Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Tate McRae x Morgan Wallen backlash, MrBeast disaster, Devon Lee Carlson's Reformation collection, Revolve lawsuit + more
Transcript
- 0:00Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
- 0:04culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
- 0:07media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
- 0:11through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meissner,
- 0:14the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
- 0:19Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
- 0:21I'm so sorry for ghosting you guys on Thursday.
- 0:24I did not mean to take the day off.
- 0:27Skip ahead. There are time stamps in the
- 0:29description. If you do not care about the
- 0:31podcast, the business, my explanation, any of that.
- 0:35But yes, I accidentally missed Thursday.
- 0:37I didn't mean to. I came to work with a full glam,
- 0:41like ready to record. I had my story ready and then we
- 0:44got some news. Not the worst news ever.
- 0:47We just got some news about a deal that I was really excited
- 0:50about. It fell through and it was just
- 0:52like the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
- 0:54It's been such a challenging, I mean, it's been a challenging
- 0:58like 14 months, 16 months for me and the business.
- 1:03But I really thought 2025 was going to be like our year and it
- 1:07was going to be a lot better. And honestly, so far it hasn't
- 1:10been. I've just been overworked,
- 1:11overtired, so, so, so stressed about the business.
- 1:16You guys know, I like don't sleep at the best of times and I
- 1:19really have not been sleeping. And so anyways, when we got that
- 1:22news, I don't know what it was, but it just like tips me over
- 1:26the edge. I booked a meeting room and I
- 1:28was just like sobbing. Normally I'm really good at like
- 1:31compartmentalizing no matter how I'm doing, you know, I can like
- 1:35put on a brave face, do mini, do whatever I need to do for the
- 1:38business, right? And I'll just like cry when I'm
- 1:41driving home or when I'm at home or whatever.
- 1:44No, like this, Like it was like a faucet turned on and I just
- 1:48could not stop. And I was just like
- 1:50uncontrollably sobbing. My makeup was everywhere.
- 1:53I obviously couldn't get on camera.
- 1:55Like I was so unwell, but I also had some stuff that was due by
- 1:595:00 PM anyways like commercial content and this presentation
- 2:03that I'm working on which I'll tell you guys about at a
- 2:05different time. But anyways, I had stuff I had
- 2:08to get done like no matter what by 5:00 PM that day.
- 2:11So when I spent like a solid 2 hours sobbing, I knew I could
- 2:15not come on camera and do many. But yes, I'm feeling more
- 2:19revived today and I am sorry for like, ghosting you guys, but I
- 2:24thought I'll bring you guys an episode today on the Holiday
- 2:27Monday to make up for it. All right, let's get into the
- 2:29stories for today. I had to pare back the story, so
- 2:31I'm going to probably have a big episode today and also tomorrow.
- 2:35I did have to move some of the stories from today to tomorrow
- 2:37because there would have just been way too many stories.
- 2:39OK, the first story that I have for you guys is that an artist
- 2:42is facing backlash for reselling painted Trader Joe's tote bags
- 2:46for a wild amount of money. An artist named Gab went viral
- 2:51last week on TikTok when she posted a video calling out a
- 2:54possible customer saying that her offering her tote bags, her
- 3:00painted tote bags were way too expensive.
- 3:02OK, so one of the things that Gab's makes and sells is these
- 3:05discontinued Trader Joe's tote bags.
- 3:08She hand paints them with like cute designs and she sells them.
- 3:11So she posted a video exposing DMS with a potential customer
- 3:15who wanted to buy one and then told Gab it was too expensive.
- 3:19And you know Gab was basically like here's why it's important
- 3:23to pay artists what they're worth.
- 3:25However this has blown up the opposite way then I think what
- 3:29Gab was hoping for because it turns out she was trying to sell
- 3:33these bags for $1500 for contacts.
- 3:38The tote bags originally retailed for $3 and even though
- 3:42they are discontinued, you can buy them on different resale
- 3:46websites for like 15 bucks. So people can get behind paying
- 3:49an artist what they're worth. And you know that that has never
- 3:52been more important in the era of AI.
