted to YouTube:
I reached out to Trisha an hour ago saying that I wasn’t happy with how she handled this and how unfair it was. Instead of talking to me and handling it privately, she put out another 20 minute video that caused my crew to get so much hate they are now privating their Insta’s
In the end, Klein pretty much announced the demise of his podcast with Trisha Paytas, tweeting:
At the end of the day, Frenemies was a beautiful experiment that I will always cherish. I’ve learned and grown so much from the experience and have Trisha to thank for that. She’s been a dear friend of mine throughout, and I’ll be grateful for all she’s done for us.
Nevertheless, Klein deleted all these tweets in the end, tweeting that he shouldn’t have said these things on Twitter:
4. Ethan’s video, explaining the dispute further:
Later, Klein also posted a video on his channel responding to the entire fiasco. He made some remarkable claims in his video, saying they “wanted to fire everybody, and get new staff”. Klein started off by saying Paytas’s videos on their personal YouTube account announcing their departure was “so unnecessary”. Klein said:
As a friend, I have come to love and appreciate Trisha…Creating Frenemies with her is going to be one of the all-time highlights for me. I want to say that everything I say now is under the lens of appreciation and love for Trisha and not at all trying to burn a bridge, but more just trying to defend myself or set the record straight in some ways. With Trisha, she puts me in these tough situations where I’m losing no matter what.
In the recent podcast, Klein acknowledged Paytas’s past struggles with their mental health, but believed that it’s not an excuse to mistreat his crew. He believes that his crew are “willing to do their job, period” and that “they have done nothing wrong”. Klein explained that Paytas wanted to hire a completely new production crew for the Frenemies podcast, where as he didn’t want to. Furthermore, Paytas’s videos encouraged their fans to harass his crew online, which led to them making their accounts private. About the 5% that Klein takes as production costs, he said:
The five percent is already spent on everything I just said. There is no production company in the world that would do that for five percent…The five percent is the family rate. It may not even be covering our costs.
Related: Trisha Paytas apologizes to Dixie D’Amelio for their past negative comments
About Paytas’s anti-Semetic remarks
Lastly, Ethan also addressed the anti-Semitic comments that Paytas as revealed in the screenshots of the conversations they had during their pay disputes. With that, Klein highlighted their hypocrisy saying:
She posted a screenshot of herself calling me ‘Jewy,’ for wanting five percent to cover the massiveness of this production. She can say whatever she wants about my being Jewish, she can make all the stereotypes…The minute I say anything to her, show’s canceled. It’s just not an equitable relationship.
4. Paytas goes in great detail about the debacle
After Klein’s response went viral on Twitter, Trisha Paytas did not hold back and went into great detail about what they believe went wrong behind the scenes at H3H3 Productions. Afterward, a series of three YouTube videos, titled “Ethans lies” and a series of numerous tweets were released by Paytas, which included screenshots of DMs and other information related to the feud. In their video, Paytas addressed the claims Klein made, saying:
This is the one time where I feel like … I don’t think this person is bad, like at all. The video Ethan made yesterday, I thought was so awful on so many levels because in all my videos up to that I didn’t incite any hate to the crew, I didn’t incite any hate to Ethan
Moreover, Paytas also highlighted that they asked to end the show early instead of walking off abruptly. They found it distasteful that their frustration was misconstrued as them wanting to fire the crew. And wanting to avoid a public spat had nothing to do with their mental health. They said:
I apologize to everyone once again for my outburst on the show. I really try to use tools I’ve learned like, de-escalate and disengage. And it wasn’t enough for a lot of people. And I’m sorry but… I’m very appreciative of the people who worked on the show.
5. Paytas does not hold back on Twitter
However, Paytas was not done with calling out Ethan Klein only on YouTube. They then went on Twitter and tweeted in great detail about the entire debacle. They straight-up called Klein a liar, saying:
He’s not spinning something. He straight up made a lie I wanted the crew fired and keeps re-iterating that.
However, that was only the start. Trisha Paytas sent a series of tweets highlighting Ethan Klein’s lies, starting off by saying:
When frenemies started it was QUARANTINE !!! Nobody was working on frenemies – adding a frenemies producing is not taking anyone’s jobs away.
Furthermore, Paytas continued talking about how small the crew was when they began the podcast, saying:
Hiring a camera man or a producer takes no ones job away. I’m so confused. They just recently started being more involved with the vlogs – this is all new
They further mentioned how Ethan Klein is manipulating information among the tweets, and that he lied to the crew abt what they thought:
The office space was bought for h3 and teddy fresh pre-covid. Frenemies wasn’t even a thought. Me and moses weren’t even dating. Moses was working on that building before we dated. He’s manipulating so much… He literally told the crew trish wants to fire you. That’s the opposite of having my back, that’s pinning us against each other.
6. Paytas reveals screenshots
Later on, Trisha Paytas showed screenshots of their conversation with Klein, saying the costumes they suggested always got ignored:
I tried to suggest the costumes I wanted to do to no replies fro anyone on the group chat. Once again – he said it was always my idea the costumes, they were never my suggestions.
Furthermore, Paytas said that hiring a different crew for Frenemies is not the same as wanting H3 crew to be fired, tweeting:
Hiring a producer and camera man are two things we didn’t have. That’s not taking anyone’s job away. They are all paid a salary before frenemies, frenemies didn’t change how they were paid. This is so dumb.
Moreover, Paytas believes they were in the right to want at least one crew member to work for them, instead of the entire crew being under Klein, saying:
I literally wanted one person for me there. They are all for Ethan. We have the budget to hire on person to help me execute my ideas too. How is this hard for anyone to understand ?
Paytas also clarified that they did not edit any of the screenshots. And as far as the profits they reaped from Frenemies are concerned, they said:
I never denied this. Ethan however claims he made no money which is crazy. He’s made an insane amount of money , like INSANE amount. And sponsors. And the teddy fresh plugs. He making so well.
You can look at all the screengrabs in this thread:
7. Paytas says most of the content was based upon her
Furthermore, Paytas alleged that all the content posted from the podcast had their name and clickbait titles, tweeting:
Lol literally every title the first 4 months was all my name. And al my drama. It’s still 75% my name and clickbait for all those highlights. They make bank BANK on it
As far as their decision to leave the podcast, Paytas explained they made the choice after the final episode aired, tweeting:
It was hours later when he said i was rude to the crew and felt disrespected. I said I shouldn’t continue in that case. No one deserves that in their work environment. So I told him I was done. He knew
8. Trisha Paytas clarifies their comments, saying they admired the staff’s work
Lastly, Trisha Paytas admitted that they absolutely appreciates the effort that the staff put into Frenemies. They believe that the crew deserved to rest after being overworked and instead, another dedicated crew should have been hired to ease the burden. Furthermore, they also shared clips where they praised the work of the H3 crew. They also tweeted:
I praised both Ian/Sam in that episode. I’ve done that in the past. To take me not liking a segment or suggesting we add people and say to them Trish once you are fired. Is manipulative.
They clarified it in this video:
And so, this is what went on between Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein on their last infamous Frenemies podcast. As of right now, the duo have not patched things up and the podcast looks unlikly to resume anytime soon. Until the two have settled their financial differences, it looks unlikely for them to make a come back. What do you think of this debacle? Let us know in the comments below.
Related: Gabbie Hanna feuding with Trisha Paytas has led Trisha to seek professional help
