Quenlin Blackwell Photograph by Max Montgomery Having found fame on social media, it’s easy to slide Quenlin Blackwell into the content creator and influencer bucket. But that’s not how she sees herself.
“I don’t think I’m a creator at my core. I’m an entertainer,” the 25-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think that’s why I’ve been able to sustain this career because I’m not trying to influence anyone. I’m trying to entertain people.”
After rising in fame as a teenager in Texas a decade ago with her comedic videos on the now-shuttered app Vine, she later successfully transitioned her fan base over to YouTube and TikTok, garnering more than 16 million followers across the two platforms.
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“I’ve had so many parasocial experiences where I understand why people think I’m their friend because I’ve been talking to you since you were 10 years old and you’ve been talking back to me. So in the human mind, that means we’re friends,” Blackwell, who now lives in Los Angeles, says.
As she’s continued to deliver her lifestyle and comedic videos to fans, Blackwell’s also expanded her content with the launch of her original YouTube series, Feeding Starving Celebrities, last year. It’s only grown in popularity, attracting stars like Charli xcx, Tyriq Withers and Lil Yachty to make guest appearances.
As for her own personal ambitions, Blackwell has also started dabbling in acting, making her debut in the Rachel Sennott-led HBO show I Love LA. Below, she opens up about how she found her home in the comedy space, her dream guests for her YouTube series, acting goals, hosting the Vanity Fair Oscars Party and more.
Finding success on social media seems to be part luck, consistency and finding a niche. Having found your home in the comedic space, talk to me about finding the content you love creating.
If you look at the greatest comedians of all time — Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, all of the funniest people ever, especially Black people, it’s not that we were trying to find our voices in comedy. If you listen to it, it’s like a communal thing. My comedy doesn’t stem from me trying to find where my voice fits. It stems from me trying to make my aunts and uncles laugh at the table and going toe to toe with the funniest people in my family and getting a joke off of them that I was funny. So then it was just like, let me tell these jokes that I tell myself in the way that I know how to tell jokes. And it just resonated with people.
In a world where so many things are photoshopped and made to seem perfect, you present a very authentic and personable personality online. Is maintaining that relatable persona important for you?
I think it’s the only way to do it. I started creating on the internet before the terms influencer and creator were even conceptualized. … I think the reason people like watching me is because it doesn’t feel like I’m trying to optimize them or fit into whatever mold society wants me to be. It feels like they’re talking to a friend because I am just the friend on the other side of the phone.
You fall out of the general vibe when you start to try to shift yourself to be whatever you think the algorithm wants you to be. The algorithm’s not a person. The algorithm will give you viral videos, but a couple million likes but no connection to an actual person for a sustained period of time doesn’t mean anything.
You’ve been doing this for some time, so what are your future goals with social media?
I don’t see myself going anywhere really next in the social media space because I feel like I’m everywhere. I’m looking at it more as, where do I want to venture into the entertainment space because that’s what I am at my core. I don’t think I’m a creator at my core. I’m an entertainer. I think that’s why I’ve been able to sustain this career because I’m not trying to influence anyone. I’m trying to entertain people. So the way that I like my career as an entertainer to evolve is to do more acting projects. … Especially in these hectic times, I just want to continue to be that place of solace for my community in whatever way that takes shape.
Your YouTube series Feeding Starving Celebrities has really resonated with your fans. How did the idea for the show first come about?
The show first came about because my friends Lil Nas X and Destin Conrad, both musicians, were like, “Let’s go party.” And I’m like, “Y’all have music as a sustaining career. I need to make a video. I haven’t made a video because I’ve been hanging out with everyone in L.A. so much. I need to make a video. I need to give to the people who’ve got me in L.A. I’m not doing anything except for making a video right now.” And they’re like, “OK, shit, what do you want to do?” I’m like, “I don’t know, cook.”
So they’re like, “What do you want to cook?” I’m like, “I don’t know. I’ll just DoorDash Uber Eats some groceries.” And I’m like, “Let me just film it.” And that was the first episode. … There’s more episodes of me with friends than there is with me and people I don’t have some type of repertoire with. A majority of people I know from socializing in the entertainment industry. So it’s a really honest show.
Quenlin Blackwell Max Montgomery The series has a way of bringing out a very human and personable side of the celebrities. Is that your goal with every guest?
Of course! I’m also a public figure and I know how it feels to go on an interview show and it literally feels like you’re in a fever dream of the same thing happening every time versus when they come on my show, I’m like, “You have complete freedom to take anything out that you don’t like. I’m not trying to get you. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. I just want you to feel comfortable. Let’s have fun. Everyone is under an NDA. You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe.” Because so many times people like salacious things, they like clicks, they like whatever would get them views. And that’s when you get a not-real person because they have all their defenses up. But on my show, you don’t need to have all your defenses up because I don’t want anything from you except for you to have a good time. I just want to have a new friend.
