Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Alix Earle vs. Alex Cooper again, Brooke Schofield friend drama, TikTok comment bots theory + Bobbi Althoff podcast over
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.
- 0:10Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
- 0:14I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
- 0:18media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
- 0:22everyone. OK, I don't think I have any
- 0:24announcements for you guys today, so let's just get into
- 0:27the stories. OK, The first story that I have
- 0:29for you guys, this is kind of a nothing story, but I feel like
- 0:33it closes the loop on stuff we've been talking about.
- 0:36But Alex Earl has confirmed that there is some type of feud that
- 0:41she has with Alex Cooper. So we all know it was very
- 0:44obvious that something went down between Alex Earl and Alex
- 0:47Cooper amid their working relationship, but it was never
- 0:51fully confirmed until now. In case you missed it, Alex
- 0:54Cooper tapped Alex Earl to be one of the launch podcasts of
- 0:57The Unwell Network. At the time, it very much seems
- 1:00like Alex Cooper was trying to make Alex Earl her predecessor.
- 1:04Alex Earl launched with her podcast called Hot Mess.
- 1:07And the episode that they did together to like announce this,
- 1:10Alex Cooper very much seemed like she was trying to like get
- 1:14kind of the raunchy OG call her daddy stories and energy out of
- 1:19Alex Earl. And this is where some people
- 1:21think things might have started to go wrong between the two of
- 1:24them because Alex Earl is a lot more conservative in what she
- 1:28shares online. It might not seem like it
- 1:30because so much of her public image is about partying and she
- 1:34shares so many build party stories and like vlogs and get
- 1:37ready with me is. But you know, like if you
- 1:39compare how Alex Cooper overshared in the early days of
- 1:44her career versus how Alex Earl overshares, it is very
- 1:47different. Alex Earl is not sharing about
- 1:50her sex life. She's not even really centering
- 1:52men in her content at all. Like people currently think
- 1:55she's not with her boyfriend, even though she has confirmed
- 1:58that she is because she's so very rarely like talks about him
- 2:01and you know, just like centers him.
- 2:03Even I know they live in different states right now, but
- 2:05you know what I mean? Like, in general, her content is
- 2:08about herself, her career and her friends.
- 2:11Alex Earl also had a lot of like, really big business
- 2:14opportunities by the time she joined Unwell.
- 2:17So yeah, like, I'm not surprised that she didn't kind of go up on
- 2:20her podcast and start sharing her blowjob stories and things
- 2:24like that because, you know, she had huge contracts with brands
- 2:28already and she was an equity creator in Poppy.
- 2:31Like, she was truly a business woman early on in her career.
- 2:35She's doing speeches at Harvard now, you know, So it's like
- 2:38there is this kind of dichotomy between like her content and
- 2:41this like, business side of herself.
- 2:43But I think in general, she is actually like relatively brand
- 2:47safe and Alex Cooper and original call her daddy.
- 2:50Like that was not brand safe in the early days.
- 2:54So high stakes. They did a more comprehensive
- 2:56breakdown of what happened between the two of them.
- 2:58If you guys want more information, go listen to their
- 3:01episode on that. But essentially, they severed
- 3:03their business relationship and Alex Earl's podcast went on a
- 3:07hiatus. Now Alex Earl has confirmed that
- 3:10something did happen between the two of them and it wasn't
- 3:13entirely amicable. Alex posted on TikTok saying
- 3:17that her astrology app told her she can quote start shit today.
- 3:21So people jumped in her comments section to ask her to spill some
- 3:24tea on different things that she has stayed quiet about.
- 3:27Obviously Alex Cooper was part of that.
- 3:29So someone wrote, yes, tell us what happened with Alex Cooper.
- 3:32Thank you. And she commented and it's still
- 3:34up. She wrote, how much time do you
- 3:37have? I need to know.
- 3:39I need to know what happened? What do you guys think happened?
- 3:42I think it's possible that Alex Cooper expected Alex Earl to a,
- 3:46like I said, be a little bit like raunchier and over share
- 3:49more and she wasn't comfortable doing that.
- 3:51And I also think she expected her to promote the Unwell
- 3:54Network in a different way and more frequently.
- 3:57And I think it was probably for free.
