A YouTuber allegedly held a cat named Betsy hostage during business negotiations
#FreeBetsy?
The latest drama out of the YouTube world involves a creator named Tim Pool, a popular "liberal reporter who became a Trump voter after feeling alienated from the modern left," according to The Daily Beast. Back in 2019, Emily Molli, cat mom to a feline named Betsy, helped Pool co-found a "news site/YouTube channel/news footage service" called Subverse (the name was later changed to SCNR).
Because Molli was traveling frequently for work, she left her cat, Betsy, in the care of one of the co-hosts of Pool's podcast, who ended up living with Pool in his mansion. But when business tensions flared last fall, Molli claims Pool used her cat as "leverage" in their negotiations:
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Pool, meanwhile, denies he ever had custody of the cat. Thankfully, Betsy was eventually reunited with Molli, but you'll want to read the full, strange story at The Daily Beast, here.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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