In the chaotic world of internet celebrity, where podcasts are confessionals and every public appearance is a potential crime scene, a new feud has erupted, so tangled in confusion and misinterpretation that it threatens to redefine the term “messy.” At the center of this storm are Tana Mongeau, the queen of controversial storytelling, and Todd Smith, a prominent member of the infamous Vlog Squad. What began with a seemingly innocuous comment has spiraled into a public spectacle of accusations, with Mongeau now vehemently claiming that Smith is “lying on her name” and fabricating a completely different version of their heated encounter. It’s a classic case of “he said, she said” that has left fans, and even their mutual friends, utterly bewildered.

The saga began, as many do in this universe, on Jeff Wittek’s podcast, Jeff FM. During an appearance, Mongeau dropped a characteristically vague but intriguing breadcrumb. She mentioned that certain unnamed people from the Vlog Squad privately express that they miss Jeff—who famously suffered a life-threatening injury in an excavator stunt orchestrated by David Dobrik—but fail to show that support publicly. “I said that certain people will say that they miss you and then not act like it,” Tana later clarified, insisting she kept her statement general and never once uttered Todd Smith’s name. It was a classic Tana move: stirring the pot just enough to create a ripple, but not a tidal wave. Or so she thought.

The ripple quickly became a tsunami at the premiere of the movie Babylon. According to Mongeau, this is where the conflict came to a head. She alleges that Smith, feeling targeted by her podcast comment, confronted her in a startlingly aggressive manner. She recounts him yelling at her, “There are two sides to every story!” This statement, in Tana’s view, was not about their personal disagreement but a defense of his loyalty to David Dobrik and a dismissal of Jeff Wittek’s ordeal. For Tana, who has been a vocal supporter of Wittek, this felt like a betrayal. She was floored, not just by the confrontation itself, but by the fact that her deliberately vague comment had been taken so personally. “He took it upon themselves to feel attacked,” she explained, frustrated that her words had been twisted into a direct assault on Smith.

For a while, that was the entire story: a tense, behind-the-scenes clash between two influencers. But the narrative took a sharp, almost surreal turn when Todd Smith decided to tell his side of the story—also on Jeff FM. His version of events was not just different; it was from another planet entirely. Smith appeared on the podcast seemingly under the impression that Mongeau had accused him of something far more sinister than a verbal altercation. He seemed to believe she was insinuating he had hit or assaulted her, a claim Tana has vehemently denied ever making.

In his telling, the incident at the premiere was a harmless joke. He described a scenario where he, along with fellow creator Zane Hijazi, was posing for a photo when Tana attempted to jump in. As a playful gag, Smith claimed, he simply covered her face with his hand to block her from the shot. There was no yelling, no mention of “two sides to every story,” and certainly no deep-seated drama about Jeff Wittek and David Dobrik. It was, in his account, a trivial, lighthearted moment between friends.

The discrepancy between the two accounts is staggering. It’s not a matter of slightly different recollections; it’s two fundamentally different events. As the details emerged, it became clear that this was no longer a simple feud. It was, as one observer noted, a “confusing crisscrossed game of telephone.” Everyone seemed to be talking about different things, all while believing they were discussing the same incident. Even Jeff Wittek, the podcast host at the epicenter of it all, was visibly confused, initially misunderstanding who the “two sides” Tana mentioned were even about.

For Tana Mongeau, this bizarre turn of events has been deeply frustrating. Speaking on the “Not Love Loveline” podcast, she expressed her exasperation with Trisha Paytas, stating that Todd was blatantly “lying on her name.” She confessed that the situation had triggered her, admitting she was “fighting demons” to avoid reverting to her old, famously messy public persona. Having worked to cultivate a more peaceful and mature image, being pulled back into a public drama based on what she insists is a fabrication has been infuriating. “If I was gonna lie for content, I promise you, it would not be about Todd Smith,” she quipped, a clear shot at the absurdity of the situation.

What baffles Mongeau the most is that Smith’s version of the story—covering her face during a photo—arguably sounds worse than her original claim of him yelling at her. “That is not what happened,” she has repeatedly insisted. She reached out to Jeff Wittek to clarify her position, making it clear she wasn’t angry with him for having Todd on the show. She commended him for bringing the issue to light, reinforcing her commitment to her new “peaceful era.” Yet, the frustration remains palpable. To be publicly contradicted with a story so far from her reality has put her in an impossible position, forcing her to defend her own truth against a narrative she finds both false and bewildering.

As this drama unfolds, it casts a shadow over another significant event in Mongeau’s career: the impending finale of her wildly popular podcast, Cancelled, which she co-hosts with Brooke Schofield. In a recent TikTok, Tana joked about “podcast beef,” hinting that the final episode could be an explosive tell-all where they finally expose bleeped-out secrets and put long-standing rumors to rest. Fans are buzzing with anticipation, wondering if the raw, unfiltered truth behind this feud and others will finally come to light. The timing is impeccable, leaving many to speculate whether this public clash is merely a prelude to a much larger revelation on the podcast’s final bow. For now, however, the public is left to sift through the wreckage of two conflicting stories, a perfect microcosm of a world where truth is often lost in the echo chamber of online commentary.