The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - WHY WOULD WE STOP GAMING? Ft. Valkyrae | Episode 194

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

Valkyrae is on the show this week!! Drew and Rae talk revolutionizing the streaming space for women, misspelling your own name, working at GameStop, waiting for the cat distribution system to hit, dealing with insecure men on the Internet, and so much more. Valkyrae IG: https://www.instagram.com/valkyrae/Valkyrae TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@valkyrae?lang=enFollow The Comment Section on IG! https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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to change. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Says you have one singular naturally red hair on your head. How are you even finding these? Amanda, that one's weird. How did you find that? That is, I'm like, this is so hilarious to me. Me, me pointing that finger because I'm like, she's making me look weird, but that was her who found that. I did say it. Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the comment section show starring me, your favorite everybody knows me who cares about me on to the guest today we have the iconic the legendary the unbelievably talented valcarae woo welcome to the show ray oh i'm so excited i've okay admittedly i've been a

fan of you for so long oh my god thank god we started rolling thank god when i got the invite to be on your pod i was like no way so this is our first time meeting ever in person but i've been definitely following you for a very long time and you've made me laugh a lot Oh, period. Yeah, no, this is a... I'm a huge fan of you as well. No way. Yeah, of course, girl.

Don't say, though. Do you want to hear something absolutely insane? When I first started, like, growing on TikTok, there was a guy at the gym my fiance was training at, and he was like, hey, are you, like, into gaming at all? Mind you, like, I started growing, like, pretty quickly on TikTok. So, like, my man was still working full time at the gym. And he was like, um, not really why.

And he goes, I, because he was a huge fan of you. And pokey. Really? And he was like, I've heard them talk about her. And they'd say like your girlfriend or because at the time we were just boyfriend and girlfriend. And he was like, yeah, they're like the biggest streamers in the world. And I was familiar with your names, obviously, because y'all are so popular. But I was like, okay, T, I didn't know that.

Because he said, did you know that when he came home and I go, no, I didn't know that. That sounds nice. Wow. So I went, obviously I had to go and look at y'all. And I was like, period, period, period, follow back, follow back, follow back. Oh my gosh. That's crazy to hear. I didn't even know you knew I existed.

And it was a man. man. Yeah. Please. Derogatory. Get me out of the gaming space. Yeah, for real. He was like huge fans of y'all.

Wait, that's awesome. They honestly told me, the men told me first that y'all were fans, which I was honored. Wow. To have two legends in the game. Yeah, no, this is like a crazy full circle moment for me. It is. Like, I think that's one of the things that I've struggled to kind of do. Well, I've gotten better over time, but it's like trying to like make friends outside of the gaming space because I do feel like it's such a bumble.

because I do feel like it's such a bubble. I get it, though. Because a lot of my main friends I met through TikTok too, so I get it. Oh, really? Yeah, I think it's just natural. You kind of commiserate same areas, go to the same events. Yeah, exactly. I think that's natural, yeah.

Exactly. It just happens. Have you thought about streaming? Like, do you play any games? I love video games. I do love to play. I have been asked to stream many times. I just don't know because that's like my one thing that I do like by myself.

Like, that's like not work related. It's like downtime. Right. So I love, I love low like. I would say third person like storyline games. So I just got the new Ghost of Yote like because I heard it was really good. I beat Ghost of Tsushima a long time ago. I sobbed at the ending like it was my uncle that was dying.

Spoiler alert if you haven't finished. Oh no. But I love that game. I've told a lot of people to play it so I bought the new one. I like the Assassin's Creed games. What about you? I'm trying to think of like a really good one. Um, or what's your favorite thing to stream?

I should say. So right now it's like spooky season. And there's been a few, like, scary games that have come out. And so I pretty, I also, my favorite genre is, like, those story games. Yeah. And so I literally just beat Silent Hill F yesterday. Oh, okay. It's a scary game, horrifying, like, psychological thriller.

It's terrifying. Right. I'm screaming the whole time. And it's just, it's fun to play. Like, I don't know. It's just, I mean, I've been playing games my whole life, and I've been streaming for 10 and a half years now. It's going to be 11 years in a few more.

Which is crazy because you look 15. So how does that work? Okay. Yeah. Just, I just want to preface this. I'm 33, which is crazy because you would think I wouldn't be gaming still, right? Because like, I feel like also. Are you kidding at the level?

You all do it. Hell yeah. I know. Like, I'm going to do it forever, obviously. Like, it's been a hobby for my whole life. Why would I stop? Right. Like, I think that's something that people don't realize is that I grew up with gaming.

Like, my generation of people had gaming and consoles growing up. So it's like, why would we just stop? Even though it's perceived as like a. a kid thing, right? Yeah, I think it's changing. Like, I think people are... Well, I think people like, you have changed that, honestly. I think that makes people want to play. They're like, actually, I can play games and have fun. Yeah. To me, there's no age on that. That's all right. I think the thing, the way I look at it is like gaming is just another form of entertainment, just like watching TV. Like for me, it's like interactive television. Like, yeah, totally.

It's like watching a story. Like, there's a game called The Last of Us. Like, I'm sure you watched it. Have you seen the shelf? Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, that's, you know, based off a game. Yeah. And when you play the game it's like you get to see this whole dramatic story fall I know I happen I get to play it at the same time so you're braver than me I can't play the spooky ones I could never off stream but I think because I'm streaming it feels like I'm not alone oh that's kind of nice you know there's like people talking in the chat and get to hang out we get to talk about it and stuff right yeah well that was going to be my next question actually was why like what made you want to start streaming oh yes okay I got you into it initially um so eons ago many

many, many, many years. I grew up in a very broken household. My dad was a mega alcoholic. And he would come home, drunk like every night and fight with my mom about like money and stuff. And so my mom, she would lock my sister and I in my room and they would just watch me play games. And so the reason why I had gone into games in the first place was because I was at a babysitter's house and like her daughter had this console. And so I, we just started playing and I got addicted. It was just like an escape. Yeah. Like at the end of the day, I do you feel like video games are an escape? for a lot of people as all like creative outlets are yeah so um yeah i just um i've been gaming my

whole life and then i got a job at game stop and then i made this instagram account and i noticed that when i would post gaming stuff they would get like more likes and stuff right and so i made you're just doing it for the love of the game like you were just like yeah well i was so lonely and i was also in a very toxic relationship where it was one of those ones where this is an example that i always share but um i remember hitting uh 15 000 followers oh no 3 000 followers on my instagram account and showing my boyfriend at time and i was like look isn't this crazy like i feel like um i can make something out of this like i could like people like this stuff yeah totally and he straight up told me he was like this is embarrassing like don't do this like i hate like he was

he hated it just it was he sounds like a fucking hater so that makes sense oh yeah no he was jealous as ho sorry literally a lot of my exes oh god it's embarrassing it's so well yeah because you're stunning gorgeous smart and also really good at video games and make a lot of money off of it so yeah yeah for an insecure man that's kind of kryptonite you know what i mean oh yeah man it's it's it's crazy looking back because i wish i could go back and shake my old self and be like get out of this sooner because like mind you the same guy like she did on me and like i got back with him it's crazy times younger ray was going through it um but yeah I just I liked it a lot because I didn't really have close friends and so I felt like I was

making friends in the gaming community and so I got really addicted to it and then when it hit about 15,000 followers I heard about Twitch and streaming and that was 10 and a half years ago and that's hard as fuck 10 years ago to get 15 K 10 years ago on yeah it's hard as hell oh it was back then yeah when were you on Instagram because remember people would do like the shout out for shout out like collages yeah yeah hell yeah It was hilarious. No, I know. I think I got Instagram when I was in like ninth grade was like the first time.

I was like 2009, 2010. So I was on there. But I was very like far and funed between. I wasn't really posting much. Yeah. It was. Yeah, very casual. And then you start realizing like, oh, is this like a business thing?

