h3h3Productions is an Israeli-American comedic YouTube channel run by the married couple Ethan Edward Klein (born: June 24, 1985) and Hila Klein (née Hakmon; born: December 12, 1987), commonly consisting of comedic reaction videos with sketches. Aside from that, they also hold their own podcast. Ethan started the group and Hila joined with him.
In 2016, Ethan was one of the most beloved YouTubers of all time. His reputation dwindled in 2020, mostly due to his online feud with Keemstar and the actions during his feud. Ironically, Keemstar was one of the most hated YouTubers at the time.
About[]
The channel typically features videos of Ethan reacting to content (ranging from pranksters, hip hop artists, and other YouTubers) uploaded on the video-sharing platform in a light-hearted, humorous manner, intermixed with surreal and comedic sketches.
The channel has gained a reputation for aggressively criticizing certain Internet trends and personalities as well as the policies of YouTube itself. The channel experienced rapid growth in viewership in 2015, due to frequent exposure on Reddit, reaching a million subscribers in March 2016.
Ethan also discusses trending or random topics and situations in what many deem a clever, interesting manner. In the past, he was a prominent critic of YouTube's management. He met with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
Ethan has also appeared in crossovers with other YouTubers, some of them featuring IDubbbzTV, PewDiePie, and most notably Filthy Frank.
History[]
The channel released its first reaction video, about the video poem "Girls Who Read," in November 2013. In April 2015, the couple moved from Israel to New York City in the United States, where they resided until 2016, when they moved to Los Angeles. The channel joined the Freedom! network after their old partner, Collective Digital Studio, turned on them, after their most popular video, Kissing Pranks, was forcibly removed by Fullscreen, a move which Collective supported after legal action was threatened against them.
h3h3 has a long-standing dispute with SoFloAntonio and the whole SoFlo enterprise ever since their SoFloAntonio reaction video was uploaded on April 2, 2015. h3h3 criticized SoFloAntonio for freebooting, the practice of ripping videos and articles off the internet for the purposes of personal re-distribution for attention and monetary gains for YouTube. SoFlo (including SoFloAntonio and the rest of the SoFlo employees) in turn have threatened legal action multiple times for libel, slander, and defamation against h3h3 and other YouTubers who make videos criticizing them (this includes Lewis Spears and Marcus Dibble). In the timespan of February 9-11, 2016, h3h3productions released two videos, critical of SoFlo's freebooting practices on their Facebook and YouTube pages.
In December 2016, h3h3 productions launched its own podcast which features popular YouTubers and other celebrities.
Personal Life[]
Ethan Edward Klein was born in Ventura, California to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. From 2004–2009, he attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied English Literature and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing. He is of Czechoslovakian descent.
Hila Hakmon was born in Holon, Israel to a Sephardic Jewish family. She was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces and served as a soldier for two years.
The couple now has a son named Theodore. They have a second son named Bruce, born in 2022.
Copyright Infringement Lawsuit + FUPA[]
On May 24, 2016, H3H3 productions released a video confirming that they were being sued by Matt Hosseinzadeh based on the fact that their reaction video involving Matt Hosseinzadeh violated US copyright law. This incited Philip DeFranco to create a donation fund on the site GoFundMe.com. A vast range of popular YouTubers and general celebrities donated to the fund, such as Garry Newman, Keemstar, jacksepticeye, kwebbelkop, penguinz0, Shane Gill, Markiplier, TheAngryGrandpa, vsauce3, GradeAUnderA, boogie2988, Notch and most famously, considering the famous drama between the two merely weeks before, LeafyIsHere.
On May 26, 2016, just two days after bringing the lawsuit to light, Ethan and Hila uploaded a video titled 'A New Chapter for Fair Use on YouTube' in which they thanked the "overwhelming support" on the GoFundMe fund, and expressed their awe at the unexpectedness of the support. In the video, the couple went on to explain that with all of the money raised for their court case is going directly into an escrow account in care of Morrison Lee attorneys and is to be used by them to protect unfair copyright claim victims. The account is known as the 'Fair Use Protection Account' or FUPA, a play on the slang word for a large area of fat above the pubic region.
