On Sunday, influencer Amanda Hirsch — the creator behind the popular “Not Skinny But Not Fat†podcast, who also hosts Hulu's “Get Real†podcast — addressed the uproar about having posted partner content with the betting platform Polymarket over the Lindsay Clancy verdict. In a since-deleted post from Friday, after the judge in the case had declared a mistrial, Hirsch posted the news of what happened, and wrote: “On Polymarket it was predicted the verdict would be Not Guilty. Are you surprised? #Polymarketpartner.â€
The reaction to the post was swift and brutal, and Hirsch deleted the reel — but screenshots are forever. Hirsch attempted to post as usual to her Instagram stories on Saturday, but the criticism escalated.
In the apology posted to her grid, Hirsch said, “Posting about the Lindsay Clancy trial in the same breath as a brand partnership was completely insensitive, wrong, and out of character for me – I should have known better, and I feel sick that I didn't see that in the moment.†She wrote that, as a mother, the case had affected her, and she followed it constantly. “I became so consumed by the trial that I completely lost perspective and didn't stop to think about how grossly inappropriate it was to discuss something this tragic in that context.â€
“I made a terrible judgment call and I feel so fucking awful about that,†Hirsch continuned. “I know deleting it doesn't erase it. Believe me, I'm horrified by the choice I made and please know this lapse in judgment does not represent who I am as a person. I am so deeply sorry.â€
Several days before she'd posted the Polymarket sponsored content on Sept. 4, Hirsch had posted on IG about her conflicted feelings about the trial, which has become a true crime sensation. She expressed compassion for Clancy, and wrote “there were major issues with the investigation,†and then pushed back on the outlandish, unfounded accusations against Patrick Clancy, whom conspiracy theorists have accused of killing his three children (even though Lindsay has said she was at fault). Hirsch then wrote: “And this is where I feel like we're losing the plot a little bit. Three babies were killed. They had their entire lives ahead of them. Yes, their mother was very sick. That is devastating. But it wasn't their fault. They were strangled to death methodically and left to die in the basement.â€
Hirsch appeared to be arguing that the public should keep Lindsay Clancy's children central to the narrative. She wrote that she didn't know what should happen to Lindsay Clancy, “But the fan base, the GoFundMe, the way people are rallying behind her almost like she's a celebrity genuinely scares me a little bit about where we are as a society. I just don't want our compassion to somehow turn into excusing or minimizing what happened to her children.â€
Hirsch soon had to turn the comments off on the post, though they remain on throughout the rest of her account — and are now littered with criticism of her for the Polymarket partnership.
The new world of betting prediction markets — led by Polymarket at Kalshi — have proven to be the unregulated Wild West. In the spring, Variety reported on how both companies spoiled who won “Survivor†in its 50th season, prompting the show's host and showrunner Jeff Probst to slam the companies. “They have figured out a way to capitalize on [the show],†he told Variety. “It doesn't sit well with me as a human. I get it — they built a great business. They don't care.â€
Given that the Clancy trial was declared a mistrial because there was one holdout juror who appeared not agree that she was not guilty by reason of insanity, new conspiracy theories have sprung up about whether that juror was also placing bets in prediction markets.
