I want to move on to another player in the piece, Matt Ramos, a young guy who’s big on social media.
Yes, very [young].
He spoke to TheWrap and categorized your relationship in an interesting way.
Very interesting way.
He said, “All of these opportunities, I was getting them on my own, it was never him getting me anywhere. All of the red carpets I have been on have been the studios inviting me. He’s been my plus one for all of these events.” Now, in your perspective, is this an accurate representation of your relationship with him? I want to know how that relationship started and we’ll get into his claims where he became suspicious that you were trying to promote your own career.
I found it really heartbreaking and awful that he doesn’t even address our friendship, our brotherhood. He painted me as a suit who used him and abused him for his own personal gain and whatever, but when I say that kid was my little brother, I loved him. I saw the potential in him. I saw a lot of myself in him at that age, and granted, I’m 33 and he just turned 20. There is a pretty significant age gap, but I saw the potential in him, very much like Boss, and I loved what he loved.
We bonded over our love and passion for pop culture, Marvel, DC. We would talk on the phone for hours. Our relationship started as a friendship where he was venting to me over his management team that he had at the time that was not putting time into him, not doing anything for him, getting him crap deals, etc. It got to the conversation where it was like, “I’ll help you, no agreement, but I’ll help you.”
There was no contract between you and Ramos?
No, zero, none. There was a lot of upfront help that I wasn’t compensated for, but that’s who I am. I was raised [to think], if you can help someone, you do it, even if you don’t get anything in return. If I had the opportunity to help someone, whether it’s saying something — which is why I love speaking — if something clicks after what I do or say, and that propels you for it in a positive way, there’s nothing more gratifying than that, which is why I love being a manager, working at that capacity, helping people, a consultant, whatever. It was a façade on their end to legitimize themselves further into space, because as a 19, 20-year-old kid, when you’re reaching out to multibillion dollar studios, they’re like, “You’re a 20-year-old kid. What do you want?”
They don’t take you seriously, and talent in general who are independent and don’t have teams, they struggle unless you have massive [amounts of] followers. Matt is not in that category.
He has a couple million straight, which is great. In the grand [scheme] of things, the Charli D’Amelios, the Logan Pauls, that is stardom celebrity level. They’re at the Met Gala and stuff now, it’s insane. When having someone like me, who’s in their 30s, who’s been in the industry for almost a decade, who has relationships in the studio, who has a resume, who has a playbook of what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished — that is so helpful, as I was helped by Jimmy Rich.
Nicki
