Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Kardashians buying TikTok rumour, Lily B Chapman addresses merch drama + Ariana Grande won't tour soon

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MINI SCROLL: Kardashians buying TikTok rumour, Lily B Chapman addresses merch drama + Ariana Grande won't tour soon · 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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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  This is the last Mini Scroll of a 2024.
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  It is a light Newsday, unfortunately.
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  I was really hoping for like some giant story to come out
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  that I could get into with you guys.
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  I still have three stories, but nothing super juicy.
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  But before I start, I did want to say a huge thank you to you
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  guys for making this year so seamless for me.
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  You know what? I was worried, obviously doing
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  the podcast by myself that we would lose a lot of audience and
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  we did. We did lose a lot of our
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  audience initially because the vibe is just so different,
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  obviously being so low versus having a Co host.
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  But we found so many new audience members this year.
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  Like the podcast growth has been absolutely insane this year,
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  largely because of YouTube. And I'm just so grateful to
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  anyone that found us this year and you know, has made mini
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  scroll part of your daily routine.
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  Anyone that stuck around from the OG days when I had a Co host
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  and you know, now the vibe is different, but you've stuck
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  around. Like I'm just so grateful for
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  this year and I just think it's so cool that I get to basically
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  do my dream job every single day.
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  Like I built my dream job, I'm building my dream company.
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  And it's so cool that every single day I get to share the
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  news with you guys and dissect Internet culture, social media
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  trends. Sometimes it's petty, sometimes
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  it's more serious. But either way, like this is a
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  literally my dream job and I am so grateful that you guys let me
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  do it, that you guys have allowed me this opportunity by
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  following along and supporting us and being super sweet when we
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  have sponsorships and things like that.
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  Like all of that makes a giant difference.
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  And yeah, it's been a really crazy year, but it's been an
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  awesome year. And it's just, it's really cool
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  to be like sitting here in this podcast studio in an office that
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  I pay for, like the business pays for because I've grown a
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  company that can afford to have an office space, can afford to
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  have staff to help me close these deals and help me build
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  the business so I can do 5 podcasts a week.
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  Like all of these things are just so cool.
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  And I am so grateful for everything you guys have done
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  for me and for Centennial and Infinite Scroll mini scroll this
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  year. All right, without further ado,
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  let's get into the stories for today.
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  So the first story that I have for you guys, it's a bit of A2
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  parter. There is speculation right now
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  on TikTok that the Kardashians are going to buy the app.
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  OK, so there is this rumor spreading around on TikTok over
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  the last couple of days that the Kardashians are trying to buy
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  the app to stop it from being banned in the US.
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  This rumor was started by a small creator whose handle is
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  NEVRCRD. Y'all we don't got to do it no
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  more because the Kardashians just posted it everywhere that
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  they're buying TikTok so that American people can still have
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  TikTok. They just posted a random video.
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  I don't think there was any rhyme or reason behind it.
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  And now this video has started to take off.
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  Obviously this is untrue. I'm going to assume I have not
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  seen anybody be able to verify this.
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  I'm pretty sure this person just like completely made it up and
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  now there's all these videos of people talking about it.
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  I'm also going to choose to assume that the people who are
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  like, quote, UN quote, like covering this as if it's true
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  are like getting in on the troll and they don't actually believe
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  it. But you never know with TikTok
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  users. And I mean, I'm guilty of this
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  too. Like, you know, when you see
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  something on TikTok and you just don't question it and you're
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  like, oh, yeah, that's true. So I fear that also might be
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  what's happening here a little bit.
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  But I'm going to choose to give them the benefit of the doubt
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  and know that they're just like getting in on the troll too.
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  I also would be shocked if the Kardashians had enough capital
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  to actually buy TikTok. Like, I have no idea what TikTok
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  will go for. I don't think that's been
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  disclosed, but I would be surprised.
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  I think the Kardashians have a lot less like liquid cash than
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  we think they do. So while the Kardashians might
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  not be buying TikTok, there is a very small update to the US
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  TikTok ban. Earlier this morning, the US
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  Supreme Court agreed to hear a last ditch legal argument from
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  TikTok on January 10th, which is 9 days before it would be set to
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  be banned. So they're going to hear why a
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  ban of TikTok would be unconstitutional as it would
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  impact free speech of US, US users.