- 3:56You guys know, we talk about that a lot on this podcast.
- 3:58Like I'm very much behind that. But a lot of artists now are
- 4:02saying that situations like this and you know what Gab is doing,
- 4:06it kind of like dilutes that argument and it makes it harder
- 4:10for all of them to be taken seriously.
- 4:12I've also seen the take that she is rage baiting to gain a
- 4:15following and drive people to her page to sell her art.
- 4:19And I actually think that could be true.
- 4:22But yeah, people are like $1500 for a tote bag that initially
- 4:25cost $3. Yes, it's hand painted, but
- 4:29still people are like in this economy girl.
- 4:31Like, no. OK, The next story that I have
- 4:33for you guys is that a Mr. Beast Las Vegas event has turned into
- 4:38a disaster where fans are demanding their money back.
- 4:42Last week Resorts World Las Vegas hosted an immersive Mr.
- 4:45Beast fan experience and fans are now demanding their money
- 4:49back saying that they did not get what they were promised.
- 4:52The hotel sold tickets for a three day event that cost $1000.
- 4:57So this is from Daily Wire quote.
- 4:59It was supposed to include exclusive games, a Mr. Beast
- 5:02themed menu and mystery bags filled with limited edition
- 5:05merchandise. There was also supposed to be at
- 5:08least one bag containing a $10,000 gift voucher.
- 5:12OK, so fans were apparently instructed to wait in their
- 5:15rooms until they got some, like, surprise delivery, and that
- 5:19would be the start of everything.
- 5:21And that would kind of, like, tell them what they had to do
- 5:23and it would be filled with prizes.
- 5:25And so some fans told People magazine that they waited up to
- 5:2824 hours for this gift bag and that it had, like, chocolates
- 5:33and things that you could just buy, like Mr. Beast, like
- 5:35merchandise and like his product, products and stuff that
- 5:37you could just buy yourself and everything else.
- 5:39Just, like, did not live up to the hype.
- 5:42So Mr. Beast has responded to the backlash on Twitter.
- 5:45He said, hey, this definitely isn't the experience we hoped
- 5:49they deliver. They as in the hotel.
- 5:51So I was having a hard time figuring out how involved Mr.
- 5:58Beast was. Like, I thought initially he was
- 6:00there and it does not seem like that was the case.
- 6:03It seems like they essentially allowed Resorts World to license
- 6:07out his name, his likeness for this experience.
- 6:10I'm sure that Mister Beast and his team were like somewhat
- 6:13involved and obviously they knew about it and allowed it, but it
- 6:16doesn't seem like it was something that was put on by Mr.
- 6:19Beast and his team. So he said, hey, this definitely
- 6:21isn't the experience we hoped they deliver.
- 6:23My team's already on it. I'd love to personally make it
- 6:26up to you and anyone else by inviting everyone affected to
- 6:29tour my actual studio. Can't wait to meet you all.
- 6:32And my team is reaching out to everyone.
- 6:34And then Resorts World has actually taken some
- 6:37accountability saying that they did not meet the Mr. Beast
- 6:40expectations and they would be refunding everyone for their
- 6:43stay. Say what you will, I, I'm like
- 6:46Mr. beast #1 hater, you guys know, Say what you will about
- 6:48him and this whole situation, but if everybody does get their
- 6:52refunds right away, Mr. Beast does extend this offer to his
- 6:55fans who did pay the money then OK, you know what, they handled
- 6:59this well. OK, the next story for you guys,
- 7:01Oh my God, this is the biggest thing that's been all over my
- 7:04side of the Internet at least all weekend is Tate McRae is
- 7:08facing backlash for her Morgan Wallin collaboration.
- 7:13Last week, Tate McRae teased A collaboration that she is coming
- 7:16up with Morgan Wallen, country singer Morgan Wallen.
- 7:19I feel like most of you guys or everyone would know that, but
- 7:21he's a country singer. She is obviously a pop Princess.
- 7:25She is up and coming. OK, so she posted this orange
- 7:27jersey on her Instagram story with T8 like Tate and then the
- 7:30initials MW on it, Morgan Wallen.
- 7:34And this has literally exploded the music commentary world.
- 7:40So what? Many of Tate's fans are
- 7:42disappointed in her because as we know, Morgan Wallin has a
- 7:46history of problematic behavior off stage.
- 7:49For example, in 2021, he used the N word while drunk and it
- 7:54was recorded, posted, went viral.
- 7:57He lost a few different opportunities for like awards in
- 8:01that award season. And then that was basically it.
- 8:04In 2024, he was arrested for throwing a chair off a six story
- 8:07balcony in Nashville. The chair was apparently very
- 8:10heavy and metal and everyone's kind of like, if that hit
- 8:13someone it would have been so bad.
- 8:15And then less egregious but still questionable.
- 8:18A couple weeks ago, he stormed off SNL before the credits
- 8:21rolled. And then he posted this.
- 8:22Like, I'm going to say it was bigoted.
- 8:24Like I'm going to say it was for a very specific reason.
- 8:27This weirdly bigoted Instagram story of his private jet waiting
- 8:31to take him out of New York City with the caption and get me to
- 8:35God's country. And everyone was, like, making
- 8:38jokes about the fact that, like, he couldn't handle that New York
- 8:39City had, like, diversity and, like, women that had, you know,
- 8:44jobs and stuff. And he's also allegedly very
- 8:47MAGA. So OK with this Tate McCray
- 8:50situation, there are like three to four sides to this
- 8:54commentary. So I'm going to go through all
- 8:56of them. First, there are the people who
- 8:58are like, Tate, please, your label is sabotaging you.
- 9:02Like, this is so disappointing when it comes to that.
- 9:05I think like, there are a lot of people kind of like
- 9:07infantilizing Tate McCray and putting this all on her label.
- 9:13I don't know, like how it works. I'm interested if you guys are
- 9:16in the music industry or whatever, like if you know, I
- 9:19assume the artist has some say in who they collaborate with but
- 9:22I don't know. But regardless, when you think
- 9:24of Tates fan base, it is a lot of gay men and a lot of young
- 9:28women. And Morgan Wallin first of all,
- 9:31doesn't really make any sense. And I understand the concept of
- 9:34like cross genre collaborations, but Tate is still establishing
- 9:37herself in this arena like in her career, you know, like she
- 9:41is still very much up and coming.
- 9:43First of all, it feels a little bit like premature to have this
- 9:45like cross genre collaboration like this.
- 9:49But also, Moran Wallen, he is seemingly against the gays and
- 9:54the women having rights among basically every other group.
- 9:57But yeah, a lot of music commentators are saying like
- 9:59Take hasn't quite made it yet, like, she's still up and coming.
- 10:03And from APR perspective, this is just such a miss when it
- 10:07seems like Morgan Wallin, where his values, his politics align,
- 10:11like he just wants white men to have rights.
- 10:13And the people who are Tate Mcrae's fan base that are
- 10:16helping her come out of this up and coming stage, the ones who
- 10:19have been supporting her through all of her new singles and this
- 10:23like new era of her career, like this is just kind of like
- 10:26shitting on them. The second camp are people who
- 10:28are saying that they are not surprised by Tate's work with
- 10:31Morgan Wallen. So I've seen a lot of people
- 10:34point to the fact that Tate is from Alberta.
- 10:36I'm Canadian. If you're not familiar, if
- 10:38you're not Canadian, if you're not familiar, Alberta is quite
- 10:40culturally different from the rest of Canada.
- 10:43It is a lot more like the southern US and a lot of people
- 10:46basically compare it to Texas. It's a big oil province.
- 10:49Alberta's kind of claim to fame is the Calgary Stampede, which
- 10:53is A10 day rodeo that people come to from, like, all over the
- 10:56world. It's Canada's most conservative
- 10:59province. So a lot of people, especially
- 11:02Canadians, who are engaging this discourse are like, well, are we
- 11:05surprised that Tate might align with Morgan Wallen's, you know,
- 11:08politics or values? Tate is from Canada's version of
- 11:11Texas. I think this is kind of a
- 11:15shallow argument. Like, I understand that she's
- 11:18still young and I understand that she would no doubt have
- 11:22been influenced by the environment and the culture that
- 11:25she grew up in. And obviously being so young,
- 11:27maybe she's still kind of in that.
- 11:30It's possible she does align with all of that.
- 11:33Like, I don't know. We don't know.
- 11:35And I mean, that's what's making people feel upset about this is
- 11:38like, is this her telling us? Like this is what I align with
- 11:41regardless, but to say like, oh, because she's from there, she is
- 11:46that or she must align with that.
- 11:48I think it's kind of like a weak argument.
- 11:50I know lots of people who are from Alberta or live in Alberta
- 11:53that are not conservative. Just like I'm sure there's lots
- 11:56of people who live in, I don't know, like Florida, Texas,
- 11:58Queensland and Australia like that are not conservative.
- 12:01So I don't think that's necessarily like a super strong
- 12:04argument, but I do understand kind of educating people who
- 12:08might not fully understand the context in which she, like,
- 12:12comes from. OK.
- 12:13Another part of this conversation is people saying
- 12:15that we need to let people live and like, separate the art from
- 12:19the artists. And this argument is largely
- 12:22coming from the Tater Tots, which is Tate Mcrae's fanbase,
- 12:26Morgan Wallin fans, probably people who are generally more
- 12:30conservative. I personally disagree that you
- 12:33can separate the art from the artist.
- 12:35I think literally the point of art is that it's a reflection of
- 12:39the artist. It might be, you know, one piece
- 12:41of them or something about themselves that they're
- 12:44exploring. But either way, I think the idea
- 12:47that you can separate the art from the artist, especially when
- 12:51it comes to something like the artist not believing that anyone
- 12:56but white men should have human rights, I don't think that's
- 12:59like fully accurate. And I don't think that lands in
- 13:032025. Now, another piece of this
- 13:05argument is that there was none of this backlash for Morgan
- 13:09Wallin's collabs with other artists like Post Malone.
- 13:12And I don't know others. I just am familiar with the Post
- 13:14Malone one because he just did that big Country album and
- 13:16Morgan Wallin was on it and that Tait is being held to a higher
- 13:20standard because she is a woman. To that I probably agree.
- 13:25Women are held typically to a different standard.
- 13:29But I do think that Post Malone and anyone else that has
- 13:33collaborated with Morgan Wallen in recent years since he started
- 13:36really showing us who he is, I think they should have received
- 13:40similar backlash. But I don't think that takes
- 13:43away from the fact that Tate's audience can be upset and can be
- 13:47vocal about this. In general.
- 13:49I think that this collaboration was really dumb.
- 13:52I think even if Tate herself, like, loves Morgan Wallen and
- 13:56has no issue with him, I'm shocked that she's doing it.
- 13:59I'm shocked that the people around her are allowing her to
- 14:03do it. I don't really know if that's
- 14:04how that works. Like I said, I don't know how
- 14:07much say an artist has and who they collaborate with, how much
- 14:10say their label has. Like whatever.
- 14:13Either way, I can't believe no one around her was like, I think
- 14:17this might be a bad idea. It feels like they have no idea
- 14:19who her audience is and what they value by like allowing this
- 14:23collaboration to go ahead. And this situation has already
- 14:27been a big blow to her reputation.
- 14:30And I just think she didn't need it based on the trajectory that
- 14:33she's been on. Like she didn't need to sell out
- 14:37in this way and kind of have this short term gain because
- 14:41it's going to have a longer term impact on her reputation in the
- 14:44pop sphere, I do believe. OK, the next story that I have
- 14:47for you guys. Speaking of art existing within
- 14:51the context, Reformation's new influencer collaboration has
- 14:55sparked discussion about this exact topic.