- 3:59Like I think she expected that for free because, you know, they
- 4:02throw all those events and they have all that podcast talent
- 4:05that goes maybe they're not being paid for it.
- 4:06I don't know. But I know I believe it was like
- 4:09in the middle of Alex Earl's podcast contract that her dad
- 4:12took over as her manager. So I do feel like her dad was
- 4:15trying to fight for better compensation for her, you know,
- 4:19just probably better conditions in general, probably paid
- 4:23appearances as opposed to having to go to these appearances for
- 4:26free in her contract because Alex Earl almost never went to
- 4:29these parties. And everybody noticed that.
- 4:31Like, that's when people started to notice that something was
- 4:33going on. But yeah, saying how much time
- 4:35do you have? Makes me feel like it was a
- 4:36bunch of things. I want to know.
- 4:39I want to know. I also really want to know what
- 4:41happened between Alex, Earl and Xandra.
- 4:43I know that's kind of old news. Like I know that they were
- 4:46friends so long ago and feels like probably a lifetime ago to
- 4:50them, but like, I want to know. I want to know.
- 4:52OK, Speaking of friendship breakups, the next story that I
- 4:55have for you guys is that Brooke Schofield and her longtime BFFBB
- 5:00have seemingly Sorry, I went to. I meant to say best friend and
- 5:04then my brain said BFF because I was reading BB.
- 5:07Anyways, best friend. BB seemingly have had a falling
- 5:10out. OK, so as the cancelled podcast
- 5:13is coming to a close at the end of their Australian tour, fans
- 5:16have noticed that Brooke and her longtime best friend BB, which
- 5:19stands for Brooke Baldwin, may no longer be friends.
- 5:23The rift seemingly started when Brooke hired BB as her assistant
- 5:26on the European leg of the Cancelled podcast tour.
- 5:29About a month ago, Brooke told a story on Cancelled of how they
- 5:32got into a huge fight on this tour.
- 5:34It basically stemmed from Brooke wanting to do a boat day at some
- 5:38point and telling BB to book a boat.
- 5:40BB didn't know when Brooke wanted the boat, for how long
- 5:43she wanted to do it, like she didn't have any of the details
- 5:46so she didn't book it. And before she could book it,
- 5:48Tana booked a boat for everyone. So Brooke was already like I
- 5:51guess annoyed about this. And then on the boat, BB put a
- 5:54drink down beside Brooke and when Brooke stood up, the drinks
- 5:57spilled all over Brooke. And Brooke says that BB was
- 5:59like, why would you stand up when there's a drink beside you?
- 6:02Like instead of saying sorry, she basically just like blamed
- 6:05Brooke. And then Brooke said that Bebe
- 6:07wasn't cleaning up the drink well enough.
- 6:09She was like, she just had a rag and like it was like on her foot
- 6:13and she was just like pushing it around with her foot and talking
- 6:15to us and drinking instead of like actually cleaning it.
- 6:18Anyways, after Brooke told this story, Bebe left some comments
- 6:21on TikTok. Someone had posted this clip and
- 6:24Bebe wrote, didn't get fired by the way.
- 6:26Said I didn't want to do it again for the Australia tour
- 6:28because we got into the first fight we have ever been in in
- 6:31seven years of friendship. And then somebody said why
- 6:33defend yourself on a TikTok instead of to Brooke herself And
- 6:36Bibi wrote already have babe and I wasn't physically there for
- 6:39this podcast to defend myself. Literally true.
- 6:42I just can't imagine like a worse scenario.
- 6:44I know celebrities and influencers do this all the
- 6:47time, but like, I cannot imagine a worse scenario than hiring my
- 6:51best friend as my assistant. Like, the power dynamic there is
- 6:55already going to be so messed up.
- 6:57Like it's already going to either put your friendship in
- 6:59like, major jeopardy or they're not going to actually properly
- 7:02act like your assistant because they're your best friend.
- 7:04So they feel like they're on level playing field with you
- 7:06when you're actually paying them.
- 7:07It's just like, I feel like it is a complete recipe for
- 7:11disaster. OK.
- 7:12But now over the weekend, fans think there's officially been a
- 7:16falling out as it appears that BB may have blocked Brooke on
- 7:20Instagram. They are no longer tagged in any
- 7:23photos together, and she no longer follows Brooke.
- 7:25And obviously, to manually untag yourself from all those photos
- 7:29feels like a lot. So it seems as though, yeah, she
- 7:33probably blocked Brooke. I know there was already
- 7:35speculation that something maybe weird was going on in the friend
- 7:38group because Bebe started dating this girl, Lauren.
- 7:41And Lauren is part of the infamous Mindy story time
- 7:44because Lauren is the girl that Brooke had a crush on in the
- 7:47Mindy story time. And if you guys don't know the
- 7:49Mindy story time, it's like this long story time saga of why Tana
- 7:55and Brooke Schofield stopped being friends years and years
- 7:57ago. And then they talked about the
- 7:59whole situation again. So like anyway, sorry, the
- 8:02reason why it's called Mindy is because Tana did a story time
- 8:05about Mindy and then Brooke did a response video saying I'm
- 8:08Mindy. But anyways, it seems like
- 8:09Brooke Schofield is actually like OK with BB and Lauren.
- 8:12She was like saying that she's happy that they're dating.
- 8:14And she said she was always worried that when BB got a
- 8:16girlfriend, it would like push her out.
- 8:17So she's happy it's Lauren because they're all in the same
- 8:19friend group. So I don't know, for those of
- 8:22you who are invested in the canceled universe and Brooke and
- 8:26Bebe and Lauren and Tana and that whole group, that's the T
- 8:29for now. OK, the next story that I have
- 8:30for you guys, this is like a bit of a trend I think I'm seeing on
- 8:36TikTok. I haven't talked about one of
- 8:37these stories in a long time, but TikTok comment bots seem to
- 8:42be taking over creator pages and I think it's intentionally to
- 8:48embarrass them. So let me explain there is this
- 8:52like new trend taking over TikTok.
- 8:54Like I said, the comment sections of different creators
- 8:58and I kind of have my tinfoil hat on right now because I think
- 9:01it's possible that people are paying for them to embarrass
- 9:06influencers that they don't like.
- 9:08OK, so the comment sections of huge creators have been
- 9:12inundated lately with comments that appear to be purchased by
- 9:17the creator. The reason they seem like
- 9:19they're purchased by the creator is because the comments will
- 9:22come from like an account that is faceless or nameless or just
- 9:25very obviously not real. And the comments will say
- 9:29something along the lines of sure.
- 9:32Could you provide me with the video description or any
- 9:35specific details so I can craft the perfect comment for you?
- 9:39The first creator who was kind of caught out for this, or at
- 9:42least I saw was caught out for this, was New York City.
- 9:45Tick tocker Kate Keenan. A screenshot of this in her
- 9:48comments section was posted on Reddit few weeks ago and the
- 9:52belief at the time for the most part was that Kit must be paying
- 9:55for comment bots to boost her engagement and to appear more
- 9:58popular to brands. And obviously in this particular
- 10:01comment bot situation she forgot this is what people assumed to
- 10:06change out. Kind of the automatic filler
- 10:08right that they prompt you. Since then though, these
- 10:12comments are starting to show up everywhere, like all over so
- 10:16many creators videos, which leads me to believe that this
- 10:19could be a troll tactic that people are intentionally buying
- 10:24these bots and you know, putting those comments in them.
- 10:27So it appears like the influencer is buying them
- 10:30themselves that they don't actually have as much influence
- 10:33that, you know, they're actually like buying engagement
- 10:35essentially. Because as far as I've seen,
- 10:37these comments are only on posts of creators who are quite big,
- 10:41quite famous or quite divisive. Its creators who are frequently
- 10:45posted about on Reddit. They elicit a lot of emotions
- 10:48and users for whatever reason. Now I'm not saying that creators
- 10:52don't use comment bots, I think there's many who probably do,
- 10:56especially on sponsored videos. But this specific type of
- 10:59comment has become a trend. Like it's not just one instance
- 11:04on Kit Keenan's video anymore. So I do think it's users
- 11:07intentionally posting this themselves or paying for comment
- 11:11bots with the intention to troll or embarrass the creator.
