For anyone that may have noticed the flag flying half mast this Tuesday on National Best Friends Day, the internet's favourite podcast Frenemies is officially over. Frenemies was hosted by Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein, two of youtube's most polarising figures. Both have had their fair share of being loved and loathed, but Frenemies definitely boosted them to beloved status.
What started out as a quarantine born podcast between two frenemies that would literally become family (Trisha is engaged to Ethan's brother-in-law) slowly morphed into a heartwarming tale of everyone's favourite trope: enemies to besties. There were blowout fights and cursed orderings of pizza, trying to teach memes to Trisha, and a lineup of countless future celebrity guests (from Michael Keaton to Pamela Anderson to Hugh Grant to Adam Sandler to Macauley Culkin to Britney Spears to Rick Moranis) we will sadly now never get to see. Underneath it all was a solid bond formed by two people that took the time to love even the worst parts of each other and themselves.
I think Frenemies would have been successful no matter when it aired, but it could not have picked a better launching pad than the end of 2020. After spending months being isolated while bombarded with the news of incomprehensible deaths and fear, watching two grown adults debate the existence of gravity and if Hitler did anything that was truly that bad. Reading those two things may be shocking or seeming to lack entertainment quality, but that only adds to the lore of Frenemies. Anything mundane was wildly enjoyable and cannot be replicated in print or by anyone else.
Somewhere in between entertaining millions and developing a true friendship, Frenemies managed to continue to help domino the closest thing to Me Too the internet space has really faced. Shane Dawson had already been called out by name by Jada and Jaden Smith for pretending to jerk off to a poster of Willow Smith when she was 11. Their callout led to the 57th cancellation of Shane actually sticking as their bright light shined more publicly the same racist and sexually inappropriate jokes/habits/actions that Shane had built a career off of. The heat from Shane had died down but the severing of his decade long friendship to Trisha resulted in her reigniting the flames to a closer look at who Shane truly is, specifically mentioning some videos he had asked her to private after he went on Twitter to insist he did not fuck his cat. No, really.
Talking about the best friend that betrayed her would only open the door to talk about another beloved youtuber that had hurt Trisha. Enter David Dobrik, youtube's kirkland brand of the Paul brothers. Not exactly squeaky clean, but his boisterous laugh somehow seemed to distract most people from realising that. Trisha talked about the unsavory and aLLeGeDLy illegal things they had witnessed in Trisha’s two years in Youtube's version of the Pussy Posse, The Vlog Squad. Much like Jake Paul, Dobrik featured a “kissing prank” where a 20 year old thought they were kissing someone hot/their own age but it turned out to be a 45 year old man. Dobrik chose to use his podcast cohost to do the prank instead of his own father, like Jake Paul did. These videos had always been public and been seen by millions, but Frenemies certainly changed the context they were watched in.
Dobrik is infamous for his quick cuts, wild antics, and the aforementioned Vlog Squad. Each vlog plays out like a four minute and twenty second episode of a tv show. The same group of friends are featured three times a week doing goofs and getting into shenanigans. Frenemies gave Trisha the platform to say what she had been saying since she was exiled from the group: this was not a tv show and the only thing participants got paid in was trauma.
Hosting Frenemies with Trisha made Ethan open to hearing from a couple of other former Vlog Squad members on his other podcasts. One spoke of the bullying and toxic environment created during the filming of the vlogs. The other spoke of being the recipient of two of the "kissing pranks" and how he felt. like most people that have been the victim of youtube's "kissing pranks", sexually assaulted. The circumstances surrounding the "prank" are almost as abysmal as the prank itself. Their stories combined with an explosive article coming out forced the man who proudly apologised for nothing make an apology video. And then a second, more personal apology video when Frenemies did a live interview with a member of the Vlog Squad that was named in the article that alleged a sexual assault was not only instigated by alcohol provided during the vlog shoot but was purposefully covered up, allegedly. David's second apology was more graciously embraced by his supporters, but his sponsors were not as forgiving. He also had to step down from multiple projects he had been working on.
Both David and Shane have been threatening imminent returns to the internet so now that Frenemies is kaputz it felt necessary to remind the readers that mere months does not change years of truly unforgivable behaviours. Speaking of unforgivable behaviour, James Charles was also a staple of Frenemies hot topics because his multiple accusers continued to come forward. Whether it was the accusers coming forward or Frenemies coverage of it, Jim Charlie got on camera and admitted to sexting sending flirty texts to minors because he was "desperate". He, too, threatens a return to the internet after several weeks of reflecting on his years of inappropriate communication with underage boys.
It has been a wild 72 hours since Trisha left the Frenemies set and subsequently uploaded a video announcing their departure from the show. There is so much buzz and excitement around the drama/controversy so it is easy to forget of all the good it did for the viewers and hosts, alike. Frenemies was many things but it was always trying its best to shine light on things that matter, make people feel good, hold people (even if it is the people hosting Frenemies) accountable for their actions, and ultimately to entertain. It did that and so much more. It was never perfect but at its best it got pretty close, and I will miss it dearly. But, alas, flying too close to the sun will undoubtedly get you burned. Even if you pack extra sunscreen.
Does this mean I have to start listening to Darren Criss and Este Haim’s podcast now????