Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Trisha Paytas in British Vogue (!!) + Fannita calls out influencer industry for creator pay disparity

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MINI SCROLL: Trisha Paytas in British Vogue (!!) + Fannita calls out influencer industry for creator pay disparity · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  If you guys are YouTube watchers, you might notice that
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  the studio looks a little bit different.
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  So we are recording Tuesday to Friday.
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  So every day this week, basically interviews for a
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  podcast mini series that we are starting next week.
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  It's called Let the Girls Game and it is going to dive into the
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  history and the experiences and the struggles of women in gaming
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  and streaming. So that will run every
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  Wednesday. Instead of mini scroll, it will
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  replace mini scroll. So the episodes will be like 10
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  to 15 minutes, like mini scroll every Wednesday for the next 5
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  weeks. So because of that, we've had to
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  like redesign the studio so that I could have people with me.
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  Anyways, it's not really that different.
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  So if you do watch on YouTube, I'm sure it's fine, but that is
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  why things look a little different right now.
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  This is my third episode, third podcast episode that I have
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  recorded today alone. My full time job is podcast
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  right now, just like Ken's was beach.
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  Mine is podcast. I'm recording 10 episodes this
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  week. That's just like how it all
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  happened and it all happened really, really quickly.
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  So I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.
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  I'm feeling a bit unwell. I have not been sleeping.
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  You guys know, sleep is like my most important thing, but it's a
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  thing that I struggle with like literally the most when I'm
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  stressed. So I mean, that's probably why
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  it's the most important thing to me.
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  So anyways, I am so tired. I am just like pushing through.
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  But I'm so happy because like the two episodes that I recorded
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  earlier today were like interviews or like bigger
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  episodes with different people. And it's so nice to just be
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  sitting here by myself with you guys just chatting and talking
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  you through the biggest stories on the Internet today.
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  All right, I have two stories for you guys.
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  It was a bit of a light Newsday. I struggled a little bit to find
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  these stories, but the first story that I have for you guys,
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  I feel like this is like my moment, Like I feel like my
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  entire career has led to this. Trisha Paytas was interviewed by
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  British Vogue. Digest that for a minute.
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  I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed.
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  I mean, if you guys listen to this podcast, you know, no
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  matter how problematic Trisha Paytas has been over her career
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  and she has been highly problematic.
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  I have been there. I have been watching her for
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  like 14 years now. I discovered her when I was at
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  university in one of my first years and I was just hooked ever
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  since. And even through her most like
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  tumultuous years and challenging years to be a fan, I stuck it
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  through because I, I truly believe, I feel like this is
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  maybe a hot take. I believe Trisha Paytas is a
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  very good person at her core. I think she's done a lot of very
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  bad things and it has hurt a lot of people.
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  So I am absolutely by no means like, you know, discrediting
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  that. And you know, we did a whole
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  deep dive on her controversies and it was 2 full episodes.
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  I think that was in season three.
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  So I am aware. But at the same time, she is my
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  problematic queen. I have been like a Trisha Paytas
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  apologist for so long and I am just so excited and proud of
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  her. I'm sad this didn't come with
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  like a photo shoot. That would have been so sick.
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  Imagine she got a British Vogue photo shoot.
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  Like I don't even know what they would do with her.
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  I would be dying to see that. But it is an interview.
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  It's very cool. And I think she probably has
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  given birth to Elvis because she is posting drafts on her TikTok
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  and then people are commenting saying like Oh my God, this is a
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  draft. Does that mean Elvis is here and
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  she's liking those comments? I kind of think the next time we
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  will see Trisha will possibly be in like some type of people
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  exclusive announcing Elvis. She's just so like famous and
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  popular right now. And I feel like this is the time
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  for that. Like I think she actually would
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  get that opportunity with this baby this time around.
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  Anyways, that's not really the point of this.
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  So, so excited to see this interview.
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  It is very short. It's like a back and forth
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  transcription. But I wanted to read 3 quotes or
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  like talk about three things in the interview.
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  OK. The 1st is like the quickest
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  little thing ever, but I was just dying.
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  She called herself mother to the Internet.
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  She said I'm mother to the Internet.
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  Love that. I just had to mention that.
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  OK, the next thing, the actual true like story of this and the
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  crux of the article, to be fair, the like pull quote was that she
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  has spent over $12 million in her career making videos and
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  like producing content. So she said I was making really
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  good money from 2015 so I would spend it all on production for
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  movie recreation. I never saved before 2020
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  really. Over the course of ten years
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  I've spent over $12 million. That is so wild, Queen.
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  I mean make good financial decisions.
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  That's going to come up at the bottom.
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  Like, you know, when you post a TikTok and there's any like
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  conversation at all about money and it says like make smart
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  financial decisions or whatever, that is absolutely going to be
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  the warning on this video. OK.
