Jake Paul has compared YouTuber Austin McBroom to Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland on Twitter after TikTokers who fought in the Battle of the Platforms event alleged they have yet to be paid by organizers Social Gloves.
Although the highly anticipated YouTubers vs. TikTokers fight happened weeks ago, the event is still making headlines thanks to accusations from influencers and other event staff that they have yet to be paid.
TikToker Vinnie Hacker claimed on the BFFs podcast that he personally hasn’t received his money yet, and Josh Richards claimed that there were lawsuits going on behind the scenes.
The event was run by Social Gloves, and it has since been alleged that Austin McBroom, one of the headline fighters for the event, owns part of the company. YouTuber Tana Mongeau was one such person to claim this, saying on Twitter: “not Austin McBroom owning most of Social Gloves and then everyone being surprised people aren’t getting paid.”
Not the most desperate human being speaking on shit she doesn’t know about. Don’t try and bring me or the event down to make you feel better about Tanacon. Every fighter including myself will be getting paid and a lawsuit is happening and it’s not with social gloves dumb dumb
— Austin McBroom (@AustinMcbroom) June 26, 2021
However, in his reply he wrote: “Every fighter including myself will be getting paid and a lawsuit is happening and it’s not with Social Gloves.”
Social Gloves claimed they’re “working tirelessly” to pay everyone in a reasonable time frame, following accusations that the event only sold 136,000 PPV buys compared to the predicted 500,000.
In response, Austin added: “The real numbers will come out soon. Just know Social Gloves weren’t the ones who collected PPV numbers [and] purchases.”
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Now, YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul has compared Austin to the founder of Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland, putting pictures of the pair next to each other on Twitter with the caption, “spot the difference.”
spot the difference pic.twitter.com/OGnaK5mgP6
— Paul Paul (@jakepaul) June 26, 2021
Fyre Festival was a music festival that took place in 2017, but the event famously failed due to fraudulent marketing. McFarland is now serving a 6-year prison sentence as a result.
Jake also said in an earlier tweet that “followers don’t equal PPV buys.”
Followers don’t = PPV buys
— Paul Paul (@jakepaul) June 25, 2021
Months prior to the event, Jake and his brother Logan predicted that the YouTubers vs. TikTokers event wouldn’t sell a third of what the organizers predicted when it comes to PPV sales.
This controversy has proven to be an unexpected end to the Battle of the Platforms event, but how things will unfold in the coming weeks, and whether staff and talent get paid, remains to be seen.
