Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Ariana Grande speaks on Nickelodeon, Billie Eilish ghosted for 6 months + a lesson in TikTok ragebait

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MINI SCROLL: Ariana Grande speaks on Nickelodeon, Billie Eilish ghosted for 6 months + a lesson in TikTok ragebait · 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.
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  So I'm super excited to bring you guys the stories for today.
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  But before that, I wanted to let you guys know that I had dinner
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  last night with Jordy and it was so good.
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  We reconnected and it was just exactly what we needed.
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  So I'm really excited because I think she's going to come on the
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  pod in a couple weeks. Like we still need some time to
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  figure out exactly what the episode would be like.
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  And she needs to kind of settle into her new normal for a little
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  bit because she has some exciting news and developments
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  going on. So we will plan for that in the
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  next couple of weeks. It will be like a deep dive, a
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  Friday episode, but it'll probably be quite like
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  conversational. If she does come on the pod,
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  maybe I'll actually do like AQ and A and you guys can submit.
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  So follow me on Instagram. Way more of you guys listen to
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  the podcast, then follow me on Instagram.
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  So please follow me on Instagram.
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  It's at Lord Meister under score.
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  OK, so that's where I'll probably put the Q&A.
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  Anyways, let's just get right into the stories.
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  So the first story that I have for you guys is that Ariana
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  Grande has finally addressed her Nickelodeon days.
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  So following Penn Badgley's appearance in Ariana's music
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  video for The Boy Is Mine, Ariana joined him on his podcast
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  Pod Crushed, where they discussed a variety of topics
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  including Broadway and grandparents.
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  But one part of the podcast is going viral and that is where
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  Ariana reflects on her time at Nickelodeon.
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  So Ariana works on two of Dan Schneider's shows, Victorious
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  and Sam and Kat, where she played the character Cat
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  Valentine. With increasing allegations
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  about the onset environment, highlighted by the release of
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  the Quiet Onset docu series earlier this year, and of
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  course, Jeanette Mccurdy's book I'm Glad My Mom Died, fans have
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  been waiting for Ariana's response to this whole
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  situation. Social media users were
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  especially concerned about Ariana as sexualized videos of
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  her acting on the show have started to re emerge, especially
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  videos involving what seems like a foot fetish.
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  In the interview, Ariana begins by noting how excited she was to
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  get cast on Victorious and how grateful she is that she created
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  something special for so many young kids.
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  However, she continues by saying that she feels as if the cast
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  has started, quote, reprocessing the whole situation now.
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  The hosts then ask Ariana about child acting in general, where
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  she says, quote, the environment needs to be made safer if kids
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  are going to be acting. Ariana also notes how important
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  it would be for these young stars to have a support system,
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  whether that be through therapy. Family members are both, quote,
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  the things that the survivors have come forward about.
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  There's not a word for how devastating that is to hear.
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  I think the environment just needs to be made a lot safer all
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  around. Like I said, I'm still in real
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  time reprocessing my relationship to it, she said.
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  In a similar vein, Ariana touched on the power dynamic
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  between the producers and the actors, saying that these young
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  stars would feel validated when they got a laugh out of the
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  producers and the directors. Because of this, Ariana said she
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  felt for a long time like the innuendos on the show where
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  it's, quote, cool differentiation.
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  But looking back now, she says, quote, I don't know.
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  I think it all just happened so quickly.
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  And now looking back on some of the clips, I'm like, damn, like,
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  really? I don't know if we will ever get
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  more from Ariana about this because she is such a big star.
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  She does have to be really careful about how she talks
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  about her experiences and just, you know, her child's stardom in
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  general. I think she has a lot to lose if
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  she is really open about things and maybe she just hasn't, you
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  know, taken the time to really unpack all of it.
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  I'm glad she's open to talking about it.
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  You never know what these huge celebrities like, what they will
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  tell their publicist they're like, not willing to talk about.
