Is Trisha Paytas, the YouTuber who can't be canceled, a gen z icon?
A reformed troller, recovering binge eater, and top OnlyFans creator is giving the internet hope
“What did Hitler do that was so bad?” asks Trisha Paytas, an infamous internet troll, expert mukbanger, popular OnlyFans creator, and longstanding YouTuber. They posed the question on their podcast ‘Frenemies’ to their co-host and co-founder of H3 Productions, Ethan Klein. While the internet icon’s question would seem like more trolling given their scandalous past ripe with Paytas’ public declaration that they’re a Trump supporter, a chicken nugget, and a fly at the age of six, this one was said in earnest.
In that same episode titled, “Is Trisha Smarter Than A 5th Grader?,” Paytas tells Klein about how they recently found out what the Holocaust is, continuing “I got really sad.” Now, they’re learning Hebrew and the dynamics of Judaism — partly because they realized how brutal the Holocaust was and partly because their fiancé is from Israel and they want to learn more about his background. But, as always, ignorance isn’t erased over night, and Paytas’ quasi Jewish education continues to have its ups and downs. Sometimes, for instance, their newfound love for Jewish culture errs on the side of fetish. In the podcast episode, “Trisha’s Obsession With Jewish People,” they kept referring to her falafel sandwich as their “Jew lunch” and told Klein, “I prefer to date Jewish men.” In response, Klein, who is Jewish himself, shows them the error of their ways, explaining, “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty — you can not say that. That’s offensive.” He makes it clear that the ways Paytas’ consumes another’s culture is appropriative, saying “This whole obsession and fetishization makes me a little uncomfortable.”
For Paytas, adding another problematic behavior to their long list of uh-ohs is as easy and routine as adding another designer bag to their closet. And that, therein, lies the magic of Trisha Paytas, the YouTuber who’s come back from the dead enacted by cancel culture enough times to rival Trump himself. Besides their controversial statements that they knowingly publicized for money and views (i.e. saying she supports Mitt Romney because he’s so sexy), they’re also just said stupid things out of plain old ignorance. Much like a republican, five beers in, hanging with his bros in his basement, and fueled with the confidence only a sub-par white man can have, Paytas embodies the typical American. They rapped the n-word multiple times throughout the 2000s (and, really, you couldn’t point me to white dude in America who hasn’t) and continuously appropriates other cultures, like the time they created a Japanese alter-go of themselves called Trishii which prompted backlash in 2012.
Still, the YouTuber currently has over 5 million subscribers on their main YouTube channel and over 1 million on their vlog channel. Since making videos in 2007, when their YouTube channel was dedicated to their love for Quentin Tarantino, Paytas continues to rack up views online despite each year’s new scandal. What is reviving the singer’s career over and over again?
For one, Paytas continually accepts responsibility for their past actions. They’ve not only apologized multiple times for their racist remarks, but they also follow-up their words by educating herself on systemic racism in America. In a recent episode of their podcast, “Trisha & Ethan Do Oddly Satisfying Trends”, they spotlight a controversy to their millions of viewers, detailing how Jimmy Fallon, during an episode of ‘The Tonight Show,’ failed to highlight the Black TikTok creators behind viral dances and platformed a white celebrity instead. Afterwards, Paytas said they are trying to make more of an effort to speak out against racist and unjust acts. A few podcast episodes earlier, they also spoke out about the recent rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans, coming a long ways away from their 2012 culturally appropriate alter-ego. Watching this character development play out online is so satisfying, because it actually shows cancel culture the way it’s meant to be. It’s not shaming an influencer until they drop off the internet to do those same nefarious acts under the cover of privacy, but forcing people to take responsibility for their actions and learn from them. In this way, Paytas is the picture perfect model of cancel culture done right: they showed their ignorance, apologized, educated themselves, and came back stronger.
The self-proclaimed drama queen even champions accountability when it comes to other influencers. After a March 2021 Business Insider article outed the notorious YouTuber David Dobrik and his vlog squad for perpetuating and covering up a case of sexual assault within their friend group, Paytas was one of the first high-profile celebrities to speak against the once popular Vlog Squad. Dobrik was formerly one of the most successful YouTubers in the game, known for his semi-scripted semi-reality comedy bits he makes with his friends. According to Insider, Dobrik and his friends, Durte Dom, Jason Nash, Jeff Wittek, and Toddy Smith, were in Dobrik’s apartment when Dom tweeted about looking for girls to partake in a five-some. A few fans of Dobrik and an unaware friend of the fans, whose names are protected and changed in the article, saw the tweet and responded, thinking they could meet Dobrik if they talk to Dom. From the moment they walked into the apartment, they were filmed, supplied alcohol, and pressured multiple times to hook up, insisting they were not interested each time. After being too drunk to give proper consent, the young girls were assaulted and Paytas was quick to call out Dobrik and his friends for their pattern of predatory behavior. They made multiple YouTube videos doing this, including “why David Dobrik is a HORRIBLE human being,” “pt 2 David Dobrik is a coward,” “David Dobrik racist + condoning underage grooming,” “I never posted this re: David Dobrik never having to take accountability,” “everything wrong with the vlog squad pt 2,” and the list goes on. On ‘Frenemies,’ Paytas and Klein hold space for others who have been sexually assaulted or bullied by Dobrik and advocate for the importance of believing in a survivor’s story. In fact, even before the article came out, Paytas has already been voicing her concern about the predatory men in the YouTuber friend group. In 2019, Paytas called out then 24-year-old Brendon Calvillo for knowingly dating an underage girl and YouTuber, Lacy James.
After their stint with the Dobrik’s crew, Paytas has continued to be an advocate for a plethora of social justice issues. There’s almost no Gen Z-loving issue that Paytas doesn’t speak up about. From their early days on YouTube, they’ve uplifted body positivity and have spoken about the beauty of mukbangs as a way to help people with eating disorders feel better about eating. They even have a video on their channel titled, “this fat btch is a top creator on OnlyFans” where they openly talk about the fatphobic comments and revenge porn they receives due to their weight. Their also open about mental health having been recently diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and paranoid schizophrenia which they often updates their fans about in videos to share how therapy is helping and how they “handle[s] with BPD in [their] relationship” — and that’s not all. Paytas has also been frank about their confusing and fluid relationship to gender. While their first video where they communicated how they feel that they’re a transgender gay man (now deleted) received tons of backlash on the internet for misrepresenting the transgender community, their following videos shared their reflections on being gender non-conforming more clearly. For many, the videos where they talk, almost as if speaking to a personal diary, about being confused about what gender really is and why they are non-binary are refreshing, because, really, what is gender? If Paytas’ advocacy for consent, accountability, anti-racism, body and sex positivity, mental illness, and gender identity wasn’t enough to persuade Gen Z to love them, then their covid safety does. Unlike many other YouTube personalities, politicians, or A-list celebs, Paytas social distances, wears a mask, and does not party in L.A.
To a generation who’s fed up with the same #MeToo story that amounts to almost no reparations, lip service, false idols, the pandemic, and yet another hate crime on top of another hate crime, and yet another celeb with a controversial take, Paytas’ Cinderella transformation from an ignorant American right-wing country bumpkin to a human who is continually healing and working on themselves is, honestly, revitalizing.