A Hotel Is Billing This Influencer Millions After She Asked to Stay for Free

Think back to yesterday. It was a fine day. There was a story about a hotel owner publicly shaming an influencer who wanted to stay for free in return for publicity. Now it’s today. Another unremarkable day. Except that same hotel man is now billing that same influencer for about $7.3 million for the publicity she’s received from their viral saga.

Yes, in an additional Facebook post, White Moose Cafe and Charleville Lodge owner Paul Stenson posted a picture of a bill he planned to send to Elle Darby. In it, he charges her 4,300,000 Euro (~$5.3 million) for “the provision of features in 114 articles across 20 countries with a potential reach of 450 million people.” That’s before taxes.

He also notes payments must be made with actual money and that “mentions in videos will not qualify as payment.” To support his billing claim, Stenson commented on the post with a link to a LinkedIn article (opens in new tab), which explains Darby, whose YouTube views spiked massively after this whole mess started, benefited from the debacle.

See you tomorrow for the next episode of This Year Is Already Stupid, Pt. 36!