- 14:59So Reformation has launched a line with a Devon Lee Carlson,
- 15:02and it has sparked backlash from the South Asian community.
- 15:06Devon Lee Carlson is really like the IT girl of the moment right
- 15:08now. She's a fashion influencer.
- 15:10She's also the founder of the phone case brand Wildflower
- 15:13Cases. She kind of runs in like the
- 15:15Neppo baby influencer circles, I think because she went to school
- 15:19with a lot of them. So Devin just launched A
- 15:21collaboration with Reformation and one of the signature items
- 15:25that she also wore to I believe it was the launch party is this
- 15:283 piece outfit with this low rise MIDI skirt, a camisole and
- 15:32a scarf draped around her neck. Users immediately clocked that
- 15:36this looks very similar to a South Asian lahanga.
- 15:39So this is from the New York Times quote on Instagram.
- 15:42Many of the comments on a Reformation post about the
- 15:44collaboration focus on appropriation, with one
- 15:48criticizing the look for being quote straight up South Asian
- 15:51without acknowledging the culture that inspired it.
- 15:53In a TikTok video that has garnered more than 16,000 likes.
- 15:57Sai Ananda, an actress in Manhattan does a side by side
- 16:01comparison showing a still from an early 2000s Bollywood movie
- 16:04in which an actress is wearing a lahanga that she notes.
- 16:07Quote has a lot of similarities to Reformations outfit.
- 16:11OK so there's this weird defense that some people are taking
- 16:15saying that it was clearly inspired by Scandinavian style
- 16:19instead of South Asian style. I'm not even a fashion girly,
- 16:23but I swear almost every single time that a white person gets
- 16:28called out for ripping off another culture style or
- 16:30clothing, they say it was inspired by Scandinavian
- 16:34culture. As if Scandinavia just invented
- 16:36like every style of clothing, every hairstyle, every type of
- 16:41fashion. I would argue in at least the
- 16:45most recent cases like this, maybe Scandinavia just starts
- 16:49ripping off these styles sooner. I don't know.
- 16:53But it's such a bizarre defense. Everyone's like, it's actually
- 16:56Scandinavian style. It's like, what are you talking
- 16:59about? So reformation also kind of
- 17:02admitted that the looks were inspired by South Asian culture.
- 17:05In a statement to the New York Times, they said the brand
- 17:08respects quote the origin of this criticism given South Asian
- 17:12cultures influence on western style and said that quote.
- 17:15No item of clothing or trend can be considered in isolation
- 17:19without broader historical and cultural precedent.
- 17:22And I think that last part is exactly it for those defending
- 17:25that is just like trendy styles right now, fashion and art exist
- 17:29in the context of everything that came before it.
- 17:32You cannot separate art and fashion and beauty and music and
- 17:38all of those things that we're talking about from its cultural
- 17:41context, from the political climate, like everything that
- 17:44it's kind of born into or born out of.
- 17:46And the reason why it's so frustrating for these cultures
- 17:50when they see, you know, these kind of inspired styles or
- 17:53beauty trends or whatever It Co opted by white people and sold
- 17:57is like it's just it's another example of white people
- 18:00literally like colonizing their things and making money off of
- 18:03it. And I'm sure it just feels like
- 18:04a slap in the face that it becomes trendy when thin hot
- 18:08white girl is wearing it and selling it.
- 18:11Sure, a lot of women who were wearing these styles of
- 18:15clothing, like growing up and whatever, like, we're probably
- 18:18in Western cultures, we're probably made fun of for it.
- 18:21So, yeah, I totally get why it's super frustrating.
- 18:24And I think when people are calling cultural appropriation,
- 18:27like, we just need to listen and we need to stop blaming
- 18:29Scandinavia. I don't know what's going on
- 18:31there. OK, more fashion news.
