YouTubers Who Couldn't Stand Working Together

The following article includes allegations of racism, sexual harassment, and verbal and physical abuse.

The world of YouTube is getting bigger, and every day there are new content creators who hope to share their videos with the world. Sometimes, these creatives befriend their fellow YouTubers, giving birth to popular collaborations between the likes of Nikita Dragun and Bretman Rock, Trisha Paytas and Shane Dawson, the whole Vlog Squad, and so many more. But not every relationship on this worldwide platform is meant to last. In the words of infamous YouTuber Tana Mongeau, "This industry is filled with a lot of people who are all very [expletive] different ... a lot of people are going to butt heads" (via Entertainment Tonight).

Back in 2005, who would have thought that this cute video-sharing website would become host to some of the biggest feuds in internet history, where influencers and content creators would be making apology videos, would be gossiped about on drama channels, and releasing diss raps about each other? Who are these feuders and what are they even fighting about?

Note: Some YouTube drama has been known to have been fabricated in the past for promotional or content purposes. So please read about these YouTubers who couldn't stand working together with a grain of salt.

In 2017, Jake Paul — not to be confused with his equally infamous brother Logan Paul — started a management company called Team 10, a social media influencer talent label that was meant to help social media stars grow their fanbase and support their content. A handful was chosen to live in Team 10's Hollywood home, one of whom was vlogger Alissa Violet. Although she and Paul had a public image as an item and even capitalized on that possibility by selling merchandise with their couple name "Jalissa" on it, the relationship was never confirmed until their dramatic breakup.

In February 2017, Violet revealed in a Snapchat video that Jake had kicked her out of Team 10. "[Jake] threw all of my stuff downstairs and put a lock on the door ..." In since-deleted tweets, she and Jake Paul went back and forth posting their sides of the story, where each accused the other of cheating and mistreatment (via J-14).

Three months later, Team 10 released a music video called "It's Everyday Bro" where the group rapped about their success as influencers. In one verse Paul disses Violet, rapping about kicking out a team member who was "talking [smack] on Twitter, too. But still hit my phone last night" and then threatened to reveal what really happened. Violet replied with a video about their relationship and her own diss track, "It's Every Night, Sis."

After their breakup, Jake Paul's ex-girlfriend Alissa Violet found a new boyfriend, another YouTuber named FaZe Banks. It makes sense that an ex-boyfriend would want to troll his ex's new beau, but this was far more than trolling.

On August 18, 2017, Jake Paul posted the video "My assistant was assaulted ..." featuring Paul, his assistant Meg Zelly, and Team 10 members Erika Costell and Anthony Trujillo, where they accused Banks of dragging Zelly by the neck after clotheslining her (via reupload). They claimed that Banks had no idea who she was, which meant Zelly allegedly wasn't targeted because of internet drama and this could have happened/been happening to other girls. Paul said the police were going to be involved and that there was proof of the altercation (one of which was a bruise on Zelly's neck).

Banks uploaded a response video mere hours after Paul's, entitled "My girlfriend was assaulted ..." Banks starts the video by saying "99% of what [Paul] said in his video was absolutely fabricated and untrue." Banks, his girlfriend, and friends assert that Team 10 knew that Banks hurting Zelly was an accident but made the accusations anyway. After Banks' video, Paul lost 60,000 followers, and Banks gained most of them. The two have gone back and forth for years with anti-climactic and somewhat goofy play confrontations and promises of resolving things behind closed doors. It's hard to tell what's what, but a clear-cut friendship is not confirmed.

The Team 10 drama didn't stop with Alissa Violet. In 2019, makeup influencer Cole Carrigan dipped after only three months living in the house. According to a since-deleted YouTube video, the MUA (makeup artist) said he took on all of the Team's management responsibilities himself (via Clever News). But that wasn't the tipping point.

In his video explaining his departure, Carrigan claimed that Team 10's event organizer Arman "Armani" Izadi got into a heated argument with him in Las Vegas, where Izadi called him homophobic slurs and other names (via Daily Dot). Carrigan said Armani threatened to call the police if he didn't move out (via Distractify). Shortly after the altercation, the MUA discovered all of his content was deleted from Team 10's socials and that he was being kicked out. In text messages survived by Distractify, Carrigan asks Jake Paul for an explanation. Paul replied, "I wanted you to go home and think about what life would be like if you are not on the Team anymore."

