Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Brianna Chickenfry x Zach Bryan split, Colleen Ballinger backlash + new creator economy research

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MINI SCROLL: Brianna Chickenfry x Zach Bryan split, Colleen Ballinger backlash + new creator economy research · 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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  And before I get into the stories for today, I wanted to
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  say something very exciting. Just a little tidbit.
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  It's it's like small, but one of my listeners messaged me
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  yesterday saying, Oh my God, do you listen to The Who weekly
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  podcast? Because they mentioned infinite
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  scroll in their latest episode. So I listened and I heard the
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  little segment and it was so sweet.
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  They talked about how one of their friends loves Infinite
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  Scroll, the podcast, my podcast, I assume.
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  So if you are that friend who loves Infinite Scroll and you've
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  been talking about us with your friends, thank you so much
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  because it was so exciting to hear that mention Who Weekly is
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  obviously a really big podcast in the US And yeah, it was just
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  exciting to hear that little bit of love.
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  All right, so I have like 2 1/2 stories for you guys today.
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  So the first story, obviously we need to talk about how Brianna
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  Chicken Fry and Zach Bryan have split after over a year of
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  dating. So yesterday, obviously I didn't
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  do mini and this all happened yesterday and I was like what a
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  day. What a day to not be doing my
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  daily Internet culture news podcast.
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  So yesterday country singer Zac Bryant announced on his
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  Instagram stories that he had split from Brianna Chicken Fry.
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  And I was just talking to the girls that work for me at the
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  office before I came to record. And we were joking about how
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  like we are probably one of the only podcast like pop culture E
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  podcast that would like explain who Zac Bryant is and not
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  explain who Brianna Chicken Fry is.
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  OK, so Zac wrote this on his Instagram stories.
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  Oh also, I'm in another blazer moment.
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  Sorry I forgot to address it. I'm going to a fashion show
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  after work for like a brand like a L'Oreal event and it's a
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  fashion show and it's cocktail attire and it's freezing in this
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  office. So that's why I'm looking so
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  formal because I feel like every time I'm not in active wear and
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  sweater it looks a little bit out of place for the pod.
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  But anyways, that is why. OK so Zach wrote on his
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  Instagram stories addressing something.
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  Brianna and me have broken up with each other and I respect
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  and love her with every ounce of my heart.
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  She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for
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  that I'll always thank her. I've had an incredibly hard year
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  personally and struggled through some pretty severe things.
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  I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our
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  different ways. I am not perfect and never will
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  be. Please respect Brianna's privacy
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  and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too.
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  With everything I am and to anyone I let down I am sorry.
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  I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and
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  mostly myself. I will say people have been
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  comparing this statement to the statement he made when he broke
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  up with Deb, who was his, I think like longtime girlfriend,
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  maybe fiance. No, he was married before Deb
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  Sorry, I don't know the Zach Bryan lore very well, but I know
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  that Deb was the woman that he was dating, I believe before
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  Brianna. And everybody has been saying
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  that Brianna's like quote UN quote, like copying her.
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  I don't subscribe to that. But the statement is similar in
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  the sense that in the statement that he made when he broke up
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  with Deb, he said the same thing of like, she's loved me through
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  something. And then he said something about
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  like, you know, please respect Deb's privacy at this time.
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  Like just trying to be it's giving like Jax Taylor, you
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  know, like, it's giving toxic guy that wants to be seen as
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  this like, martyr, as like the good guy.
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  And so says stuff like that. And like loves to take blame
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  because then he can be the wounded guy that just like, you
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  know, is so messed up and knows that he isn't wants to be
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  better, but like just keeps messing up and getting in his
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  own way and like can't figure it out.
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  Like he can be that guy. Like he can be that like wounded
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  little bird. That's what it's giving me.
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  But again, I don't know the Zach Bryan lore that well.
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  And then Brianna like almost immediately posted on her
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  stories and she wrote, hey guys, I'm feeling really blindsided
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  right now. Going to hop off social media
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  for a while and attempt to heal privately.
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  When I'm ready, I'll be back and ready to talk.
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  I love you guys so much. Thank you all for your kind
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  words. Remember, you are so loved and
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  everything's always going to be OK.
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  So people were like, Oh my God, like blindsided in the sense of
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  blindsided by this breakup or blindsided that he posted about
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  the breakup. So she then posted a YouTube
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  video confirming that no, he did not break up with her over an
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  Instagram story. He announced it publicly and she
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  was not made aware of that. She said that she found out
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  because people were messaging her.
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  He did not tell her that he was going to post this and they had
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  only broken up the day before. Zach posting on his Instagram
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  that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up.
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  He didn't text me, he didn't call me.
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  I just woke up to a bunch of texts being like, are you OK?
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  And I'm like, did my fucking dad die?
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  And yeah. So I'm like completely
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  blindsided by that. You see I was swollen my faces.
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  I've been crying for like 5 days straight.
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  Sorry if this video is going to be a lot of jumping around, but
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  I I'm just, I'm at the point where it's like, how can you
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  give someone everything and like love them so unconditionally,
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  like through stuff that you shouldn't because you just love
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  them when you want them. Like you see the good enough
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  like how can you? This is so embarrassing.
