Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Ken Eurich vs. Brianna Chickenfry, Vi Luong calls out creator plagiarism + Nutter Butter's unhinged TikTok

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MINI SCROLL: Ken Eurich vs. Brianna Chickenfry, Vi Luong calls out creator plagiarism + Nutter Butter's unhinged TikTok · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
• 0:19
  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  I just saw right before we started that Taylor Frankie
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  Paul. This is not an official story
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  because I literally just saw it, but Taylor Frankie Paul has
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  affirmed, I think it's an Us Weekly exclusive.
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  She said we are not fully together, but we are not fully
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  done regarding her relationship with Dakota.
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  So that is just like a little continuation of yesterday's
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  story. All right, let's just get right
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  into the stories for today. So I have a couple updates about
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  Brianna Chicken Fry and I wanted to say before I start, I feel
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  like kind of weird talking about Breonna and I don't know why
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  because like she is a fully fledged Internet celebrity now,
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  but I think she's so divisive. And even though she's definitely
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  done some really shitty things publicly, I do think she's one
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  of those influencers that in the eye of the public she can never
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  win. And so I there's just certain
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  influencers or creators or even celebrities like that where I
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  just feel bad piling on, even if sometimes it is a bit deserved.
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  However, she is also now dating a country music star who I would
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  consider is like on his way to being a list, if not already a
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  list. Maybe a list is a little bit
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  extreme, but I think he's on his way to being a list.
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  So of course the microscope is on her like times 100 now
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  because of that relationship. So I didn't talk about this on
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  mini scroll last week because it was I guess before I came back
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  from my break. But anyways, I'm sure most of us
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  know this part of the story, but Zach Bryan, who is Brianna
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  boyfriend the country music star, he made this weird tweet
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  about Taylor Swift last Tuesday. So he wrote Eagles chiefs as in
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  like eagles, like better than chiefs, Kanye better than
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  Taylor, who's with me? This tweet was met with so much
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  backlash given how Kanye has treated Taylor over the years.
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  Obviously he's been going through his shit, but that
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  doesn't excuse the fact that he's been like openly
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  anti-Semitic. He's been openly posting very
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  horrible things about Kim Kardashian and her family.
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  She's the mother of his children.
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  So Zach, you know, not only comparing Taylor and Kanye given
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  their history, but also just given Kanye's recent behavior
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  with people, people were kind of like, OK, this is this is not
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  it. This is problematic.
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  So he took, he deleted that. And then he took to Instagram
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  stories to correct himself. He said, I never want anyone to
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  think I have a hint of malice or meanness towards anyone ever.
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  I've been going through a hard time in my own life.
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  And I think I was projecting a little, to be completely honest.
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  It just came off as rude and desensitized to Taylor.
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  I respect her so much as a musician that the last thing I
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  want is people thinking I don't appreciate and love what she has
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  done for music. And then he repeated twice,
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  don't drink and tweet. And then he deactivated Twitter.
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  OK, so following this, Redditor started keeping track of how
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  Brianna was interacting with Zach online.
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  And I think because Brianna is like a pop culture commentator
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  on the BFFS podcast, people there, I don't want to say
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  there's more. Maybe there is more scrutiny
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  around her relationship with Zac because he is obviously like a
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  pop culture figure now, like he is a celebrity.
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  But I think there's also always a lot of eyes on how she deals
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  with situations like this because typically if she wasn't
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  dating Zac Ryan, she they probably would have talked about
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  it, right? Redditors started keeping track
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  of how Brianna was interacting with Zac online.
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  And I guess this spawned a lot of theories that they had split.
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  However, when people posted about this speculative split,
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  especially on TikTok, those videos were soon deleted.
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  So now this is turned into like a conspiracy theory on TikTok
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  that someone on either Brianna's team or Zach's team is getting
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  these videos taken down. I personally believe that that's
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  not the case. I think these videos are
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  speculative. There is no indication that they
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  have split aside from people like putting like investigating
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  and like putting certain pieces together.
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  And so because it's so speculative, I think Zac Ryan
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  fans and Brianna fans are coming in the comments and I think that
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  these people that are posting these videos are just getting
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  like a lot of backlash and hate. So they remove them.
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  That's my theory on that. And I do see how it's different.