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  I don't know. I'm starting to think it's very
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  possible that this ban might happen.
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  And I know that there's a lot of people who are like, oh, thank
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  God. Like influencers need to go get
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  a real job now. Like I'm so excited to see them
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  all like lose their like cushy jobs and stuff.
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  It's not just about the like 1% of influencers that we see who
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  make tons of money on TikTok. There are literally millions of
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  people across the US that have been able to pay for like
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  college tuition, that have been able to buy their families
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  Christmas presents or like pay for medical bills.
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  Small businesses have absolutely thrived thanks to TikTok.
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  Like there is a much larger impact to just like the US
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  general population. If this app gets banned, then
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  just like, oh, the 1% of influencers now need to figure
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  out their like, source of income.
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  And when people think like, oh, now TikTok influencers are going
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  to have to go get jobs. Like they're not thinking about
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  men. They're thinking about the girls
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  that are like lifestyle influencers.
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  They feel like there's like a net negative to influence our
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  culture and I don't necessarily agree.
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  However, I think that the word influencer and the idea of the
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  influencer industry is quite gendered.
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  I think a lot of people associate it without even
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  realizing with women, and I feel like if it was associated with
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  men, this conversation might be taken a bit more seriously.
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  OK, Speaking of TikTok influencers, the next story that
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  I have is that Lily B Chapman is trying to take accountability
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  for her fumble jewelry line earlier this year.
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  So this is kind of closing the loop on a story from October.
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  So Lily B Chapman is a tick tock creator who gained a big
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  following for travel and fashion content.
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  She gained more attention this past year because she got
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  engaged and had a baby and around the same time she also
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  started calling out snark groups that have doxed her and caused
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  her a lot of harm. So she got some press write UPS
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  because she was like being very vocal about the harm that snark
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  reddits and things like that cause creators.
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  And it is interesting because like obviously a lot of creators
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  have snark reddits about them or snark forums or whatever, but
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  Lily is one of those like niche creators who deals with it a lot
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  more than the average creator of her size.
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  And I don't really know why certain creators trigger or like
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  generate more snark than others, but I'm going to say it has
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  something to do with feeling like a creator is self aware or
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  not self aware. And I think a lot of people
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  would say that Lily falls into that not self aware category.
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  And yeah, she just, she's just generally for a creator of her
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  size has so much more snark around her than others.
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  OK, so in October, Lily released merch based on her favorite
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  jewelry pieces that she wears all the time.
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  We talked about this on Mini Scroll back in October.
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  This turned into a big scandal because she seemed to be
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  stealing from existing brands and products like stealing
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  design. As one user wrote quote, these
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  aren't ideas, they're just already made things you like.
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  Others speculated that she had purchased these items wholesale
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  from like Alibaba, Aliexpress and was trying to say these were
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  like original designs based off of jewelry that she loved.
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  All of this really exploded when a Tick Tock user verified blue
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  check mark stitched one of her videos sharing the existing
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  designs and Lily's alleged merch.
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  I guess there's a big difference between someone's idea and
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  someone's design, because if you put these out with your name on
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  it, not only have they already been done as a dupe of a dupe of
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  a dupe, but it's going to be very hard to argue what makes
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  yours any different than the $2.00 ones from Aliexpress
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  besides having your name. On them, he even made a TikTok
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  noting that one of the earrings that Lily claimed were no longer
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  being sold anymore were seemingly still available from a
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  brand named Petite Moments. So Lily had these earrings and
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  she was like, the brand no longer sells them.
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  So I have made like my own version of them to sell to you
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  guys and people were like, you can still get those earrings.
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  Lily went on to make a TikTok referencing Mark's content,
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  denying any claims that she was purchasing her products from
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  Alibaba or planned on drop shipping.
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  She also explained the process of product development, saying
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  that she was working with a company who works with
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  producers. Essentially, she sends the
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  company ideas and mood boards and they send back samples
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  essentially. She denied the claims, games,
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  you know, when she was quite defensive and then this all just
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  fizzled out as Internet drama does, and we all moved on.
