Tim Pools News Site Collapse amid allegations he took a cat hostage. I shit you not!
All is not well in the burgeoning media empire of YouTube political commentator Tim Pool. Amid an acrimonious falling out over who controls the future of a digital news site that Pool helped launch, the YouTube star is facing accusations from former partners that he used a cat named Betsy as a hostage in business negotiations, only handing the pet over after police were called.
“He was trying to use my cat as leverage,” said Emily Molli, Betsy’s owner and a former Pool business partner.
Pool’s business has boomed even as he faces accusations that he’s a major vector for right-wing disinformation. A recent report from a consortium of election-integrity groups listed Pool alongside the likes of Donald Trump Jr. and pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell as a “superspreader” for false election information. That doesn’t appear to dissuade his more than three million YouTube subscribers, who can pay $21.99 for a T-shirt bearing the image of Pool’s trademark beanie.