In his own video, Jake Paul defended the decision to get Carrigan out of the house, "Carrigan is going Alyssa Violet on Team 10 right now" and "He wasn't posting videos or filming any videos because he's lazy." Paul also addressed Carrigan's claim that someone had spray-painted obscenities over a mural made for the makeup artist, saying it was Armani who vandalized it. In the words of Logan Paul, "Well, that's a little immature."

Blow-ups within YouTube's beauty community have become so commonplace that they've taken on the name "Dramageddon." Dramageddon 1 took place in 2017, with beauty gurus Jeffree Star, Nikita Dragun, Manny MUA, and Laura Lee. The four regularly collaborated until the clique started replacing Star with Gabriel Zamora, possibly because of Star's alleged racist and misogynistic past behaviors resurfacing (documented by YouTube compilations). Star posted a video to apologize and explain his former behavior.

In November 2017, Star tweeted: "The beauty community has turned into such an ugly place" and claimed that Laura Lee's "soul is pure evil" (via Seventeen). In 2018, Dragun posted the video "Why We Aren't Friends" featuring Lee, Zamora, and Manny, confirming that their relationship with Star was over. In the Shane Dawson web series "The Secret World of Jeffree Star," Star discusses the beauty drama and how his ex-best friends hurt him, making him out to be the bad guy.

After the series was released, Zamora tweeted a photo with the clique flipping the bird with the caption, "B***h is bitter because without him we're doing better" (via Imgur). Fans took this to be targeted toward Star since Zamora later tweeted "Imagine stanning a racist? I could never." This led to fans digging up evidence of their racist tweets, resulting in those gurus also having to post apologies. Star took to his Snapchat, laughing and saying, "I love karma" (via Team Time).

On May 10, 2019, Halo Beauty creator Tati Westbrook posted a YouTube video slamming the popular MUA James Charles (reuploaded here). The two had a very public mentor/mentee relationship that took a turn when Charles endorsed SugarBearHair vitamins, a company that was Westbrook's direct competitor. She first responded in an emotional Instagram story (via reupload), saying, "I feel really used," then followed it up with the internet-breaking video "Bye Sister." She said she and her husband helped Charles through his previous scandals and supported him through his career, adding, "It wasn't specifically just about vitamins ... it was just about being lied to and feeling disrespected." She called him selfish and said, "I'm freaking afraid of him."

After Westbrook's video, many people joined the bandwagon, one of whom was Jeffree Star, who tweeted "Everything Tati said is 100% true" (via ET). This backlash caused Charles to make history as the first YouTuber to lose over 1 million followers in less than 24 hours, per Sky News.

Finally, on May 18, Charles debunked Westbrook and everyone's allegations with dozens of screenshots in a well-organized video. Many of those who spoke against him retracted their statements, including Star, who had even threatened to expose Charles. He won back his fans and came out on top. Westbrook then released an apology but has since deleted it (reuploaded here).

After Dramageddon 2, Tati Westbrook returned to YouTube with a video called "BREAKING MY SILENCE." In the since-archived video, survived by a reupload, she claimed Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson lied to her about James Charles and gaslit her into making the "Bye Sister" video that condemned him. Via Insider, Westbrook followed up with another video, saying, "I don't hate James Charles. I don't want you guys hating on him." Dawson took to Instagram and live reacted to Westbrook's video. He was exasperated and called out, "You are so manipulative" and accused her of fake crying (via YouTube reupload). Two weeks later, Star finally posted a formal response to Westbrook's video where he declared, "I'm not a villain in a movie."

It has been speculated that Dawson and Star coerced Westbrook into turning on Charles because they were jealous of the 20-year-old's success. Charles had worked with both of the YouTubers in the past, but he was about to be the direct competitor of Dawson and Star's collaborative makeup palette, Conspiracy, and a major scandal could have drawn attention away from him. Both YouTubers denied this claim. Because of Dramageddon and his past behaviors resurfacing, Dawson left YouTube for months. Star remained active and said he and Dawson were still friends, and confirmed on Entertainment Tonight that he severed all ties with Westbrook and Charles.

A year after Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star became friends, Dawson's YouTube bestie Trisha Paytas (she/they) started working with the makeup mogul as well. The two began posting mukbangs on each other's channels, and Dawson and Star named a shade in their makeup palette after Paytas. But a Valentine's Day trip to Las Vegas changed everything.

