It's Barely Been A Year & The Timeline Of All The Hype House Drama Is Already WILD
Let's face the facts: While the Hype House has fostered a lot of friendships, it's also seen a lot of fallouts. The social media collective has produced an exceptional amount of drama in its short-lived existence (Why else would they be getting their own reality show less than a year after forming?) The crew's physical house is a Los Angeles mansion, but not everyone who is part of Hype House actually lives there. Some stars live with their parents because they're underage, but regardless of whether they're inside the mansion's walls or in another zip code, it seems drama is unavoidable for nearly everyone. That's why the timeline of all the Hype House drama is so intense.
The Hype house was officially founded in December 2019, and initially included about 20 social media stars, primarily those who were big on the video app TikTok. Chase Hudson, Thomas, Petrou, Addison Rae, and Charlie D'Amelio were some of the most-recognizable faces to sign on to join the roster, but many have come and gone since. Given the drama that's gone down this year, one can't blame them. This is your definitive timeline of the Hype House drama to-date.
December 2019: The Hype House Begins
It's hard to imagine the Hype House without a shred of drama, but in its first month of existence, things were smooth sailing for members of the social media collective. Soon enough, the members even gave numerous interviews talking about how happy and close they all were.
January 2020: The Members Gush About Hype House Life
When a New York Times profile on the Hype House went live on Jan. 3, it seemed like every member of the group had found their social media haven. For Charli D'Amelio, she viewed her spot as a safe space. “The internet can be a little harsh,” she said. “Everyone here is ready to bring positivity and kindness." However, fans would soon learn that behind the scenes, things was seemingly very different.
February 2020: Addison Rae Easterling Splits With Bryce Hall
Hype House fans had closely watched Easterling's romance with Sway House member Bryce Hall play out starting in October 2019 when they started flirting openly on social media, but things took a turn in February when they apparently parted ways.
First, on Feb. 1, Hollywire published an interview with Hall, who insisted things were going "very well." Just three weeks later, Easterling sang a different tune. "We were talking and kind of on and off, just trying to figure things out. Things happen and then we just decided we're better off as friends for now," she told Entertainment Tonight on Feb. 21.
March 2020: Keech Quits The Hype House
Remember that New York Times profile about Petrou and Hudson founding the Hype House? Yeah, that didn't sit right with Keech, who finally spoke out in March about feeling like she was snubbed by her housemates. In a lengthy vlog, she detailed the ways she felt Hudson and Petrou robbed her of the credit she deserved for being a cofounder of the collective, and announced she was leaving the house. In the Aug. 28 video titled "Truth about the Hype House," Keech didn't hold back while sharing her feelings about her ex-housemates.
"Being 20 years old and not having a manager there with me like Chase had, I had no idea to speak up and to say that I was a cofounder," she said. "I assumed Thomas and Chase would have given the other cofounders — not even just myself — credit, because out of integrity, that's just what you do." She went on to say he "completely took over" the narrative of how the Hype House was founded.
In the same video, Keech also said Petrou asked her to "manipulate" one of the bigger TikTok stars into joining the house. Fans already assumed this comment was made about Easterling, but the theory was further solidified when Easterling shared her story about joining the Hype House. During a makeup tutorial video with James Charles, Easterling revealed how she wound up part of the collective despite initially saying no.
"Time goes by and the first Hype House photoshoot happens," she recalled, saying Petrou called her to convince her to stop by for the shoot. "So I went, and Thomas was like, 'Bring jeans and a white top just in case,' and I was like 'OK...'"
Easterling ultimately agreed to be in the photos, and from then on, fans associated her with the Hype House.
Keech later revealed she would be forming her own social media collective, the clubhouse (though, she later announced on Aug. 4 that she left that house too, albeit under friendlier circumstances, FYI).
April 2020: Petrou Responds To Keech
Petrou didn't let Keech leave the Hype House quietly. He hit back at her claims in a video of his own via the Hype House’s YouTube page on April 2. In it, he contested Keech's claims he didn't give her co-founder credit, saying he didn't have nearly as much control over the narrative as she claimed.
