YouTuber Ethan Klein is taking some heat for comments he allegedly made toward fellow creator Nathan ‘Dad’ Barnatt ahead of his bout with AB at Creator Clash 2.
This year’s Creator Clash was well-received by fans and influencers, marking the event’s second iteration in a bigger arena with more fights between some of the internet’s top entertainers.
Although the reception of the charity-driven, influencer boxing showdown was overwhelmingly positive, it seems that some drama has cropped up between two of its fighters in the aftermath.
Out of the 12 bouts on the card that night, the fight between Nathan Barnatt (aka ‘Dad Bot’) and AB ‘Starkilla’ is attracting quite a bit of attention on the net nearly a month out from the event.
Although AB proved to be a far greater challenge than SuperMega’s Matt Watson from Creator Clash 1, Dad came out on top once again, winning the match by forfeit after damaging one of his opponent’s ribs in the first round.
Dad hits out at Ethan Klein and AB after Creator Clash 2 victory
Although both parties spoke highly of each other after their bout, Dad later hit out at AB and the crew at H3H3, where AB also works and creates content.
According to Dad, H3H3’s Ethan Klein was being “really, unnecessarily mean” to him during the lead-up to their bout. Dad also made a few comments about AB’s boxing, saying the influencer failed to train properly and instead focused on streaming — in the end, accruing more viewership than him and “winning” the streaming game over their boxing match.
“It’s also the way the H3 crew reacted [to the fight],” Dad said. “They were incredibly mean to me for no reason. Even after the fight, when I was saying nice things about them, they were just ignorantly rude and horrible, just because I won.”
Dad notably called Ethan Klein “an actual, crappy person” and said the H3 boss was “really, unnecessarily mean” to him.
Although the stream where Dad made these comments has since been deleted, a VOD was captured and shared via YouTuber ‘Bowblax,’ which you can view below.
Klein responded to Dad’s comments in an episode of the H3 Podcast afterward, where he and the crew denied accusations of being rude toward the YouTuber and explained their confusion around a ‘bit’ between them that appeared to turn sour due to communication problems.
AB also expressed confusion around the ordeal, saying he’d trained hard while also maintaining a rigorous streaming schedule on top of his full-time job with H3. He claimed he’d communicated with Dad via DMs, where Dad admitted “it came from a place of him being upset that he trained so hard and I didn’t.”
On April 26, Dad published a now-deleted tweet where he publicly apologized to AB for his comments about his opponent’s boxing performance. “I talked to AB and apologized for talking about his training,” he wrote. “Never intended to be rude or hurt his feelings.”
“It’s been real hard for me dealing with some interactions and things being said about me throughout this experience. Hurtful, real life comments. I have to speak up and defend myself a little. That being said, none of that has to do with AB, and I’m sorry to him.”
The next day, Dad uploaded a video simply titled ‘H3,’ where he elaborated further on the situation between himself and Ethan Klein. In the video, he claims that Klein made a comment about his late partner, Siobhan Price, who was a writer and producer for several shows on Adult Swim.
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“He’s saying stuff like, ‘Dad has dead girlfriend energy,’ referencing Siobhan, my girlfriend who did pass away,” he explained, before nearly breaking down into tears. “I was like, this is the joke? You’re saying I have dead girlfriend energy, and you just kept saying it. The way he said it was like, he kept throwing it out there. It was very casual, the way he was saying it.”
These comments seemingly took place during Ethan Klein’s podcast episode with music influencer Anthony Fantano three months prior.
“He came on our show to promote his fight against Matt [Watson], and he was just like, ‘My life is a tragedy, I’m fighting for my dead girlfriend,'” Klein said during the podcast.
“Nobody wants a ‘dead girlfriend’ punch,” Fantano responded.
“I would pity anyone who gets in the ring with him,” Ethan replied.
(Topic begins at 1:11:00)
According to claims from commenters, there were other remarks made by Ethan about Barnatt’s partner, but users presume they may have possibly been cut out of the podcast episode at the time of writing, or were made during another video.
Ethan Klein faces backlash for alleged comments about Dad’s late partner
Thus far, netizens have expressed a deep disdain for Klein. Many are calling out the H3 boss for his comments on the loss of Dad’s loved one, sharing their sentiments underneath Bowblax’s video compiling the drama.
“The dead girlfriend thing is really incredibly demeaning,” one user wrote in a YouTube comment. “Using her death like a joke is like pretending she was never a person, it’s disturbing.”
“Ethan made fun of his dead girlfriend? Like, his REAL dead girlfriend? That is really f*cked up, dude,” another said.
“That makes me sick!” another exclaimed. “To make fun of his girlfriend when anyone that knows about Nathan Barnett knows that’s such a horrible trauma for him! Legit made me want to cry!”
It’s clear that netizens are supportive of Dad during this ongoing feud, offering their thoughts and kind words in comments underneath his recent videos.
Thus far, neither Dad nor Ethan Klein / the H3 crew have yet to make further comments about the situation. We’ll keep you updated on the ordeal right here at Dexerto.