Late in 2017, Ethan and Hila announced that they had finally won the lawsuit.
Other Channel: Ethan and Hila[]
Ethan and Hila also have a second channel of entertainment. Ethan and Hila had tried to make videos every day on both the Ethan and Hila channel and the h3h3productions channel.
In 2016, Ethan announced that the two channels would blend together and that Ethan and Hila would be inactive. However, at the start of 2017, the channel was used again for vlogs and extra content, but became inactive again since November of that year.
Podcast Channel[]
h3h3 Podcast Highlights is a side-channel from h3h3Productions that shows some H3 podcast highlights. Most of the highlight videos are shorter than the regular podcast videos, and there are multiple videos on each person. Most of the thumbnails have two faces which are split, and the titles are descriptive. Even though there are fewer subscribers than on the other channels, there are still often uploads. Most of the more popular videos are about other YouTubers such as Ninja, Jake Paul, IDubbbzTV, etc., and these YouTubers are often mentioned in interviews.
Controversies[]
LeafyisHere Feud[]
On March 20, 2016, LeafyIsHere uploaded a video titled “THE MOST HEROIC FEDORA MAN ON YouTube,” in which talked about an autistic YouTuber, TommyNC2010. A day later, TommyNC2010 uploaded a video titled “I am getting Death Threats LeafyIsHere , why?,“ in which TommyNC2010, upset, recorded himself crying and explaining how he was getting a lot of hate from Leafy’s fans, which caused Ethan to make a video (currently unlisted) about the situation.
Leafy soon took down the video and uploaded an apology video appropriately titled “Apology”. However, after h3h3Productions’s former rant about Leafy received over a million views, Leafy made a response video (now unlisted) stating that Ethan Klein from h3h3Productions tried to side with Leafy, where he shows several text messages from h3h3Productions talking negativity about the YouTuber Pyrocynical.
Ethan made a response to Leafy on his subreddit account.
Fans of Leafy would criticize Ethan, calling him a "backstabber" and not a real friend for making the video, as well as calling him a hypocrite, despite h3h3's refuting the claims in the same video. After Leafy response video, h3h3 decided not to fan the flames by making another video, and instead released his response in text.
The conflict between Leafy and Ethan cooled down eventually, with Ethan saying that he wasn't proud of his Leafy video, and though his problem was with the commentary community as a whole, he had focused on Leafy as an easy target. Thereafter he unlisted the video; Leafy subsequently took down his videos. Commentary Commnunity YouTubers such as Nicholas DeOrio, Turkey Tom criticized Ethan for being "insecure and sensitive" and Turkey Tom made a Video called "Ethan Hates Everybody" after being blocked on Twitter along with other commentary channels such as The Right Opinion.
Ethan was accused of cheering Leafy's ban from YouTube, which he denied. However clips of him cheering his ban were made into a compilation.
PewDiePie Podcast[]
On September 13, 2017, on the h3 Podcast, Ethan and Hila discussed the controversy when arose when PewDiePie said the n word during a game on a live stream. Ethan and Hila opined both that what PewDiePie had done was wrong and that they couldn't defend him. Ethan later received backlash from his fans and from the YouTube community, who claimed Ethan had backstabbed PewDiePie and thrown him under the bus. People also claimed Ethan was being a hypocrite, since he himself had made a racial remark on his podcast with iDubbbz. YouTube news hosts Keemstar and Scarce both covered the backlash on their own channels.
On September 17, 2017, Ethan responded to all the criticism on the podcast, with guests Jacksfilms and Erik of Internet Comment Etiquette. Ethan appeared on the podcast drunk and ranting, calling out Keemstar and Scarce as "haters" for calling him a "hypocrite," even though neither Keemstar nor Scarce had applied that term to him. This later caused a feud between Keemstar and Ethan.
Eventually, Ethan appeared on another episode of the podcast and apologized for the drunken rant, but didn't apologize to Keemstar or Scarce. PewDiePie made a response to the controversy, saying he and Ethan had no beef and that he didn't understand all the backlash.