- 18:33You guys, This episode is so random for us.
- 18:36Revolve is being sued for $50 million by a customer who claims
- 18:42that the retailer's social media media practices of gifting
- 18:45influencers clothing has deceived at least 1,000,000
- 18:49customers. This is so interesting quote.
- 18:52For many years, Revolved use its position payments and free
- 18:55merchandise to entice influencers to endorse and
- 18:58promote its products, while failing to disclose any material
- 19:01relationship with the brand, the lawsuit reads.
- 19:04The lawsuit claims that Revolves gifting practices confuse
- 19:07consumers, making them believe that influencers are actually
- 19:10recommending their clothes. The lead plaintiff said that if
- 19:13she knew Revolve had gifted influencers these clothes, she
- 19:17would have never bought from the retailer at the prices that she
- 19:19paid, which were 10% to 40% higher than those of similar
- 19:24retailers. This is so interesting.
- 19:26So Revolve was actually warned that something like this might
- 19:28happen. This is directly from Yahoo
- 19:31quote. In its 2023 annual report,
- 19:33Revolve warned about the risk of litigation should its thousands
- 19:37of social media influencer partners fail to follow FTC
- 19:40guidelines. The national advertising
- 19:42division of BBB National Programs, a nonprofit that
- 19:46overseas industry self regulation programs, recommended
- 19:49earlier this year that Revolve quote modify influencer post to
- 19:53clearly and conspicuously disclose the material
- 19:56connections between Revolve and influencers and its product
- 19:59gifting program. So there are also, I believe
- 20:02it's 3 or 4 influencers named in this lawsuit.
- 20:05I've seen mixed things. I've seen some people say that
- 20:08this will like change possibly the course of influencer
- 20:12marketing and gifting and how brands interact with influencers
- 20:15and what they, you know, and, and sending them PR and things
- 20:18like that. If they know that they can be
- 20:19sued for $50 million. I've also seen people say that
- 20:22really at the end of the day, it's on the influencers to
- 20:25disclose because they were the ones gifted, which I think is
- 20:28probably more true. But Revolve is one of those
- 20:32companies that is like always doing the most with influencer
- 20:36marketing. They were such a pioneer.
- 20:38And I do think they broke like a lot of rules or maybe there were
- 20:41those rules were not really in place yet.
- 20:44But regardless, they don't have like the best reputation when it
- 20:47comes to that side of the industry.
- 20:48And so it's possible that they are kind of made an example of
- 20:52in this situation. Any legal girlies out there that
- 20:55listen to the pod? Let me know what you think, if
- 20:57you think that this will kind of go the distance or what you
- 20:59think will happen here. I know even from like a media
- 21:02perspective, if we post something on our Instagram
- 21:04stories, like if we get PR for consideration or if we like go
- 21:09on a brand trip or something like we have to disclose that.
- 21:12So yeah, it like the guidelines are changing.
- 21:15They are changing slowly, but they are changing and they are
- 21:19becoming much stricter. And I mean, I'm sure you guys
- 21:22see it too, but there's so many influencers that are doing like
- 21:24full on, like paid advertisements that are
- 21:27undisclosed. But yeah, I don't know.
- 21:30I think it's interesting. Like if you think about a
- 21:31fashion influencer and they're posting like an outfit of the
- 21:34day on their grid, but they got sent all of those clothes and
- 21:38they're not being paid to wear them.
- 21:40There's no stipulation that they share them at all.
- 21:43But they're they just got gifted them, you know?
- 21:45Do you guys think I'm interested to hear from you guys?
- 21:47Like, do you think that they should have to disclose that
- 21:49they were gifted certain items that they're wearing in their
- 21:54posts? Let me know you think.
- 21:56All right, guys, that's it for today.
- 21:58Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
- 22:00Please rate, review and subscribe.
- 22:02We're trying to get to 10,000 YouTube subscribers.
- 22:05We're almost there. And I will talk to you tomorrow.
- 22:07Bye.