>In the "make-it-till-you-fake-it" mercurial landscape of online culture wars there are few with the longevity of Sam Hyde and his posse, Million Dollar Extreme, and his cadre of supporters.
>"We thought we were toast there for a second, but it's like reacting to an oil spill and learning to surf on it," Sam confided to us in the second floor office of a Rhode Island warehouse. It used to be a storage facility for Frito-Lay inventory but now is MDE'S facility for producing entertainment.
>"Downstairs we have green screens and Jet's workshop. There's also some leftovers from the previous owner's stock of goods which can really help us when we are in a Crunch and need a crunch."
>Sam lets out a bemused smirk upon making such a childish pun. The old Sam would have never been caught making such an innocuously frivolous sentiment. Everything was much more serious eight years ago.
>"We had a show, and I... I went a little quixotic in my messaging. The people giving us a platform got cold feet and pulled the plug. I lost a lot of friends and opportunities. Chuck wouldn't talk to me for years... He went to the Orient."
>Sam looks away, wistfully, out through the windows that cover the entire wall of the office facing the street.
>"People still bring up awkward stuff I did back then. Stuff with chicks. Politics. I learned at this point to just stop caring. I started focusing more on the kids, the young men and boys who need my guidance. I even brought a few on to my team. And we're elevating others beyond that. Setting up their own streaming careers, getting them to lose weight, and one kid is even running for his town's City Council. That kid... he might yet have a future."
>He stands up, turns around and does a slow-motion punch at one of their graphics workstations. Then he says,
>"Enough of this sentimental bullshit. Come with me downstairs to meet the rest of the crew in Jet's Workshop."
This feels like from so long ago…