The Atrioc deepfake drama rolls on, as h3h3’s Ethan Klein and his podcast crew have now been heavily criticized for laughing while watching QTCinderella’s emotional response to the controversy.
Earlier this week, Twitch streamer Atrioc was caught watching NSFW deepfake videos of fellow streamers Pokimane and Maya Higa, with him issuing an apology alongside his wife. QTCinderella, the partner of Atrioc’s friend and business associate Ludwig, later released her own tearful response, pointing out how deepfakes of herself are also featured on the site. The H3 Podcast — hosted by h3h3 Production’s Ethan Klein — broadcast her response, and their reaction to it has been widely condemned online.
h3h3 criticized for laughing at QTCinderella’s deepfake response
Despite initially being reluctant to play the tearful response from QTCinderella, h3h3’s Ethan Klein went ahead and showed it during his podcast anyway. Speaking directly to her audience, QTCinderella said through tears that she “wanted to go live because this is what pain looks like.” While she said this, Klein could be seen laughing behind his hand.
He burst out into further laughter when the podcast’s sound technician, Zach Louis, played the TikTok meme ‘chesnuts song’ over the top of QTCinderella’s distress. A majority of the crew had to hide their smiles as the song started playing, with Klein describing Zach as “evil.”
The whole situation became too much for Klein. He eventually had to disappear from being on camera altogether, so that he could pull himself together before returning to frame. When he did come back, he made his own apology.
“It’s not funny, and I’m very sorry about that,” Klein quickly responded when the video finished. He then appeared to make an excuse and said Zach’s “finger slipped,” before admitting that he had in fact asked him to play the track over the video. His wife Hila Klein then appeared to mock Atrioc’s apology, in which he appeared alongside his wife, joking that they may now have to do the same thing after laughing during the QTCinderella video.
“I 100 percent support her,” he continued, adding that he wanted “to donate to the cause” and will “support her” if she is founding a lawsuit against the deepfake creator.
Despite the swift apology, the behavior has now been slammed as “deplorable” by former fans. “Why are women streamers always the butt of some stupid joke?” one asked, while another said they felt “really let down.”