- 11:15It is also possible that there is some like mass glitch going
- 11:19on with one or many of the companies that do these comment
- 11:23bots and therefore it's like any creator that has used them or is
- 11:27using them is getting these comments and that's why I don't
- 11:31know. But what do you guys think?
- 11:32I think it's so fascinating. Like it happened to Brooke,
- 11:34Brooke Schofield last week and she responded to it.
- 11:38She was like, what? So yeah, it's it's happening all
- 11:41over TikTok. I'm interested if you guys have
- 11:43any insight or if you guys have any opinion on that.
- 11:47That's my theory at least. OK.
- 11:49And I have one more story for you guys, and that is that Bobby
- 11:52Altoff's podcast is over Industry plant no more.
- 11:55Bobby Altoff has ended her podcast, the really good
- 11:59podcast. This is a really big deal
- 12:02because if you remember so Bobby, she is kind of like a
- 12:05deadpan satirical tik toker. She launched her podcast in 2023
- 12:11and she got so much hate for it and like so much press at the
- 12:15same time because she was immediately met with accusations
- 12:19that she was an industry plant because of the caliber of guests
- 12:22that were coming on her show. So she had like Mark Cuban
- 12:26Drake, like from the jump, these huge names, people didn't really
- 12:30know her, especially outside of TikTok.
- 12:32People were like, who is this person?
- 12:34She also got a lot of Flack for her delivery, like how she went
- 12:38about her podcast because, you know, like the kind of, I guess
- 12:42like deadpan satirical interview style.
- 12:46It is more popular, you know, like Amelia Demuldenberg does
- 12:49it, Z Way does it. A lot of people didn't think
- 12:52that Bobby was able to truly nail it.
- 12:54They thought she was just kind of like standoffish and rude and
- 12:58it didn't feel like banter with her guests.
- 13:00It just felt like very uncomfortable and like she
- 13:03didn't know what she was doing. The reality of like, who she was
- 13:07in the podcasting world, we still don't like, really know.
- 13:09But I mean, she has said she's not an industry plant.
- 13:12I think it's much more likely she was signed by, was it WME,
- 13:18one of the really big agencies to launch her podcast and
- 13:22therefore a lot of the talent that they had essentially under
- 13:26the same umbrella were going on her podcast.
- 13:29Anyways, Bobby announced in the most recent episode of her
- 13:32podcast that that was her last. She said the really good podcast
- 13:35was a great podcast. She got me this house, got me
- 13:38the car I drive, got me a lot of stuff.
- 13:40She was really great. I really appreciate her for the
- 13:43time I had with her. She brought me a lot of memories
- 13:46of a lot of great guests. She got me a few interviews
- 13:48taken down. At the end of the day, she was
- 13:51good and I'm going to miss her. Yeah, her Drake interview was
- 13:53taken down. On why it was ending, she said.
- 13:56I didn't know I'd fall off as quickly as I did.
- 13:59To be honest, I did think this was going to last a bit longer.
- 14:02But nevertheless, it lasted a minute.
- 14:04And I'm proud of the accomplishments I had.
- 14:06And I'm pretty sad that it has to end like this.
- 14:08But it's OK. I will say if the reason for her
- 14:10podcast ending is because it fell off, because, like, she
- 14:13just doesn't have the rating things and the audience that she
- 14:16once did when she first launched and everybody was kind of
- 14:18talking about her, like, who's this girl?
- 14:19How did she have such big guests, whatever.
- 14:21You know? I think that's really honest.
- 14:24And I think it's interesting and also on brand that she would
- 14:28just be like, yeah, fell off. Yeah.
- 14:30Like, it just wasn't a success anymore.
- 14:31And it makes sense. People were listening to the
- 14:33early episodes because she had such crazy guests and because
- 14:36her interview style was so abrasive and bizarre.
- 14:39But you know, that, I guess for a lot of listeners, I don't
- 14:42know, I wasn't, like, a frequent listener.
- 14:44But for a lot of listeners, I guess that got old or didn't
- 14:48convert them at least to stands. That being said, I did see a lot
- 14:51of people say that they don't believe that this is true and
- 14:54that she'll be back. So I don't know.
- 14:56Anyways, guys, that's it for me to scroll today.
- 14:57Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
- 15:00Please remember to rate, review and subscribe and I will talk to
- 15:03you tomorrow. Bye.