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I Got Cut From the Paul Brothers' HBO Show
Behind the scenes of another influencer docuseries flop.
Kat Tenbarge
May 16, 2025
Logan Paul and Jake Paul attend the premiere of "Paul American" at Tempo by Hilton New York Times Square on March 26, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
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Sometime around last August, I got an email asking me if I was interested in doing an on-camera interview for a documentary about influencers. I hopped on a call with the producer, who told me it was going to be a series about Jake and Logan Paul. They wanted to show the good, bad, and ugly, she assured me. They wanted an internet culture expert to unpack the nuances.
I’ve been covering the Paul brothers my entire career. Jake even blocked me on Instagram and Twitter after a July 2020 interview where he freely admitted he would keep flouting Calabasas Covid-19 restrictions to throw massive ragers. I figured this documentary would be a good opportunity to share my analysis that social media rewards bad behavior, elevating the wrong people into power into the process.
So I flew out to LA and sat for hours on a set surrounded by old books and exposed brick. I talked about how influencers can profit from being hated. And I started to get nervous about what direction this “documentary” was really taking.