Do you have a dream guest?
Both guest and friend dream: Inde [Navarrette] from Obsession. Literally live for her, live for her, live for her. Her, Odessa [A’zion] … Then let me think, are there any men that I’m like, “Oh my God, we’re best friends. We just don’t know it yet.” This is going to sound so crazy, but literally all of my friends that I have now, all of my friends that also have entertainment careers, this is how it starts. When me and Odessa met each other, I was like, “Oh my God, you’re crazy. I’ve seen videos of you on the internet and you’re such a talented person. We’re going to be best friends.” And then we’re best friends. Same with me and Larray.
YouTube has pushed its way into Hollywood, highlighting its creators’ content and shows. Why do you think the platform is thriving in this shifting broadcast-streaming era?
Well, because there’s no gatekeepers to keep it stagnant. There’s no private equity taking all of its value and trying to rip parts of it so it becomes valuable to whoever else. It’s like whatever you want to do with your AdSense, do it. If you want to reinvest into your show, reinvest into your show. If you want to let your YouTube fall downhill while you go party with that money, do it. It gives the creator complete autonomy. I think that’s why we’re seeing so many writers, filmmakers come from YouTube because they didn’t have to squeeze their idea because the studio said they had to fit some type of quota to make a certain thing to take the soul out of it. … I think YouTube is doing the best because it’s just the most honest format to create on.
In addition to YouTube, you’ve also dabbled in hosting, most recently the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscars Party. I know there was some criticism, with some people saying that’s a journalist’s job. What’s your thoughts on that, and what was that overall hosting experience like?
I feel like to be a journalist, you just have to be curious, honestly, and know how to have a good conversation with people. People want to feel connected to these celebrities and these events. So the reason why people like me, Brittany [Broski], Jake [Shane] were invited to do something like that is because we are the conduits to connection to all of these larger-than-life celebrities. We make them feel like people, because baby, we are people. I see y’all out, I see y’all at Erewhon, I see y’all walking on the street, you’re just like me, let’s talk, let’s keke.
People who are watching things right now don’t want to hear the same celebrity talk about the same press talking points. They can hear the repetition. They want to hear a celebrity they’re interested in speak to someone like their friend because that’s how they feel about that person. They feel a close connection to them, and that’s how we talk to people versus a journalist [who] is investigative, trying to get into it. Baby, I’m trying to know how many shots you’re going to take. And same with the person that’s watching this (Laughs). It would be different if I was hosting an event, but the red carpet to a party, all we trying to know is how you about to turn up. You had all the investigative questions on the Oscars red carpet. Baby, this is Vanity Fair. We’re trying to party.
Quenlin Blackwell at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Vanity Fair You made your acting debut in the HBO comedy series I Love LA, playing a dramatised version of yourself. What was that experience like working with Rachel Sennott and your close friend Odessa?
It was a dream come true. I am forever grateful to Rachel Sennott for giving me the opportunity. I mean, to play a hyperalized version of myself is a feat because that’s not me. That’s not me at all. I literally had an anxiety attack earlier thinking about how I could go and walk in public and be just normal. Like I’m a very anxious person, versus the character in I Love LA was like a queen bee princess. And it was just so nice to be able to drop my real self to give life to this character. And it made me learn more about myself too.
I love acting because I feel like if you grew up on the internet, you were not properly socialized in a way where you don’t have your first kiss because it’s time for you to have your first kiss. You have your first kiss because media told you this is how you’re supposed to have your first kiss. … And I feel like acting puts you back into being a human. It puts you back into when you say these words, why are you saying them with this inflection? How do you feel about it? And that’s very nice for me. It’s like I’m learning how to exist kind of backwards.
You have some pretty iconic friendships, such as with Larray and Odessa and Billie Eilish. What’s your reaction when you see how excited fans get about your personal relationships?
We’ve all grown up together. I think the internet has never existed in any other generation ever. And you would think our audiences are parasocial; we’re parasocial to each other (Laughs). I’ve had so many parasocial experiences where I understand why people think I’m their friend because I’ve been talking to you since you were 10 years old and you’ve been talking back to me. So in the human mind, that means we’re friends.
I don’t know what the psychological effects will be in the future. Who knows? I literally don’t care. All I know is if I’m feeling happy and you’re feeling happy, we’re all happy. As long as me, my friendships, my relationships aren’t negatively impacting my audience, I don’t see anything wrong with them being happy over seeing me connect with my friends because we’re your friends too.
If you had to describe what makes Quenlin Blackwell, Quenlin Blackwell, what would you say?
I think where I come from, the people I love, the people that love me, what the child in me is excited about, my curiosity and my wanting to constantly be in play because it makes life seem worth living to me. That’s what makes me me.
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