Mobile Game App Advertisement[]
On September 6, 2018, Klein uploaded a video advertising his new game. The video received an overwhelming number of dislikes, not because of the video itself, but because Klein hadn't uploaded a video on his main channel for over many months leading to vigorous backlash and criticism. Ethan issued an apology after the backlash he received and made an update video.
Podcast/Video Vigilante[]
From mid to late 2018, many small YouTubers made videos criticizing Ethan and the podcast. Many have called Ethan out for backstabbing friends, spreading misinformation, and being too political on his podcasts. Some subscribers in particular asked iDubbbz to make a Content Cop on Ethan. On October 27th, 2018, a small YouTuber known as Gokanaru made an hour-long video titled "The death of h3h3productions - Video Vigilante", wherein he criticised Ethan for hypocrisy, treachery toward his friends, rudeness and unwelcoming attitude towards guests on his podcast, his apparent superiority complex, over-cynicism and negativith, his unfunny and repetitive jokes, a focus more on money rather than content, his misinformation to his audience, over-politicization, and (in particular) his bullying of a small YouTuber known as Shoenice. The video caused Ethan to lose a significant number of subscribers and his subreddit to turn on him.
On November 16, 2018, Ethan responded to all the criticisms on the podcast, confessing to the truth of a number of these accusations, and attributing his depression to them. The video was deleted by YouTube in 2019 due to 'harassment'.
On May 30, 2020, he responded to the Video Vigilante video. He was also accused of having the video removed due to his ties with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
Trisha Paytas[]
On May 8, 2019, Klein posted a video titled "Instagram vs Reality", wherein he made fun of and criticized Instagram/YouTube influencers for using facetune and photoshop on their pictures to make themselves look better. As a result he received criticism for his comments on Trisha Paytas and Tana Mongeau, including his having compared Mongeau to a Twinkie and making fun of Paytas' physical appearance. Klein received backlash from the community, particularly from Paytas, who claimed Klein's video was "Dangerous" for young women and could "harm" them. Klein defended his video by claiming it was "comedy" and only jokes.
He then invited Trisha to his podcast twice where she insulted him and Hila multiple times and then hosted a show with her titled 'Frenemies' in December 2020, which lasted for months until Trisha stepped down and accused Ethan of being greedy and bullying her. Ethan's mother later told Trisha that if Hila miscarried, she would hold her and Moses (Hila's brother and Trisha's husband) accountable.
SomeOrdinaryGamers[]
On April 10, 2020, YouTuber SomeOrdinaryGamers called out h3h3Productions for donation-shaming Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos after he had donated $100,000,000 to coronavirus reserach, abandoning the FUPA fund, and backstabbing Keemstar. In a video uploaded a few days later, Mutahar corrected himself by saying that Ethan didn't outright donation-shame Bezos.
However, on April 18, 2020, Ethan made a 37-minute response video to Mutahar called "Everyone Loves Ethan." He brought up Mutahar's networth as $1,000,000, which Mutahar himself later corrected to be $45,000,000.[1] He also accused Mutahar of doxing him, even though Mutahar had merely used information that was available publicly on the internet. Ethan also started raising $100,000 to coronavirus research.
Mutahar responded on Twitter by accepting he was wrong and took down both of his videos criticizing h3h3. YouTuber Memology 101 made a video in which he defended Mutahar by saying that Ethan had lied about not donation-shaming Bezos, providing a clip from the h3h3 podcast in which Klein did apparently donation-shame him. Memology 101 also insisted that "raising other people's money is not the same as donating your own."[2]
On April 19, Mutahar uploaded a video titled "I Owe An Apology," in which he apologized to Ethan and averred that the clip used by Memology 101 was taken out of context.
Keemstar[]
On May 18, 2020, tensions between Keemstar and H3 boiled over in the form of an public quarrel on Twitter. As a result, H3 announced he would upload a video on Keemstar, and one day later, on May 19, he uploaded a video titled "Content Nuke - Keemstar" in which he outlined Keem's controversial past, even going as far as to implicate him in the death of Etika, a YouTuber suffering from Bipolar disorder who had taken his own life. Many viewers and Twitter users condemned Ethan for using Etika's death as a weapon against Keem and for creating such a video over a personal grudge. Several of Etika's family members clarified that Keem was not directly responsible for Etika's death. However, Ethan and Def Noodles doubled down on this claim, and also accused Keemstar's fans of bullying Etika's mother and girlfriend into defending him.
