Trisha Paytas is one of the most polarizing figures on the internet. But since maintaining a calm equilibrium on the massively successful "Frenemies" podcast, and speaking out against three massive creators, they have significantly increased in popularity, according to an Insider poll.
In their 14 years on the platform, Paytas, who has 5 million YouTube subscribers, has feuded with a number of top influencers, and has frequently sparked outrage from marginalized communities including people with dissociative personality disorder, and transgender people.
But Paytas' regular role as cohost on the "Frenemies" podcast with fellow influencer Ethan Klein — with whom they have a turbulent history — appears to have helped repair their reputation. The show is massively popular, with over 2 million views on the YouTube videos per weekly episode since it launched in September 2020.
Insider surveyed over 1,000 people through SurveyMonkey Audience to find out which of over 75 influencers are the most well-known, liked, and disliked online. Insider previously conducted a similar poll in December 2020.
Paytas was shown to be one of the most notorious influencers on the list in the first poll. But they saw a net increase in favorability of almost four percentage points in the second poll, which was taken in April. They now have a 19% favorability rating, compared to 15% in December. This puts them at number 15 on the list of most disliked influencers, while they used to be in third place.
In the past three months, Paytas gained recognition for coming out as nonbinary, and for speaking out against major YouTubers including Shane Dawson and David Dobrik — both of whom have found themselves in hot water recently.
After being a staunch defender of Dawson for many years and standing by him when instances of racism and pedophilia jokes resurfaced, Paytas and Dawson's friendship publicly unraveled in January.
Paytas posted two emotional videos, and appeared on podcasts, to speak about their disappointment and sadness that Dawson did not stand up for them during their public feud with beauty mogul and YouTuber Jeffree Star.
Paytas received public support and compassion in telling their story.
According to Adam McIntyre, a commentary YouTuber with 160,000 subscribers, Paytas dropping Dawson inspired more trust from the audience.
"Paired with 'Frenemies' and the millions of views every month, Trisha Paytas is becoming a very reliable source on the internet in a lot of people's eyes," McIntyre told Insider. "Which is something that, if we discussed this a couple of months ago, would be unfathomable to think about."
Paytas has also publicly condemned David Dobrik, who recently found himself embroiled in sexual assault allegations against some members of his YouTuber collective, the Vlog Squad. Jason Nash, Dobrik's right-hand man and Paytas' ex-boyfriend, was accused of sexual assault by former Vlog Squad member Seth Francois in February, who said he was kissed without consent as a "prank" while filming in 2017.
About a month later, a woman who appeared in a 2018 video for Dobrik's channel said she was raped by former Vlog Squad member Dominykas Zeglaitis, better known as Durte Dom. Paytas was a source in the investigation, saying the women did not want to have sex with Zeglaitis, and that they were drinking while underage. Paytas has been a vocal critic of Dobrik since 2019. However, with serious allegations coming out in the past three months, Paytas' claims have gained new traction.
McIntyre believes Paytas' surge in popularity in the first quarter of 2021 is a mixture of several factors. They are immensely popular on TikTok with over 5 million followers and solid, steady engagement, and they're unfiltered in a way that's uncommon for major influencers.
"One thing that bodes well for Trisha Paytas is that they are genuinely entertaining," he said. "A lot of influencers' longevity does not last and isn't there, point blank period, because they don't have the personality or the entertainment value that will want to keep people around."
Paytas, on the other hand, is a one-person show who isn't afraid to speak out about the generation of power brokers in LA, no matter how big or how loudly defensive their fanbase is.
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Recent polling data collected 1,129 respondents March 26-27, 2021 with a 3 percentage point margin of error, December data collected 1,042 respondents December 24-25, 2020 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.
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