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Ethan Klein misgenders Trisha Paytas after they quit 'Frenemies', calls move 'unfair'

Earlier this year, Trisha Paytas reaffirmed their identity as non-binary and their use of they/them pronouns exclusively

YouTuber Ethan Klein, best known for his YouTube channel h3h3Productions that he runs along with his wife Hila Klein, slammed American YouTuber, model, and singer Trisha Paytas after the latter announced that they’re leaving the ‘Frenemies’ podcast.

In a 22-minute video posted to their YouTube channel, Paytas announced their decision to leave. The decision came after a fight on the most recent ‘Frenemies’ episode on Monday, June 7. The episode ended with Paytas and Klein arguing over the show's production, revealing a long-running dispute over pay and creative control over the podcast.

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They explained in their video on Tuesday, June 8, that when they agreed to launch the podcast, they believed it would be a shared venture between Klein and them, rather than another project under H3's brand. Paytas added that they wanted to be more than the show's talent.  "It's been my stability, my regular thing once a week that I absolutely look forward to," Paytas said in the departure video. "I thought that I would have more of a say… And that's when I realized that it's different than I thought it was. I thought we were 50-50 building this show."

“I’ve had ideas shot down, I was talked over when I was talking about trans people getting killed,” they said in the video. “Yes, I should’ve said something, but in that moment, I just said the segment sucked.” Paytas said they have no issues with anyone on the crew, including Ethan and Hila, who is the sister of Paytas’s fiancé, Moses Hacmon. They said, however, that it was about them “not feeling the best in a situation and letting the audience down.”

Following their video, Klein took to Twitter and expressed sadness and shock. “i am honestly gutted over this whole thing, trisha's video this morning was a total surprise to me. I dont really know what more I can say or do. Im very sorry to all the fans of frenemies, I know how much it meant to everyone, I did everything I humanly could to save it,” he said. 

But soon afterward, he expressed his annoyance. In a series of now-deleted tweets, he said, “Ok I’m starting to get upset about all of this – our crew is getting hate from Trisha’s fans on their personal accounts and I am losing my cool. The crew has done nothing but support her and work their a**es off every week and the treatment they get is unacceptable.” 

In his tirade, Klein misgendered Paytas several times. Earlier this year, Paytas reaffirmed their identity as non-binary and their use of they/them pronouns exclusively. "This is what I've been struggling with for so long: for people to accept that I am no genders and all genders at once, or at different times," they had said then. 

Klein also wrote, “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…” He added, “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,” he wrote.

But soon, he deleted the tweets and wrote, “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.” he added, “Erased most of my recent tweets regarding Trisha - shouldnt have said that on twitter - im going to take a step back for evening.”