Nevertheless, because of the upload by Ethan, Keem stated he would be making a response video, which was then heavily ratioed by H3 fans. After pressure from H3 fans, Keemstar's sponsor G FUEL ended its sponsorship with Keemstar. Keem's fans then contacted H3's sponsor, Old Spice, who as a result ended its partnership with H3 as revenge. Thereafter, Keemstar, as well as TheQuartering and many other YouTubers, begged fans not to contact any sponsor.
Keemstar later posted a picture of a horse and told everyone that "Ethan likes horses". Without any context, Ethan accused Keem of calling his wife a horse, which he denied. A month later, Leafy claimed that Keem told him that he slept with Ethan's wife and that he was Theodore's (Ethan's son) father. Keem denied this, but repeatedly played into it, going as far as to upload a video smoking a cigar while Tupac's Hit Em' Up" played in the background, with the line "That's why I fucked yo bitch, you fat motherfucker!". Leafy continued to claim that it was true. Ethan later brought it up on his podcast in January 2022. Hila denied sleeping with him, and called him ugly. Keem called her a horse on Twitter. Ethan responded by mocking Keem for being put up for adoption by his parents. He also mocked Nicholas DeOrio for being overweight and brought up pictures of him as a child which received criticism by his viewers. DeOrio responded and said that he was not offended by his comments.
In 2021, after Frenemies ended, Trisha appeared on Keemstar and FaZe Banks' Mom's Basement podcast. Ethan later said that it made him sad.
Ethan would later continue to accuse Keem of many things, such as being anti-Semitic for comparing him to George Soros, working with Ryan Kavanaugh against him, and grooming his assistants.
Britbong/Mr BTFO[]
On August 27th, 2020, due to Ethan's ongoing feud with Keemstar, Ethan decided to platform notorious spammer, doxxer, and banned YouTuber/Twitch streamer BritbongReturns, who claims that Keemstar had deplatformed him from YouTube (which Keem technically did, due to Britbong's numerous violations of TOS and harassment). Ethan would play host to Britbong again on August 29th, giving him a platform to expand on his experiences with Keem. Although Ethan presented Britbong as an innocent victim of Keemstar, Nicholas DeOrio would upload a video on September 7th, exposing Britbong as notorious for sending child porn to many Discord servers, doxxing Colossal is Crazy, Keem, and Nerd City, and sending false DMCA strikes in order to ban various YouTube channels. After Nicholas's video picked up traction and became mainstream, Keemstar decided to unblock Ethan from Twitter and created a video rebuking Ethan for platforming Britbong, criticizing Klein for being a "dumb motherfucker" and not thinking rationally about his action. Keem also stated that he, Colossal is Crazy, SomeOrdinaryGamers, and Nerd City all had warned Ethan in advance about Britbong and the numerous egregious crimes he had committed. Bowblax, who himself had been a victim of one of Ethan's attacks on Twitter, posted a video on YouTube on September 9th, exposing Ethan for platforming a criminal on his podcast just to "own" Keemstar in their four-year-long online feud.
James Charles[]
On September 17th, 2020, Ethan Klein called out James Charles for allegedly "stealing" Hila's designs on their "Teddy Fresh" brand. James Charles would quote reply to Ethan stating his DMs were open and that they should resolve their quarrels in private. After having a discussion in the DMs, Ethan eventually leaked their conversation once more on September 19th, 2020 claiming that James "admitted" to stealing his design despite the fact he didn't say anything on that matter. This caused controversy between Charles and Klein on Twitter, with many criticizing Ethan for blowing the drama out of proportion as well as leaking private DMs between himself and James Charles.
