What that same platform now needs to do is have a reckoning about mental health and its responsibility toward the people who rely on it for their livelihoods. A platform that once was about connecting with people has led to an explosive disconnection.
#Ethan h3 series#
In 2016, the Kleins launched the H3 podcast, a weekly interview series featuring comedians and influencers. The channel then spun off to the H3 podcast and various spin-offs. While the differences in personalities between Klein and Paytas might have produced the type of entertainment YouTube thrives off, it also led to its downfall. The spat grew from a series of videos between right-wing provocateur Steven Crowder and the host of the H3 Podcast, Ethan Klein, calling one another out for their purported bad takes on mask-wearing. Ethan and Hila typically made commentary, comedy sketches and reaction videos that critiqued internet culture. And it’s well-established that a YouTube career can take its psychological toll: a number of once-popular Youtubers including Tati Westbrook, Shane Dawson and James Charles have switched their cameras off in the past year (some permanently and some temporarily) following their own individual scandals. At some point, a business model that relies of scandal becomes an act of self-sabotage. It’s clear Frenemies was established out of a desire to do better business, without much consideration of how the podcast might psychologically affect both parties. Paytas’ honesty and humanity, and Klein’s softening toward Paytas, was at times genuinely touching to see.Īs this week showed, however, a few captured moment do not an appropriate work environment make. But the union proved surprisingly successful, for a while at least. The question, as anyone who has watched the emotional videos posted by Paytas can attest, is: at what cost? Loyal fans of Klein’s H3 podcast appreciated his unabashed opinions on celebrity culture and questioned his dignity in partnering with Paytas, infamous for their ‘trolling’. As high-ranking views and revenue have shown, this pair were savvy enough to understand that opposites attract and utilized this to further their businesses. He has surpassed over 4 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He runs his YouTube channel h3h3Productions where he regularly shares prank and reaction videos. He is popular for uploading comedy content. If you look at it from the YouTubers’ perspective, however, it makes perfect sense. Ethan Klein is an American YouTube star and well known for social media personality. This is why the eventual collaboration between Klein and Paytas on Frenemies was met with initial confusion from fans.