Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Adam McIntyre VidCon concerns, viral hotel pool meltdown, Jeff Wittek vs. David Dobrik + more
Transcript
- 0:00Coming up today on Mini Scroll, Adam McIntyre versus Vidcon, the
- 0:04creator going viral for complaining about children in a
- 0:07hotel pool. Jeff Whittick and David Dobrik
- 0:10seem to settle their legal battle and the comments section
- 0:13turning into a giant inside joke.
- 0:16Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
- 0:19daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
- 0:22from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
- 0:25Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays, I'm your
- 0:28host Lauren Meise, the founder of the Australian youth digital
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- 1:22All right, welcome back to mini scroll everyone.
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- 1:36All right, let's just get into the stories for today.
- 1:39So the first story that I have for you guys today is I'm going
- 1:42to cover the Adam McIntyre Vidcon situation.
- 1:45So YouTube Adam McIntyre has released a video explaining that
- 1:49he was invited to attend Vidcon as a featured creator alongside
- 1:54Rachel Ballinger. So in his video, Adam says he
- 1:57only found out after he had accepted the invitation and
- 2:00booked his flights and accommodation.
- 2:02So a day after all of that, Rachel Ballinger was also
- 2:06announced as a featured creator. Adam reportedly reached out to
- 2:09Vidcon organizers to clarify the situation but says they
- 2:12responded by stating they quote don't want to get in the middle
- 2:15of YouTube drama. I'm sorry, this is truly so far
- 2:19from quote UN quote YouTube drama.
- 2:20It's so dismissive of if this is true of Vidcon to have said this
- 2:24to him. So then Adam asked Vidcon
- 2:26whether Colleen Ballinger would also be attending.
- 2:29And apparently organizers allegedly said that Rachel had
- 2:32not yet added her as a + 1. So kind of leaving it up in the
- 2:36air. And I suppose we can assume that
- 2:38that's them also saying they will not take a stance on her
- 2:41like being there one way or another.
- 2:43So Adam, unfortunately, his whole video is basically about
- 2:46how he's not sure he still wants to go despite Vidcon being
- 2:49something that he's dreamed about since childhood, which is
- 2:52so sad. If you guys have no idea why
- 2:54Rachel Ballinger or Colleen Ballinger would impact Adam
- 2:58McIntyre going to Vidcon, This is why back in the day, a lot of
- 3:02you guys actually found this podcast from Colleen Ballinger.
- 3:05That entire situation really blew up our podcast for a time.
- 3:10A lot has changed since then, so I'm not sure how many of you
- 3:12guys have stuck around, but if you came from that era, let me
- 3:16know. Regardless, around six years
- 3:17ago, Adam McIntyre opened up about his experience as a young
- 3:21fan of Colleen Colleen Ballinger.
- 3:22Obviously, she's super famous. She got really famous on YouTube
- 3:25for her character Miranda Sings, and now she's like a mommy
- 3:28vlogger basically. But she's been on YouTube
- 3:30forever. She is like an OG.
- 3:32So Adam publicly alleged that Colleen engaged in multiple
- 3:36inappropriate interactions with underage fans, including him.
- 3:40His claims included sending him lingerie, asking minors sexually
- 3:44explicit questions in fan group chats.
- 3:46The main group chat was called the Weenies.
- 3:49And apparently there were mostly underage fans in that.
- 3:52And so many fans, when he started talking about this, so
- 3:54many underage fans came forward with like screenshots and their
- 3:57own stories of this. And she would share
- 3:59inappropriate videos through other fans.
- 4:02Coming forward. Additional allegations were made
- 4:05that Colleen had shared explicit photos of Tricia Paytas in that
- 4:10group chat without consent and that she was mocking Tricia's
- 4:13body. And Tricia ended up addressing
- 4:15this whole situation as well on YouTube.
- 4:17And Adam also claims that Colleen frequently asked young
- 4:20fans to complete unpaid work for her.
- 4:22So at one point, he says that he was running the Miranda Singh's
- 4:25Twitter account. I think he said he was like 11
- 4:27at the time. Maybe it was 14.
- 4:29Either way, it was like really young.
- 4:30And essentially all of this was because they were huge stands of
- 4:34Miranda Sings, Colleen Ballinger, like the whole shtick
- 4:37that she had going on. And she would allegedly imply
- 4:41that she could help boost their career and even eventually help
- 4:45them get to these big events like Vidcon and things like
- 4:48that. So kind of just like abusing her
- 4:50power and that parasocial relationship that she had with
- 4:53fans for that fans I guess had with her.
- 4:55So I'm sure you guys all remember this entire saga
- 4:57because we got toxic gossip train out of that.
