Text messages have surfaced revealing former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub’s alleged involvement in orchestrating fake positive reviews for his comedy special “You’d Be Surprised” on Showtime, along with his coordination on damage control messaging to the network.
The damaging texts, now allegedly part of court exhibits in a Florida lawsuit, show Schaub acknowledging that his plan to generate artificial support for his widely-panned comedy debut had backfired spectacularly.
In earlier messages, he detailed his concerns about online harassment: “Good with my special coming out and now everyone and his mom for some reason for haters to jump on me. Well, I want to focus my attention these idiots created a campaign to shit on the special and are creating fake account and leaving awful reviews and I want to combat this.”
Schaub compared his situation to other comedians who faced similar online backlash, writing: “Spoke with IMDB they said same thing happened to Amy Schumer too. Any way I can combat this is by having positive reviews and rankings.”
The texts also reveal Schaub’s emotional state during the controversy, admitting the criticism was affecting him personally: “Ya it’s embarrassing so even confess it effects me. I couldn’t sleep. Figured you would have saw this and not judge me. Weird position to be in.”
Central to the scheme was supplement company Pure Spectrum, which sent out an email newsletter with the subject line “BRENDAN SCHAUB – YOU’D BE SURPRISED.” The promotional email encouraged customers to “leave the kind of review Brendan deserves” in exchange for a 50% discount coupon, effectively incentivizing positive reviews with financial rewards.
In a May 30, 2019 message at 11:31 AM, Schaub wrote: “Yikes. Email plan back fired my man. Showtime just called me. Not happy. Said we can’t pay for positive reviews in any facet. Def don’t send or respond to anymore. I had to tell them that you guys were just trying to have my back and I wasn’t aware of positive reviews thought it was to drive traffic to actual special. Cool?”
The texts reveal Schaub’s desperation to combat what he perceived as coordinated negative campaigns against his special.
Following the Showtime backlash, Schaub appeared to express gratitude for the failed effort, texting later that day: “All good man. I really appreciate you going the lengths you went through to try and help me. I should of just ignored these haters. I really appreciate you.”
The “You’d Be Surprised” special became notorious in comedy circles and remains a frequent target of online mockery. Schaub’s relationship with Showtime ended years ago, and his subsequent independent comedy special “Gringo Papi” was released on YouTube. Industry observers widely believe his current podcast studio venture is struggling financially.
These revelations add another layer to Schaub’s recent challenges, which include relocating his entire operation from Los Angeles to Austin amid what many perceive as mounting career pressures.
