Trans influencers say they were kicked out of YouTube stars' house for not being 'real girls'
Two transgender women were kicked out of the Team 10 house — an incubator for social media influencers — after allegedly being told that they weren’t “real girls.”
Liliah Gibney and Kendall Raindrop say that they were invited over to the home of YouTuber Jake Paul, which he shares with the many content creators signed to his social media label. But when they arrived, they were quickly told to leave by one of the team’s video editors, Blaine, because they are transgender.
The interaction was caught on video by Gibney, who included it in a YouTube video where she and Raindrop talked about the incident.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful, I’m just being real,” Blaine is heard saying in the video. “I was told that girls were coming.”
Gibney tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she’s been to the Team 10 house numerous times and has friendships with many people involved in the group. That particular evening, however, her friends Cole Carrigan, Payton Caci and Mikahl Caci weren’t around.
“It was so uncomfortable and I knew that something was wrong,” Gibney explains, mentioning that Blaine was whispering in the ear of her and Raindrop’s cisgender friend. “We were like, ‘Wait what’s the problem?’ And he was just like, ‘We were kind of under the impression that girls were coming.’ We were like, ‘OK what are we missing?’ And he said, ‘Real girls.’”
Gibney, who just came out as transgender one year ago, went on to explain that as a trans woman, she lives with nearly constant worry about her safety. Hearing such degrading words come out of the mouth of someone in a home where she’s felt comfortable in the past was “shocking and insane to me.”
The video plays out to show the women leaving the house, where just outside of the front door Gibney hopped onto her Instagram stories to share what had taken place. In the car on the way home, she captured a conversation with Blaine where he offered to pay for their ride while pleading that she take the Instagram post down.
“There’s no need for you guys to post that s*** and talk s*** about us. That’s like blackmail,” he is heard saying over the phone. “I really recommend that you guys take that down.”
Gibney explains to Yahoo Lifestyle that she and Raindrop sat down to film an explainer video as soon as they got home after a friend encouraged them to share their story.
Shortly after posting the video, Team 10 manager, Adam Quinn, got in touch with Gibney to threaten legal action.
“Right when I posted the video, he sent me a voice memo pretty much telling me if the video’s not down in 10 minutes, their legal team is gonna take action,” Gibney says.
Initially, Gibney explains that she questioned if she should be going against Team 10, a company that has millions of dollars and 19 million followers on social media. But, she ultimately felt that speaking out was important.
“I needed to share my truth and share my story,” she says. “Not even for clout like all of these comments are saying, and not to get 10 likes because a majority of them are dislikes and hate comments anyways. It was just that if I can help one person avoid that situation or help people who have been through those transphobic experiences in general, that’s the goal.”
Both Gibney and Raindrop acknowledged that trans people go through similar experiences on a daily basis and explain that their intention was to highlight just one of those experiences.
“I’ve come so far,” Gibney says of her year of transitioning, “so to go there and have a huge smack in the face was just so heartbreaking and degrading.”
Team 10 representatives have yet to respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment.
“Trans women are women, trans men are men,” Gibney says. “It’s not up for debate.”
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