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  Like when I talked about Taylor and Dakota yesterday, possibly,
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  you know, having broken up, that kind of speculation doesn't
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  receive as much backlash because Taylor posted a TikTok that was
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  so clearly something like she was so clearly hinting at
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  something that their relationship was not fully what
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  it used to be. And then all of her friends were
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  commenting and stuff. But like Brianna and Zach,
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  nothing like that has happened with them.
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  So if they have split or they are going through issues, like
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  they've kept that offline. So that is why people I guess
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  are more like protective of that.
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  The second update related to Brianna is that influencer Ken
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  Urich has shared a story on the most recent episode of her
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  podcast Dumber Blonde about kind of a bad experience she had with
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  Brianna and in turn Grace O'Malley who Co hosts Plan Bri
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  with her, but more so Brianna it seemed.
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  So Ken did not name Brianna but everyone it's been a few days
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  since Kens episode went up. I think it was actually a week
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  but a few days after it went up everyone like put the pieces
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  together and was like oh this is about Brianna.
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  She talks about how they met on this tart brand trip.
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  It didn't seem like Brianna liked her but then Brianna asked
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  her to do like a TikTok together and then she also asked her
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  later to join a live show of her podcast.
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  Planned Bri planned Bri planned Bri.
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  So she was like, oh, OK, this is kind of confusing, but I guess
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  she likes me. So Ken said she showed up to the
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  live show. She's like, I was high.
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  Everyone was like so drunk, like as in the audience and stuff.
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  And then I guess Bri was like, what topics are off limits for
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  you? Is anything off limits?
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  She gave them two topics that were off limits.
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  And she says that Brianna brought up one of them on stage
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  on the live show. And she basically just explained
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  how she felt like she was brought on the live show to be
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  made fun of and to be embarrassed.
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  And I actually wanted to use these updates as a jumping off
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  point because I saw TikTok yesterday by Caro.
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  Oh my God. I forget what her full name is,
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  but I'll put her on the screen here.
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  So Caro, she makes a lot of content about pop culture.
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  She has a podcast. She talks also about like trad
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  wives a lot. So we've referenced her content
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  over the course of like us talking about trad wives and
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  ballerina farm and all of that. Back in August when all of the
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  Blake Lively stuff was happening, she made a video
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  asking if we think celebrities absorb any of the criticism that
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  they receive or if when they are like in the the eye of the Storm
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  when it comes to like cancel culture, if they tend to go more
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  into like the victim mentality. And this is actually not super
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  relevant to the Brianna updates because Brianna's definitely not
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  being cancelled for any of this stuff that I just talked about.
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  But I think it's an interesting point to bring up that
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  celebrities, I believe they get an influx of feedback
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  constantly. And so it's hard.
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  I think I've talked about this so many times on the podcast,
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  but I think it's really hard to differentiate for anyone between
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  valid criticism, like constructive criticism and hate.
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  And so I think it's just easier for them to kind of lump any
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  type of criticism together as hate.
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  Like it is just like a blanket hate and it's self preservation
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  because we shouldn't be, you know, having that many opinions
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  about ourselves thrown at us that frequently.
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  So I feel like it's almost innate because of a certain
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  level of fame. You probably cannot like your
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  brain probably cannot process the the amount of feedback that
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  you are constantly getting. And therefore your brain
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  probably automatically it has to go into self preservation mode.
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  And so being able to, like, ignore or dismiss certain
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  feedback as hate is just so much easier for the human, like the
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  human body, if that makes sense. And while that doesn't
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  necessarily have much to do with the Brianna thing, I think it's
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  interesting because from my perspective, Brianna, you know,
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  she's always been really larger than life, but she's also always
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  had this really humble side. And I think there's a lot of
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  discourse now about how like fame and dating Zach and all of
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  this has like gone to her head. And honestly, I think it would
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  go to a lot of people's heads. I, I do.
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  And I think it is just another example of kind of that
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  animalistic response that we have to constant stimuli, to
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  constant feedback because these people are getting constant
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  criticism, but they're also getting constant praise and love
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  and surrounded by yes, Ben, who are telling them that they're
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  the best. And they have millions of people
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  that are also telling them that they're the best that like,
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  listen to them every week and whatever.
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  So yeah, I think when it comes to how influencers or
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  celebrities act, I don't think we can be surprised if they're
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  not always coming off as the nicest people.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys is that TikTok
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  creator V Luong has created a multi part series calling out
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  influencer Yu Yi Chao for plagiarizing her content.
