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1 April 2021, 14:37
Keemstar defends Nikita Dragun and calls out Trisha Paytas for being "hypocritical"
Here's a complete guide to all the Twitter drama between Trisha Paytas and Nikita Dragun.
YouTubers Trisha Paytas and Nikita Dragun have got into a heated exchange on Twitter after Trisha mocked Nikita's Snapchat show Nikita Unfiltered.
As you know, Trisha isn't a stranger to YouTube drama. In January, she got into a serious spat with Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson, which ended with Trisha calling time on her 12-year friendship with Shane. She has also been consistently speaking about the Vlog Squad and David Dobrik allegations on her H3H3 Podcast.
Now its Nikita is in the firing line and somehow Ethan Klein, Def Noodles and Keemstar have been thrown in the mix too. But what actually happened? Well, here's all the details.
READ MORE: A complete guide to the Jeffree Star, Trisha Paytas and Shane Dawson drama
On Wednesday (Mar 31), Trisha Paytas and Nikita Dragun got into it on Twitter. The dispute was triggered when Trisha quote tweeted a tweet from YouTube tea page Def Noodles. The tweet read: "Nikita Dragun says 'cancel me as many times as u want… my show is still running.' This as the second season of her reality show premieres on Snapchat."
Trisha quoted the tweet and wrote "On Snapchat" alongside a laughing face emoji, basically making fun of Nikita's show. That's when things turned ugly. Nikita then responded: "30 million viewers and a billboard on sunset... but anyways let me go back to filming my Netflix show." In a follow-up tweet Nikita then accused Trisha of trying to "downplay mine or any Trans woman’s accomplishments" considering her history with the transgender community.
In 2019, Trisha announced that she is "transgender female to male" but still identifies with her "natural born gender". She also stated that she will continue to use female pronouns. The video incited backlash and Trisha was accused of making light of LGBTQ+ issues and exploiting the trans community. At the time she apologised but insisted it was her "truth".
Trisha insisted calling Nikita out had absolutely nothing to do with her being trans, it was actually about her being a "disgusting human" for being friends with YouTuber James Charles and TikToker Tony Lopez, who have both been hit with allegations that they have been behaving inappropriately with minors. Both have denied the claims.
Watch the trailer of Nikita Unfiltered Season 2
Trisha also brought up Nikita "spreading COVID". Nikita has been called out many times for failing to wear a proper mask and having parties throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
In response, Nikita doubled down on why Trisha's initial comment could be detrimental to the transgender community. She said: "Downplaying or mocking the success of a Trans woman is incredibly toxic for the community. Countless women, men, and nonconforming ppl have paved the way for someone like me. so a small win like a show on Snapchat, that’s watched by millions, is huge. this isn’t about me."
She added: "Trans people have been pushed to the side since the dawn of time. Never getting acknowledged or rewarded for the impact we have had on society as a whole. We are here and we have always been here. Human to the core. This is not a choice!"
Trisha retweeted tweets in support of the transgender community including previous videos, she also revealed that she's actually non-binary. She wrote: "Imagine mocking a non-binary person who was confused of their identity for 20+ years. Ur a piece of shit to try to spin my disgust for u as a trash human into a general trans hate spin. Ur disgusting."
In response to criticism of her friendships with Tony and James, Nikita then put Trisha on blast for her inappropriate behaviour towards Trevi Moran, who was 16 when she made a video with Shane and Trisha in which they look at her underwear. She also went on Instagram Stories and played Cardi B's song 'Backin It Up', which some believe is in response to Trisha.
Trisha insisted she had owned up to her previous mistakes and apologised again, including to Trevi. "I’ve tried to learn from my past. I’ve finally gotten my mental illness under control a little - I just , this all takes me a huge step back. I will always apologize and try to educate myself , try to grow. That’s all I can do. I really was just hoping she could do the same," she wrote.
Both consistently started bringing up multiple problematic things that the other had done in the past including flirting with teenagers, domestic abuse (Trisha admitted to causing bruises on her fiancé Moses Hacmon's arm), their attitudes to the pandemic, racist comments and blackfishing or blackface.
About two hours into the Twitter battle, Trisha ended up blocking Nikita and insisted she did not want to cancel her. Trisha also added that she was sorry for all that she had done in the past. She tweeted: "U work thru so much and it all gets thrown in ur face again – and it’s insanely scary. I lost who I was today and I’m sad about it. This is not me back peddling or looking for sympathy. I stand by that Nikita Dragun is really being harmful to society and promoting unhealthy behaviors and people to her audience. I wanted to get thru to her differently and that’s my regret.
"Hopefully she’ll have some sort of reflection (she’s been deleting tweets I see) and see that’s she is attributing to a huge problem currently plaguing social media ( men sexitng minors , admitting it and getting away with it) as well as super spreading throughout la."
As with most YouTube drama, it hasn't stayed just between Trisha and Nikita. Now Ethan Klein, Def Noodles and Keemstar are involved.
Whilst the Twitter argument raged on, Ethan defended Trisha, and tweeted: "Nikita prob spread covid to more people than actually watch her show." He also clapped back at Nikita for sharing a video featuring Trisha, Shane Dawson and a 16-year-old YouTuber, where they look at her underwear. He said: "I'm sure she regrets making that video that Shane arranged. As I recall she is not still friends w Shane. Stay mad and say hi to James for me."
In addition to that, Ethan responded to the bruised photos of his brother-in-law Moses Hacmon: "You are so boring he’s fine and happy as I previously stated. You, on the other hand, will be staying mad."
Drama Alert's Keemstar then defended Nikita by sharing several instances where Trisha had spoken about people under the age of 18 in a sexual nature. He also shared images of Ethan in blackface and called out YouTuber gossip channel Def Noodles for not reporting on Trisha's problematic past behaviour but digging up Nikita's old tweets.
In a Twitter video, Keemstar explained that he had to defend Nikita because of the hypocrisy of Trisha and Ethan. "Trisha and Ethan are a warpath, alright. They're bloody thirsty," he explained. "They're trying to take down motherfuckers every day left and right. Damn, everyday Trisha is calling someone new out. Today it's Nikita Dragun, they're going to go after her for being friends with 'predators'. Well, Trisha is friends with predators or she was friends with predators. Hypocritical."
Keemstar also defended Nikita against the blackfishing allegations, insisting Trisha has done the same. He added: "Dude, look up Trisha tanning. She's literally black. Black! With big white lipstick, like, it's a bad look especially for 2021. And Ethan Klein? He's done blackface! He's literally done blackface! In 2014 he tweeted it out. It's the hypocrisy."