- Ethan Klein is taking a week-long YouTube hiatus after another explosive dispute with Trisha Paytas.
- Previously, Paytas accused their former middle school teacher of molestation on Klein's podcast.
- After questions arose over Paytas' allegations, Paytas leaked text messages with the Kleins.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Controversial YouTuber Trisha Paytas and her fiancé Moses Hacmon are facing a wave of scrutiny and criticism following several callouts against both of them.
Paytas is dealing with the fallout from a YouTube exposé that claimed Paytas falsely stated that one of their previous middle school teachers was arrested for looking up child pornography at school.
Additionally, two women have come forward on social media to accuse Hacmon of lying about his sexual history during their purported sexual relationships and "stealthing," which is the act of removing a condom during sex without consent. Stealthing is not a crime anywhere in the United States, but the California legislature moved to outlaw it just this week.
The claims have driven intense public outcry against the duo. On Sunday, Hacmon's family got involved.
The popular H3H3 YouTube podcast helmed by Ethan and Hila Klein, Hacmon's brother-in-law and sister, is on hiatus this week after leaked texts between the hosts and Paytas, who uses they/them pronouns, showed a family in crisis.
Paytas, who used to host the "Frenemies" podcast with Ethan Klein that ended in June, is accusing the Kleins of directing a hate mob toward them and Hacmon.
Here's what happened.
Klein took down a 'Frenemies' episode that included Paytas' allegations against a former middle school teacher
Trisha Paytas/Twitter
In episode 17 of Frenemies, released on January 19, Paytas accused a teacher from Byron, Illinois, of molesting them while they were in his class in middle school. Paytas said their school principal did not believe their claims about the assault at the time but said the teacher was later arrested for searching for child pornography at school.
On September 7, a YouTube channel with 26,000 subscribers uploaded a video about Paytas' claims against their former teacher. The creator said they could find no records of the man's arrest. The man in question appears to have died in 2019, according to an obituary reviewed by Insider that matches up with Paytas' references to the man. A review conducted by Insider did not locate records that would indicate a previous arrest.
The video about Paytas' claims has nearly 200,000 views and the original "Frenemies" episode was viewed more than 3 million times.
Ethan said on Friday that he would make the video unavailable for search on YouTube in light of the claims.
-Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) September 11, 2021
"Because of the nature of these claims against this specific teacher, and the stress it's causing to his family, I have decided to unlist the episode for now until Trisha can better illuminate the situation," Ethan wrote. "I want to emphasize that I do not believe Trisha would lie about something like this, so I want to give her the opportunity to clarify."
Paytas tweeted screenshots of text conversations
On Sunday, Paytas posted a series of purported direct messages between them and the Kleins, where Paytas asked them to try to stop hate coming from their fan base.
In one of the messages, Paytas said the family of the man she accused of molesting her was being "harassed" because the teacher's name was circulated in a subreddit for H3H3 followers. They also said they were "happy" the episode was taken down.
"I was told inaccurate information as I often misspoke on situations that I just believed without researching. I had reported this molestation as a teenager," Paytas claimed, seeming to suggest that she misspoke about the arrest.
Paytas has also posted two TikToks about the former teacher. In one, posted in March, Paytas said they were too scared to speak up against the teacher, whom they named in the TikTok, until recently.
Ethan urged Paytas to "make a statement" about the allegation that the arrest claim was false, but Paytas said they had already spoken to the teacher's family.
Paytas did not respond to a request for comment.
In their messages to the Kleins, Paytas said that Hacmon was falsely accused of rape. Previously, on September 8, someone Hacmon says he previously interacted with wrote in an Instagram story on her account that "Stealthing is rape" and "Moses did rape me." On Twitter, Hacmon denied the allegations, saying they only met once.
Hacmon did not respond to a request for comment.
Hila said her family was 'broken down'
In response to Paytas, Hila said in the purported direct messages that her and Hacmon's mother was "having a mental breakdown" over the situation.
"My whole family is basically broken down," Hila wrote. "Welcome to the club you're not the only victim here, start taking responsibilities for your own actions and stop blaming us for everything."
When Paytas asked if Ethan and Hila want "Moses in jail for a crime he didn't commit," Ethan responded that he believes Hacmon's accuser.
Screenshot Twitter/@trishapaytas
"Shame on both of you I so trembling with anger and disgust, shame, sadness [sic]," Ethan appeared to write.
Paytas responded that "People lie" about being raped, then said Ethan's fan subreddit was saying Paytas had lied about being molested.
Ethan wrote that Paytas' accusations "do not line up with the evidence."
Paytas said they had a 'breakdown' over the allegations
In addition to posting screenshots of texts, Paytas put out several videos that showed them sobbing. The clips add up to about 6 minutes in total and have been shared across social media.
"They're saying 'shame on you both' when I was fucking molested!" Paytas said in the video, referencing their allegations against the former teacher. "And everyone is reminding me of that person's name and telling me to apologize!"
Paytas asked for compassion in the video and said that doing "Frenemies" was a "life-ruining" mistake.
Since releasing the text screenshots and videos, Paytas has made their Twitter and Instagram accounts private, but the videos have been screen-recorded and shared on YouTube.
Ethan asked his fans not to send hate to any of the creators involved.
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