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  Now, two months later, Lily has addressed the situation.
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  In a new video, she said that it was her manufacturer's fault.
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  They sent her samples with molds that had been used for other
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  brands, and Lily was unaware of this when she posted them on
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  TikTok. Took my hand too off the wheel
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  and that lets me presenting samples to you guys that were
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  made with molds that the manufacturer had previously
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  used. And that's why you were able to
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  find the samples that I showed you on other websites.
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  Well, I didn't know that these samples weren't unique to this
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  merch drop. It was my job to do that due
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  diligence and check and I failed to do that.
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  People expected and deserved a higher level of originality than
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  I presented with those samples. And then when I got called out,
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  I responded with dismissiveness and humor because at the time, I
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  still thought I was right. So thank you to everyone who
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  pushed me to look further into it to find out that in fact, I
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  wasn't. Now, Lily didn't address the
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  earrings situation where she claimed that the earrings she
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  was going to sell were no longer available.
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  But this is what she says about the situation.
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  She says she's not going to work with the manufacturers again and
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  she is launching another brand now where she's going to work
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  with smaller teams, more like individual artists and things
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  like that. OK.
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  And the last story that I have for you guys is that Ariana
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  Grande has addressed if she will be touring anytime soon.
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  Speaking with Variety, Ari said she doesn't think she will be
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  touring anytime soon. Quote, I don't see it coming
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  anytime soon. I think the next few years,
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  hopefully we'll be exploring different forms of art and I
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  think acting is feeling like home right now.
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  I am appreciative for my fans understanding.
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  I'm so grateful for the ways in which we've grown together on
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  this whole journey with Wicked. But music will always be a part
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  of my life. So her fans are upset,
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  understandably, because obviously they want to see Ari
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  perform, but also because I guess she did say that she was
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  gonna do like a mini tour of Eternal Sunshine and she said
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  that was in the works. And obviously now she's kind of
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  saying she's not going to tour that album.
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  I think it's very clear that she has outgrown or is outgrowing
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  her kind of pop girl era, her pop girl persona, at least for
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  now. I saw somebody say that they
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  feel like she might be going down the Lady Gaga route, which
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  I actually could totally see. I think acting is far less
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  demanding in terms of like the physical element of touring, I
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  think is so exhausting. Not that acting is not a
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  demanding and a physically exhausting, demanding career
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  because it absolutely is. But like, compared to doing like
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  a world tour, it is probably much more grounding than the pop
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  girl vibe. I also think we sometimes forget
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  how much Ariana Grande has gone through in the last 10 years.
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  And not just that, but she also was a child star.
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  Like there's a lot of trauma that has happened to that girl,
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  that woman. And I think it makes total sense
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  that she just wants kind of like a quieter, more subdued, more
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  like quote UN quote, like normal feeling life right now as she
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  gets into her 30s. I think she feels like doing
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  wicked and kind of acting is right now helping her find who
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  she is because I do think she seemed a bit lost over the
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  course of her music career, You know, kind of just like almost
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  like a chameleon, like blending into like whoever she was
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  hanging out with. And she has a lot of, I think
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  healing to do. And I think she's in that era
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  right now where she is like discovering who she is.
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  So this is sad for the fans, but I'm happy for Ari.
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  If she feels like, you know, the pop girl vibe is just too much.
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  I would think it's too much. I would feel that way.
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  Any of these guys. That's it for Mini Scroll today.
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  That's it for Mini Scroll for our first year of Mini Scroll
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  daily podcast. Thank you guys so much for
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  listening. Thank you guys so much for this
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  year. I love you guys.
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  Please rate review and subscribe.
• 12:52
  I would love to have some nice reviews to come back to.
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  Please start rate US on Spotify. We are trying to get to 500 by
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  the end of the year. Again, I have no idea if we'll
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  get there, but you guys are pulling through.
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  They're coming through faster now.
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  I love you guys and there will be a deep dive tomorrow with my
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  team and then I will talk to you next year on January 13th.
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  Bye.