Hotel That Banned Influencers Has Released #Bloggergate-Inspired Merch

After U.K. lifestyle vlogger Elle Darby proposed a free Valentine’s Day weekend stay at Dublin’s Charleville Lodge in exchange for publicity on her social channels — whereupon the hotel’s owner responded in a series of scathing Facebook posts — the public battle rages on. And despite owner Paul Stenson’s apparent disdain for influencers, whom he has banned outright from his hotel and restaurant, he appears to be pretty masterful at manufacturing a viral event.

Over the weekend, Stenson said on Facebook that he was sending Darby an invoice for roughly $6.6 million in exchange for all the publicity he’s helped her garner in the wake of the scandal. “Mentions in videos will not qualify as payment,” he wrote on the snarky bill. (Meanwhile, the scandal has helped the Facebook page for Stenson’s White Moose Cafe drum up 181,000 followers).

That’s not all. The next day, Stenson staged a faux video press conference with his partner, Jason Kidd. “We feel very ashamed and so silly that we didn’t see how lucky we were to have been approached by a God-like influencer to collab and boost our sales universally,” he says in the sarcastic clip (see below), which has clocked more than 280,000 views. “We should’ve just bent over and taken that influence straight to the bank.”

And finally, in true influencer fashion, Stenson and Kidd (pictured above) are now vending their very own #Bloggergate-themed merch. One $24 shirt reads, “I demanded freebies at the White Moose Cafe, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”

Twenty-two-year-old Darby, for her part, released a second video about the incident yesterday, which she says will be her last. Tearing up, she addresses the online abuse she’s received, with many commenters wishing death upon her — and even her unborn children. “I’ve been called almost every name under the sun — words I didn’t even know existed,” she says. “I just think it’s about time that people take responsibility for what they’re saying over a screen.”

You can check out Darby’s side of the story, where she also thanks supporters for their kindness, right here: