Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk's Controversial Endorsement Sparks Debate on Platform Independence and Creator Portability

I'm back! While I was out, beehiiv's CEO Tyler Denk posted an Instagram story — a screenshot of a tweet that has since been deleted, naturally — endorsing Spencer Pratt for LA mayor. You may remember Spencer Pratt from The Hills, from the time he called himself the "white Jay-Z," from his Infowars appearance where he and Heidi discussed how rejecting the New World Order is the reason they had no careers, or from any number of other unhinged things he has done or said. When a creator wrote about it, Denk replied — from his car, sitting outside a homeless encampment, since apparently he needed us to know — that his political opinions have "nothing to do with the platform." I'd like to respectfully (lol) submit that he is incorrect. I wrote a feature about it, mostly because I was mad and this newsletter is cheaper than therapy, but also because Lex Roman wrote something genuinely smart about what creators should actually take away from this: not "abandon beehiiv immediately" but "stay as portable and independent as possible, always." Check it out here: https://supporthuman.cx/p/beehiivs-tyler-denk-reminds-us-that-tech-is-just-assholes-all-the-way-down