The social media war between Paul Stenson, the owner of the Charleville Lodge Hotel and White Moose Café in Dublin, and so-called influencer Elle Darby is still going strong, a week after their feud first went viral.
he social media war between Paul Stenson, the owner of the Charleville Lodge Hotel and White Moose Café in Dublin, and so-called influencer Elle Darby is still going strong, a week after the incident went viral.
On Saturday, the official social media channels of The White Moose Café uploaded a photo of an invoice allegedly intended for Darby, which demanded financial compensation for “the provision of features in 114 articles across 20 countries with a potential reach of 450 million people.”
It also said that the payment must be made in euros and “mentions in videos will not qualify as payment.”
Stenson also conducted a mock press conference in which he gave a statement alongside his partner Jason Kidd.
“I may have acted out of line, resulting in a publicity tornado worth millions and costing both of us zero euros,” Stenson said.
He later spoke about the invoice during the Q&A session, saying: “The invoice was, indeed, real and will be sent first thing in the morning.”
But it does not stop there. The café also released new t-shirts boasting about the feud, with one reading: “I demanded freebies at The White Moose Café, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
They are now for sale, with prices starting at €19.50 (US$24).
Read also: Dublin hotel bans all bloggers following social media dispute
Meanwhile, following Darby’s first YouTube video on the matter, titled I was so exposed (SO embarrassing), she uploaded My Side of the Story / Moving On, in which she spoke about receiving abusive messages and how she discovered that it was her email that had been shared on the White Moose Café’s Facebook page.
“If you turn up the brightness on your screen, you could absolutely see my name, my channel, URL – anything that [is] connected to me was already exposed,” Derby said, explaining that her issue was actually with how the hotel owner reacted to her email instead of replying “no” or ignoring it.
On his Twitter account, Stenson stated that he never said Derby’s name on his social media channels. He wrote, “At no point throughout this whole debacle have I ever mentioned the girl’s name. Not on Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, PornHub, Grindr or anywhere else.”
At no point throughout this whole debacle have I ever mentioned the girl’s name. Not on Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, PornHub, Grindr or anywhere else. I have never mentioned it to my family, my friends, my dog, the cat across the road who torments my dog, NOBODY.
— Paul Stenson (@PaulVStenson) January 24, 2018
Cyber bullying is a serious allegation. As someone who was bullied in school, I despise bullies. I’ve always said that I don’t condone the unjustified comments the girl is getting, but I don’t agree that the cyber bullying card be used as a tool to generate cash via YouTube views
— Paul Stenson (@PaulVStenson) January 24, 2018
On Jan. 16, Stenson shared on the White Moose Café’s Facebook account an email that was sent by an “influencer” asking for free accommodation at Charleville Lodge Hotel in return for social media exposure.
Following Darby’s first YouTube video, Stenson announced his decision to effectively ban all bloggers from his hotel.
“If any of you attempt to enter our premises from now on, you will be ejected,” he wrote. (asw)
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