That same month, Charli and Hudson revealed on Instagram they had broken up.
"It hurts me to say this, but we've decided that this is what's best for both of us. We are still close friends and I would not change that for anything!" Charli wrote on her Instagram story on April 13. "I'm sorry I waited so long to tell you all. I wanted to take the time to process it for myself. Breakups are tough for anyone, so I'd really rather not talk about it anymore."
May 2020: The D'Amelio Sisters Exit
Things really hit the fan at the Hype House in May when two of the collective's biggest stars, Charli and Dixie D'amelio, made their exit. The sisters kept it vague as to why they were departing Hype House, but speculation flew it was because of Charli's messy split with Hudson.
Reps for the sisters confirmed the news in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter at the top of the month. "When the Hype House started to become more of a business, Charli and Dixie stepped away from that aspect," the rep said. "While their businesses are separate, their friendships with the members continue."
June 2020: Easterling & Charli Address Past Shady Likes
On June 12, Easterling issued a lengthy apology after fans uncovered past TikTok comments she liked that threw shade at D'Amelio, saying she "wasn't the prettiest girl on TikTok."
Esterling claimed she liked those comments long before she met D'Amelio and that it was shortly after a time when her self-confidence had taken a hit. She regretted ever liking the tweets.
You can see her statement in full below.
That same month, D'Amelio addressed a similar situation of her own. After she came under fire for liking comments which shaded Avani Gregg, she gave paparazzi an update on their friendship. Apparently, the social media shade is all water under the bridge between the creators.
“For that, I’d have to say Avani is probably one of my closest friends out here,” she said in a video shared by TikTok Room on June 26. “She knows that I love her, and I know that she loves me, and I feel like that’s all that really matters.”
July 2020: Chase Hudson Spills Major Behind-The-Scenes Tea
All hell broke loose on July 6 when Chase Hudson tweeted a message that revealed just how much drama had been going down in the Hype House. In the viral tweet, Hudson revealed he once kissed Nessa Barrett while he and Charli D'Amelio were broken up. He continued his message by pointing fingers at other members of the Hype House, claiming a slew of them had cheated on their significant others (claims they denied).
"Since all my drama has to be put on the internet for the world to judge me, let's lay out everyone else's," he said in a now-deleted tweet. "Anthony got with Cynthia a week after we broke up on tour. Anthony tried to hook up with Dixie at our house on the 4th of July in front of me while she was dating Griffin. Griffin cheated on Dixie with Tayler’s ex Kaylyn and Bryce’s ex Elle. Jaden and Josh cheated endless times on Mads and Nessa for the past few months. Kio cheated on Olivia." Hudson didn't just spill the tea, he poured out the whole pot.
Charli was understandably upset, and tweeted a scathing message of her own aimed at Hudson. "Then you shouldn’t have come to my house after without telling me..." she said.
Charli's sister Dixie also responded to Chase. "Ur wild," she said. "Stop playing the victim and worry about yourself."
Hall dropped a response of his own that same day.
Anthony Reeves wrote, "literally 4Billion+ girls in this world and you choose the ones your homies dated? never made sense man."
Hudson has since apologized for his Twitter rant, but it may take some time for this scandal to be smoothed over.
August 2020: Things Get Tense Between Hype House & Sway House
It's understandable there would be some competition between Hype House members and their rival TikTok collective, Sway House's, members, but things got especially volatile in August between Petrou and Sway member Bryce Hall.
On July 31, Hall tweeted about the Hype House saying they were "full of lies and sh*t ass content." Later in August, he shared a message that couldn't be contained in 280 characters. Hall shared a 4-minute video shading Petrou, titled "Listen Up Hype House Owner."
Hall also challenged Petrou to a boxing match and a high-stakes one at that. In the YouTube video, he demanded they spar for a $500,000 prize that would be donated to a charity of the winner's choice, though, Petrou never responded to Hall's ask.
There's still a lot of Hype House drama that's yet to be resolved, and given that there's been so much drama in just eight months of existence, there's likely more spectacles to come.