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  She also said in terms of like her music video, because her
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  music career obviously is like the thing that she talks about
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  how she's like the most proud of and she was all self funded.
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  So she says I haven't trolled in over a decade.
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  My favorite songs are Freaky and I love You Jesus.
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  As in her favorite songs that she released.
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  I love freaky. I also love I love You Jesus
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  because it's like funny. I genuinely want to become a pop
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  star and I hope that I get signed on Broadway every time I
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  share a video. I spend upwards of half,
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  $1,000,000 a year on costumes and wigs for these.
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  So it's a really expensive passion.
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  I think there is a very high possibility that after
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  especially saying like every time I share a video like this,
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  I hope I get signed to Broadway. Being in British Vogue and
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  saying that, putting that out into the world, I think there's
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  a high possibility that Trisha will get asked to play a part on
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  Broadway. Imagine her as Roxy Hart.
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  They always let celebrities be Roxy Hart and even Internet
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  celebrities, like she deserves it.
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  That would be so incredibly important to me.
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  If Trisha Paytas went on Broadway, I would immediately
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  book tickets and it would be a business expense because I would
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  have to, I'd have to be there, I'd be vlogging, I'd be
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  podcasting. That would be freaking iconic.
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  Please, please, anybody that has any connections to Broadway, you
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  need to send this podcast to them, this interview to them and
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  you need to get her on Broadway. Give her some time to recover
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  from giving birth. But then Broadway, OK, the next
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  story that I have for you guys. So this story I actually had a
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  hard time like piercing together and I'll explain why and I'll
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  explain kind of like the take or the the way that I'm going to
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  cover it here. But basically, creator Fanita
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  has called out the influencer industry for paying white
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  creators like Alex Earle more than black creators.
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  So the reason why I've had a hard time piercing this together
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  is because I think she's been deleting a lot of videos.
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  And the commentary about this doesn't have a very clear cut.
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  Like here's what happened. And I think it's because it's
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  been like, happening over the course of possibly a few weeks,
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  at least the last like couple of days.
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  So I don't have the full picture for you guys and I'm not like
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  totally qualified to speak on this, but I wanted to talk about
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  a couple things that I have seen from this whole situation that I
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  feel like I can speak on and that, you know, are not kind of
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  like out of place for me to speak on.
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  So, you know, Finita, she makes commentary content.
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  She makes comedy content. Like she's a larger than life
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  personality. And she has been talking a lot
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  about the pay disparity between black creators and white
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  creators on TikTok. And she recently, I guess,
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  brought up Alex Earl again, I think this video was deleted.
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  I did see like a quick clip of it, like a stitch at the
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  beginning of a video where she like mentions Alex Earl.
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  And what has happened is a lot of people have kind of gone in
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  and like called her out for bringing up Alex Earl.
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  Because I guess they're saying like the reason why, you know,
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  she is making more money is because she's a lifestyle
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  influencer. And it's more of a risk for
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  brands to work with comedy or commentary influencers or
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  creators as opposed to lifestyle ones, which, you know, I guess
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  makes sense, especially as a lifestyle influencer.
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  I guess you can, you know, say like this is what I'm wearing
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  today. This is a makeup I'm using.
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  Like it's so easy for brands to like a slot their content in or
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  their products in and it's easy for them to work with, I guess
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  lifestyle creators. I'm not a lifestyle creator.
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  So like, I don't know, I'm obviously commentary if you're
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  thinking about the bigger brand picture, but you know, it's
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  easier for them as well because there's much less of a risk that
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  they will say anything controversial or whatever.
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  So that's like one side of it. The other side of it though, is
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  that regardless of, you know, maybe the false conflation
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  between herself and Alex Earl, she's making very valid points
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  about the pay disparity between white creators and non white
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  creators. So I have a stat here, and I
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  actually think this is one of the most recently published
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  stats in terms of like publicly available stats.
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  I'm sure there's other stuff in academic journals that you have
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  to, you know, subscribe to or pay for.
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  But as far as I could find in December 2021, so again, that's
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  three years ago now, influencer education platform at the
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  Influencer League and PR agency MSLUS released a study that
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  found that black creators on average made 35% less than white
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  creators. And again, this is kind of an
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  old stat. I would be surprised, to be fair
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  though, if this got any better. I think there's always the
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  belief, I suppose, that, you know, things keep progressing
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  and we keep getting better as the years go on with anything,
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  but especially related to, you know, progress like this.
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  And I would be really surprised if that was the case.
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  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of faith in the industry in
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  general. So I think that's kind of the
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  first piece of the story that I wanted to touch on is that the
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  points that she's making are really valid when it comes to
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  that. The other thing that I wanted to
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  touch on is how her community is calling her in.