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  So V is a creator with almost 1,000,000 followers.
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  Her vibe is like your digital big sis.
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  So she makes like lifestyle content, self improvement
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  content, that type of stuff. Three days ago she started
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  posting this series where she has mapped out how this other
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  creator Yui has copied her content.
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  Many of the videos are word for word, frame for frame.
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  The same writing on top of the TikTok videos, the same
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  mannerisms. Like it is actually wild.
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  So V posted this because another creator named Taylor Timinskis
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  made a video saying that Yui was copying her.
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  So V was like, I knew this day would come.
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  I knew other people would cotton on to this.
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  I was her first target in 2020. Here's my story type of thing.
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  So Yu Yi has grown a platform of nearly 300,000 on TikTok and
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  almost 200,000 on Instagram from allegedly copying different
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  people's content. V says that every few months Yu
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  Yi picks a new creator to copy and she's basically been doing
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  this for years. So V explains that she like
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  called Yu Yi out. She basically sent her DMS when
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  she you realized this was happening.
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  She said they were mutuals like Yui like found her would message
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  her. She actually called it love
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  bombing and you you only had like 2000 followers at the time
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  so she was like an aspiring creator.
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  Hey girl, I saw this reel and wanted to ask you about it since
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  it's word for word a TikTok I made very recently.
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  I totally understand if you feel inspired but everything down to
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  the song choice is the same. It is also titled the same as my
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  series that I now have five parts on.
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  I was hoping you have an explanation for this and then
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  you you responded. Hey girl I'll be sure to tag you
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  and post inspired by you. It kept happening I guess.
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  So she's like she just kept copying my content and then like
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  tagging me. V said integrity when it comes
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  to content creation is a thing, and it is hurtful to me for
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  someone I considered an Internet friend to blatantly replicate a
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  content series of mine down to every single aspect of the
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  video. Did you not expect me to see it?
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  I also wanted to say thank you for tagging me, but I think you
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  also need to understand that a lot of this doesn't feel right.
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  The exact replica, the copying of a series, the lack of
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  accountability, the deleting of comments, slash filtering out my
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  name, etcetera. If the situation was flipped,
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  how would you feel? No hate whatsoever because I
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  have respect for you seeing as you have followed each other for
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  a long time, but I would appreciate it if I could be
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  extended the same respect and encourage you to also explore
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  spinning it in a way that makes it your own.
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  She goes, I want to say she doesn't want to make it public
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  and then you says I appreciate that you've reached out to me,
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  but honestly I have not seen attempts to open dialogue with
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  me in good faith. Before you gave me a chance to
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  respond, you had already involved several of your
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  influencer friends. After I tagged you, there were
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  still attempts at public call outs.
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  I want to believe that you have meaningful intentions, but at
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  the same time your last message is a kindly worded threat.
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  OK so V was basically like she gaslit me and then made me
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  question everything I was sending to her if she was
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  actually copying me. And then V said before you you
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  blocked her. She basically accused her of
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  using her power as an influencer to bully a college student who
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  is like just trying to make it online.
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  And I think this is an important story.
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  It happens so much in the creator space, in the media
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  space, in journalism, blatant plagiarism is an ongoing issue.
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  It is a very consistent issue. So if you guys see it, you have
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  to call it out. Something similar, not to this
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  scale, but something similar happened to us with one of our
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  podcast episodes. A bigger creator plagiarized a
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  big portion of our script and it was kind of the same thing.
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  Like we are a very small media company.
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  Like I can't, I wish I could explain to you guys how small
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  and how little money we make. But because we have like a
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  company behind us, we were accused of like bullying this
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  creator who has a much bigger platform, a much bigger
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  following. We were accused of using AI,
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  which we have never used AI to write any of our podcast
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  scripts. It just ended up not being worth
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  the risk of any of this spinning out of control.
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  So yes, it is an ongoing problem and it's this is wild, though.
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  This is like if you guys look like you use videos are
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  literally the exact same. She it's like a copy and paste
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  or it's not even any type of like trying to make it your own.
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  It is very, very wild. So if V post anything else about
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  this, I'll keep you guys updated.
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  But for now, definitely go to her TikTok and check it out.
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  It's it's honestly fascinating like it is, it's horrible, but
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  it's very fascinating to see how this is happening and how
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  blatant it is. The last story that I have for
• 14:24
  you guys is we need to talk about how the Nutter butter
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  TikTok is going viral because it is so insane.
