Ethan Klein says he's 'sad' to see Trisha Paytas appear on his rival Keemstar's podcast after he turned down an interview with Paytas' antagonizer Gabbie Hanna
- The "Frenemies" fallout between the YouTube podcast's former co-hosts isn't over.
- Trisha Paytas will appear on Keemstar's podcast despite his feud with Ethan Klein.
- Klein responded that he turned down an interview with Paytas' enemy, Gabbie Hanna.
The YouTube-star podcast war continues with an eyebrow-raising schedule for Daniel "Keemstar" Keem's podcast, "Mom's Basement."
Keem interviewed both Trisha Paytas and Gabbie Hanna, two controversial YouTubers who famously hate each other and are both involved in feuds with other creators.
Teasers for the appearances prompted Klein to reveal that he turned down an interview with Hanna out of respect for Paytas, sparking a new public battle between the two former "Frenemies" co-hosts.
Keem's announcement also shocked former fans of "Frenemies," the popular H3H3 Productions podcast co-hosted by Paytas and Ethan Klein. "Frenemies" crashed and burned in early June after Paytas and Klein had an explosive on-air fight over their split of the podcast's earnings.
Klein and Keem are two of YouTube's biggest enemies. They've been feuding since 2017, but the duel reached new heights in May 2020 when Klein encouraged energy drink company G Fuel to drop its sponsorship of Keem. Klein has accused Keem of waging harassment campaigns, capitalizing off other YouTubers' mental illness, and lying about Klein during Keem's "Drama Alert" news segments.
Keem recently said in a since-deleted tweet that YouTube showed "blatant favoritism" toward Klein, whom he alleged had violated the platform's rules. This past week, Klein accused Keem of later causing two strikes against H3's channel, preventing a week's worth of video uploads.
Keem denied the claim that he flagged Klein's videos and told Insider he wants a "fair and balanced" YouTube.
After Keem announced Paytas' guest appearance on "Mom's Basement," Klein tweeted that it "really makes [him] sad" to see Paytas join Keem's show. Klein went on to say that he declined to interview Hanna on the H3 Podcast because he "would never do that to Trisha." (Paytas later posted a TikTok urging Klein to interview Hanna on his show.)
"I knew it would be an interesting show with lots of views to be had, but I didn't even respond to her, and still haven't," Klein wrote. "Somethings you just don't do."
Paytas defended their interview with Keem
Paytas responded to Klein's call-out and defended their interview with Keem. They argued that their first appearance on Klein's podcast was after Klein insulted Paytas' appearance and compared them to "a corpse" and a "WWE wrestler."
"I go on podcasts to talk and try and find peace with ppl," Paytas tweeted, adding that they went on Hanna's podcast in early 2021 to try and "spread awareness" about why gossiping about sexually transmitted diseases - something Paytas accused Hanna of doing - was harmful.
Paytas went on to suggest that they "[called] out" Keem's "s---ty behavior" during his podcast, which will air Wednesday on Spotify.
Shortly after Klein's post, Klein's mother Donna called Paytas a "weasel" in a tweet. Donna has replaced Paytas as Klein's co-host on "Frenemies," which is now called "Families." Donna also tweeted that she wouldn't be attending Paytas' wedding to Klein's brother-in-law Moses Hacmon, who is Klein's wife Hila's brother.
In a TikTok comment, Hacmon said that his brother-in-law "didn't even listen" to Paytas' appearance on Keem's podcast. "She said multiple times that she is team Ethan and won't be friends with keem [sic]," Hacmon said.
Paytas claimed that Donna, Klein's mother, sent a text to Hacmon that was "the most evil thing to ever put out into the universe." Paytas hasn't said what the text was about, but tweeted that they are "tormented with it daily."
They said in a TikTok that their decision to appear on Keem's podcast wasn't influenced by Klein's feud.
"I have beef with Keem that I started [...] not everything is a personal attack," Paytas said.
Paytas then uploaded a 43-minute YouTube video refuting Klein's tweet and calling him "hypocritical."