Ethan Klein

Ethan Klein in April 2023

**Ethan Edward Klein** (born June 25, 1985) is the host of the H3 Podcast. He first found fame with the YouTube channel h3h3Productions, created and hosted by him and his wife, Hila Klein, whom he also hosts the After Dark show with. Klein joined YouTube in 2011, and started the H3 Podcast in 2017.

## Personal Life

Ethan Edward Klein was born in Ventura, California in 1985 to Donna and Gary Klein. He has two older siblings, Sean and Jessica. He attended Buena High School. He has a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

On Frenemies #12, Ethan discusses how he and his family moved to Ajijic, Mexico, where they lived for 5 years. While they lived there, his mother Donna owned a hairdressing salon. According to Ethan, gang warfare involving "grenades and automatic rifles", broke out between different drug cartels. It was reported by Reuters in 2012 that this gang warfare was between the Sinaloa and Los Zetas drug cartels. After the outbreak in violence, the Kleins moved back to the United States.

He met his wife, Hila, at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Israel in 2007 when he was on his Birthright Israel trip, and Hila was serving in the Israel Defense Forces. They married in 2012. During the early years of their YouTube careers, they lived together in Florentin, Tel Aviv, Israel, before moving to New York, and eventually settling in California.

The Kleins have two sons, Theodore (born 2019) and Bruce (born 2022), with a third son (tentatively named Scotty) on the way. They also have one pet dog, Alfredo. They previously owned a pet dog named Shredder, who passed away on August 30, 2023. They currently live in Bel Air, California.

Klein is brother-in-law to Trisha Paytas and Moses Hacmon, who met each other on the BacH3lor segment of his podcast. Klein also hosted Frenemies with Paytas from 2020-2021.

Klein has described himself as non-practicing secular Jewish. He holds dual-citizenship in both the United States, as well as Israel. A DNA test showed that he is 99.7% Ashkenazi Jewish. Klein has Tourette's syndrome, and has minor tics which are at times visible on camera.

## Career

Ethan Klein and his wife Hila Klein joined YouTube in 2011, under the channel name h3h3productions. The name comes from the two 'H' letters of Hila Hacmon (her maiden name), as well as '3' being a backwards 'E' to represent the two initials from Ethan Edward (his middle name).

The first episode of the H3 Podcast was uploaded to the H3 Podcast YouTube channel on April 7, 2017. It featured Justin Roiland. The channel has since launched several shows on the podcast, including *After Dark*, *H3TV*, and *Off The Rails*.

The H3 Podcast also spawned two spin-off podcasts. Frenemies (2020-2021) co-hosted with Trisha Paytas, as well as Leftovers (2021-2023) co-hosted with Hasan Piker.

## Controversies

#### NRA Convention Joke

In May 2022, the *H3 Podcast* channel was suspended when Ethan joked on air that someone should bomb the conservative NRA convention to put their lives in danger in "the same way they endanger the lives of school children".

#### Ben Shapiro Joke

In October 2022, the *H3 Podcast* channel received a strike and one week suspension following comments directed at Jewish conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, in which Ethan stated he hoped "Ben gets gassed first." in the event of a second Holocaust. In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson said that the channel was given a strike for "violating the platform's harassment policy". Ethan responded later that "[a] few white supremacists successfully lobbied YouTube to suspend me, a Jewish dual citizen of Israel & USA, for antisemitism."

#### Apology to QTCinderella

> *See full article: Chestnuts Incident*
>
>

In January 2023, Klein and many members of the podcast received backlash in the aftermath of an interview with Rebecca Black. After the interview had concluded and Black had left, Klein continued the podcast, talking about drama involving Twitch streamer QTCinderella. Klein watched a video clip in which a teary-eyed QTCinderella responds to a website selling inappropriate deepfakes of herself and other female broadcasters. While the video is playing, podcast crew member Zach (under instruction from Klein) played a slowed-down version of Nat King Cole’s ‘Christmas Song,' performed by Anuc Attitawan over the video, causing Klein and several crew members to burst into laughter.

Klein immediately received critical responses from his own crew, including Sam who was visibly upset during the laughter. After a moment passed, he apologized for laughing and claimed that he supported QT amid the ongoing situation. Nevertheless, the clip went viral on social media, prompting Klein to issue a full apology to QTCinderella, and Ludwig (her partner and fellow Twitch streamer), both in Twitter DMs and publicly.

Following the incident with QTCinderella, the podcast crew purchased a button which allows Klein, or producer Dan, to have the livestream on a 30-second delay, allowing them to erase the last 30 seconds of footage from the livestream before it airs. This goal of having this button is to prevent future YouTube content strikes, or backlash, and has been effective thus far.

### Lawsuits

* Matt Hosseinzadeh v. Ethan Klein and Hila Klein
* Triller Fight Club II LLC v. The H3 Podcast

## Trivia

* Ethan's biological paternal grandfather was American film/television producer, writer, and director Leonard Katzman, most notable for being the showrunner of the CBS soap opera *Dallas.*

## References

1. ↑ Parsons, Kit (November 15, 2021). "Podcast Review and Mini-Interview: H3 Podcast with Gary Klein | Redbrick Culture". *Redbrick*. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
2. ↑ H3 Podcast (August 4, 2021). "My Family Is Being Torn Apart - Families # 7". Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
3. ↑ h3h3productions (May 17, 2017). "How We Met At The Holocaust Museum". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
4. ↑ H3 Podcast Highlights (December 12, 2021). "Reviewing Our Wedding Photos". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
5. ↑ Ojomu, Nola (June 5, 2019). "YouTube stars H3H3 announce birth of their baby boy, Theodore". *Metro*. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
6. ↑ Rao, Karishma (February 3, 2022). "How old is Hila Klein? Fans rejoice as she welcomes second child with husband, Ethan Klein". Sportskeeda Pop. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
7. ↑ H3 Podcast (September 1, 2023). "Family Vlogger 8 Passengers Arrested & War With Streamys & Jay Shetty Continues - After Dark #118". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
8. ↑ Dodgson, Lindsey & Bergman, Sirena (September 15, 2022). "A timeline of Trisha Paytas and Moses Hacmon's relationship, from a YouTube dating show to walking down the aisle and having a baby". *Yahoo News*. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
9. ↑ Zahra, Mehak (October 20, 2021). "Trisha Paytas defends making fun of Ethan Klein's Tourette's, saying they were "clearly joking"". Dankanator. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
10. ↑ Hila Klein [@hilakleinvlogs] (February 26, 2016). "What's with Ethan's Eyebrows?!". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
11. ↑ h3h3productions (October 24, 2014). "FAQ with Ethan and Hila [h3h3productions]". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
12. ↑ H3 Podcast (April 7, 2017). "H3 Podcast #1 - Justin Roiland (Co-Creator of Rick & Morty)". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
13. ↑ Bhattacharjee, Aayushmita (May 30, 2022). "What did Ethan Klein say? Latest H3 Podcast episode gets taken down by YouTube following Donald Trump Jr. and other Conservatives’ backlash". Sportskeeda Pop. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
14. ↑ Starr, Michael (October 21, 2022). "If there is another Holocaust, 'I hope Ben Shapiro gets gassed first' -YouTuber Ethan Klein". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
15. ↑ Thalen, Mikael (October 21, 2022). "‘They are the ones platforming dangerous anti-semites’: Ethan Klein blames Ben Shapiro and ‘white supremacists’ for YouTube suspension". Daily Dot. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.
16. ↑ Glaze, Virginia (January 31, 2023). "Ethan Klein issues formal apology to QTCinderella after laughing at deepfake drama". Dexerto. Retrieved on September 10, 2023.