In 2022, James was caught buying diapers in one of his videos. Ethan reacted to this on his podcast, and claimed that James had a leaking butthole due to him having excessive anal sex. One of his gay fans called in and confronted him for this statement. Ethan accused the guy of being a 'power-bottom', which caused massive backlash among his fans.
Sam Hyde[]
In 2017, Ethan was asked by a caller if he would invite comedian Sam Hyde to the podcast. Ethan responded, saying that Sam was not in Los Angeles anymore. Ethan and Hila were criticized for their facial expressions and reactions during the call. Ethan was later accused of stealing a comedy sketch from Sam.
Anti-White Statement[]
After Keemstar tweeted that anti-white racism is unacceptable, Ethan responded, saying "White isn't a race, dipshit", which he deleted minutes later. He was ridiculed for this statement.
Dr. Jordan Peterson[]
In 2017 and 2018, Ethan invited clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson to his podcast. In late 2021, after starting a political podcast with Hasan Piker, the two began mocking Peterson for his depression, his drug addiction, and his self-help book 12 Rules for Life, most notably Rule Six therein, which is to "Set your house in order before you criticize the world." Ethan brought up an image of him in a dirty room and called him a hypocrite. In January 2022, he stated on Twitter that he deleted both interviews because he believed that Dr. Peterson was "a gateway to alt-right, transphobia, and Covid misinformation."
Dr. Peterson and his daughter Mikhaila responded, to which Ethan claimed that Mikhaila was "posting cute selfies while her father was dying," and that Dr. Peterson opposing Bill C-16 "resulted in a surge of transphobia." This resulted in massive backlash by many YouTubers. Bowblax pointed out that he deleted the Peterson interview, but not iDubbbz, where he repeatedly used the words, "N*gger F*ggot." Dr. Peterson later asked for the footage of the interview, so he could upload it to his channel. He would also make a video criticizing Peterson, which would be negatively received. Dr. Peterson later warned Ethan about cancel culture, and that Ethan would be held to impossible standards to maintain, which Ethan ridiculed. Dr. Peterson would then be proven right after Ethan's fans cancelled him for alleged homophobia a few months later.
Ethan then posted a photo of Jordan Peterson in a messy room[3]. This was criticized because the photo was of him realizing his wife was battling cancer, and both friends, admirers and detractors of Ethan and Peterson called Ethan out for being tone deaf and mocking a woman with cancer[4][5][6].
Ryan Kavanaugh Lawsuit[]
In 2020, Ethan was sued by Triller CEO Ryan Kavanaugh for copyright infringement. The lawsuit claimed that H3H3 had violated copyright of Triller by posting portions of Jake Paul vs Ben Askren fight. Klein contended it was fair use. This resulted in Ethan making many defamatory statements regarding Kavanaugh and mocking him in H3H3 Youtube videos. Ethan, Def Noodles and their followers claimed that Ryan looked like Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood film executive who is currently in prison and on trial for many charges of rape. The joke went on to the point where a website was created by H3 fans. Kavanaugh ended up filing defamation lawsuits against Ethan. In 2022, Ethan later won two of the four lawsuits.[7][8][9]
Catholic Church[]
During an episode of his podcast, Ethan claimed that the Catholic Church "does nothing but molest little boys". He was criticized by many of his Catholic fans, and by Keemstar.
Sponsor loss[]
Due to his comments about James Charles in April 2022, his fans called him a homophobe and called all of his sponsors, demanding that they drop him, which they obliged. YouTuber Def Noodles defended him, and publicly smeared most of Ethan's critics on his channel, such as Keemstar and Rich Lux, claiming that criticizing Ethan is giving ammo to the alt-right. This backfired, and many of his followers noticed his obsession with Ethan. He then began losing followers. Ethan's producer Dan later banned Rich Lux from the chat.
Fresh and Fit[]
In May 2022, a 19 year old woman called into the H3 Podcast and claimed that Myron of the FreshandFit podcast gave her alcohol to drink. Ethan repeatedly implied that Myron raped the woman which resulted in controversy.
Many YouTubers such as SNEAKO, AugieRFC and Aba and Preach (who were extremely critical of FreshandFit in the past) defended Myron and criticised Ethan for lying.
