BuzzFeed News published a profile centered around controversial YouTuberGabbie Hanna .- The story referenced a feud between Hanna and YouTuber
Trisha Paytas . - BuzzFeed denied Paytas' claims that the outlet was dishonest about aspects of the article.
BuzzFeed News responded to numerous claims from YouTuber Trisha Paytas that painted the outlet in a negative light after the publication of its profile of fellow YouTuber Gabbie Hanna.
While BuzzFeed confirmed certain details of its reporting around the profile that Paytas recounted online, it denied other allegations from Paytas that the YouTuber used to criticize the publication.
BuzzFeed released the story about Hanna, authored by Scaachi Koul, on June 4, and the article alluded to various aspects of an ongoing feud between Paytas and Hanna, which kicked off in 2019 when Paytas said Hanna told their then-boyfriend Jason Nash that Paytas had herpes, which Paytas says is not true.
Paytas took issue with a segment of the BuzzFeed article that included a quote from Hanna seemingly about their feud, which read, "Imagine you had a friend six years ago who, to this day, is contacting your employers, contacting everyone you know, and trying to ruin your reputation." The article said this was "in part referring to Paytas."
Paytas has long denied that they and Hanna were ever friends, which Hanna continues to dispute.
After the interview was published, Paytas tweeted that the journalist who interviewed Hanna had also interviewed her. Paytas said they requested not to be mentioned alongside Hanna, and Paytas claimed the author agreed to those conditions.
Paytas said they felt blindsided when the author began asking questions about Hanna in their interview. Paytas said that the journalist's interview with Hanna was before theirs but that the journalist did not reveal to Paytas they were in contact with her, despite asking questions about the feud, which Paytas did not want to answer.
Paytas also said they were not approached for comment relating to the allegations published by BuzzFeed.
-Trisha Paytas (@trishapaytas) June 5, 2021
BuzzFeed pushed back against these claims in an email to Insider.
A representative for the publication told Insider that they honored a commitment to not to use anything Paytas said about Hanna in their interview, but denied that there was ever an agreement not to mention Paytas in the article at all. The publication denied that Paytas was not made aware of the Hanna profile during or before their interview, and denied that it didn't run Hanna's allegations about Paytas by them ahead of publication.
-Trisha Paytas (@trishapaytas) June 5, 2021
Paytas' claims about BuzzFeed kicked off a week of drama for the personality, who is now in the middle of a massive feud with their co-host of the "Frenemies" podcast. After discussing the article and Hanna on Tuesday's episode, Paytas and co-host Ethan Klein got into a major dispute over the podcast's production that spilled onto social media in the following days.
Both hosts have indicated that the podcast is over for good after the feud.
Paytas did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment for this article.
Kat Tenbarge contributed reporting.
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