- 5:01That is a song that I fear will still be playing in my head as I
- 5:05take my last breath. That is a song that will haunt
- 5:08me forever. But this entire situation kicked
- 5:10off a big conversation at the time around like power dynamics
- 5:14in fandom and social media and how that's granted both fans and
- 5:19the celebrity or the fan object, the influencer, access to each
- 5:24other in a way that we've just never seen before.
- 5:26And how that can easily be a very slippery slope, especially
- 5:30when the fans are so young. OK so this is not a hot take.
- 5:33This is basically like the general consensus.
- 5:35But I agree with it that it is really shitty and dismissive of
- 5:40Vidcon to invite both Rachel Ballinger and Adam McIntyre as
- 5:46featured creators and then to essentially dismiss his concerns
- 5:49when he's telling them about this and calling it like YouTube
- 5:52drama. I feel like part of the duty of
- 5:55care to the creators that you're inviting and the fans as well
- 5:59that you are asking to pay for this event from event organizers
- 6:03should be considering the dynamics between the creators
- 6:07and the things that have happened behind the scenes with
- 6:09them that we know about at least.
- 6:10Right? Like if you wouldn't have
- 6:11Colleen Ballinger on a panel because of all the accusations
- 6:15against her and what has happened, then why would you
- 6:19think that it would be OK for one of her biggest accusers to
- 6:22be invited to be a featured creator at the same time as her
- 6:25sister? And her sister has consistently
- 6:27stood up for her, right? So I just feel like it's a lack
- 6:30of duty of care. I wanted to read a comment on
- 6:32YouTube. So his video was posted six days
- 6:34ago and it is filled with people being like, if you're allowing
- 6:38Colleen to still attend, like from the perspective of Vidcon,
- 6:41then that is like quote a quote picking a side.
- 6:44But I wanted to read one of the top comments.
- 6:46It says, guys, if you're going to write to Vidcon about this,
- 6:48then don't mention Adam. Write to them from the
- 6:51perspective of someone who is concerned about young people's
- 6:53safety at this event where Colleen could be present.
- 6:56And another take that people have is that Vidcon has done
- 6:59this intentionally to like, quote UN quote, create drama and
- 7:02garner engagement. I don't personally believe that.
- 7:05I think this is just like a lack of understanding from the event
- 7:09organizers. They maybe don't fully grasp
- 7:13what what happened between Adam and Colleen and what that whole
- 7:16situation was. And I think if they're going to
- 7:19invite a creator who expresses concern over another creator in
- 7:24attendance who has been invited and it's something as serious as
- 7:27like what Adam has gone through, then Vidcon should at the very
- 7:31least be making accommodations for Adam and saying, OK, we've
- 7:35invited you as a feature creator.
- 7:36Like we can't uninvite Rachel Ballinger at this point, but we
- 7:39can do XYZ to make sure that you guys are not on the same panel,
- 7:43you're not in the same place. Like whatever it is, I feel like
- 7:46that should be at least the bare minimum that Vidcon has agreed
- 7:50to do or offered to do. All right, the next story that I
- 7:53have for you guys today is a creator named Jessica Jean is
- 7:57going viral after posting a video crashing out about
- 8:00children playing at a rooftop pool at a hotel where she was
- 8:03staying. So Jessica and her boyfriend
- 8:05went away from the night because her boyfriend wanted to see a
- 8:08concert out of town. She specifically requested they
- 8:11stay at this more expensive hotel.
- 8:13So she and enjoy the pool on Friday night while he goes to
- 8:16his concert. And here is what she says
- 8:18happened. And I'm just going to stay in on
- 8:20Friday night and be at the pool and the jacuzzi.
- 8:23And I went out there and it was so nice.
- 8:26There were families with kids playing.
- 8:28I even like when I was in the pool before I got in the
- 8:30jacuzzi, I heard them being like, like, there's other people
- 8:33here, don't splash. And I was like, hey, like their
- 8:35kids, kids, kids can splash and scream like I'm in a pool, I'm
- 8:39in a public pool. And they seemed so relieved.
- 8:40And they were like, yeah. And like we chatted for a
- 8:43minute, whatever. I was drinking my drink and
- 8:44being on my phone. And then I went to the jacuzzi
- 8:46and there were three adults in the jacuzzi, 2 there.
- 8:50I got in and then another guy got in and like, we were barely
- 8:53interacting with each other, but I was sitting in the Jacuzzi and
- 8:56you just hear the door open and it is so loud.
