Happy Monday! 

If there’s anything that I’ve learned after covering the internet this long, it’s that drama begets more drama. After Alex Cooper fired the first shot at Alix Earle last week, Santina Rizzi decided to spill her own tea regarding her fallout with famed plastic surgeon Dr. Miami. I have the recap for you plus notes on Coachella weekend two below.

After the Alex Cooper and Alix Earle drama blew up last week, people were getting antsy waiting for Earle to weigh in on the drama (which, by the way, she has yet to do). But because this is the internet, folks didn’t have to wait long for a new piece of viral gossip to take over the conversation. 

To fill the lull in the Alex vs. Alix feud, Santina Rizzi, former social media manager for celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Miami, finally decided to open up about the circumstances that led her to leave her job two years ago. There was a lot of speculation over the reasons at the time, but until now she’s never shared the exact details.

“You guys want a little appetizer before Alix Earle does her Alex Cooper story?” Santina said in her first video. “You're gonna want to sit down for this.”

For those unfamiliar with Santina, she made Dr. Miami—who first rose to fame on Snapchat a decade ago—relevant for the TikTok generation. Over the course of a year, she grew his account by over 2 million followers. Santina also became a prominent part of the doctor’s content while she worked there. So when she abruptly left, people were clamoring for answers.

She shared that the dispute came down to three things: 1) money, 2) personality clash, and 3) politics. 

If there’s anything that this drama and the Alex/Alix debacle has shown, it’s that people are very interested in the business of social media and want to know how it works. This latter point is tricky because there’s such a wide range when it comes to pay, which is why influencer transparency has become especially popular in recent years. But Santina was not a creator on her own while working with Dr. Miami, instead relying solely on his business for her livelihood. Her story has highlighted how undervalued many social media managers are, even the ones who are as front-facing as Santina was. 

Under Dr. Miami’s page, commenters would often remark on how Santina deserved a raise. But when she would bring up the possibility of a pay bump, the practice’s chief operating manager Rosy would shut her down, despite the fact that Santina apparently made about $40,000 annually. She made $25 per hour on a part-time schedule, produced 60 videos per month plus a podcast, and had no healthcare benefits. To supplement her income, she tried to make extra money from the TikTok creativity plan, but Dr. Miami blocked her from posting her own content about her job to her personal page. As a way to make extra money, he brought up the prospect of letting his office sell her social media ideas to other doctors with her getting a percentage of the profits.

“I’m like, why would you get the percentage if it’s my idea?” she said in her video. “I was so confused, but again nothing crazy there because hello, welcome to every business and every millionaire in America ever.”

Santina also detailed some of the cruel treatment that she experienced from Dr. Miami, including him brushing off her financial struggles and insisting that she needed arm liposuction. When she agreed to let him do the lipo, Dr. Miami apparently pushed her to go on a work trip only a week after the procedure. The trip was intended to teach another doctor’s office how to build their social media, but Santina felt extreme pain in her arms. Dr. Miami apparently ignored her pain and made her work a whole day, so she didn’t get checked out until the other doctor helped her drain her arms (!!!). The doctor told her that she’d “never seen so much fluid in an arm lipo patient, you must have been in so much pain.”

“At this point, it's not even about the money or anything like that,” Santina said. “You don't see me as a human being capable of experiencing physical pain.”

In regards to politics, Santina said she was “admitting that I helped platform someone who I don’t think people would fuck with, so that’s also wrongdoing on my part.” She added that Dr. Miami “couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to me politically.” While she didn’t get into many specifics, she did say the doctor blocked comments about Gaza without telling her.

For his part, Dr. Miami told People that he did not want to “invalidate her experience” and there was “no bad blood on my end.” He also insisted that “the wonderful people that make up my team are happy, well paid, and I know that truth.”

Not one to take criticism too seriously, he also played into the drama by capitalizing on the interest in the Alexes, recreating Alix Earle’s post-Coachella video reacting to Alex Cooper’s callout. These business owners— whether it's Alex Cooper or Dr. Miami—are keenly aware that attention is currency, even if it’s negative. 

So even as people criticize him, he has gotten millions of views on his page and added fuel to the drama cycle. That cycle keeps people online and engaged, waiting for the next piece of gossip from some obscure character. And just as the Alix vs Alex somehow opened the door for Santina to share her truth, Santina’s story has led Dr. Miami’s original social media manager from 2016 Brittany Benson to tease her own tell-all video. It’s always interesting to see the domino effect that internet drama has, leading more secrets to be revealed in surprising ways.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. These are some of my favorite sleazy party tracks from the late aughts and early 2010s.

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.