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  So for context, I often get asked by brands that we consult
• 14:34
  for what is it that Gen. Z wants from a brand on TikTok?
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  And obviously, there's no easy answer to that because it all
• 14:41
  depends on like what your brand does, what you sell and like the
• 14:45
  capacity or like the capabilities of your team.
• 14:47
  Like not every company can make funny behind the scenes at the
• 14:52
  office content because that's just like not how your team is
• 14:54
  structured. You don't have anyone on your
• 14:56
  team that would want to do that. Like, whatever, right?
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  So a blanket rule that I would say is that young people want
• 15:03
  brands to show up on TikTok and be incredibly unserious.
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  So young people don't look to brands for inspiration or
• 15:13
  aspiration anymore the way that millennials did.
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  You'll find a lot more cut through if your brand is self
• 15:19
  aware, which I know is a weird thing to say about a brand, But
• 15:23
  no one is under the impression anymore that engaging with a
• 15:26
  brand or purchasing from a brand will get them closer to some
• 15:30
  type of like aspirational lifestyle.
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  Like we just don't buy into, you know, the culture, the
• 15:36
  community, the subculture that brands curated for us in the
• 15:41
  2000s and 20 tens. But anyway, so, you know, the
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  consumer brands, I think doing their best on TikTok are not
• 15:48
  trying to force anything. They are not taking themselves
• 15:52
  too seriously. They're having fun.
• 15:54
  They're being unhinged. And Nutter Butter is the most
• 15:58
  recent good example of that. So user Cassie Fitzwater brought
• 16:03
  the account into kind of like the zeitgeist when she made a
• 16:07
  video that went viral asking if Nutter Butter is OK.
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  If you guys have not seen Nutter Butter's official account on
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  here, I need you to stop what you're doing and go look at it.
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  I'm concerned. Another butter.
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  Are you guys OK? Now everyone is going to the
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  account to check it out. So they make videos that border
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  on like conspiracy or like altered reality.
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  Like their videos are in the style of like really creepy
• 16:36
  horror accounts and they always have the logo or like the little
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  mascot. And then it just like devolves
• 16:43
  into something deeper and weirder and like more sinister.
• 16:46
  It almost feels like you're watching a video where you're
• 16:49
  like on psychedelics and you're learning about Slender Man for
• 16:53
  the first time. Like that's the vibe of their
• 16:56
  videos. It's literally insane.
• 16:59
  And it's so far outside the box of like what you would expect a
• 17:03
  brand to post. Like this brand sells peanut
• 17:05
  butter cookies like they sell cookies and it it's just, it
• 17:10
  makes no sense, but it also makes so much sense and it
• 17:13
  doesn't work, but it also works. And the reason why I say it
• 17:16
  doesn't work is because to me, this feels a little bit more
• 17:19
  like reels coated. I don't know if you guys spent
• 17:22
  any time on Reels instead of TikTok, but Reels is
• 17:24
  significantly weirder, more unhinged.
• 17:27
  It's just like brain rot. Whereas like TikTok, if you're
• 17:30
  scrolling the for you page, you will get a lot of like valid
• 17:33
  content mixed in with some of the brain rot.
• 17:36
  And the brain rot is not as obscure on TikTok as it is on
• 17:39
  Reels. And I actually think the reason
• 17:43
  why Nutter butter is possibly going this direction is like in
• 17:47
  this like extreme brain rot direction.
• 17:49
  It kind of reminds me of Skippity toilet.
• 17:51
  Like it gives that creepy sinister energy.
• 17:55
  And I'm going to say it's because they are a cookie brand
• 18:00
  and they're trying to appeal to Gen. alpha.
• 18:01
  I do think this like really unhinged brain rot is how to
• 18:07
  reach Gen. alpha, at least for now while they're still so
• 18:10
  young. That's my theory on it.
• 18:12
  But you guys have to check this account out.
• 18:13
  It is so so wild. And maybe it will give you guys
• 18:16
  some ideas if you work in social.
• 18:19
  Anyways guys, that's it for today.
• 18:20
  Thank you so much for listening. Please remember to rate, review
• 18:23
  and subscribe. It helps me so much.
• 18:25
  It helps me grow. I love you guys and I will talk
• 18:28
  to you tomorrow. Bye.