It’s a dispute very much of this world… a seemingly obscure complaint filed by a UFO expert in California that could have seismic ramifications for the ways that content creators are represented in Hollywood.
“The Why Files” host AJ Gentile has filed a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner against management company Night Media, a major player in the creator space. It’s shaping up to be a clash of the titans for the influencer set.
Just one of Gentile’s “Why Files” videos on YouTube boasts 33 million views, while others routinely clock in over 10 million. Night Media raised $70 million earlier this year and enjoyed early investments from Peter Chernin‘s North Road Company. The firm also reps popular podcaster Theo Von and top streamer Kai Cenat.
According to Gentile’s complaint, filed last month and obtained by Page Six Hollywood, Night Media allegedly acted as a de facto agency in violation of California’s very strict Talent Agencies Act when it “solicited, procured, negotiated, and undertook to procure employment and engagements… including brand sponsorships, endorsements, digital-media engagements, and personal appearances.”
Real money is at stake — $743,988 in commissions for one year alone for Gentile.
The complaint includes a copy of Gentile’s eyebrow raising 2023 contract with Night Media, which allows the firm to take a 20% (!!) cut, the complaint alleges. (Agents are capped at 10% and must be licensed under Labor Code § 1700.5.) Gentile wants Night Media to return the $743,988 he claims the firm collected from his earnings over the past year.
“I suspect you’re used to creators who can’t afford to see this through,” Gentile wrote in a demand letter reviewed by Page Six Hollywood. “I can. I have the records and the resources to take this from the Labor Commissioner through every appeal and proceeding that follows, for as long as that takes.”
The legal maneuver could have major implications that reach far beyond the wildly popular YouTuber and the Santa Monica-based company that executive produced the indie comedy film “Busboys” starring Von and David Spade, and once counted MrBeast as a client. (MrBeast dropped Night Media in 2024, and one source familiar with the uber-creator’s defection says, “There is very little love lost, that is for sure.”)
The battle arrives at a moment when Hollywood is increasingly looking to content creators and influencers as traditional film and TV declines.
Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that Gentile informed Night Media that he was cutting ties with the company back in April.
In March 2023, Gentile signed an exclusive representation agreement with Night Media, but the relationship apparently went south. The row, which has been playing out quietly for months, reached a boiling point in July, when Gentile sent the demand letter for Night Media to cease its “ongoing efforts to collect commissions to which it is not lawfully entitled.”
In the letter, addressed to CEO Reed Duchscher, Gentile offered to walk away from the mess if Night would return roughly $375,000 and stop attempting to take a cut of his earnings.“This thing is going to be a disaster,” says a lawyer not involved with the case but watching from the sidelines. “There are all these pop-up influencers everywhere. Once they’re defined as artists, you can’t procure employment.”
Before signing with Night Media, Gentile was already a big star on YouTube, where “The Why Files” currently boasts 5.98 million subscribers who can’t get enough of the host’s take on mysterious topics like the Annunaki and a Göbekli Tepe prophecy. (Gentile is more of a skeptic on most UFO sightings.)
His appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” brought in 7.9 million viewers on YouTube alone and another 5 million-plus listeners on Spotify. (A typical Rogan podcast draws an audience of about 1 million on YouTube.)
Gentile included the 2023 contract as an exhibit in the filing, which calls for a 20% commission on Gentile’s earnings with the exception of his YouTube ad sales.
Gentile already has an agent. He is represented by WME, with Ben Davis running point. (Davis handles a number of popular podcasters including Jon Favreau and Andrew Huberman, plus influencers like Logan Paul and such traditional entertainers as Dwayne Johnson and Rob Lowe.)
Gentile is also repped by attorney Will Hanisch of GreenRoom in transactional matters.
We hear that litigator Jeffrey Neiman of NMFA Law is representing Gentile in the Night Media matter, though only the YouTuber’s name appears in the filings. (Neither Neiman nor Gentile returned our emails as of press time.)
We also reached out to Night Media for comment on the complaint but haven’t heard back.
