If you thought the feud between a beauty blogger and an Irish hotel owner was over after the two traded barbs last week, the owner has quite a large hotel bill to show you. A bill that charges vlogger Elle Darby more than $7 million.
The feud began when Darby sent White Moose Café and Charleville Lodge owner Paul Stenson an email, asking for a free stay in exchange for positive coverage on her YouTube channel (94,000 subscribers) and Instagram account (85,000 followers). He responded by blasting her email on Facebook, and then after she posted the video below explaining herself and calling Stenson a “sad, pathetic little man,” he banned all bloggers from his hotel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zElbN2_hg&t=927s
Now that her video has nearly 1.6 million views, Stenson has continued the feud, making her an invoice in which he charges her £5.28 million (about $7.3 million) for how much free publicity she’s received during their online kerfuffle.
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/photos/a.1626453094301967.1073741829.1623682991245644/2051160551831217/?type=3&theater
And for anybody who doubts his figures, Stenson cited a LinkedIn article in which the author wrote, “But if [the feud] was good for the White Moose Cafe, it’s been a whole lot better for Elle Darby, the influencer who triggered the controversy. Elle Darby was mentioned in 114 articles across 20 countries with a potential reach of 450 million people generating close to €4.3m in equivalent advertising spend. So is there such thing as bad publicity? According to these figures, it’s a no for both feuding parties.”
Considering Darby’s video titled “i was exposed (SO embarrassing)” has garnered three times more views than any video she’s ever posted, Stenson might have a point. But there’s little doubt that Stenson has benefited as well—and he’s clearly having a blast with this feud.
This was a video he posted Sunday in which he gives a fake press conference and apologizes to the “god-like influencer” and how the hotel should have “bent over and taken that influence straight to the bank.” He then offers her a reduced rate to stay before abruptly changing his mind and saying, “No, sorry, that’s bullshit.”
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/videos/2052113215069284/
But Darby shouldn’t feel too terrible. In the past, Stenson has clashed with vegans and banned them from his establishment as well.
As LADBible notes, he feuded with vegans a few years ago after he wrote, “Attention vegans. Please do not waltz into our cafe with no advance notice and look at us as if we have ten heads when you realize that there aren’t 50,000 items on our menu that suit your idiosyncratic dietary requirements.” Later, he wrote, “Given the torrent of abuse and unjustified negative reviews we have been receiving from the vegan population over the past 24 hours, all vegans are now barred from our cafe. Any vegans attempting to enter the cafe will be shot dead at point blank range.”
At least, Darby is in good company.
I hope you like our new container… pic.twitter.com/29LXeS5XIW
— The White Moose Café (@whitemoosecafe) January 20, 2018