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  So I like that she was willing to address it.
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  I think it's necessary, especially because she is
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  showing some solidarity for her former cast mates.
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  But I think this is probably like all we're going to get from
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  her about this. All right.
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  Another podcast related story that I have for you guys is
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  Billie Eilish on the BBC Sounds Miss Me podcast talking about
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  being ghosted. This is just relatable.
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  So speaking with host Lily Allen and Makita Oliver, Billie opens
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  up about how it feels to be ghosted.
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  In the interview, she discusses how she experienced a crazy
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  ghosting last December where someone she had known for years
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  completely cut contact with her quote.
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  It was somebody that I'd also known for years and had a plan
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  day of on the phone making a plan.
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  This is my address. Be there at 3.
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  Never heard from him again, Billy said.
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  She even joked about how the abrupt ghosting left her
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  wondering if the man had died, saying did you die?
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  Did you literally die? While Billy didn't name drop the
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  man's name, she did mention that she still hasn't heard from him.
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  She also said that soon after she noticed that he was dating
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  someone. Quote.
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  I was like what a fucking little pathetic man.
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  What a tiny little man. It was literally unbelievable.
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  To this day never texted me again.
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  So this is a crazy story. Like imagine ghosting Billie
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  Eilish. I'm sure this person is also
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  famous but what the actual fuck. Like ghosting an actual A list
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  talent like that is so unreal. I need to know who that person
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  was. But yes just so relatable.
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  I'm loving it. I really liked this interview.
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  You know what I think BBC sounds like?
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  I think this podcast, Miss Me is doing really well.
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  Like a lot of podcasts created by big publications, like legacy
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  publications, they just don't hit.
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  But even the video editing, it was all like very on trend.
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  It was very cool. I really liked watching it.
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  I'd never listened to ABBC Sounds podcast before.
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  I'm probably like saying the most obvious thing like they're
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  probably winning awards and everybody probably knows that
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  they're really cool podcast, but I only just discovered it from
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  this interview, so I liked it. Anyways, the last story that I
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  have for you guys is very online.
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  We did two kind of mainstream stories and now we have this
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  one. This story is about the trad
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  wife Tik Toker who was fired from her job for saying a racial
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  slur and how she is possibly now moving into the right wing media
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  space. So Tik Toker Lily Gaddis is
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  facing widespread backlash after posting a video where she used a
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  racial slur. In a video where she is
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  discussing relationships while preparing food, Lily referenced
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  marriage and used the N word when talking about who Quote.
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  Everyone I know is currently married to Lily.
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  Is a white woman OK? And this has sparked significant
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  controversy. Although the video was initially
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  posted to TikTok, it quickly spread to X, where users began
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  circulating it and expressing their shock.
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  The post by ex user at Rise E Do has since accumulated 74.5
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  million views. Many commented on how crazy it
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  was that not only did she use this word but also how casually
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  she used it. Quote, black outrage is
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  guaranteed money. They going to run her views up
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  and then she's going to rebrand to a lifestyle influencer and
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  apologize for her past behavior. Quote This is funny until you
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  realize that white people no longer fear reprimand for being
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  openly racist. Wrote another.
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  Since then, Lily's TikTok account has been deleted.
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  Whether it was taken down from the platform or she chose to
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  delete the account remains unclear.
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  However, before she left the platform, she showed no remorse
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  for her actions, saying that she quote couldn't find a care for
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  how Black people reacted to the video.
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  She also posted on X writing quote.
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  Thanks black community for helping to launch my new career
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  in conservative media. You all played your role well
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  like the puppets you are. Oh my God this woman is vile.
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  Like this is one of the most openly racist things I think
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  we've seen online in a long time.
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  This has left many users questioning if this was all just
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  a ploy for her to pivot to media quote.