I know. Hell yeah. Is this like helping my business? And now it's like, admittedly, I don't post as much as I should as as much as I have. I used to post every three days. Every three days. I would just like post like. a gaming clip or like a selfie or something. And, um, I mean, I feel like I'm not as much like

in tune with social media, especially like nowadays. It's like, good thing. You open up Twitter and then you're like closing Twitter. Oh yeah. I deleted my Twitter a long time ago. I, I am this close. I deleted mine. Well, I deleted mine like well over a year ago, I would say. I think I went out on top, to be honest. I used to only go on there because because it is so rancid and vile now, you could say anything. You could say anything, which is true. you could. But that means I could be my absolute meanest on that app. So like when I was fucking up men or women who hate me because they want the attention of men, I could go on Twitter and I could really fuck them up there. Like so that's why sometimes. So you could say what you want.

Right. Like what I could without these ties on me, tying me down on TikTok. Once I got those blue check marks, they really stopped letting me say anything I wanted. No way. Yeah. Like on TikTok, Instagram too. I've lost my Instagram three times because of like reports and shit like that. There's no. No way. Yeah, three times. Which is funny because my TikTok I've lost four times. My Instagram, I've lost three. But my Instagram, the first time I got it back was because there was a girl.

I'd been posting on TikTok. Obviously, it was after I blew up on TikTok. Men were mass reporting me on all apps. And this is before I had any check marks. But then this girl, I had been posting like, yeah, my Instagram's down. So like, if you guys were trying to find me on there, that's why. This girl emailed me from her personal email. And she was like, hey girl, like, just want to let you know.

I work at Instagram. I know you said you need help. I could probably help you. On the off chance, it was real. I was like, I'm going to take this tip for real because I was like, who knows? You might as well. Yeah. So that I reached back out to her.

And then she went in because she said she had a new job lined up and she was leaving in three days. So she literally got my account back, verified me, gave it back to me, then quit. And I was like, period. One thing about women, they're going to do it for you. You know what I mean? Wait, that's a real one. Right. It pays to have female fans.

What are you saying that's getting you reported where it's actually deleting your account? I'm just being hilarious. So like they mass report me and say I'm saying like they, you know, so they kind of have to like auto like ban you. Yeah. So they okay. Yeah. They have to like check it. Yes. So then that's why it was taking forever because there's only like nine people that work at meta. So like they have to go through all these requests. So it was like taking forever to get it back. But that's why it's just like they have to they have to like pause you for a second and then. And then check it after. I see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I know you're not a stranger at all to men being awful on the internet, I'm sure, especially being on Twitch as long as you have girl. That's crazy. It's been a long ride with me on the gaming side of the thing, because obviously it's male dominated, right?

Right. I mean, I think a lot of people don't realize that there are a lot of women that do game. Right. It's not just men. But I do, obviously, there's a lot of very vocal men about how they feel about like a girl being in their space that they're claiming, you know, like, this is supposed to be a good. I think getting the kitchen woman. I'm like playing makebelieve.

Women do that all the time. What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah. We do that all the time. We imagine we have fan fiction. What are you talking about? This is not gendered. Dummy.

Idiot. Yeah. So that's how it kind of started when you first. When did you start noticing you started getting like hate like that? I mean. On Twitch. Yeah. On Twitch, man, I think there was the first game where I started playing where I noticed like a rise in viewership.

Like I think one of them. being called until dawn. I remember I had like 600 viewers and it was it was a lot for me. I was like, oh, this is kind of crazy like where are all these people coming from? And I'm like getting DMs. Like that was when my DMs were open.

Yeah. Oh, I shut that shit down years ago. Yeah, you guys don't you lost the privilege. Lost the right. You just start getting death threats and like stalkers. Yeah, yeah. Like just people being like also thinking that they have like they that you're talking to them through the screen like you have a relationship with them like some people.

Yeah. Poki told me a little bit about that too. Yeah. There's just a lot of like parisocial weirdos. Parascial, mentally ill people that think that, you know, they have something with you. It's scary. Yeah. You know, like it just takes like one person to just think that, oh, you know, Ray is inviting me to her place. I'm going to go over there. And I've had someone like literally at the airport and was live tweeting themselves being like,

if Ray goes to Coachella, like this is going to piss me off. supposed to pick me up at the airport videotaping himself saying this he's saying you were supposed to pick him up at the airport i was supposed to pick him up at the airport and that's why he flew in and he's like she knows i hate when she's late to pick me up from the airport that's scary as fuck i mean i guess it comes with the territory i think um there's just this way about streaming where it's so unfiltered uned it's live where uh people you know they they can watch you every day 24 7 and like feel like they know you Yeah. Like, it's, like, I understand why people get so parisocial with streamers.

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Because parisocial relationships exist, obviously, across all platforms, but on Twitch, specifically because it's live. It's, like, not edited. Yeah, so they're seeing you in real time kind of thing. They see you, like, you'll be eating your lunch. Yeah, that's a good point. Or taking a break. I'll be like, okay, I'm going to go use the restroom.

I'll be right back kind of thing. It's like, I can't cut out that time while I'm using the restroom. Like, it's just a chair. for five minutes, you know. Scary. Yeah. Scary as hell. Well, when you did start growing, when did you start getting excited?

Because you started making friends and stuff like that. Like a lot of the real-life friends you have now. I played a lot of solo games for a really long time. And then there is this game called Fortnite, which I'm sure you've heard of. And that's when I started playing with other people in the space. So it was like a collaborative thing. And I realized like, wow, collaboration is really good. Yeah.

Like people love seeing their favorite creator play with another creator that they like. Totally. The dynamic. And I just like, oh, wait, multiplayer games are really fun. And then I'm sure you've heard of the whole Among Us. Oh, yes. During COVID, that was an anomaly. That just shouldn't have happened, but it did.

But that was huge for streamers because you get like 10 streamers in one lobby. And you're all playing this mystery game that's easy to watch. Yeah. For people that don't play games. Yeah. Like it's a social deduction game. Like you try to find the murderer, right? Yeah.

And people love crime video. so it's just like really entertaining for people to watch and then mutually beneficial for all of you right it was just like everyone was just doing so well after that point so yeah i don't know it just like i just like i just love playing all the games i think that's i think that's really cool i was gonna ask too if you've noticed because obviously in the last like i would say what five five is years like since covid since we came out of pandemic all of that crazy it's been five years right right it's insane but also thinking about how like streaming how like streaming how has really had a huge like uptick in it because people have, I'm sure during the pandemic and stuff, being able to stream from home is like very helpful. Yeah. And I think people saw value in it then that they maybe didn't see before. Streaming is on a decor.

Really? Yeah. I just feel like young men especially really love or want to do Twitch or streaming. Probably because of people, people like y'all have been in there for so long. Kyson ads. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, um, there's just a lot of what's really popular right now is IRL streaming, which is like, in.

real life. Just walk around doing things. Yeah, like say like you're in Japan and you're like live on your phone. Okay. And you just like walk around. So a lot of that like it used to be gaming like gaming only. Yeah. But now it's what people like really like watching is when IRL streams. And so I do think that a lot of kids are seeing that and they really like oh, it'd be so fun to like IRL stream and like go out and do all that like the phase boys for example. Right. And because they do have a lot younger audience. Yeah. Which is it's really interesting to see like how streaming has changed over time because like my audience 50% of my audience is ages 25 to 35 yeah so I've mine too isn't it yeah yeah I have a really larger an older age demographic too I hope it don't mind me asking my

how old are you I'm 30 I just turned I just turned 30 happy birthday thank you oh my god but you were giving like 25 for me like you're like a baby to me I always what a lot of people think about me too honestly 25 was like the mark when I said I turned 30 a lot of people were like what the fuck yeah I said oh going not too much on me relax let and take that tone down for me a little bit but I honestly I'm so fired up to be 30 I couldn't wait I'm telling you I do feel like 20s is like the years

of suffering pain getting cheated on getting lied to and deceived by everybody and trying to figure out like struggling yeah just trying to figure out your way in life and then I feel like 30s sure you may still be suffering in your 30s hopefully not but I do feel like 30s is like you know what you want yeah and you know what you like you know who to surround yourself with totally that's so tea when i i remember the last like job i had before i got fired um i was talking to this woman and she was in her 40 she had just turned like 42 or something and she was like how old do you and i think at the time i was 23 and she was like oh girl you have so much time and i was like yeah

she's like yeah if i could go back to any decade i would pick my 30s and i was like really and she goes yeah your 30s are the best because in your 20s you're like spinning and you don't know and everything's who am i What is this? What am I doing? 30s, it's like you're more established in who you are, what you want, what you like. And also, she's like, also all your friends have money. So everything's more fun. And I was like, that's such a good point.

Now you can all go do things together. You can go to dinners. You can go to lunch. You can go on vacations together. Everyone's hopefully a little more financially stable. Right. She's like, now everybody's settled. So now you can start doing fun stuff like that.

Yeah. 20s is like for grinding. Yeah. Yeah. Putting in that work. I get it. But don't get me wrong. It's okay.

to like there's a lot of people that still go back to school in their 40s or 50s like it's okay you can do anything it's not a race yeah okay especially not for women you have all the time in the world i'll give you all the time of the world yes men the clock starts now right now so when did you start um thinking about like branching to other platforms too like were you kind of growing them all at the same time or did you kind of just lean into twitch for a while oh good question yeah so um i had my instagram page of course and So I started streaming on Twitch and I noticed like I've, I'm known that, you know, being active on all platforms is good for the whole brand, you know? So every time I go live, I always tweet that I'm live and I always post on my Insta story that I'm live. And I was at the time posting more on TikTok, like just trying to do the whole thing.

Because a lot of people don't use a lot of platforms. Like someone may only use Instagram or some people may only use TikTok. Like, I mean, you don't have Twitter. Yeah. So it's like I'll never be able to reach you that way. So I do think it's good to have multiple platforms. But I think it really started to hit when I was streaming on Twitch for five years and then I got signed to YouTube to be an exclusive streamer after it was like during COVID like that time. So or before COVID happened. I signed to YouTube. And so I signed to YouTube three different times. And so my contract, my last contract ended this past January. And so when my contract ended, I, I,

realize I can multi-stream now. Oh, too. So I'm not exclusive anymore. Okay. So right now for the past like nine months, I've been streaming on Twitch and YouTube at the same time. And at first, I was like, oh, this is a bad idea. Like I feel like I should stream on one platform.

So I have like a large, appeared larger viewership. Yeah, I see what you mean. It's not divided between two. Yeah. But then I realize a lot of my community was like, oh, I don't have access to Twitch in my country. Oh, T. Or some people would be like, oh, yeah, I don't have. it's laggy on mobile on YouTube here or something.

So I was like, I guess it's better to be, you know, on multiple platforms so the viewer can have their preferred platform. Right. And sure, like, although my peak viewership for the day isn't going to be as high as if it were on one platform, if I'm on both, I'll overall have more viewers together, like added together. Yeah, absolutely. So it's just better overall. And you're more accessible in that way.

Exactly. Like for more people. It's longevity. Like Twitch is a pond in comparison to YouTube. Like I call like YouTube an ocean. Like everyone knows what YouTube is. Yeah. But not everyone knows what Twitch is.

That's true. And it's also the most long stand. Like one of the longer standing mediums. Yes. I feel like that's the case too because my show too isn't exclusively on YouTube or anything like that. What parts of it are? Literally I was searching for you. And I was like, I was like, guys, the brief says this voice in video.

Where's the video? And they're like, oh, it's on Spotify. It's on Spotify. I'm in partnership with Spotify right now. So like I have to tell, oh my gosh, I can't even imagine Laura runs my socials for the show. And I can't even imagine how many times she's had to answer the question. I can't find this on YouTube. Where is it? Like I've had to answer that question two billion times.

But it is one of those things where it's like right now that's where I'm chilling in the future we shall see. But like making it more accessible is really helpful. And YouTube I feel like on the brand side of things, YouTube is a far more legitimate to brands in a lot of ways because it's lived the longest. of all these like platforms it's just it's the state it's more substantial now exactly yeah so i i do feel like that plays a huge role with brands being like well where is it youtube because if it's on youtube they're like oh okay yeah no that makes sense because i think even now as big and popular as ticot is it still isn't taken as seriously for when you have a large following on tictock like they're kind of like well but if you have that on youtube they're like yes so it really just depends

i'm so curious um you know how ticot was under threat of being don't deleted from the US. Yes. Was that terrifying for you? Like, were you just like, oh, I need to be on other platforms now kind of thing? Well, you know what's funny is like when I first, first exploded like and it was like quadrupling on itself and I was like, shit. Like I didn't know where all these people were coming from.

I was like, where the fuck? I for real at that point was like, I need to grow everything else because I, I know because I'm older like you. Like we're in our 30s. Yes. Like I know that apps don't live forever. So like that was years ago way before anything was under threat of being deleted. So I already started doing that.

That's why I started this show. I have another show with my sister, my book. Really? Yeah, I have two podcasts. I know, believe it in me. Enough yap for two, if you can believe it. I have a podcast as well called Wine About It with Cutie Cinderella. And she also has another podcast.

And I'm like, how do you like not talk about the same topic on two different pods? Oh, I do all the time. You can't even believe how many times fans have been like, I've heard that story. You try talking for 200 episodes, bitch. You're going to start to repeat. yourself. Yeah. And you know what's funny is like, but you do stream and that sounds very fucking hard to to me too. When you stream for multiple hours. Oh, I definitely do like talk about stuff that I should save for the pod on stream because I get really excited. Yeah. So I just, that's tough. Like it's

really tough to having two paws. I don't know how you do it. Honestly. Oh yeah. Well, well, when I first started doing all of this and like rolling balls in all directions. Yeah. I was kind of preparing for if this, if that ever did happen like or it got plus I was getting deleted so often that I was. was like they might they might snipe me out of the sky then what so i already was prepared for that mind you when it was happening early this year i had just taken a break like from tictox specifically because it was choking me out and so i was like i can't do this anymore i need a break from you host otherwise i'm going to start hating it here and i need to leave so i took like six oh i think i remember yeah it took like six weeks off like didn't look at ticot the only thing i posted were branded things

and then as i was like preparing to come back i posted old drafts and shit but never looked at it which was beautiful and amazing. So when they were like, oh, it's going away, I'm going to be honest, I didn't give a fuck. You didn't care? I didn't care at all. It's like, I'm so surprised. And you know why? It's because like, and I'm sure most people who like are balls deep in TikTok like me or even if you're just a regular avid scroller. Yeah. It has gotten really fucking rotted in a lot of ways. Like it has, it is not fun anymore. Like in so many ways. There are still pockets of joy I find all the time on TikTok. And when I see certain videos, I'm like, this is why I love this fucking app because I could never watch someone do this shit. I watched a fairier dude clean hooves for

like an hour yesterday. I could never watch that shit anywhere else. I'm never going to look it out myself. Yeah, that is true. That is true. That's what I'm like, it's a beautiful app in many ways and very fun and I'm very thankful to it. That being said, it has gotten unbearable in a lot of ways too where have you heard the term bean salad? No. Okay. So, when people, so we're getting. Yeah, they're like, you're going to bean salad meat, which on TikTok means there was this one lady who goes, this is my, my grandma's bean salad recipe and has the whole salad. This is a cooking video. She's like, this is all the ingredients and she's going through it. And the top comment said, what if I'm allergic to beans? Don't eat it. Like, I don't know how to fucking answer that question for you. Don't eat it. And so that makes the beans out. Yeah, though what aboutisms of it? Like, what about me? Or like, you'll say something like, I hate a slow walker. And they'll say something like, well, guess what?

I have an illness. And that makes me walk slow. And now you're being able as towards me. Bean salad, bean salad. I didn't know it was like that. Oh, yeah, girl, it's awful. So like around that time is when I had to take a break. I was like, okay, I need to take a break because now I'm starting to genuinely resent making videos.

Which is bad because like you never want like your like your job, which was your hobby. Exactly. To turn toxic. Right. Exactly. And I've even explained to and I'm sure you'll know this. too because you've been in the game for a while too. Like it's not something that anyone, like that genuine people, I would say who have

platforms and have kept them for a long time. It's not something we planned on happening. Like it's not like literally is just like. It just happened. What is happening? Right. And then I'm figuring it out as I go along because literally nobody knows until it happens to them how to navigate it.

So it's like in that kind of mentality that I have of like this just kind of happened, I think this entitlement of audiences sometimes feeling like you should just know everything because you chose to do this. That's not true. This happened to me. I chose to embrace it. Yes. But I never once did I sign something saying, you guys can torture me for the rest of my life

about everything I say ever and read into things I didn't say ever. Like I never once said that. That's the most frustrating part is when like you say something with good intentions and not realizing how it can be perceived by someone else. And then they just like ridicule it. Right. Yeah. And it's like, I know I didn't have any ill intention and saying.

this and like I wish I could respond to every single person and be like this is what I meant right but you can't have these conversations with every single people oh yeah girl you know the show the summary turned pretty I haven't watched it yet but I heard it was really good okay well if you do watch it I'm gonna watch it careful how you talk about it publicly because 15 year old girls will tell you to kill yourself if you pick the wrong boy I'm speaking from experience the girls too no all the guys can tell me to kill myself well that's it's it's normal when they do it when women do it it just kills me I got so used to like getting hate from guys for my whole entire career when there's like one girl right I like I literally DM'd her this one time when I saw a comment

from this girl and I was like hey let's talk about it what did I do I I'm not used to this type of like yeah oh mine yeah what am I giving you're giving cancer or something you're really yeah you're giving I'm like Capricorn capricorn very I'm a work heavy yeah tea I think I'm in an Aquarius moon. Let's talk about this. Aquarius moon and a Sagittarius Rising. I talk a lot. Oh, I'm a Sagittarius rising too.

I talk a lot of shit on Capricorns. It's valid. He's not in here, but Adam's a Capricorn. I wish I wasn't in Capricorn. I wish I could be anything cooler because I feel like everyone looks like Capricorns are like, yeah, they're loners. They just like to work a lot. That's true.

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Save 10% and get 12 months special financing. Now at the Home Depot. Offer valid April 16th through May 3, 2006. Exclusions apply for licenses. See Home Depot.com. license numbers. Oh, I don't know what that is. She plays alpha bun wicked. Oh, oh, oh. I'm so bad with names. I'm so bad with names. I don't know who that is. She's Elfabash. Let me tell you, I've been telling people that I've been coming on your pod. Yeah. On stream, I'm like,

every every late five, I was like, oh yeah, guys, I'm going on Drew's affuelos. And then I'm like, I had to pronounce her name. I'm going to butcher her name. Now I'm going to know you bad with names. I'm just kidding. What's new? Join the club. I'm going to send you a DM be like, girl, can we talk about it? Yeah, let's talk about this. What did I do wrong? So you DM'd some girl? Yes, it was like the first time I've ever gotten like a hate comment from a woman.

Yeah. And I was like, oh, we can fix this. But like every time I feel like it's with a guy, like a hater, I'm like, oh, you're just in itself. Yeah. Well, you're a man. So obviously that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.

You're telling me. I'm so used to getting hate for men. So much so to the fact that like, well, the reason I brought up the summer pretty is because like, when I would joke about that show with my sister on our podcast, I started getting girls making videos about me, like being like, oh,

I can't believe Drew is team Jeremiah, which like it's funny. It's fun because there's two brothers and it's like a love triangle. So it's fun to like be on opposite teams. Is it kind of like twilight? Kind of. Yeah. There's no mythical elements to it.

I see. Similar in the sense of love triangle, right? I see. And so it's like you pick sides. You pick a side, which kind of shows your character. Right. I see.

Well, you would, yeah, you would fucking. Apparently, they read some real awful about me when I wasn't Team Conrad. Because when I jokingly, I was like, no, fuck Conrad. Because it's true. Like, that is how I felt watching the show. Yeah.

Some girl made a funny video saying like, oh, I've devastated that Drew's Tim Jeremiah, but it was done in good faith. It was funny. Yeah. I liked it. I enjoyed it. But in the comments, girl, you would have thought I said a slur online. Like you murdered someone.

You would have thought I went live and said something real offensive to someone to their face because it was genuine the way women were like, I don't know, I just. Someone literally said, I've unraveled every good thing I've ever done for the internet by being teenager. She was being dead ass. She was being so serious. No way. Speaking of talking to them privately, I don't talk to them privately.

I talk to them publicly. So I'll sometimes when I see people running a hate train about me, I'll jump in there and I'll be like, what exactly are you talking about? And I'll start talking to them. Yeah. And this girl's like, I don't know, I just felt like it's really anti-feminist. Anti-feminist. Okay, I know you're the best person to ask about this.

And this is actually something I've just always struggled with because I'm such a confrontational person that when there's a problem, I want to talk it out. Same. Like I want to, I'm so overly vocal, which is bad with streaming because it's live. I feel that. And you can't like edit anything. Like, and I'm not the most well-spoken person. Like I'm going to say it like, I'm going to speak from my heart and be like, hey, I didn't mean this. Blah, blah, blah.

And then they'll like clip a part of it and be like, Ray said this. Yeah. And so do you think that a. addressing these comments and stuff. Like, do you think it's overall a positive thing? Well, I think it depends because if you asked my therapist, she would say no. But like, it depends. Literally all my friends are like, stop saying shit.

And I'm like, but I want to explain myself. No, and me too. And I have honestly gone into major detail about that in therapy. Like I've talked to my therapist extensively about feeling the need to defend myself about everything, especially when it speaks to integrity or character. But then when I realize is the longer I've done this, because I am so confrontational, just brand wise, that is my thing. I'm very confrontational about most things.

It gets to a point where there are certain people who are committed to misunderstanding you because they just genuinely don't like you. Like they straight up, you might be talking to someone that's just genuinely racist. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And they just won't no matter what you say. Oh yes. They're just going to be like, oh, I got her to react kind of thing. Yeah, exactly.

And they're like, I can't believe you have this many followers and you're responding to me. Like that's one of the first things they always say to me. And I'm like, this is my job. I got nothing but time, girl, to come here and yell at you. Like, I got nothing but time. But I would say that, like, what mattered over time for me was not addressing every single thing, which I did do constantly. What mattered after that is addressing things that I felt were necessary to address. Like, if someone is just committed to, like, misunderstanding, hating me or finding, finding a valid reason to hate me, there's really no point because I could sit here and explain myself over and over and over again.

And you're still going to end with, I don't know, I just don't like you. Yeah, they're just not going to trust you. Right. So at that point, it's like, it's a moot point, really. So I think once I started letting go of that, that made my job far less stressful on me. Yeah. Because then I was like, yeah, I actually don't need to address every single lie that people make up about me because then I'd be doing that all day. Right.

I'd be doing it all day, girl. You would not believe the things I've seen. There was one time where this guy literally was telling people. And I mean on every platform, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. Like he was committed to the bit. Yeah. And he's in his 50s and is a dad like has two girls. Like he's married allegedly a multimillionaire.

Fuck if I know for real. He was telling people that I was a plant from TikTok. But. An industry plant. Yes. But I was a Chinese communist. Like he said, I'm part of the CCP. I can't stress that enough.

He kept saying like, why were you in China last year? I've never been to China girl. Like what the fuck are you talking? Even if you were. And you would go live and literally be like. Like she's a communist. Like she's from the Chinese government. Like they sent me.

I think there's a pretty obvious signifier that I am not Chinese and I'm not from China. Like I think there's. We're going to need a DNA test. Yeah. I was like. Yeah. I don't know. No,

there might be a 1% to the point that he went on that fresh and fit podcast, that like awful in cell breeder podcast went on there, did two full episodes with them about me being a communist. The entire time. Talking about you. And God bless my manager because he paid for the Patreon or YouTube Red Access to go watch it just to make sure, like capture everything they were saying about me because I was like, I don't want to go look at that. And I remember one of my fans, I think, heard about it because he was insane. Like he was posting hundreds of thousands of things about me about that. I'm ignoring it the whole fucking time.

He literally went in, someone went in there, watched parts of it, came out, sent him to me and was like, this guy's nuts. Like anytime my fans would see it, they'd be like, this guy's literally off his rocker because it's true. But he was like saying she and what about this? What if she's part of the Chinese government? Those two ding-dongs that host the Fresh and Fit show, they both go, yeah, that'd be crazy. And then he goes, it's not funny. It's not funny. He's serious.

Like real serious. And then they both go, oh, okay, no, yeah, for sure. It's not funny. I'm shocked. I don't have the time in the day to sit around and tell you. never convince him that you're not. What am I going to do? Show you my birth certificate?

I'm not doing that. Like, you're a hundred year old man. You're two steps from the grave. Like, I'm not worried about you. Like, focus on your kids. You're a girl. I said, you just had a baby and this is what you're doing? Does your wife know?

Anyways. Imagine growing up and like seeing your parent like focus on it. Like that's rough. One time when recently like, I think the bean salad version of hate is the part that was making me go insane. And then once I started letting go of that, I could focus on the regular hate, which is like from men.

like you and honestly like when i recently i had a guy doing like harassing me just calling me fat ugly million times and i literally told my fiance i was like i missed this kind of hate like this is like this is normal regular this feels regular to me like this feels like this feels like i'm used to this shit i could do with my sleep i could do with my eyes closed i can do i've done that for years i don't care about that but i get it though like it gets to a point where you like you feel the need to to talk or respond to like every single thing yeah because i really especially with women they they can continually misunderstand and like misinterpret women especially oh now i got to watch this show like you have to i've been meaning to um but i and all the seasons are out so it's perfect oh really yeah

you don't have to wait it's three seasons right yes you don't have to wait for anything is there a fourth one coming out no there's a movie coming out and god help everyone when that movie comes out i don't know what the fuck i'm going to do i'm going to bolt my windows and then i'm going to stream live and i'm going to my shit. Girl, get behind me. Get behind me. I literally was like, I don't give a damn. You guys are not going to bully me. I don't give a damn.

But a bunch of, even Julian Salamita when I was like, I had posted on my Instagram story like, hey, some of you need to calm the fuck down about this show. Like, who cares? Like, they're two made up white boys. I don't give a fuck. Who cares? Who cares? Who cares?

Everyone's fine. Who cares? And he messaged me. And he was like, this is. seems like such a stress-free activity. Should I start watching it? And I go, only if you want teenagers to tell you to kill yourself. Only if that's what you're looking for. If you're interested, there's a big market for it over there. You want to talk about that show. But I get it. Crazy. So do you like, do you have like a younger female audience? Um, no girl. I don't. I mean,

I think, coming from. I think my youngest one, my youngest age demographic, I think is 18. Yeah. So like I, what happened was when I was talking. shit on Conrad, this fake boy. I was talking shit on him and I was like being funny about it, but I was like, this is why you Conrad, which is will never get me. And I was like going on a little rant about it in my Instagram story because that's where I key about stupid shit like it's in my stories. Yeah. A big Bonrad fan that's like their ship name. She screenshot my stories. She doesn't follow me. She went to Twitter on a Bonrad fan account and then had viral tweets saying like Drew's a fucking bitch because she doesn't like Conrad.

It was like a 19 year old girl. Literally like a 19 year old Bonrad fan group. It was like three or four of them. And then they were just that's that's how all those tweens found me. I think. Yeah, I see. But for the most part, the women who were sending me the most racist like terrible DMs about again, this fake boy.

They were all in. Well, they're in my request. Oh, I see. I see. I don't even touch those. Yeah, no. I was only looking at. there purely I was looking in there to see like if people were sending really hateful

shit in there because I couldn't even imagine like I saw it in comments I couldn't even imagine what they were saying in my DMs oh yeah when they think that no one else is gonna see it right and then when I I'm not someone who blurs names I never cut out usernames like if you want to say some crazy shit in my DMs you're everyone's gonna see it like everyone's gonna see it sometimes they want that though I know so then I put him but then you'd be surprised how many women who were harassing me over that stupid as show were like, wow, really? Like, I'm a nurse and you're going to put my information out there like that? Yeah, bitch, I am. No one told you to come in here and harass me. Like, no one told

you to come in here and say something racist to me. And now you're worried your employer might see it. I mean, that's your character. Yeah. Maybe you should have thought of that. Like, but in a fun, a funnier version of that story, recently I had a man come into my DMs and he wrote, like, he wrote something awful about like he was like, you're fat and disgusting. and like what this guy's saying about you is true, whatever, some bullshit. I go on his profile. I go and look. He has a girlfriend and a son.

And so I go and look and I, I said, like, does your girlfriend know that you spend your free time harassing women or should I tell her? I always say that to men who think that's funny. And then he, I waited for him to say something to me because I was like, say something to me, bitch, for real. And then he said, she knows I don't fuck with you. I don't care. And then I said, all right.

So I screenshot that. that went to his girl's DM, sent her like, Hey girl, you don't know me. I've done that many times. And I'm like, but your man thinks it's funny to say shit like this to women he doesn't know on the internet. And if my man were embarrassing me like that, I would want someone to tell me.

And I sent to her. And then I left him in my in my DMs because I just wanted to see if you'd post it. And I posted it publicly too. Then he DM'd be back and he goes, wow, really? You're gonna fucking tell my, my girlfriend on me. Are you serious? What are you a child?

Literally starts like- I mean, you weren't him. Like, Hello? You said you didn't give a fuck. Yeah. I thought you said you didn't care. So why you so mad? And he literally was like, I like, wow, okay. That's yeah, all right. And I said, and you work in the medical field. I said, hopefully not with women. And then he was like, why would you, why would you post my information? And he was like, I'm going to sue you. I was like, for once. This girl was mean to me. Sued. I'm well, you don't have the money to sue me. Yeah, that'll go well in court. And his, and that's one of the few girlfriends that have DMed me back because most of the time they don't

say anything back to me but she messaged me back and said um I'm so sorry and I'm so embarrassed and I just it is embarrassing it is too amazing like your partner is just like spending their time like DMing other women and like calling them names girl my man was harassing like sexually harassing women online oh my god you're going to embarrass me like that no that's a back in your crate get back in your crate. Okay, I have some fun facts about you, Ray. Oh, really? Speaking of crates, just kidding.

Okay, it says your real name, Rachel. It's spelled with two Ls, but she didn't realize until she was in sixth grade. How did you even find this information? You were misspelling your own name? Yeah, so I, my real name is Rachel, and I literally didn't find out until I saw my birth certificate in sixth grade like I was just like going through papers and stuff and like I found it and I see Rachel Hofstetter Rachel spelled with two else and so I go to my mom and I'm like this is how you spell my name yeah and she goes oh yeah the nurse misheard me the nurse didn't

understand my accent and I'm like you didn't want to tell me or like hello she's like ah who's coming for you yeah I think she literally she's like who cares it's a government name she's like an extra letter or whatever um yeah no my mom is a little um she's a little she's a little crazy so she gave my sister and i the same middle name which is her name mind you marie she's so real which is really hilarious she's so real and she said i know two divas when i see them yeah she's like it's me but like uh my sister she also gave my sister kind of a weird name my sister has two periods in her name like legal birth certificate my sister's getting her name changed that's how bad it is with like getting like uh documents with periods it's literally k dot c dot lynn so it's

my sister hates it but my mom is like i feel like she's a little too crazy with the names and so i i asked her was like why like why does my name put two ls and she was like oh um she's like i don't know if like it should be rachel rickrell and she's like i want to name you after your father richard you said this place was steps from the water we just haven't found the steps yet How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost. Or you could book a stay with Hilton.

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My dad's Richard. I'm like, okay, like I don't see how it's the same. It just starts with an R, I guess. Like sure. We're just talking initials. Yeah. I think she's just like, you know, giving me a bunch of excuses at this point. And then she's like, well, originally your name was supposed to be Nicole.

But then I found out that her friend named her daughter's middle name Nicole. And so she changed it last second apparently. Right. I'm like, none of that answers why you put two else in there. Exactly. Like none of that thought process. I literally think she told the nurse, uh, yeah, name her Rachel. And then the nurse just spelt it.

I don't know. With two else. Like it's, it's kind of crazy. Yeah. My sister's name is D-E-I-S-O-N. I love both of your names. Thank you. It's so unique.

But my mom was asleep when they brought the birth certificate for my sister. And my dad, it was supposed to be spelled D-E-Y-S-O-N. But my dad was like, my dad was awake. So my dad was like, oh, and he just wrote D-E-I-S-N. And my mom said they spelled her name wrong. And he goes, no, that's how I wrote it. And she was like, why would you write it that way? And he goes, well, I thought it was like modern day, like the high school.

And then my mom. goes, why the, why would I name her after a school? Like, why would I, why would I use that spelling after a school for my firstborn child? Like, why would I ever do that? And then my dad was like, I don't know. It's kind of crazy. Now that I think about it, why are they having you name your baby after like you give birth? You know shit. Like, give me a second. I think it's crazy that like, when your dad was in the process of like, yeah, he was like, oh, well, maybe we could just change it. And when it goes, we can't fucking change. Yeah, you can't just change it. It's on the birth certificate now. So now like my sister's whole life, everyone has said Dyson because it's because of the I see.

So she's like, so you made my life harder. Thanks for that. Oh my gosh. And my sister's actual middle name is my dad's name. Yeah. Oh yeah? Yeah. So at least you don't have the same like middle names, right?

No, we don't. Mine's Tyson. So mine's Drew Tyson off while her's is Dason Tate. That's so sick. Do you like your name? Yeah, I love my name. I used to really dislike my name because mostly because every. time I said it, everyone always be like, oh, like Drew Carey, which I was always like, why is that

the first Drew you think of? It's like the only Drew. Yeah, but I was like, Drew Barrymore is the first one I think of. And that's who I was named after. Like my mom loved the name Drew as like a gender neutral name. And so, and Mike Tyson was big at the time I was born. So that's why Tyson's my middle name. No way. Me and Mike Tyson twin. We're built the same and also. You're kicking ass. Similar airline. Yeah. Like to hit, we both. We both. We both. We're both. We're built the same. We're both want to hit Jake Paul. You know, all the thing. We have so much in common, he and I.

Wait, that is, I did not know that about you. Yeah, all of us, all of us have the same initials. Oh, and my, and my brother are like me and my siblings. It's three of you. Yeah, there's, it's DTA for all of us. So we all have the same. Wait, that's, was there a reason why they wanted D.T? I don't think so.

It was just the try. Yeah, my mom just like really and someone, no one diagnosed my mom. I know one of you is going to try. My mom like names everyone. or every pet we've ever had with a D name. Like, that was always required. So my mom would do this cute little game where she would bring a pet into the house

and she'd be like, we'd be like, oh my God, no way. She'd be like, let's pick a name as a family. And then me and my sister would cook up a name. We'd be like, okay, let's think of something, whimsical and fun. And then we'd present the name and she'd be like, that's cute. No, her name's Darla. So I've already named her.

Oh, my gosh. I'm not even kidding. I've had plenty of dogs, cats, everything. We'd be like, well, I think I want to name, no. I'm thinking Dexter. That's his name. So I already bought the collar and here it is. And it was like, my mom would just call was already there. Yeah, my mom would do this thing where she's like team meeting. Let's think of one. That sucks. Okay, I'm going to pick this one. And like it was almost like great. Let's get the bad name. It's like she wants you to feel involved. But like at the end of the day, you don't really have. But also I hate that fucking name. So no, I'm not going to pick that. Um, it. She did it every year for years. Like every time we had an animal. And then I remember my sister got her own dog for the first time. Don't tell me she named. Don't tell me she named. Well, she picked the name already. My sister picked the name.

She's like, I already have it. I want his name to be, do you remember what it was? It was like taco or something. Yeah, I was like, yeah, she's like jelly. It was a bulldog. And then my mom goes, I think his name should be Duke. And guess what his name was Duke? You're joking.

So like, that's cute. I hate that name. Let's pick one with a D. Actually, I think I already came up with one. Let's do this one. That my mom did that every time. And then when I got my own animals in my own house, I said, guess what? No D names in this house.

Yeah, no. Respectfully, I would probably lose my mind. I don't know how. I don't know how. It was just the most like, all right. It's like you kind of just accepted. Yeah, we were all just kind of like, oh, all right, whatever. I've had a lot of animals.

Do you have a lot of animals? I know you have your one, Sheba. Yes. Right now I have a dog. His name is Mika. He's, we have the same birthday. January 8th. He's also a Capricorn.

Yes, he is. He acts like it too. He's a businessman. And yeah, no, I used to grow up on a farm. I used to have llamas, chickens, bunnies. Like, we had a salt water tank. We had, it was crazy. There'd be like rattlesnakes in the yard and everything.

But yeah, I grew up around animals, a lot of animals. I want to get a cat. I was just telling Drew right before we started filming that, like, I'm waiting for the cat distribution system to hit me hard, like a truck. Like, I'm ready for a cat. So I think I need to go on long walks. I'm just afraid to walk by myself in LA. Yeah, naturally.

Like I'm like driving like looking for the cats. Yeah, keeping an eye out. Yeah, but I feel like if you're like walking, you know, maybe if you hear a little meow, I'm like, this is it. This is it. I knew what would happen to me today. I just like, I just want to find one on the streets and be like, let me take care of you. Let me heal you.

Let me heal you. I think that's a fun way of deciding you want a cat. Exactly. Like, just like it's a random. It'll be so random. You're like a loopbox fate. You never know what's going to come out of the bushes. But yeah, I'm.

sitting one of my friends is cats this weekend and so I think it's going to be a good trial to see how my dog reacts around like a cat in the house yeah because my dog's been around cats before but I used to have roommates where their cats literally had like a piss war like in the living room because of the smells they would fight with each other and stuff and so their cats had to be like locked away in their rooms and so my dog didn't really get to have like that cat experience right so I'm really curious so it's nice I'm gonna like cat sitting and like see like hey how he's going to react with like cats and stuff so how is he typically with other animals. He loves dogs. He's a little, I think my dog's asexual and there's something

a little crazy. I think he, I've never seen him like, you know how dogs like hump everything? Yeah. And like, chew everything. Especially boy dogs. Yes. So my dog has never humped anything in his whole life ever, which is, waiting for marriage. Yeah, maybe. Who knows? And also he's never, he doesn't chew anything. Like, he's just very weird. I feel like Shiba's are kind of like that already. like Shiba's are kind of like the cats of the dog world where their personalities are so hit and miss. And so he's just a little already cat like. Yeah. And so I feel like he would be, I mean, he's been around cats before, but not like 24-7.

And he just acts like they don't exist. That's nice. So I think he'd be fine. That's what you really want. Yeah, exactly. Just not pay attention to them really at all. Exactly. That's nice.

Yeah. I'm excited for more pets. I know. I would love, I would love for you to get a cat. I think that makes sense. I'll send you a photo. On the street, I'm like, Drew, it happened. Yeah.

Don't I found one. It chose me today. I'm going to name it with the letter D. There you go. Have that fun little thing where you ask for suggestions from the chat. And then you go, all of your suggestions are stupid. I picked one already. Yeah, no, I'm going to do like a poll in chat.

What do you think the pet name should be? And like, just kidding, here's the caller. Yeah, all thanks for all your dumb suggestions. I already picked one. Here it is. Like, that was a fun activity. But this is the real name. Exactly.

Exactly. Okay, I have some more fun facts about you. Well, it says you worked at GameStop in college. Did you like that job? Um, no, I think genuinely the worst job you can ever get because one, it's retail. Okay, so you have to hit like a quota. Like we had to like sell these game informers and like memberships and stuff. Interesting.

So that's one thing. Like you have to like and you're not getting tips either. It's not like you're a waitress getting tips. Right. So you're doing all this stuff just to not get fired. Right. And then, um, the worst part about it, which I think people don't recognize is that game stop is also half pawn shop.

Right. Oh, that's right. You are getting all the crackheads coming in trying to. sell their Xbox game from 1990. Yeah, they're like, can you give me like a thousand dollars for it? Yeah. And then you have to look it up in the system how much the game is worth. And then you have to break the news to them that their game is worth five cents. Yeah. And they can't buy their drugs. Yeah. And then they're and then they freak out. And it's your fault because you're behind the counter. Yeah. It's like, it's not my fault. It's like, it's not my fault. It's just all bad. It's. It's rough. I mean, I remember a time when I was like cleaning up and there was like this baby on this woman's shoulder. And the baby dead ass looks me in the eye and just. just puking all over on the floor. And so it's just like, man, retail is rough. Yeah, awful.

I feel like having a job where you can at least get tips or like have incentive to do like extra well. Or movement to some extent. Exactly. Yeah, because you're kind of stationary too when you're in retail. But yeah, I just. Especially dealing with that many men a day. Oh, God.

Girl. Having to give men bad news all day. I mean, it's mostly like just like people coming in and just getting yelling at you for not getting more money for their like crusty dusty game that they've like been like spitting on for the past like five years you know what I mean right so it's just it was a space no you're all no that was the worst job ever I'm glad I quit but admittedly the only good thing that I had like the good experience I had with working at GameStop is that I would like I had a good relationship with my co-workers so we'd play games together after oh that's nice um we would have first dibs on like first

releases oh that's cool also it worked really well with like my Instagram account because I'd be able to post like new things that were coming out, new things I was playing. So it worked well with like my business. Right. Never let GameStop get in the way of your streaming dreams. Yeah. And you didn't. I did not.

It says you have one singular naturally red hair on your head. How are you even finding these? Amanda, that one's weird. How did you find that? That is, I'm like, this is so hilarious to me. Me pointing that finger because I'm like, she's making me, look weird but that was her who found that i did say but i've i've probably mentioned that like one time during a stream like 10 years ago i Amanda's one of those people that she was at the airport

waiting for you to pick her up you know about me wait that's hilarious I do I've got one natural red hair on the back of my it's like back here somewhere but yeah um I mean I'm half German half Filipino and my dad naturally had like blonde curly hair blue eyes so I think maybe that's where the red hair came from I don't know but I doubt it came from your mom yeah no it's funny because like I have naturally curly hair and so people think oh it's because of your Filipino and I'm like actually a lot of Filipinos I think I have straight hair like my dad had a curly blonde afro yeah and so it's it's really confusing because like when I have my natural hair it's like I feel like I don't look Filipino as much as Filipinos when you're straight. Yeah, because like the, yeah, the texture of it. Exactly. Interesting. Yeah, no, I got, yeah, one red hair. That's so funny. That's so funny. I'm gonna find it. It's like a nice party trick. It's been a while. I just dye my hair like often. So I don't know where it's been for a few years now. Like, is it still there? I don't know. Last I checked, which is however long ago, you said that one fact one time and Amanda found it. Wait, that's hilarious. Good job, Amanda. You need a raise.

It says you've made cameos and multiple Bella Porsche music videos. I think I remember one of them. Yeah. Was Pocke in that one too? Yes. Okay. I do remember. There was multiple gamers.

There was multiple. Yeah, I've kind of been like the background of like multiple music videos. I don't know. It's like I guess it was part of me trying to also reach outside of the gaming sphere. But it kind of, gaming has opened up a lot of doors in other spaces. Yeah, totally. Doing like music stuff or like voice acting. Oh, love.

Yeah. What else is there? Like, oh, the fashion. Like, I was going to fashion. Like, I was going to fashion. Like, I was in Europe for three weeks and I just got back. That's where my bronchitis came from. It's going away.

But yeah, I just kind of, I didn't expect to do those things. And I don't think they would have happened unless I was in the gaming space. Like, I think the craziest thing that happened from gaming is that my first, like, fashion feature was I had a seven page spread in Vogue, Philippines. Which is like, what do you mean? That's my first. fashion thing is like Vogue, hello, but like that's because of gaming. So I feel like it just kind of opened up a bunch of doors.

That's so awesome. Which is really cool. You, Brettman, I saw Bella did one too recently in Vogue Philippines. I swear if I knew Tagalog, I would be living in the Philippines being an actress or something or like living a whole different life. But it pains me that my mom never taught me Tagalog. You can never too late to learn. That's true. It is difficult when you don't speak the language every day.

Because like when am I going to who my friends? None of them know Tagalog. That's how someone is too. Like for me, I'm someone. So like learning. We were taking a language class for a while, which was really fun recently this year.

But then we stopped halfway through because every class we would get on. It was like on Zoom once a week. Every class we would get on, we'd be like, why do I feel so far behind? And it was like me, my sister and my mom. And then we found out that they were doing classes on Thursdays too.

And we just had no fucking idea. So we were missing half the fucking classes. Like we went to like, four or five Tuesdays in a row and we were like, I just feel like everyone is so much further at us. And it was because they were doing literally, we missed like six classes. So that's why.

And no one told you? No, we were just like, I think we were just kind of relying on each other. We were like, yeah, no, it's fine. We'll just go. And then every time we were like, I didn't learn that last week. We all have that dream trip. We've been wishing we could go on. But too often life or usually price gets in the way.

That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip. into reality. With up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visitpriceline.com and book your next trip today. Now we know why. That would, I would lose my mind. Yeah, I was literally like going to class and being like, how are people knowing this already? I remember for a while too after like my mom was like, do you think there's a class and then my sister was like no I think it's just Tuesdays and I said yeah me too I think it's just two and then literally four weeks later she goes I fucking knew there was another class that we were

missing because we me my sister gaslighting her we're like no he said Tuesday oh my gosh that's crazy have ever tried duolingo yet I don't know if it works well someone's not on dual lingo I don't think enough people speak it fluently in order for it to qualify but I was learning Hawaiian on duolingo for a while because I lived in Hawaii for a while I went to school there and that's a tough one yeah I have a lot of family who live there but there's a lot of crossover with someone so I think that's why I was like latching onto it a little harder I actually know more I probably know more Hawaiian than I do someone which is strange and weird but I get you though like it's one of those I bet Tagalog is one of those languages similarly where it's like it's easier to learn when everybody's speaking yes and you're

listening to it you're living there yeah like it would just be like right now I feel like the most useful language I could probably learn is like something like Spanish because I feel like there's more people around me are speaking it. I get that. And I speak way more Spanish too than I do either of those other two languages. So what's that mean? Who knows? DMA test. Yeah. And it's funny because I, when I first met the Rock ever, I like greeted him respectfully and someone. There's like a whole thing you do when you greet elders, right? So I greeted him and then that clip went viral. And he kind of responded to me, but didn't. He was like, oh my God, okay, are you someone, whatever? And then I saw him again and we talked about it, whatever. And I remember some people were like, she speaks someone

and he doesn't, I don't speak it fluently. Yeah. I'm conversational at best. I can get to like, hi, how are you? Good. How are you? Good. I'm good.

That's where it ends for me. After that, it's anyone's guess, right? But I remember I just practiced that greeting so many times because I took a language course of someone language in college. Yeah. I was like, I just sound fluent because I've memorized those couple sentences. Yeah, I nailed those. That's all you need sometimes.

It would be impressive, really. That's what I was like, no one. That's really as far as it goes for me. For real. Wait, so what is the, like, respectful way to introduce yourself? Well, when you're greeting, like, an older person, which would be an elder, you say, like, Tala Lofa, like, Tala Lava, Maloly soifua, which means, like, hi, how, hi, it's nice to see you in good health, like, essentially. So, like, in response to me, he would say, Malofo il-soi-soi-fua, which is like, it's also nice to see you in good health. But he doesn't have to greet me that way because I'm younger than him.

Yeah. He could just say hi. Right. I don't. No. You must. Yeah. But I practice those two sentences.

Sometimes that's all you need. That's nice. Like you said to impress people. Yeah. I'm like, Mahakita. Because I love you in Tagalog. That's all I know.

But people love that. That's our favorite. Perfect. Okay. This last one says that you played high school tennis. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Did you enjoy playing tennis? Um, tennis is hard. Yeah. I was varsity captain for two years. In my high school, I loved it. I almost went to college for tennis. And it just pains me because I feel like there's an alternate universe where I actually just

like didn't do video games as a career. And I played tennis and I was like an athlete. And it's kind of crazy. Like I wonder what life would have been like kind of off the internet in that way. Right. I mean, I'm very grateful. I'm happy that this is the way things turned out. Of course, very, very grateful to be where I am today.

But it is always curious. Like there was a time where I was considering being. a flight attendant. I mean, people are like, how could you do that? You're so short. But it's because Mike, my uncle was a pilot for Delta. So he kind of had to be a flight attendant. That's what people were saying, but it's like, they were heels. Like, I would just have an extra couple inches on my heels. I wonder why you have to be tall. I think it's to help with the suitcases. Girl. Yeah, but it's not that like I could put my own suitcase up. Like it's not that tall. But they were heels anyway. So it's like, wow, there's so many different things that could have happened in life.

Right. Like this is where I ended up. kind of crazy. I know that is kind of nuts. Was there like a what were you doing before social media? Like was there something that you were considering doing full time? Oh yeah, yeah. I was like on the, I was a journalism comm major in college. So then I went to school for journalism. But my emphasis was in sports journalism. So I liked I was the sports editor of my college newspaper for a couple years. Yeah. So I, I profiled athletes like I wrote

like editorials on them. And but I like I did game recaps for like the longest fucking time. So I was like, I covered. Gaming recap? Yeah. So basically you just recap what happened in the game and all the statistics. Sports. I'm like. Yeah.

Oh, you thought like. Yeah. Yeah. I was like video games. No, like sports. I remember my first beat to cover, uh, was baseball, which was like literally shoot me in the head, bitch. Baseball is so boring.

I like, every time I went, they went to 12 innings. I said, what the fuck? Like there's no way. So I remember doing game recaps forever was kind of like, this is cool. But I, found more joy in like profiling athletes like following them off the field. Yeah, just seeing like what they're doing. Yeah, who they are, where they come from.

Like if they have really crazy stories like I did a story on brothers that played on the line opposite each other like exactly opposite of each other. I did a story on like a guy who, um, had to take two years off of high school because he got in a gang fight almost died and then came back now. He's playing college football. So I loved stuff like that. I thought that was way more fun to me. That was far more interesting because I like to write about them and stuff.

So then after college. I worked for my mom for a bit in PR because it was like hard to get a job. Then I worked at the NFL. Then they fired me. So why did they fire you? Oh, they said it was for a multitude of reasons I'm sure. Um, mostly like my manager just fucking hated me. Like she really, really did not like me.

And it was a manager. Yeah, my manager. Oh, that's an op. And it was a, it was also like a brand new team. So it was just me and her. So it's like, she's like, um, can I talk to you? Can we have a team meeting? Just the two of us.

Those are the two of us looking, sitting across from each other. Because I was her only subordinate and she was new. Yeah. Which sometimes I think about it because I've had one really, really, really, or actually two really mean female professors in college who like literally insulted me to my face multiple times. And then a really mean manager at the NFL who was a woman also. Disappointing. Awful.

When it's women, disappointing. Oh. But I remember thinking to myself, and this stands true to this day. And it makes a lot more sense with what I do now, which is like empowering women specifically, or especially, I should say. I literally had every reason in the world to be a big ass fucking pick me in my 30s. Because I was surrounded by really, really, really mean women who were awful and mean and vindictive. But I literally remember thinking, I'm not going to let these women convince me women are awful. Because women are not awful.

And even with them, all those women who were really awful to me, I was like, I have empathy for you. because there is a reason why. They're probably going through it. Well, there's a reason why you're like that. Like, you feel the need to act that way because of the patriarchy. This is the work of a man. Like, that's what I kept thinking of. Like, only a man would try to make me hate another woman through a woman.

Only a man would do that to me. And I held on to that. And now, thankfully, I have my dream job, which is being fucking mean to men and empowering everybody else. Like, I think it all is well, it ends well. Just like where you ended up. I think you're in the perfect spot where you meant to be. Yeah, no. Women were meant to follow you in gaming.

I really do think you and Poki were revolutionary. to like the Twitch space. It is really like even when I was just in Europe a few weeks ago, like I literally had like girls come up to me like, you're the reason why I got into gaming or you're the reason I started streaming. And it's always like, wow, like I took, I was part of the reason for what kind of changed their life in that way. It's true.

It's really cool. And I know for a fact, I mean, I know the way that you've affected me like being more outspoken and it's okay to yell at a guy that's being rude to you. Yeah, absolutely. Like it's okay to like, you know, stand your ground. Yeah. I'll get behind you. Yeah, I'll do it for you.

I do it for Pokey too. I well, and that's how I feel about you. I feel like you are revolutionized the Twitch space. Like really you did. And the fact that you've been doing it so successfully for so long, got to give you your flowers, Mama. I think you did a wonderful thing. And you really have like, I really do think,

representation is one of the few things when I think about media literacy that makes me emotional because I think like women seeing you succeed in that space so significantly and for a long time and like garner the audience. You do branch into the other things. it's important. It matters. It is important. Yeah.

I even remember when I was growing up, especially in middle school and high school, gaming was not cool. Yeah. I got bullied for it a lot. And so I just like, I always hit it. I was always off to by myself.

And like I just know where there's a lot of people the same way. Yeah. It's like not socially acceptable in some places of the states or whatever. Like, oh, if you're a girl, like what are you doing? You should be playing with dolls. Yeah.

Like practice cooking. Okay. I know. I know. So it's. It's different times. I think times are changing. I mean, right now, the states are not in a good place, but.

Well, and they're changing because of people like you. Like, to be quite honest with you, like, that's what changes it is with women who don't adhere to that. And they're like, actually, no, I actually am going to do it. And I'm going to play and I'm going to have fun. I'm going to show other women they can do it too. I think you're so impactful and so valid. Don't let these random dudes make you not do what you like to do. Honestly, and I'd rather watch women do anything any day regardless.

When men do it, I'm like, whatever. When women do it, I'm like, yay! So supportive. Well, to wrap us, do you have any advice for any aspiring streamers, women, anyone that's not an awful, cis straight man who would like to get into it? I got you. Any advice? I mean, this is what I always say.

Like, one, it has to be as authentic as possible. Especially with streaming and, like, being on the internet, people can tell when you're faking it. Yeah. People can tell when you're not having a good time. Yeah. Like, and also, if you're going to be doing this 24-7, it has to be something you genuinely enjoy to do.

For real. do it as a hobby have fun don't do it for money you don't quit your job first i tell people don't quit your job because you never know like tic-tok could get banned tomorrow i say the same thing yeah and i was like and i definitely be stable before and then do it as a hobby you know like and that's more fun you know like definitely post what you enjoy like like filming and posting and stuff um but also like just know everyone gets hate and ridiculed and judged but if i would have listened to these random people yelling at me, I wouldn't be where I am today. Yeah.

Which is, you know, you just have to keep going. Yeah. Put your head down or up wherever you want your head to be. I just don't let these people stop you from doing what genuinely makes you happy. So do what's best for you. Okay. Love that. And you would know you're a vet now.

Oh, I'm a veteran. You're a veteran. I'm sitting. Listen, I'm going to be like 80 years old streaming playing video games. I'm going to be Granny Ray. Okay. I'll be there and I'll be like back in my day. Yeah.

exactly and I'm gonna watch you do it I'm watch you right you and Poki are gonna grow old together yeah no I'm gonna come back on this podcast in about 50 years you like remember when we talked about that exactly period well thank you so much for coming on the show thanks for having I adore you come on wine about it yes I would love to all whine about anything girl oh yes no you'll love cutie as well my co-host like oh yeah vanilla told me a lot about cutie yeah she's told me so much oh my god yeah cutie and vanilla are like this so that'll be so look at that girl time love that love that Thank you so much for coming. Of course. Any time. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the comment section. Thank you so much for my amazing guest. Valcarae, where can everybody find you? The two people that maybe don't know where to find you.

Oh, yeah. It's just Valqueray. I multi-stream on Twitch and YouTube and Instagram. I don't post on TikTok as much, but I'll be posted a little bit more. Yes, of course. I've been influenced. Yeah, exactly. I'm a little don't.

I'll post more. It's great. Thank you so much to my amazing guest. Valcray, make sure you all follow her on everything and watch her streams. When you go on there, you're like, holy shit, that's a lot of people. Yeah, you're going to know because Valcray's literally a veteran, obviously. Thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget new episodes of the comment section drop every Wednesday.

You can stream the audio on all streaming platforms, but the video lives for free and exclusively on our favorite platform, Spotify. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Valcray. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next week. Bye! Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you, and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up.

Springs Calling. Ross, work your magic.