Ethan Edward Klein (born June 25, 1985)[2] is an Israeli American[3]YouTuber, comedian, and podcaster. He is the host of the H3 Podcast. He first found fame with the YouTube channel h3h3Productions, created by him and his wife Hila Klein.
Klein's entertainment career began shortly after the couple's meeting while Hacmon was enrolled in the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Ramat Gan, Israel. Klein commented that their first YouTube channel began when Hacmon praised a male student in her video art class for his artistic talents. Wanting to prove himself to Hacmon, Klein proposed they make videos together and post them online under the h3h3Productions YouTube channel. The "h3h3" name was created in reference to the couple's first initials. However, because "hehe" was not an available title, they opted for "h3h3."[10]
The h3h3Productions YouTube channel first got mainstream traction when Klein began posting weekly reaction videos. These videos were in response to what he describes as left-leaning "social justice warriors," where he acted as the "anti-social justice warrior." In 2016, Ethan and Hila created the H3 Podcast YouTube channel.[11] In 2016, Ethan and Hila created the H3 Podcast YouTube channel. Although it initially started with pre-recorded episodes, the channel quickly pivoted towards long-form live content.[12][13]
Controversies
In 2016, Ethan Klein uploaded to his YouTube channel a video of himself sexually harassing a 17-year old victim of the Boston Marathon Bombing, using profanities and racial slurs.[14] In 2024, the video re-emerged, gaining widespread attention on social media.
In 2020, reports appeared about sponsors ceasing collaboration with Klein due to its frequent use of racist and homophobic slurs[15][16]. This behavior came under renewed scrutiny in 2025, when the podcast host used racial slurs while singing a Kendrick Lamar song and an eight-minute compilation of Klein using racial slurs gained traction online[17][18]
In 2022, he was mentioned in The New York Times for being sexually explicit with minors while playing Horizon Worlds, a virtual-reality forum from Meta.[19][20] In the same year, he was criticized for antisemitic remarks against conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro.[21]
In January of 2023, after a scandal involving explicit deepfakes of several high-profile female broadcasters, Ethan Klein was criticized for bursting into laughter while watching a tearful live stream of prominent TwitchstreamerQTCinderella, who was one of the victims. Klein later apologised for his behavior.[22]
In August 2025, it was discovered that Klein was the owner of a Reddit account named "pedo_troll", which he used to publicize his YouTube channel at the beginning of his career and upload posts often related to pedophilia and incest. After gaining attention on social media, Klein noted that the account was just a "bizarre and edgy" attempt at humor, and that he had "nothing to hide or apologize for".[23] Every post on the account has been deleted.
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