- 9:02I came up to my balcony and I counted 'cause I can see and
- 9:05hear the pool even if the doors closed and I could count 39 and
- 9:10I know there's like a row of chairs I can't see and they had
- 9:13completely overtaken those chairs.
- 9:14So there's probably more over there.
- 9:17And I'm sitting in the jacuzzi and I'm like, OK, it's kind of
- 9:19loud and annoying, but like, we can move on, it's fine.
- 9:22But then like a kid got in the hot tub and then two more got in
- 9:26and then two more got in and there's like the guy laughed.
- 9:29Like he just like noped everybody sitting on chairs,
- 9:32like there was a guy, like drinking and vaping.
- 9:33There was a woman reading. They all left before the kids
- 9:36could even make it to the pool. Like the kids ran in and they
- 9:39were all like, bye. But I'm like, no, I booked this
- 9:43hotel for this. Like I asked my boyfriend to
- 9:46spend the extra money on me getting this.
- 9:49And so I'm sitting in the hot tub, the kids are getting in,
- 9:52and they just keep, like, diving under the water and splashing
- 9:56and bumping into me. And the two other women that
- 9:58stayed were so unbothered. And they were talking earlier
- 10:01about how they're like, teachers.
- 10:03And so I'm like, OK, like, I'm the problem.
- 10:05My God, and so I just got up and I left and I came to the room
- 10:09and I started crying and I can hear them screaming right
- 10:12outside. And so I like called the front
- 10:14desk and I was like, look, I really don't want to be this
- 10:16person. They're not doing anything
- 10:17wrong. Like they're just kids.
- 10:19But like I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 10:21You know, like I booked for this and everything I've been
- 10:23complaining about the past three fucking minutes and they were
- 10:27just like, we can move your room.
- 10:28And I was like, I don't want to move rooms.
- 10:30Like I don't care about the noise.
- 10:32I care that I can no longer use this amenity.
- 10:34And I was speaking very much like not like that.
- 10:37Like I was just like, no, they're not doing anything
- 10:39wrong. Like I'm not complaining about
- 10:42them. I'm complaining about the
- 10:44situation. And like is there, I'm so sorry,
- 10:46but like, is there anything you can do?
- 10:47And she was like, I'll move your room.
- 10:48Like I'm just like, I don't offer me like a fucking there's
- 10:51three bars in this hotel. Offer me a free drink.
- 10:54They have room service. Offer me a dessert.
- 10:56Like I'm not asking for you to like refund us our night.
- 11:00I'm not asking for you like she was like, I'll upgrade you.
- 11:02And I'm like, I don't need an upgrade.
- 11:04Like we have a perfectly fine room.
- 11:06OK, people are losing their minds like the drama in this
- 11:10TikTok. So people are like, what did you
- 11:13expect the hotel to do when you are consistently telling us that
- 11:17the kids weren't doing anything wrong and they're also offering
- 11:20to move you rooms to make these different concessions.
- 11:23Why would you post this? There's no real story here is
- 11:28like the main reaction, right? And like, what would do you
- 11:30expect the hotel to do? And then there's a whole other
- 11:33group of people that are like, OK, so did you just post it
- 11:35because you want free things like your piss that they didn't
- 11:37offer you a free dessert or a free drink?
- 11:39They offer to like, upgrade you and like change your room, which
- 11:42is arguably a lot more expensive than a free drink or a free
- 11:45dessert. Now, there are some people that
- 11:47are sympathizing with her over what happened at the Jacuzzi.
- 11:51Let me read you one comment. This person, Diane, says
- 11:53unpopular opinion, but I think her disappointment is valid.
- 11:56Kids under 14 shouldn't be in the Jacuzzi.
- 11:58And if they are, they shouldn't be bumping into her pools for
- 12:01the enjoyment of all of them. Management should have asked the
- 12:03parents and kids to be mindful of other guests.
- 12:06No need to shame her for legitimate feelings.
- 12:08So and then another comment reads, girl, I get being
- 12:10annoyed, but crying and calling the front desk, that's like
- 12:13where I fall to. I understand that you might be
- 12:16like, Oh my God, this is really annoying.
- 12:18But the melodrama like this reaction, There's a lot of
- 12:22people in the comments that are like, girl, what is like
- 12:23actually going on here? Like it cannot be this because
- 12:26it really it really crossed the line when you're calling the
- 12:29front desk to plain suggesting that they offer you free things
- 12:33for nothing, nothing happening. And posting this publicly on the
- 12:38Internet crying like that is what's making people a lot less
- 12:42sympathetic to this. Despite all that, Jessica, she
- 12:45is a living her best life like she is unbothered.
- 12:48And honestly, this is the way to go about going viral in a way
- 12:52where people are like not on your side at all.