In a video survived by the drama channel Sanders Kennedy, Star's former friend Tab David alleged that Star bullied an unnamed friend about their weight and former drug addiction during their trip. Paytas said that the unnamed victim was them. They unveiled details, including that Star had allegedly smacked their hand away from a plate of nachos and said, "Don't eat" (via Insider). Paytas had also been body-shamed by Star's hair stylist Hair by Jay who called her a "stupid fat [explitive] walrus" on his Instagram Live.

During this feud, it appeared that Dawson never came to Paytas' defense, which was surprising: Paytas and Dawson had been friends for 12 years, and Paytas had defended him vigorously during Dramageddon 3.0. After Dawson's fiancé Ryland Adams worked with Star, knowing Paytas' complaints, Paytas retaliated on TikTok, saying, "There's no mending this friendship. You guys have made a deal with the devil and I want nothing, nothing to do with that evil energy." There has been some flipflop on their social media about Dawson and Star, but they have not been seen together since.

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Popular Vine personality David Dobrik took his six-second videos and extended them on YouTube into vlogs featuring an amorphous cast known as the Vlog Squad. Trisha Paytas and Paytas' boyfriend Jason Nash became squad members. But it quickly became clear that Dobrik was exploiting the Paytas/Nash relationship for cheap punchlines. Dobrik would regularly make fun of their coupling and even hooked Paytas up to a lie detector and asked them sexual questions in front of Nash.

Dobrik and Nash started working together against Paytas. The men secretly filmed Paytas after hiring an actor to ask them out in an effort to catch them cheating. The two also regularly joked about the couple having a threesome with teenaged Tana Mongeau despite Paytas being unamused, and Dobrik would often dismiss Paytas's emotions and Nash wouldn't step in. The worst of it all was when Nash helped orchestrate a so-called prank where Dobrik hid in their hotel room while Nash and Paytas had sex, after which Dobrik jumped out and scared Paytas in their shower. On their Frenemies podcast with Ethan Klein, Paytas recounted the horrifying experience: "The things that I didn't consent to are still up there." Paytas also claimed that Dobrik used clips that they had specifically asked him not to. The Vlog Squad put a strain on the couple's relationship which led to a breakup.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein are a prime example of frenemies. The relationship started when Klein posted the video "Instagram vs. Reality" which criticized Paytas' appearance. Paytas posted a teary response video, with some choice words for Klein and said his wife should be ashamed of him (via reupload). Then, unexpectedly, Paytas was invited onto his podcast.

The chemistry between them was undeniable. Klein even thanked Paytas after the episode, tweeting, "Despite our differences and a few rocky moments, it was really fun having you in the studio" (via Insider). After Paytas was invited back, more drama ensued, including Klein making fun of Paytas for coming out as trans and Paytas dating Klein's brother-in-law without warning (and subsequently ruining H3's Bachelorette-style game). But after 2020's quarantine, Klein and Paytas reunited in September and gave birth to "Frenemies."

Paytas' hyper-energetic and aloof nature mixed with Klein's more levelheadedness made for entertainment gold. But the relationship was tumultuous. The two regularly had disagreements, one of which caused Paytas to storm off and claim they were quitting. They returned, but only to officially leave seven months later. On June 8, 2021, the two got into an explosive argument over Paytas' contributions to the show (or lack thereof), which ended with them abruptly stopping the episode. Paytas flip-flopped on socials between forgiving Klein and condemning him, but eventually, the two acknowledged that the podcast was a highlight in their lives despite everything. That's true frenemies.

Nik Keswani, aka BigNik, started his career on Vine with comedic videos that included jokes about day-to-day life and his rare form of dwarfism. He started collaborating with David Dobrik, who had fewer followers than him at the time. When the two transitioned from Vine to YouTube, their success would grow together as Dobrik created the Vlog Squad. Keswani joined as a member, but Dobrik seemed to only want him on the team to use his dwarfism as a never-ending punchline: when Keswani dyed his hair blue, Dobrik continuously touched his head and said, "Finally, I can make fun of something that you weren't born with!" (via reupload by Kyle Blunt).