He also received backlash for making similar comments towards kickboxer Andrew Tate. Tate responded with a cease and desist letter towards Ethan.
Comments towards the NRA[]
In May 2022, after the Uvalde school shooting, Ethan expressed discontent towards gun laws in the United States, and the National Rifle Association. After learning that a conference was taking place in Texas the same week, Ethan said "Someone should bomb that building" to which Hila nodded approvingly. He also said someone should "put a stick in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's wheelchair" (Abbott is wheelchair bound), and that pro-gun conservatives should be harassed.
Many NRA supporters criticized Ethan for his comments such as Elijah Schaeffer and Donald Trump Jr. This resulted in the podcast episode being deleted by YouTube for bullying and he wasn't allowed to upload for one week due to a strike.
Comments about exercise[]
Ethan was criticized for saying "Life's too short to exercise" by many fitness influencers. Many memes were made poking fun of Ethan's weight as a result.
H3 Podcast Highlight[]
H3 Podcast Highlights is a side-channel from h3h3Productions that shows some H3 podcast highlights. Most of the highlight videos are shorter than the regular podcast videos, and there are multiple videos on each person. Most of the thumbnails have two faces which are split, and the titles are descriptive. Even though there are less subscribers than the other channels, there are still often uploads. Most of the more popular videos are about other YouTubers such as Ninja, Jake Paul, IDubbbzTV, etc., and these YouTubers are often mentioned in interviews. The channel airs clips from Ethan's other shows, such as H3TV, Off The Rails, H3 After Dark and Leftovers.
Trivia[]
- Ethan has a mild form of Tourette's syndrome, resulting in constant eyebrow movements that his viewers often notice. He has revealed that his Tourette's syndrome has gotten worse over the past few years, saying that the syndrome used to affect the other parts of his body more and has since been channelled into his upper facial area.
- Based on their DNA Test, Ethan is:
- 99.7% European
- 99.1% Ashkenazi Jewish
- 0.6% Broadly European
- 0.2% Western Asian & North African
- 0.2% North African & Arabian
- 0.1% East Asian & Native American
- 0.1% Broadly East Asian
- 99.7% European
- While Hila is:
- 77.4% Western Asian & North African
- 43.2% Western Asian (Iraqi)
- 28.0% North African & Arabian (Libyan)
- 6.2% Broadly Western Asian & North African
- 21.9% European
- 10.1% Italian
- 4.0% Ashkenazi Jewish
- 3.9% Iberian (Spanish)
- 3.5% Broadly Southern European
- 0.4% Broadly European
- 77.4% Western Asian & North African
- Ethan is a big fan of the late Christopher Wallace, better known as "The Notorious B.I.G.", or "Biggie Smalls".
- The name of the channel's origin was supposed to be named "HEHE" (or heheproductions), but it was taken.
- On September 15, 2019, it was announced that Hila had acquired American citizenship.
- They have their own DLC in the game Payday 2.
- Ethan hosts a political podcast called "Leftovers" with Hasan Piker.
Channel milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
Subscriber milestones[]
- 1 million subscribers: February 29, 2016
- 2 million subscribers: August 4, 2016
- 3 million subscribers: December 27, 2016
- 4 million subscribers: June 12, 2017
- 5 million subscribers: November 4, 2017
- 6 million subscribers: September 29, 2018
Video view milestones[]
- 1 billion views: April 3, 2018
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/OrdinaryGamers/status/1251684301911085062
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7tQmfxOp4k
- ↑ https://twitter.com/h3h3productions/status/1482474939215015937
- ↑ https://twitter.com/KalebPrime/status/1483044736336338948
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Actually_Tina/status/1483046512347148288
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SpookyWebtrash/status/1483073202016432130
- ↑ https://www.techtimes.com/articles/286962/20230130/ryan-kavanaugh-wins-slapp-motion-ethan-klein-loses-with-damages-potentially-in-the-millions.htm
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/triller-troll-reviews-suit-tossed-by-judge-1235075271/
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ryan-kavanaugh-podcaster-lawsuit-1235054660/
