Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Chris Revelle | Celebrity | October 30, 2026
The internet can be understood as a broad, sprawling network of walled gardens: depending on which corners of which platforms you frequent, you may have a very different idea of who’s famous or what events are notable. Sometimes a scandal in one walled garden will make its way into another, which is how many people first saw the name Ethan Klein. In some ways, that’s an ideal situation. Drama is best enjoyed at a distance, out of the blast radius. Plus, this is the sort of scandal that kind of has everything: cheating, betrayal, podcasting, copyright law, and even a dollop of geopolitics.
Who is Ethan Klein?
Ethan Klein is a 41-year-old YouTuber who has built a lucrative career online. In 2011, Ethan and his now-wife Hila started the YouTube channel h3h3Productions, where they produced reaction videos and sketch comedy. They launched the H3 Podcast in 2017.
Who is Hila Klein?
Hila Klein (née Hacmon) met Ethan when he visited Israel on a Birthright trip. Hila was a member of the IDF at the time. Having been in the game for ~15 years, the Kleins have tons of fans and have launched associated businesses like the fashion line Teddy Fresh and the cosmetics line Teddy Glow. They also have 3 children together.
Why are the Kleins notable?
Aside from being among the first YouTubers to find consistent, lasting success on the platform, the Kleins had a significant role in shaping fair-use policy. In 2017, the Kleins posted a video of them reacting to and commenting on Matt Hosseinzadeh’s “Bold Guy” video. Hosseinzadeh sued for copyright infringement and lost. The precedent established a new standard for copyrighted material on YouTube, which is essentially that copyrighted material can be used without permission for specific purposes like commentary, criticism, scholarship, teaching, reporting, and research. Ethan was heralded as “the King of Fair Use,” but since then, the Kleins have become much more litigious, filing multiple copyright suits against other YouTubers when they used H3 footage. Suffice it to say, the Kleins have been involved in a truly dizzying number of dramas over the years, even before this current scandal.
Aside from their own podcast, Ethan also started podcasts with other YouTube notables, like Frenemies with Trisha Paytas and Leftovers with Hasan Piker. Both podcasts ended in acrimony. Paytas, who married Hila’s brother, Moses, left the podcast after her fights with Ethan got increasingly nasty. Leftovers dissolved shortly after October 7th, 2023. Piker was, and remains, a supporter of Palestinian liberation while the Kleins claim that Hamas hides military complexes under Palestinian hospitals. Skirmishes and fights continued to break out between Piker and the Kleins for three years.
I point to these dramas to illustrate two important pieces of context. The first is that, even accounting for how long the Kleins have been active on YouTube, they’ve been involved in a lot of drama that has earned them plenty of enemies and detractors. The second is that their fanbase has remained fiercely devoted despite everything that’s happened. The H3H3 fans have gained a reputation for unshakable faith in the Kleins and for wading into countless flame wars online in their name. That is, until…
Ethan cheated on Hila
The news broke out when Hila posted a statement on Instagram that reads, in part:
“I am living a nightmare I can’t wake up from. My husband has been having an affair. I have been fed lie after lie after lie for months. I am tired of lies. Here is the truth.”
She went on to explain that the affair had been going on for at least six months, and that she doesn’t know the full extent of it yet. The reaction to this was swift. The podcast was placed on indefinite hiatus. The H3 crew condemned Ethan and rallied around Hila. Ethan, for his part, stated that he would concede his stake in the podcast and the jointly owned businesses so that Hila would be the sole owner. Fans have largely followed the same trend of breaking from Ethan and supporting Hila. I don’t know why an extramarital affair was the final straw and not everything else, but fandom isn’t a remotely rational entity.
Who did Ethan cheat with?
There’s no definitive answer to that question yet, but the internet’s dominant theory is that Ethan cheated with an H3 employee named Tamara Joseph. Joseph is a 27-year-old artist and animator who began as an intern on the podcast before ascending to something like a producer. Again, neither Ethan, Hila, nor Tamara have confirmed or denied anything, but there’s circumstantial evidence, such as how every member of the crew has disconnected from Tamara on social media. This being the internet, people have been looking back at old clips and episodes for signs of the affair, and there’s been no shortage of pictures and videos to suggest Tamara was the one. Both Paytas and Piker have shared reactions, with Piker’s being the most pointed in my humble opinion.
And that’s your extremely online scandal update for the day!