The rest of the squad members would also regularly make fun of Keswani. In a live-streamed interview with H3 podcast hosts Ethan and Hila Klein, Keswani explained the toxicity of Dobrik and the squad's cliquish nature, saying, "I did allow it ... for David to disrespect me in the videos, and so then everybody else got the notion like, 'Oh, okay, we can disrespect BigNik too, because our master does it." Keswani elaborated on his experience: "I would be on eggshells ... because I would hear them talk badly about each other ... I'd be like 'Dude, what're they saying about me when I'm not here?'" When he told Dobrik he longer wanted to be a member, Dobrik cut him out of the videos entirely, but they seemed to part on decent terms.

Spouses Ethan and Hila Klein have been actively commenting on pop culture and making reaction videos on their H3 podcast for years, garnering over 9 million YouTube subscribers across multiple channels, and millions of listens across streaming platforms. But not everyone has praised their success. On May 24, 2016, the Kleins announced that they would be going through a costly two-year legal battle "because Matt Hoss ... who is impervious to criticism, doesn't like that we said naughty things about him." YouTube Vlogger and pick-up artist Matt Hosseinzadeh, aka Matt Hoss, aka Bold Guy, had filed a lawsuit against the couple for using one of his YouTube videos without permission on their channel. The three did not have a public relationship before this suit.

In Hoss' Copyright Complaint, he and his legal team alleged that the Kleins "unfairly derived profit from the Infringing Video" and that their reproduction of Hoss' video was done with malicious intent. Although Hoss asked for a jury trial, the case was dealt with in a summary judgment, where Judge Katherine B. Forrest sided with the defendants. Judge Forrest's official ruling stated, "The Kleins' criticism and commentary is interwoven with clips from the Hoss video ... there is also no doubt that the Klein video is decidedly not a market substitute for the Hoss video ... plaintiff's motion is DENIED" (via h3h3 productions). The podcasters reuploaded the video Hoss sued them over, much to Hoss' chagrin.

RiceGum is a diss rapper known for fake feuds, purposefully offensive content, and inappropriate behavior: He was with Logan Paul when they filmed a dead man in Aokigahara, got banned from Twitch, has made racist comments, and made fun of Hila Klein of h3h3 productions. He has proven to be problematic, but a fellow YouTuber tried to prove he is also violent.

At a friend's party, while filming for her Snapchat story, YouTuber and singer Gabbie Hanna challenged RiceGum to rap against her (the rapper had previously dissed her on his channel). Although RiceGum is clearly disinterested, Hanna persists and even accuses him of being afraid to battle since he doesn't have his ghost writer with him. Hanna's story then cuts to her standing away from the party in tears, claiming RiceGum "hit me ... and shattered my phone" (via YouTube reupload). According to another partygoer, RiceGum had been asking Hanna to not post her snaps multiple times before grabbing her phone, wrestling over it, and subsequently smashing it onto the ground (via Digital Music News). RiceGum dropped a diss track about the incident a week later.

In 2021, the feud was reignited. Per gossip channel Def Noodles, RiceGum and Hanna agreed to set up a boxing match to settle the score, a popular choice among YouTubers. The match has yet to happen, but who knows if they could even stomach being in the same room.

The creator of the Tanacon disaster and storytime regaler Tana Mongeau has had beef with several YouTubers and celebrities, including James Charles, Gabbie Hanna, Khloe Kardashian, Billie Eilish, and ex-girlfriend Bella Thorne. Although many of her feuds involve big names, two smaller but mighty YouTubers came out against the platform's superstar. In 2020, Kahlen Barry and Nessa Briella, aka SimplyNessa15, shared their stories of Mongeau mistreating and using microaggressions against them.

Barry worked with Mongeau on her unsuccessful collaboration channel Trash. In his video, Barry claimed that during that time, Mongeau dismissed his complaints about her racist behavior while asserting she wasn't racist anymore. "[Tana] tried to paint me as an aggressive, angry Black person." A few weeks later, Briella released her exposé. The YouTuber exposed Mongeau and Mongeau's then-manager Jordan Worona, who was Briella's manager first, of allegedly lying to and about her, accompanying her claims with screenshotted evidence. Similarly to Barry, Briella alleged that they would dismiss her feelings and tried to "paint [her] out to be this angry Black woman."

After three months, Mongeau posted her apology video, where she apologized to fans and directly to Barry and Briella and said she wanted to be a better ally. The video was met with negative comments from Barry, Briella, and many fans. The three of them are all still making content, just not together. Maybe we should all stay off the internet for a while!