Trisha Paytas Reacts to Eminem Video Resurfacing—'I Will Always Be an Icon'

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The Eminem music video that YouTube star Trisha Paytas has credited with kickstarting her career has gone viral all over again.

The singer and OnlyFans model, 34, parodied Jessica Simpson's role in the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard remake for the rapper's song "We Made You."

Released in 2009, the song's music video raised eyebrows with its impersonation of major newsmakers at the time, including Paytas as Simpson, porn star Lisa Ann as Sarah Palin and RuPaul's Drag Race alum Derrick Barry who is famed as a Britney Spears impersonator.

trisha paytas and eminem
(L) Trisha Paytas enters the Celebrity Big Brother house on August 1, 2017 in Borehamwood, England. (R) Inductee Eminem attends the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on November 05, 2022... John Phillips/Theo Wargo/Getty Images

In the video, Paytas is dancing next to Eminem with a bare midriff and Daisy Duke denim shorts.

A Twitter account dedicated to 2000s pop culture dug up the clip and marveled at Paytas' cameo because it was long before she became an internet sensation.

"Eminem was such a menace bc how you open a song with 'jessica simpson, sing the chorus' and trisha paytas appears," read the tweet by @popculture2000s.

Many fans agreed that they didn't realize the dancer in the video was Paytas until it was pointed out in the viral tweet.

"How did I never know it was Trisha," replied one person.

Another added: "Why are there so many things I never realized Trisha was in, she was everywhere."

And a third wrote: "Wow Trisha did her thing!"

Ever in tune with viral social media moments, Paytas also weighed in on the tweet, saying her cameo made her an "icon."

"I will always be an icon thanks to this music videos. 14 years later and it's still going viral," she wrote in her reply.

It's not the first time Paytas has spoken about the impact appearing in Eminem's video has had on her career.

"I totally owe Eminem for giving me my start. This video opened up so many doors for me at 20," she told The Sun in 2014.

She also revealed in a TikTok that Eminem was really great to work with behind the scenes.

"Behind the scenes, Eminem, he was very fun. And just like all over the place, and just like a ball of energy," Paytas said. "But once it turned off, like behind the scenes, he was like, 'Hi, thanks for doing this.'

"I remember Marshall, or Eminem, being like 'Oh my gosh, you look better than the real Jessica Simpson, don't be self-conscious.'"

She added: "He was an insanely nice person."

Paytas is best known for beginning her YouTube channel in 2006 and which features a diverse range of content from ASMR videos to comedy and singing. She has amassed about five million subscribers with almost one billion combined video views at the time of publishing.

She appeared as a contestant on Season 20 of Celebrity Big Brother in the U.K. in 2017 and created a podcast with fellow YouTuber Ethan Klein called Frenemies but left it less than a year later in 2021.

Paytas married Israeli photographer Moses Hacmon in December 2021 and she gave birth to their first child, a daughter, in September 2022.

She went into labor the day before Queen Elizabeth II died, which went viral because many joked Paytas would give birth to the queen's reincarnation.

Many fans also hoped the social media sensation would name her daughter after the late monarch, but instead Paytas named the newborn Malibu Barbie.

About the writer

Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, newspapers and broadcast, specializing in entertainment, politics, LGBTQ+ and health reporting. Shannon has covered high profile celebrity trials along with industry analysis of all the big trends in media, pop culture and the entertainment business generally. Shannon stories have featured on the cover of the Newsweek magazine and has been published in publications such as, The Guardian, Monocle, The Independent, SBS, ABC, Metro and The Sun. You can get in touch with Shannon by email at s.power@newsweek.com and on X @shannonjpower. Languages: English, Greek, Spanish.



Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more