H3 Ethan Klein Cheating Scandal Broke The Internet

And then there's more we got to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, August is a great time for a reset before fall gets chaotic. And my closet, it could use some adult supervision. And that's where today's sponsor, Quince, comes in. Quince makes fewer, better pieces from premium materials. The things you'll reach for constantly. And I really like their staples like organic cottonties and Mongolian cashmere sweaters at work all day and into the evening. Or basically, close it, make you look, put together without looking like you had spent an hour planning it. They're denim and tailored. You know, it started at 60 bucks with a fit structure and quality that you'd expect from a luxury designer brand. And then you've got things like the cotton silk short sleeve crew next sweater, I've been wearing that thing everywhere. Though even that is when I'm not living in their performance tanks. 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As known for years ago, videos like Vape Nage, as well as podcasts like the Leftovers, friend of me is in the H3 podcast. Now, it appears like the H3 podcast might just be over after Ethan Klein's allegedly been having an affair for over six months. And you would fans knowing that something was up yesterday when Ethan first posted that the show was gonna go on an indefinite hiatus. But then not long after that, you would as wife, "Ela, explaining why, writing." I am living in 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. Laming that she could sense that something was wrong between them, but saying that Ethan was dismissive when she tried to ask about it. And so, that just left her starting to question herself in her sanity. Then she says, "Eventually, he was caught in a lie "and I knew I was done, but the lies continued. "It was just a kiss, became it was emotional cheating." And saying after I dragged these lies from him, he finally admitted that he'd been in an affair for over six months, the extent of which I'm sure I still don't know. With an adding that the betrayal she feels is measurable because the person she loved for 20 years evaporated overnight. And at least for right now it appears a third. Not together as she said that she's figuring out how to navigate their separation and co-parent it. And after this came out, it just blew up online with people taking sides immediately, and that includes his crew. And the crew from the podcast who also released his statement in support of you, claiming that they all agreed that they would not continue working with Ethan involved or profiting in any way, saying that they're disgusted by his actions and the hurt he caused, that they're sticking together as they figure out what comes next. But then also, because there were a number of people online going like, "Hey, is this a bit? "Is this a drama joke?" You had one of the people on the team, A.B., writing. Makes me sad seeing how many fans wish this was all just a skit. Trust me, I wish it was too. Actually, yeah, I was one of the people that thought this was a bit or a weird, weird prank. Right, in that part, because Elon's clothing brand Teddy Fresh, I just come out with this dump him sweatshirt. So my initial thinking was, "Oh, this is kind of in poor taste, "but I guess that's how the internet works." But it does appear based off the people that are working there that this is a real situation. And so then with this, you saw people online calling Ethan out sharing old clips of him slamming men who cheat like this moment where he was discussing the dry guy scandal. - I just hate men who have kids. They can put their wife through childbirth. They deliver you two beautiful children. And then you go and cheat on them, bro. Fuck that, that is so sad. - It's so, oh. - And while there's no shortage of people finding things, clippin' things and sharing it, that one especially got a lot of attention because Ethan and Elon have three kids to get. And then on top of that, you and others bringing up this tattoo that Ethan got that is a photo of Elon's face and says the greatest thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother. And then in the midst of this, you also have people trying to find clips where they think that it seems like Ethan's slipping secretly revealing an affair because one of the things that you've got people out there alleging is that he ended up cheating with an employee of his. But at least as I'm filming this, it doesn't appear that that's been confirmed. Now for his part, you had Ethan addressing the controversy, kind of saying, I know a lot of people are understandably looking for a comment for me, but I ask that you please respect my family's privacy and do not contact them looking for me or asking for their comments. Saying they have nothing to do with this and sharing your outrage and disappointment. Thank you. And then as far as the internet, the reactions are very much what you'd expect. People who have beef or do not like Ethan using the situation to dunk on him. A lot of his own supporters and audience feeling betrayed, very taken aback and not knowing how to move forward with this. There's also a million in one memes out there. Well, those reactions and takes are going to continue and still likely evolve as people learn more or just time goes on. Recently, the situation just makes me sad for the kids. Hey, whether you're a longtime fan of theirs, a haters somewhere in between, you didn't know they existed. I'd love course to know your thoughts, reactions, and maybe even predictions as things move forward. Especially because since this is breaking news, everything is updated in real time. And in fact, as I was filming this video, we got an update with Ethan posting one final comment. I'm working with Elah to urgently remove my ownership and financial stakes in any podcast, Teddy Fresh, Teddy Glow, or any joint venture that I would profit from. Saying all your support will go directly to Elah and the crew. I do this in the hope that people can still support Elah and the crew without the concern of enriching me. And closing I know the crew will make an awesome show. They are packed to the brim with the most talented creative hilarious and all around great people. So yeah, let me know your thoughts and reactions in those comments. But we also need to talk about this huge Elan Musk situation with SpaceX and Tesla. But first, a quick break with our sponsor. 