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  The one thing she is correct about is conservative media are
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  going to love her. A Christian white woman fired
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  for using a racial slur playing the victim. 1 user wrote on
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  Reddit quote she is acknowledging conservative media
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  thrives on racism. She's also acknowledging her
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  priorities, fame, not journalism or serving her audience or some
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  such. Wrote another.
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  So because of this, Lily was soon doxed leading to her place
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  of work, choosing to fire her basically for this behavior.
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  She was previously working at Roof of the Carolinas, which is
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  a home healthcare company for the elderly and the disabled.
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  The company issued a statement announcing her departure on X.
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  The statement characterized Lily as a newly hired employee before
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  saying that her remarks, quote, do not align with the values and
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  beliefs of our company. Quote, as soon as we were made
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  aware of the situation, we took immediate action to pull the
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  employee from her assignment, which is not directly with any
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  client of ours and the employee in question is no longer with
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  our company, The statement continues.
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  We are owned and operated by African American, female and
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  immigrant owned businesses and handled the situation as quickly
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  as we could. OK, so I actually wanted to talk
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  about this story. Obviously, I recapped it and I
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  am bringing light to this story. And I don't know actually how I
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  feel about that because I wanted to reference something that my
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  good friend Crystal, who also is the owner of Z Feed, which is
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  another amazing independent media company here in Australia.
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  She talked about on her TikTok recently, which is like, please
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  be mindful of who you platform when you're talking about rage
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  bait and who you're stitching and duetting.
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  And I think this is one of those instances.
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  And I fully recognize that I am part of the problem here by
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  talking about this, but I think this is like a good opportunity
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  to talk about it because this absolutely blew up.
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  And yes, she absolutely deserves served to be fired from her job
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  and the consequences that have come with that.
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  But at the same time, I think we have to consider when we, like
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  myself included, when we report on these stories, when we cover
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  them on TikTok, when we're amplifying them in any way with
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  a stitch of duet comment, even a favorite, like anything that
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  you're doing, that is giving our attention to that person.
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  And that is therefore amplifying that message.
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  And that is like not just indirectly, but directly hurting
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  a lot of people. Like I can only imagine how
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  hurtful and painful this whole situation would be to be a black
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  person watching this play out. This girl Lily have no remorse.
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  You know, just say the most vile things.
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  And even if the majority, the vast majority of people are
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  like, what the fuck? And, you know, are speaking out
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  against her, that is still inflicting so much pain on a
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  group of people for what? For this to be amplified and her
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  to get more attention. And like she said, now she can
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  maybe parlay into media, you know, she's kind of getting what
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  she wanted. It was very obviously rage bait.
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  So I think that this is like a good opportunity for us to
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  reflect on that. And I think when it comes to
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  these instances, it mostly is, you know, the people who are
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  trying to be allies that are probably doing the most harm.
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  And I think that's really important for all of us to
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  consider. You know, I do try and cover
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  topics like this on my podcast, and I know some of you guys
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  appreciate it. But occasionally I do get
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  feedback that says, you know, like you talking about this when
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  you're not part of that group can be more harmful or like,
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  please be more careful about this.
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  So I just want to acknowledge that I am covering this story.
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  It is, I think, an important story to cover for that context,
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  in that context of like, we need to really think about who we
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  give our attention to. And yes, it is vile and
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  disgusting and I am glad that it got amplified because of the
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  consequences. But on the other hand, I'm not
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  glad that it got amplified because I imagine that there's
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  probably about 100 million people legitimately that have
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  seen that video and many of them would have been very triggered
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  and hurt by that. And it's just a disgusting
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  situation. I will be more mindful in the
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  future about what I cover when it comes to these like viral
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  TikTok rage baiting moments, and I'm kind of using this one as an
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  example or like for context for that.
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  Anyways, guys, thank you so much for listening to Mini Scroll.
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  I hope you liked this episode. I hope you like this podcast.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
• 12:31
  I love you guys so much. Tomorrow there will be a deep
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  dive and then I will talk to you on Monday.
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  OK, bye.