Hila Klein

Allegations against The Wall Street Journal

h3h3Productions, alongside several other channels, supported YouTube personality PewDiePie amid a 2017 controversy over jokes about Nazis in one of his videos from January. On February 14, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about PewDiePie's previous references to Adolf Hitler, which brought nine other videos into the debate and elicited frequent discussions on whether media took them out of context. When YouTube subsequently released tools to allow advertisers to avoid offensive videos, Ethan claimed that the tools were overly broad and negatively affected unrelated content, including his own channel.

One of the authors of the Wall Street Journal piece, Jack Nicas, wrote another article on March 24 claiming YouTube did not go far enough to prevent advertising from displaying on videos that might contain racist content. Ethan accused the report of being written selectively to maximize outrage. The article showed a Coca-Cola advert playing on a video of the white supremacist country song "Alabama Nigger" by American musical group Trashy White Band. Upon seeing that the video was not contributing to the uploader's income, Ethan alleged that Nicas had used an altered screenshot. Hours later, he was informed that the video was indeed monetized, but on behalf of a copyright claim rather than at the choice or to the benefit of the uploader. He withdrew his accusation in response, and The Wall Street Journal released a statement that it stood by the authenticity of the screenshots.

Legal disputes with Triller and Ryan Kavanaugh

In May 2021, the company Triller sued Ethan and Hila Klein, alleging the pair had pirated the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren fight on the H3 Podcast. Despite attempts to settle, the Kleins faced additional legal actions as the feud intensified. Ryan Kavanaugh, co-founder of Triller, filed a separate defamation lawsuit, accusing Ethan of spreading false claims and maliciously targeting him through various platforms. The accusations included promoting damaging articles, creating a website comparing Kavanaugh to Harvey Weinstein, and allegedly paying Wikipedia editors to tarnish Kavanaugh’s online reputation.

The lawsuits became a focal point of discussion on the H3 Podcast, where Ethan Klein publicly criticized Kavanaugh’s motives, framing the legal battle as an attempt to suppress free speech. As of August 2024, the parties have reached a settlement, but the terms have not been publicly disclosed.