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Or with a company potentially rivaling some of the most highly valued businesses in the world, like Nvidia, which is at $5.2 trillion, or Apple, $4.95 trillion. And also, basically, if this happens, the richest man on Earth gets even more power. Well, it's not confirmed yet. Both companies have apparently now formed committees to explore the idea, by which Musk revealed during SpaceX's recent earnings call with investors. These special committees are consist of independent directors. And because I'm a conflicted party, I can't actually be in the discussions of the special committees. So it's an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking, and I can't be in the conversation. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes. But at the end of the day, the shareholders have to be supportive of this. And particularly on the Tesla side, we will need a 50% vote of all shares, not just those who vote, but of all shareholders. So to summarize, he is totally staying out of it, but he also completely endorses it. Right, and this whole bubbling merger is the latest in a trend for Musk, who's been combining companies left and right recently. Last year, he emerged XAI and X, and then earlier this year, SpaceX acquired XAI, and then over the summer, SpaceX closed its $60 billion purchase of AI coding startup cursor. And if you've been paying attention to this space, Musk's actually been planting this Tesla SpaceX merger seed for a long time now. And actually, just days before he mentioned that merger on the call, you had him unveiling a prototype of Tesla's next generation Roadster, which uses SpaceX technology to hover. With that event, also being livestreamed from a SpaceX test site. And so to many, that's done a pretty clear message. And you've seen Musk already kind of running them as one company with Tesla and SpaceX sharing executives and addition to sharing technology. And specifically, Tesla's solar panels and batteries are used in SpaceX satellites. SpaceX runs the Starlink satellite internet system that Tesla's self-driving cars use. They're developing an advanced chip factory terra-fab together. And Brian Mulberry is chief market strategist for Zach's investment management, which holds shares in both companies. And so they're interconnected in all these different ways. And you have some people saying, yeah, it'd probably be more efficient to just combine them. But also, beyond the efficiency aspect, it's not rocket scientists, hey, yeah, I'm so clever. To figure out why Musk wants this merger to go forward. Right, here's a quick breakdown of the power dynamics at play here. Musk controls SpaceX with 10 to one super voting shares and almost 80% voting control. He controls the board and the votes. Meanwhile, with Tesla, there's more of a check on his power right now. He only owns about 19.8% of the shares and SpaceX currently has a market value of $2 trillion, while Tesla's value is 1.5 trillion. And so this is likely scenario where SpaceX is the acquiring company in the situation and Musk then controls the combined entity. And so as much as you might hear Musk say, hey, this is about innovation and bringing the tech together, it also is probably a lot about control. And actually, you would analyze it, William Blair, speculating that this is actually little to do with improving the businesses. Writing, we fully respect the overlap in collaboration potential. But we are hard pressed to find a material opportunity that could only be achieved by an official combination. Now with that said, as far as we can get in the way of his quest for more control, well, first of all, his Musk alluded to on the call. It might be tough to get shareholders approval on the Tesla side, and half of them would need to approve this. And they might not be super into the idea of giving up more power to Musk. Now to mention that Tesla has bigger revenues than SpaceX, so those would be diluted in the merged version. But then also, let's say they all go on board, which I think actually probably would be the case I would be in my prediction. There is also the politics layer of this, right? The regulatory hurdles. In there, you would have former Justice Department officials saying that antitrust regulators might try to stop the merger if Tesla SpaceX was considered a vertical foreclosure, which is when a firm uses its position to restrict competitors operating at another level of its supply chain. In this anti-trust situation, it could kind of go either way, depending on political variables. Or because, as you know, Musk gives a whole lot of money to the Republican part. In fact, he just gave another $76 million to the Republicans, bringing his total giving this midterm cycle to more than $442 million. And it appears he's got Trump aligned U.S. anti-trust enforcers on his side. But if the Democrats do take back control of the House in November, he may very well face congressional investigations. And actually, Senator Cory Booker is one of the Democrats who voiced concerns about this Tesla SpaceX situation. Right, he weighed in, on this merger, saying, "If Elon Musk moves forward with the merger of Tesla and SpaceX, the deal would carry real risks that anti-trust enforcers across the world would scrutinize." And saying, "When one person controls the infrastructure that governments and militaries depend on, his business decisions become national security decisions too." Do you have a lot of people saying, Musk is clearly trying to move the merger forward. Now, while Republicans are definitely still in control. And so if this merger happens, it could be happening imminently. And in fact, you had former Tesla board member Steve Wesley saying that he thinks that the companies will move quickly to announce a merger proposal before the elections if they possibly can. But then also, it's not just U.S. politics in the mix here. There's also China. A Tesla depends on the Chinese market for both manufacturing and sales, with China accounting for 22% of the revenue last year. Meanwhile, Starling technologies used in foreign conflicts in the company as a relationship with the Pentagon. And you could also have international anti-trust authorities scrutinizing what the merger might mean for overseas auto, AI, and aerospace industries. So a lot of play, at stake, up in the air, and we're going to have to wait to see what happens. And that my friends, beautiful bastards is the end of your special extra Friday show this week. Thank you for watching, like and subscribe, and if you want to watch more, I got you covered here. Yeah, I love you, O-Faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday.