There once was a man from Nantucket—who started a viral social media debate.
After the Barstool Sports cohost sparked online debate with a rant about a "no influencers" sign posted on the island off the coast of Cape Cod, his longtime friend Josh Richards weighed in on the ongoing conversation surrounding content capturing in public spaces.
"I think any type of people can ruin s--t," Richards told E!'s Hot Goss hosts Eyal Booker and Lonnie Marts IIV in an exclusive interview. "Like, how do you carry yourself?"
The 24-year-old elaborated, "I think that's not so much an influencer thing, it's more of a Gen Z thing where they don't have respect or boundaries around filming people or when it's appropriate to take out a phone. If you went back 15 years ago and someone whipped out their cell phone and started videoing in the middle of a restaurant, people would be like, 'What the f--k?!'"
Ultimately, for Richards, it boils down to "common respect" for others, adding, "Don't film somebody that doesn't want to be filmed."
Portnoy, a Massachusetts native who partially resides on Nantucket, divided fans with his stance on the subject.
"I firmly stand behind this sign," the Barstool founder argued to Fox Business earlier this month. "The trashy, ratchet influencers go to the Hamptons, not Nantucket. We're an island for a reason, to keep the riffraff ashore."
And Richards cosigns Portnoy's opinion. Well, sort of.
"I also agree with his take, by the way," the Sway House founder admitted. "The take he had does make sense to me where he said businesses should be allowed to put up what they want to, film or don't film. You could just say 'no filming,' you don't have to be like, 'no influencers.'"
But Richards couldn't help but playfully call out the slight hypocrisy in his former BFFs cohost's rant.
"I get you're gonna claim you live there and all that so you get to have this kind of pass, but still an influencer," Richards told E!. "He films in pubic more than I do. He's more of an industry influencer, man on the street on the mic, than I am. He usually has a cameraman that follows him around and films everything."
While fans continue to debate the divisive topic, Richards assured followers there's one ? he's not on the fence about: His love for girlfriend Gabi Moura. But after dating the Brazilian model for over three years, is the Read the Room star ready to propose?
"I think right now we're so busy and so young," Richards admitted, shooting down engagement speculation. "There's still two-week spans where we maybe won't see each other because I'm off in New York doing stuff."
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In the meantime, keep reading to be astonished by how much money your favorite influencers make.
Bradley, who documents ways to save and make money, shared that he earned $58,857 on OnlyFans in 2025, as well as $123, 933 on content creating as an influencer with 1.5 million TikTok followers.
The content creator said in an August 2025 Instagram post that she earned over $1 million on OnlyFans in three hours, less than a week after turning 18.
Tay shared a photo of her alleged earnings, in which she pocketed $1,024,298: $486,558 from messages, $511,003 from subscriptions and $26,736 in tips.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann's daughter is making her way an influencer, sharing on her Bravo show Next Gen NYC that she makes $1,000 per sponsored post on TikTok.
“Now living in damn New York City, I need to be making a lot more money than I was making in Atlanta,” she said in a July 2025 episode. “Right now I need to be doing everything that I can to generate even more money.”
Ariana—who inked her first brand deal at age 14—knows it can be lucrative, saying, “You can get paid astronomical [amounts] to do a story or do an Instagram post, and I made quite a bit of money.”
The labor and delivery nurse, who posts about her life as an Orthodox Jew in New York City, shared in June 2025 that a sex toy company once offered her $100,000 to do advertisements for them, which she turned down. The deal would've included two in-feed Instagram posts, two TikTok posts, two Instagram Story posts and two YouTube integrations.
However, he explained that he mostly doesn't keep that money for himself.
"In my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars," he explained during an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast at the time. "I just like to reinvest it all."
As of January 2026, he shared he has "negative money," despite his estimated $2.6 billion net worth.
“I’m borrowing money. That’s how little money I have,” MrBeast told the Wall Street Journal. "Technically, everyone watching this video has more money than me in their bank account if you subtract the equity value of my company, which doesn’t buy me McDonald's in the morning."
The Dance Moms alum revealed that she made "six digits a month, easy" on YouTube videos as a 13-year-old. She added in the 2024 documentary Child Star that she now posts up to 300 times a day on Snapchat as part of her influencing career.
The TikToker revealed he has a net worth of over seven figures.
"You guys can keep calling me annoying," he quipped in a July 2024 video. "Being annoying has made me a millionaire."
The makeup artist revealed he earns $50,000 when he hosts a TikTok live—which he does four or five times a week—through selling cosmetics and gifting from fans.
"I'll make bacon in the morning and make $50,000," Jeffree told the Cancelled podcast in November 2024. "There's some times where I don't sell at all, and I'll just make bacon in my kitchen, in my bathrobe, in my little slippers, we'll just hang out and I'll just chat and I'll do a Q&A."
Other times, he's making bank by offering discounts on his own branded makeup products.
"It's a niche market but it's massive," he added. "We're the No. 1 or 2 beauty store."
The OnlyFans model—who made headlines in December 2024 for sleeping with 101 men in one day—told E! News that she earns a "good amount" off of creating NSFW content on the subscription-based platform.
As for a ballpark figure, she said, "Oh, we're in the millions."
Markell—known for his dance videos—told Salary Transparency Street in 2023 that he earns between $500,000 and $700,000 a year, mostly from brand deals and Snapchat's mid-roll program.
After appearing on Netflix's dating show Love Is Blind in 2022, the pair pivoted to social media stardom and said they each made $500,000 in less than two years as influencers.
Similarly, the Hills alums turned to social media to make money after the Los Angeles wildfires of 2025. But they weren't earning as much as people thought.
"Everyone thought that was $3.5 million in the week," Spencer told E! News at the time. "If it was true, we would be in Bel Air right now shopping for our new house."
Instead, he revealed he only made $3,500 that week from the 5,000 videos on his TikTok page.
The ASMR influencer—known as @itsblitzzz on YouTube —admitted in January 2024 that she scores about $56,400 a year on ad revenue from old videos, without creating new content.
The Minnesota YouTuber made over $193,000 on the adult platform OnlyFans from January 2020 to December 2022, she shared in a Medium article.
As explained on The Really Good Podcast in 2023, the content creator has scored $50,000 on a single sponsored video.
The chronic illness advocate told Salary Transparency Street in 2023 that she earns about $150,000 a year with less than 40,000 Instagram followers.
The comedian charges between $5,000 and $10,000 for a sponsored video, he told Salary Transparency Street.