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  I don't give a fuck. How can you like give every oz
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  of yourself to someone and then like be discarded of in a few
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  days? It's really, really
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  heartbreaking. And I don't want to talk about
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  details right now. I don't want to talk about I
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  don't want to talk about it yet. I will, obviously.
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  But right now, like I wanted to heal privately and I didn't even
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  know that he was going to post that and we broke up yesterday.
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  Something that's being missed, I think, in some of the recounts
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  of this situation is that it seems like Zach addressed his
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  breakup one day after he was spotted on Raya.
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  So he was spotted on Raya. These could be fake screenshots,
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  but there were screenshots going around TikTok, Twitter, and
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  Reddit of him on Raya. And then like the next day or
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  like a few hours later, he posted that he and Brianna had
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  broken up. So then Brianna said in her
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  YouTube video that they'd only been broken up the day before
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  when he posted that. So the day he broke up with
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  Brianna, he went on Raya, presumably, allegedly.
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  So Brianna has been offline. She's had some people posting on
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  her stories and just saying, like, you know, Brianna's not
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  online, but like, she's checking in.
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  She is going to be back on the podcast next Wednesday.
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  So she's just taking, like, it seems about a week off to just
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  kind of like deal with this. And I can't imagine what it
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  would be like to have to deal with like a breakup on social
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  media like that, especially when it wasn't something that you
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  wanted. And then your ex who broke up
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  with you after. I would say we all kind of know
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  as like fans or peripheral fans, Like we know that he didn't seem
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  to treat her the best. There were always like lots of
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  rumors about cheating and things like that.
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  And you know, he seemed to be, he did seem to be in like kind
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  of a difficult place the last few months just from his social
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  media activity we'd seen and stuff.
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  So anyways, I think having to deal with this now so publicly
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  when you did not choose the breakup, but you also had no
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  idea that they were going to make it public so soon after
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  that would be very difficult. Now.
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  Dave Portnoy has entered the chat.
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  Dave is obviously Brianna. Oh my God.
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  Was going to say boyfriend, boss, her boss and has been for
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  a long time. Her boss, her friend.
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  They do BFFS together and he tweeted dedicating this to at
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  Brianna Chicken Fry on Twitter and he linked the song The
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  Smallest man, Whoever lived by Taylor Swift.
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  And then a very rogue tidbit that I don't think I will ever
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  get over. Today Us Weekly published an
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  article called Is Brianna's last name actually Chicken Fry?
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  What? I feel like that Trisha Paytas
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  sound like that TikTok sound where she's like, huh?
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  What? Oh, OK.
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  Like that's how my brain felt when I read that headline.
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  I was like, excuse me? What?
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  That's why the work that we do here at Infinite Scroll and Mini
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  Scroll is so important so that we don't have pop culture
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  journalists writing articles. Like, is Brianna's last name
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  actually chicken fry? OK, OK.
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  The next thing that I wanted to very quickly touch on this is
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  like the half, the half of the 2 1/2 stories is that people are
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  kind of up in arms because Colleen Ballinger was asked to
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  and did speak at a high school recently.
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  And I have not really dove into like the specifics of it.
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  So this is going to be quite high level because I just
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  thought it is kind of like a random tidbit story.
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  So some people felt like the high school is being dismissive
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  of like, everything that happened in how they framed the
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  talk and also, you know, in inviting her in general.
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  And I actually think, like, now that we've had some distance
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  from the Colleen situation, it's been over.
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  Well, I guess it's been almost a year and a half, almost a year
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  and a half in December from when everything first started.
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  I think, you know, it's interesting to look back because
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  I believe in second chances. Depends what the person's done.
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  But like I, I genuinely and generally do believe in second
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  chances for people. I think when you live your youth
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  out online, I think when you live so much of your life out
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  online, you're publishing so frequently publicly in general,
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  you know you're going to mess up.
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  There's going to be things that you're not proud of, again,
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  within reason. But I think in many instances
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  what matters more is, you know, how those people end up moving
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  on from that situation, reacting to that situation, addressing
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  that situation. And also just like showing us,
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  even if they haven't been called out, you know how their behavior
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  changes over the years. Like, people do change and
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  evolve, and people's beliefs change and their opinions on
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  things change, especially as they get older.
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  That aside, looking back at the Colleen Ballinger situation, it
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  is like the Twilight Zone. I cannot believe that woman sat
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  on the Internet and quite literally mocked all of these
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  people that were calling her out.
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  Not just the people that she hurt, like not just her fans,
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  but just everyone in general who was saying hey, this behavior
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  was not OK. Like what is going on?
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  How did we not see this? How did you not see that this
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  was inappropriate when you were a grown woman and she quite
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  literally sat on the Internet and mocked everyone to their
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  faces with a made-up children's song?
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  And then after that was just like, hey, I'm back to vlogging.
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  And, yeah, maybe that wasn't, like, the best move, but I still
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  really didn't do anything wrong. Like, sorry.
