esterday, two of the remaining three Try Guys, Zach Kornfeld and Keith Habersberger, shared details of Ned’s removal on their podcast, TryPod.
Here’s 12 details you don’t want to miss:
1. Keith confirmed fan theories that spread before the team announced Ned’s removal. Specifically, he pointed to one early assumption that Ned was being removed from videos when fans noticed a sleeve that seemed to belong to the ex-member in one video frame, despite the fact that he wasn’t featured otherwise.
“As things came out on Reddit, the internet started sleuthing and let me tell you, I think that more detectives should be reaching out to teenagers. They’re good at it,” Keith said. “They’re good at doing side-by-sides and finding a single frame that has a sleeve in it.”
2. Before news was public, the remaining Try Guys told their staff that Ned was stepping away and would be removed from videos, but they could not tell them — or viewers — why until the legal review was concluded.
“From a legal perspective, we were not allowed to tell them outright, ‘Hey, XYZ happened, here’s what we’re doing and why.’ Because once we say that to our staff, to our company, it is now public information that can be shared into the world,” Zach said. “And also, we were not allowed to say that Ned was no longer working with us until we had officially, officially, concluded the review.”
3. When the Try Guys released a statement on Ned’s removal, Ned released his own shortly after, and according to Zach, “We shared [with Ned] what our statement was going to be but we did not have insight into what his statement was.”
He also jokingly pointed out that the two released statements in the same font, which was not coordinated, and both Zach and Keith believe Ned saw their statement and intentionally copied.
“When I saw that, I was like, ‘You had to choose the same font to make it look like we wrote your god–, come on man,'” Zach said.
“It’s my opinion that that was on purpose,” Keith agreed.
4. While news of Ned’s removal was breaking, both Keith and Zach commented on how going out in public made them nervous.
“I always can get a little anxious going to a crowded place, but…I went to the grocery store and I was so anxious. I didn’t want to talk to anybody, and even though I’m sure people weren’t looking at me, I felt like people were looking at me. … That made me unhappy because I didn’t want that to be the type of anxiety I had,” Keith said.
Zach, on the other hand, went to two weddings, and at one point, a guest approached him and said, “This is crazy. I’ve been ingesting this news like Skittles.”
5. In the first few weeks following the Try Guys learning about Ned’s actions, Keith admitted he initially worried that Ned’s actions would jeopardize any future business dealings for the other members and those who have ever been associated with their show.
He remembered thinking “if this kills the brand in this horrible way, will that bleed over? … I was so worried that it was going to hurt other people and their careers or public image and all this other stuff, and that was a lot of guilt and fear I carried.”
6. When speaking about other people involved in the situation — seemingly referring to the employee Ned was involved with — the guys sympathized heavily.
“No matter what you do wrong, it’s really hard to say that this is an appropriate punishment,” Keith said. “Everybody think of a time you fucked up. Imagine that you fucked up, because everybody’s fucked up before, and you were number one trending on Twitter and the New York Times was mentioning you and showing pictures of you. That’s really hard.”
7. Without naming names, Zach confirmed that people involved have received death threats as a result of the controversy going public.
“It would be a lot for the strongest person to handle,” Keith added in response.
8. The Try Guys produce a podcast called You Can Sit with Us, and it features Maggie Bustamante (Zach’s fiancé), Becky Habersberger (Keith’s wife), and Ariel Fulmer (Ned’s wife). As you can imagine, this news led many to wonder where the podcast stands, and the guys said that’s currently up in the air.
“At this time, we’re gonna give [Ariel] some time to focus on herself and we’ll let you know if that changes,” Zach said.
9. According to Zach, the former era of the Try Guys that people have followed since their origins on BuzzFeed (yes, this is very meta) is gone. “I’m going to be frank. That era of the Try Guys is over. It’s not coming back. The four of us are not making videos together. Something new is coming,” he said.
“I’m not saying that it’s going to feel totally different. I’m not saying that it’s not going to feel familiar,” Zach continued. “The reason that you’ve loved us up until this point, you’re going to continue to love us, but we’re also going to grow. And we’re going to use this as a moment to grow.”
10. When asked whether there was a world in which Ned would have been able to return to the business if this news had not gone public, Zach and Keith immediately said no.
“It was a workplace violation,” Zach said. “It would mean to all of the people in our office…they would know that we were, in the face of everything, not being true to who we say we are and our values.”
11. For anyone wondering why Try Guys member Eugene Lee Yang was not present to offer his remarks on their movement forward — well, it’s because he doesn’t like podcasting and won’t be hosting the TryPod in the future.
“To be very candid…Eugene does not like doing podcasts,” Zach said. “We’re going to be rebranding this show either this week or next week. It’s a Zach and Keith show, baby. … That’s the future of this podcast.”
12. Finally, the guys will not be introducing a fourth Try Guy.
“I don’t want to put the pressure on anyone to say ‘this is the new Try Guy and he is the replacement.’ That’s not fair to them,” Zach said.