- 12:53Like she has taken this on the chin.
- 12:56She hasn't deleted the video and she's been posting so much since
- 13:00the started going viral and she shared 2 videos about what's
- 13:02happened since she's gone viral so I'll play you a couple clips.
- 13:06Yesterday I had a video on here get really big and people are
- 13:10really mad at me apparently. I've been getting nasty
- 13:13comments, vile messages. It's kind of insane.
- 13:18But while people were sitting on their phones commenting on that
- 13:20video, I spent the day bopping around San Francisco, the love
- 13:24of my life. We had an absolute blast.
- 13:27And within 24 hours, that video maybe 200.
- 13:29And $13, so thank you. I got a few messages on a video
- 13:33yesterday from followers. Followers that I recognized.
- 13:36People saying they've always loved following me, but they
- 13:39think they're going to unfollow because of this.
- 13:41They're getting skeeved out. I get it, I really do.
- 13:45I wanted to reply to one of them directly, but I don't want to
- 13:47get anybody's handles wrapped up in anything that's going on on
- 13:52my online presence right now because it's fucking insane.
- 13:55But I want to make it clear that when I said I got nasty, mean
- 13:59and vile comments, I wasn't talking about people being like,
- 14:02you shouldn't have wasted the front desk time calling children
- 14:05are allowed there. They probably booked 2.
- 14:08You picked the wrong place, you were in the wrong.
- 14:10You're dramatic. You shouldn't post a video of
- 14:12you crying online. I'm talking about the hundreds
- 14:15of comments I received within two hours on multiple videos
- 14:19across my platform telling my boyfriend to leave me.
- 14:22I'm talking about people messaging me to get on Ozempic.
- 14:27I'm talking about go to therapy. You have bipolar disorder, you
- 14:31have personality disorder. You have regulation issues.
- 14:35I mean, her point is completely valid.
- 14:36Like if you are frustrated with like how she handled the
- 14:39situation that she posted this video at all, if you feel like
- 14:41it's entitled and all of that kind of stuff, sure.
- 14:45But to be commenting about like her relationship, what she looks
- 14:48like, her weight, it's so disproportionate and disgusting
- 14:51and unnecessary. It's literally just bullying.
- 14:54And you know what? I appreciate that she has left
- 14:56this up and she's addressing all of this, and she seems to be in
- 14:59good spirits. And this is exactly what people
- 15:01need to do if they go viral for something that is like, you
- 15:05know, like, what happened is not like egregious.
- 15:07Like her video is out of touch and a little bit like, girl, why
- 15:11did you post this? And people are obviously, like,
- 15:14running with it. I think she's handling this
- 15:16really well. It's honestly brave for her to
- 15:18leave this up. And I applaud her for this.
- 15:21This is a great way to handle it.
- 15:22OK, The next story that I have for you guys today is Jeff
- 15:25Whitdick and David Dobrik have seemingly settled their legal
- 15:28battle years after Jeff's accident.
- 15:31So Jeff Whitdick and David Dobrik have seemingly resolved
- 15:34their long running legal battle off the back of his accident
- 15:37with Jeff voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit earlier this month.
- 15:41Back in 2020, Jeff was seriously injured during a prank he was
- 15:44filming for David's channel in which several members of the
- 15:47vlog squad spun around on a rope attached to an excavator and
- 15:51David was the one driving of his accident.
- 15:53He said, quote, I tore some ligament in my leg, I broke my
- 15:56foot, I broke my hip, I shattered my skull in nine
- 15:59places, I shattered my eye socket.
- 16:01I almost lost my eye and I almost died.
- 16:04So when Jeff went public with this, David initially did not
- 16:07take this well and the two had a huge falling out that also
- 16:10involved this ongoing lawsuit. Jeff initially filed a lawsuit
- 16:14against David in 2022, is seeking approximately $10
- 16:16million in damages related to his serious injuries and the
- 16:19legal action alleged negligence and sought compensation for
- 16:23extensive medical treatment following the incident.
- 16:26Because Jeff has had to have like countless surgeries.
- 16:28So after years of this back and forth and Jeff speaking very
- 16:31poorly of David publicly very often, which whatever, like
- 16:35fair. Now Jeff has returned this
- 16:37weekend with a statement on Instagram.
- 16:39He wrote, quote, been waiting a long time to say this.
- 16:41Over the last few years, a lot of energy has gone into
- 16:43something that weighed heavily on me both mentally and
- 16:45emotionally. Last year especially, it brought
- 16:48me to one of the lowest points in my life.