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  So yeah. Like, do I think that Colleen
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  Ballinger should be speaking at high schools?
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  No, Not because there are kids involved.
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  And, you know, I think anything weird is going to happen there.
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  I just, I think she doesn't deserve opportunities like that.
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  She doesn't deserve to be platformed.
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  And I don't even there's not even words for how little
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  accountability she took because she really just like laughed at
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  everybody. So that's my opinion on that.
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  The last word that I wanted to talk about.
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  So I wanted to address this tweet that is going viral.
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  It has a stat. So this is going to sound a bit
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  complicated until I explain it. So this tweet has a stat from
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  the Wall Street Journal in it. And so this tweet reads insane
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  stat from the Wall Street Journal that there are like 12
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  million full time influencers in the US right now.
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  That's 7% of the American workforce.
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  No way a bubble like that is at all sustainable.
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  So this tweet has over 1,000,000 views.
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  It is, yeah, like I said, going viral and everyone's kind of
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  debating if this is really a bubble, like what that stat
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  really means. So I wanted to look into it
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  further because I thought this is a very interesting tidbit.
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  OK, so according to a report from the Keller Advisory Group
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  titled Creators uncovered insights from a nationally
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  representative study of US creators, they found out that
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  out of 27 million paid creators in the US, quote, it is a full
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  time job for 44% of them, which is 11.6 million with 32% which
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  is 8.5 million doing it part time and 24 percent, 6.5 million
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  doing it as a hobby, that there's a lot of hobbyists.
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  There's also a lot of people doing full time influencing.
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  According to the report quote full timers earn $179,000 per
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  year versus $36,000 for part timers and $16,000 for
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  hobbyists. So to put it into perspective,
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  the 27 million paid content creators also represents 6% of
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  Americans aged 16 to 54. When it comes to earnings, the
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  average income for creators is $93,000 per year.
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  However, this figure is skewed by top creators landing like 6
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  figure brand deals and things like that, so it doesn't
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  accurately reflect what most creators are making.
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  It may be more accurate to look at the median, which sits around
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  $10,000. As the report notes that
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  approximately quote, half of creators make less than $10,000
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  per year and 1/3 make under $2000 a year.
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  So yes, this tweet was going viral and I was like, I need to
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  look into these stats more. This sounds so vague and like
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  how is that possible? The tweet feels like rage bait.
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  I I don't think it is. I do not think that the original
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  tweeter was trying to post anything inflammatory.
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  I think that they were really just reading this like one off
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  stat in this article and we're like, holy shit, this bubble is
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  going to burst. And we've been talking about the
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  influencer bubble bursting for a really long time.
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  So he was like, this is not sustainable.
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  And you know, it became this huge debate.
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  However, when you look at the stats, it's clear that the
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  actual money flowing into the creator economy is less than
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  what that overarching stat might suggest or what you might imply
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  from that. We think of like influencers and
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  creators as multi millionaires but most of them are just if
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  they are full time are making like middle of the road or
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  slightly like better than middle of the road salaries.
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  But still 11 million or nearly 12 million full time creators in
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  the US. That still sounds like a giant
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  number. However, that's also not taking
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  into account how many jobs in multimedia, for example, could
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  now be classified as like creators or even influencers.
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  You know, if you think about like film makers or people that
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  are trying to break into that entertainment space, they might
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  be creating their own work for themselves and posting that on
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  YouTube and on TikTok. And they're making money from,
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  you know, Adsense or TikTok creator fund or even brand
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  deals. But they in years past, you
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  know, before social media would have been working in TV and film
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  and they're using that to still work in, in TV and film or
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  trying to work in TV and film. But they're making their own
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  work to be able to have this portfolio.
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  And therefore they are being labeled as like a creator or
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  like an influencer because they're making money from social
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  media by creating content, right?
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  So I think when we hear stuff like this, it's important to
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  like, dive into it a little bit more, especially because
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  influencers, creators, like there's just such a stigma
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  attached to their lifestyle, their income, how they make
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  their money. And I think when you break it
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  down a little bit more like this, it helps us digest.
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  But regardless, like the creator economy, she's thriving.
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  And I don't see this bubble bursting.
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  Like the creator economy has replaced a lot of traditional
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  media advertising, like I said, TV and film production roles,
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  just it's just it's replaced so much or it's at least
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  complimenting so much. And it's not all just like
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  brands funneling money into this, right?
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  Like a lot of it is from the platforms themselves, like
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  YouTube, TikTok, I don't know, subscription models, things like
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  that. So I just thought that was an
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  interesting report to look at. Anyways, guys, that's it for
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  today. Thank you so much for listening
• 17:26
  to Mini Scroll. Please remember to rate review
• 17:29
  and subscribe. It helps us so much.
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  It helps us grow. Please star rate US on Spotify.
• 17:34
  We're trying to get our star ratings up on Spotify.
• 17:36
  I love you guys. There will be a deep dive
• 17:38
  tomorrow and I will talk to you on Monday.
• 17:40
  Bye.