Trisha Paytas Announces They're Leaving Frenemies Podcast — Parting Ways With Frenemy Ethan Klein
Inside the long drama between Trisha and Ethan.
YouTube On June 8, YouTuber Trisha Patyas announced they will be leaving the "Frenemies" podcast, which they co-host with their now very own frenemy, H3H3's Ethan Klein.
Why is Trisha Paytas leaving the "Frenemies" podcast?
In a video titled "Stepping down from Frenemies," Paytas said, "A lot of people were upset with my little episode yesterday" — referring to an outburst during the latest episode.
In this outburst, Paytas claimed that they "didn't get input on people we hire," referencing a new hire Klein had made without their knowledge.
This argument continued, with Paytas arguing about the new studio space for the "H3" Podcast and the production costs of "Frenemies."
This spat went for a while, with Klein claiming Paytas received a "generous" cut from the show's profits and Paytas saying they felt left out of the bigger business decisions made by Klein.
After Klein accused Paytas of "gaslighting" him, they asked to end the podcast.
Klein tweeted his response to Paytas leaving, saying he was "honestly gutted over this whole thing."
But to really understand what's going on between the now-former co-hosts, first, we need to review the history of the feud between Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein.
What happened between Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein?
In 2019, Paytas and Klein first started feuding in a major way.
Klein posted a YouTube video titled "Instagram vs Reality" in which he pointed out how social media posts are heavily edited.
The video included celebrities' and influencers' posts and then compared them to photos other people had taken of them.
One person featured in this video was Paytas. Klein dubbed them "the spokesperson for Instagram vs Reality" and shamed them for the amount of editing done to their photos.
The crux of Klein's argument was that people shouldn't compare themselves to people on social media, because most of the time, the pictures don't show reality.
Paytas saw this as a direct callout and clapped back on Twitter, calling Klein "a disgusting piece of s---."
They continued, "Your recent video is not only predatory; it's also harmful to young girls."
In later tweets, Paytas mentioned they had struggled with suicidal thoughts for a long time, noting that bullying can "lead to many girls wanting to take their lives like I did for so many years."
Paytas posted a follow-up video called "H3H3 is harming young girls!" where they aired all of their thoughts on Klein and his video.
In the video, Paytas says, "It just made me so sad and upset that there's this 40-year-old man shaming girls."
Paytas also went after Klein's wife, Hila Klein, in another (now deleted) tweet, saying, "I would divorce him ASAP as he is causing so much damage to young women."
"It's actually SICKENING," they continued. "I've never been more disgusted. That you stand by him is even more disgusting."
Hila replied back saying, "Who is this rude person? I don't recognize her from her profile picture. Anyone know?"
To further drive his argument home, Klein posted a highly edited photo of himself to Instagram with the caption "Reality vs Instragam [sic]."
Surprisingly after all of that drama, literally two days later, Paytas tweeted they wanted to go on the H3 Podcast.
Then in August, after Klein made another comment about Paytas on H3, they took to Twitter, saying, "Why do [you] repeatedly come for me?? U r a dad now, maybe like stop picking on girls online for literally no reason?"
And in October of 2019, Paytas posted a video called "I am Transgender (Female to Male)."
In this video, Paytas summarized their sexuality, basically saying they are a gay man in drag.
(This is not what it means to be transgender, though Paytas later stated they identify as nonbinary.)
The response to this video was mostly negative, with members of the LGBTQ+ community saying the video was making a mockery of transgender issues.
Klein took this opportunity to call Paytas "f-ing insane," on an episode of the H3 Podcast.
To this Trisha said, in another Youtube video, that Klein was "worse than Donald Trump."
Showing no mercy, Klein then posted an imitation of Paytas's apology video, which followed their initial coming out video.
Klein dressed up in a blonde wig and red lipstick, saying, "I wanted to basically apologize to Trisha Paytas, who is such a sweet, genuine person. I wanted to, first of all, apologize for saying that [they] looked like [they] [were] at an open casket funeral … Sorry for saying that you're not a trans man, even though you have F cup jugs that are always on display."
(This is also not an appropriate response to anyone's gender identity.)
How did Trisha get on the "Frenemies" podcast in the first place?
In another since-deleted tweet, Klein said if Paytas was "man enough," they could come onto the podcast.
In true Trisha fashion, they jokingly said they would do it for 18 million dollars.
Paytas debuted on the H3 podcast, and strangely enough, it looked like everyone got along, despite the laundry list of drama that led up to the episode.
Afterward, Klein tweeted, "Thank you for coming. Despite our differences and a few rocky moments, it was really fun having you in the studio."
Paytas appeared on an H3 podcast episode again in February 2020.
This time, the Kleins did a "Bachelorette"-themed episode with the intention of finding Trisha a partner. Paytas expressed interest in Hila's brother but promised they wouldn't message any of the show's contestants, and if they did the Kleins had to know.
So everything was fine between Paytas and Klein aftet that, right?
Well, no.
The pandemic put the podcast on hold in March and Paytas's quest for love was stunted, until they took it into their own hands.
Paytas tweeted pics with Hila's brother, Moses Hacmon, to which Klein responded, "Stop this right now."
Paytas then started accusing Klein of ruining their relationship, tweeting, "We are soulmates. So u can't set it on fire even if u wanted to. I've been trying to be nice and respectful but stop coming for me bro."
Klein told her to stop cutting Moses off from his family, "like Scientology."
Although there were many Twitter battles and YouTube videos that followed, the two finally reconciled.
Soon after, Paytas announced she would be cohosting a new podcast, "Frenemies," with Klein.
Paytas quit the "Frenemies" podcast for the first time in December 2020.
Things were going well until episode 13, released on December 10, 2020.
Klein said that Hila did not want to be discussed on "Frenemies," as Trisha's comments resulted in tension between Hila and Moses. Paytas took major offense to this and walked out of the studio.
Paytas then posted a video saying they would be quitting the show after watching Hila and Klein criticize them on a livestream.
But Paytas returned to the show on December 16 and apologized for the whole meltdown.
And everything seemed okay since then.
Klein even took Paytas's side during two episodes of "Frenemies" where they explained how Shane Dawson hadn't believed them when they told him about their negative experience with Jeffree Star.
Klein posted a TikTok in support of Paytas, stating that Shane and his partner Ryland Adams are his "enemies" now.
Did Trisha Paytas quit for real this time?
In a comment below their video, Paytas made it pretty clear that their priority right now is themselves.
"[The podcast] is not good for me mentally anymore. And it could be my own brain attacking me but for myself, right now, I just need to disengage completely. This is without a doubt, the hardest decision I've ever made."
Kat Mackay is a writer that covers pop culture and good news