- 16:49And through that process, I realized I needed to make a
- 16:51choice to let go, move forward, and choose forgiveness.
- 16:55Once I did, I immediately felt a sense of peace that I hadn't in
- 16:57a long time. After meeting with my legal team
- 16:59and reviewing all the relevant information, it became clear to
- 17:02me that I've been miscommunicated to buy a former
- 17:05team member who no longer works for me.
- 17:07I learned that David's company had in fact offered and provided
- 17:10insurance coverage for my initial medical bills totalling
- 17:13approximately $110,000, along with an additional $41,000 in
- 17:18medical expenses that David paid out of pocket without pushback.
- 17:21This information was not properly communicated to me
- 17:23before the lawsuit was filed. David helped cover my medical
- 17:26costs, and now we have clear communication moving forward
- 17:29regarding future coverage as well.
- 17:30I want to apologize for the confusion this situation has
- 17:33created publicly. OK, so there's a lot of confused
- 17:36reactions to this. If you guys are in the legal
- 17:38profession, I feel like I'm tapping you guys in all the
- 17:40time. I'm always like, if somebody
- 17:42here listens who's like a lawyer, let us know.
- 17:45But please, like, let me know the main theory here is that
- 17:48like, you know, they've reached a settlement and Jeff publicly
- 17:51saying like David has paid for some things was part of that
- 17:54settlement that he had to publicly post that.
- 17:57But then the question is, how is it that Jeff wouldn't have known
- 18:01that? And he has been talking for so
- 18:03long about this lawsuit and talking negatively about David.
- 18:07And so if David had been paying his medical bills, like, why
- 18:10would David or his team have not addressed that publicly and been
- 18:13like, bro, like, here's the evidence that's not true.
- 18:17One of the the main theories is that it's possible that because
- 18:19it's going through insurance mostly that that can take years.
- 18:22And so technically David had not paid his medical bills yet.
- 18:26Like I don't know. What do you guys think about
- 18:28this? This is really interesting to
- 18:30me. I've also seen some takes.
- 18:31This is kind of like an aside, but I've seen a few takes
- 18:34recently of people feeling like Jeff has really fallen off,
- 18:36especially he kind of like ambushed Tana Mojo on his
- 18:39podcast. She was like a consistent Co
- 18:41host for him and he kind of ambushed her with somebody.
- 18:44I forget who it was. It was like some guest and Tana
- 18:47did not seem down for that. And then it seems like she
- 18:50basically stopped going on his podcast.
- 18:52But yeah, a lot of people are like, Jeff has like really
- 18:54fallen off lately. So I wonder if this coming to a
- 18:57close will kind of turn over a new leaf for Jeff in his career
- 19:01and his public persona and how he kind of approaches content
- 19:05moving forward. OK.
- 19:06And the last story that I have, you guys say this is like a
- 19:08quick little mention. I don't know if you guys have
- 19:10been part of this, but there is this like new inside joke
- 19:14happening on TikTok that is going so viral.
- 19:17So a video posted yesterday of a girl flipping off a monkey.
- 19:21It's literally just like her giving the finger to a monkey.
- 19:23She's like on vacation has racked up over 26 million views
- 19:28in the day since it was posted in one day.
- 19:31And because it is going so viral so quickly, the comments are
- 19:36going off and turning into this like inside joke about how we're
- 19:39all like online on the same Internet at the same time.
- 19:42Because this kind of virality in such a short span of time is so,
- 19:47I mean, it's definitely not unheard of on TikTok, but it is
- 19:50becoming increasingly rarer. So every two seconds, somebody
- 19:54is commenting about how we're all online at the same time.
- 19:57The main comment is why is everyone online?
- 19:59But then people are making jokes about how this is like a live
- 20:02chat. Like the comment section is like
- 20:03a live chat because it's going so viral so quickly.
- 20:06There are over 76,000 comments. And I am not kidding when I say
- 20:12almost all of them are participating in this inside
- 20:14joke. The creator's name is Kate, who
- 20:16posted this video. So and right now she has 8000
- 20:18followers but I'm going to guess since this video has 27.3
- 20:22million views that she probably had like 1000 followers like at
- 20:25the most before this popped off. She still only has 8000
- 20:28followers. Like it's truly insane what has
- 20:31happened. Anyways, guys, that's it for
- 20:34mini scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
- 20:36I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
- 20:38and subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US.
- 20:41Annabelle will talk to you guys tomorrow and then I will talk to
- 20:43you on Thursday. Bye.
- 20:45Centennial World podcast network operates on Gadigal land.
- 20:48We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Aura Nation, the
- 20:51traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to
- 20:54elders both past and present.