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  I would say, I mean, some people are definitely calling her out,
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  but I would say if you think about the like recent examples
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  of creators who have kind of spiraled like this and we've
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  seen it many times. The example that comes to mind
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  for me is Gabby Hanna, because that was only about a year ago.
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  And Gabby's in my opinion was much more extreme or it ended up
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  being much more extreme than what is currently going on with
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  Fenita. I watched this video of Fenita
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  and it was like really emotional and sad and she's deleted it,
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  but it was a re upload and somebody like re uploaded it.
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  And it was her talking about, I guess why she's posting the way
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  she's posting recently and acting the way she's acting
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  online. And she talks about so many
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  different things going on in her life and how difficult the last
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  few months have been for her. And she's had major weight loss
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  surgery. She's in, you know, pain from
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  that. Her uncle passed away.
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  She lost a really big romantic relationship in her life.
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  Like there's just been a lot going on.
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  And again, I don't follow her close enough to really like
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  comment on any of that, but I just feel like her opening up
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  like that and then seeing how people, I guess her community,
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  her followers are talking about what is going on.
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  I see it as much more productive than I think how we treated like
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  Gabby Hanna, for example. I think when Gabby Hanna was
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  going through everything she went through on TikTok last
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  year, I know it got really extreme, but before it kind of
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  ended up in people like calling for Wellness checks and stuff.
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  Even before then, there was a lot of people like making fun of
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  her. And it's been really interesting
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  the contrast for me to look at how people are talking about
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  Fanita because it's not that they're not being critical of
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  her actions, but they're doing so in a very respectful way.
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  I would say even in a video that is saying like, you know, she's
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  wrong for XYZ and these videos and what she's saying is not OK.
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  And whatever, it's always done in such a respectful way.
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  It's done in a way that is almost like analyzing what could
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  be going on with her based on I guess her life and what we know
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  of her and her recent experiences with weight loss
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  surgery and all this stuff. It's been very interesting to
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  see the contrast and I think it's a very positive change.
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  But no matter what creator is kind of going through something
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  like this, when a creator is going through something like
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  this, I think we always just need to remember.
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  And I think Finita's fan base has done this well.
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  You know, you're putting yourself online for millions of
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  people to consume basically your life, your thoughts, what's
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  going on with you. And that at some point would
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  drive most people insane. And I don't mean insane forever,
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  and I don't mean insane in a derogatory term, but I just mean
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  I think the level of fame, the rate that people become intranet
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  famous these days, it's unprecedented.
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  It's nothing like before, you know, you blow up overnight.
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  How do you handle this? How you're we're not supposed to
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  hear constant criticism from people all the time.
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  Like we're not supposed to know what millions of people think
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  about us. That would be a very difficult
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  experience for anyone. And I think, you know, we see
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  celebrities and influencers reach a breaking point.
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  I wouldn't say frequently, but like, we don't see it.
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  It's not uncommon for it to happen.
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  I mean, OK, I would argue that we have seen Taylor Swift reach
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  a breaking point with tortured Poets department.
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  I love that album. But like half of that album is
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  her calling out her fans and the media for talking about her and
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  judging her. And there are a few songs in
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  there where it's like, oh, OK, you are not OK.
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  You know, you're like in a bit of an unwell era right now.
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  So I think everybody expresses it a little bit differently.
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  Again, I don't know enough about Finita to speak on kind of what
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  she is going through like specifically.
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  But I think when we look at creators who are in crisis and
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  who who are posting this all the time online, like that's all
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  they know. So they're going to post what
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  they're thinking and feeling online and they're going to get
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  defensive and it's going to be a difficult thing to watch.
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  And I do think Finita's fan base, from what I have seen, at
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  least for the most part, people being like quite respectful and
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  trying to, I guess, add their two cents on why they think this
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  is happening as opposed to just like making fun of her or being
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  really hyper critical of her, which is nice to see.
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  Anyways, I don't know if that's like really a story because I
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  don't have the full picture of what's going on.
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  I found it very difficult to find and I didn't feel like a
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  lot of what's happening was like respectful or right of me to
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  speak on. And that's all I have for you
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  guys today. I'm sorry if this was such a
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  random episode, but I will be back with you guys tomorrow, of
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  course. And I'm sure there will be more
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  stories, more tea going on. But thank you so much for
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  listening to Mini Scroll. I love you guys so much.
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  Please rate, review and subscribe.
• 15:27
  I've actually gotten so many nice reviews.
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  I haven't read them yet on the big episodes.
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  I'll read them I think this Friday, so it'll go up next
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  Friday. But anyways, thank you guys so
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  much for listening to Mini Scroll.
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  I love you guys and I'll talk to you tomorrow.
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  Bye.