Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Hubs.Life downfall, Zach Bryan & Brianna Chickenfry expose texts + Sylvanian Drama TikTok lawsuit

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MINI SCROLL: Hubs.Life downfall, Zach Bryan & Brianna Chickenfry expose texts + Sylvanian Drama TikTok lawsuit · 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.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to mini scroll
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  everyone. All right, let's just get into
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  the stories for today. So the first word that I have
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  for you guys is I need to talk about the hub's life, quote UN
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  quote rug pull that all of his followers are calling it.
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  So Connor Hubbard, AKA Hub's life is a content creator who
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  built a following of nearly 1,000,000 on TikTok by
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  documenting his quote UN quote normal life.
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  His mantra online was, quote, I'm showing how happy and
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  successful you can be having a normal life, working a normal
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  job as a senior analyst at a Fortune 500 company.
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  His content was largely vlogs of his days at his nine to five and
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  his mornings or his evenings at home with his wife and his dog.
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  Recently, however, Connor quit this 9:00 to 5:00 to pursue
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  TikTok full time. And now there has been so much
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  discussion about how he's fallen off.
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  And this was really exacerbated when he did a TikTok live over
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  the weekend. And his followers are actually
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  so mad about this whole scenario that they are calling the hub's
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  life rug pull. The Hub's life fall off needs to
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  be studied. Now.
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  We all know the Hub's life left his nine to five to pursue his
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  dreams, but that has changed very quickly.
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  He was just on live the other night and he was basically
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  begging for galaxies to be donated to him and he took it so
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  far as he wouldn't answer questions until someone donated
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  a whole Galaxy. I got to get a Galaxy guys if I
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  if you want me to answer the tough questions.
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  Now galaxies are basically TikTok Live's currency and one
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  Galaxy apparently equals about $20 like USD on a USD.
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  So people are making fun of this saying it's giving the same
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  energy as Jason Nash last year when he was begging on TikTok
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  Live for money. I do want to note that later
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  Connor claimed in comments that he was donating all of the money
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  that he made to the Texas floods.
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  Regardless, this has people talking about creators quitting
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  their jobs to pursue social media and who and who does not
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  succeed and why. OK, so I think personally, two
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  things kind of went wrong for Hub's life.
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  First, he built his entire platform off of being a normal
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  guy, working a normal job with a normal life.
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  That was literally like his entire purpose on the app and it
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  was the reason why people followed him.
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  And it was almost like a nice break from so much of the other
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  type of lifestyle content that we see online, right?
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  Like a lot of lifestyle creators are very aspirational.
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  And it's not that he's not aspirational, but he was just so
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  quote UN quote regular. He's also a guy, you know,
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  there's countless content creators who share kind of the
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  mundane parts of their lives, working in corporate, working in
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  nine to five, working various jobs.
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  And there's certainly not as many men who are documenting
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  their lives and doing like day in my life content in general.
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  So I think for a lot of men, he represented something different
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  than what they often are presented with on social media.
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  And if you think about the lifestyle content that men are
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  often presented with, Connor must have felt like such a
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  breath of fresh air. And now that he is no longer
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  working in corporate, the bulk of his content is like day in
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  the life as a full time content creator.
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  And that's just not as interesting.
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  First of all, we know what that looks like.
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  Enough tick tokers, enough Youtubers have done content like
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  that for years. It's not relatable anymore,
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  obviously. And, you know, we don't need to
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  be seeing all of this kind of like unattainable, aspirational
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  content anymore. There's so much of it out there.
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  Like the thing that set Connor apart was that his whole thing
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  was like, just look at my very regular life.
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  And then #2 he didn't build enough of a parasocial
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  relationship with his audience for them to want to stay
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  invested in him as a person. He barely speaks in his videos.
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  People don't really know much about him.
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  And the style of content that he created, while obviously very
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  successful, it was not about building a connection with his
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  followers. So those people aren't going to,
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  you know, like, go along for the ride and be excited for him with
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  this new direction because they followed him for a very specific
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  type of content, not because they were invested in him as a
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  person. And if he's no longer making
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  that content, then they're no longer invested.
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  All of this has come to such a head that Connor has actually
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  had to turn his tick tock comments off, which is
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  unfortunate. Like it is unfortunate that he
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  quit his job to pursue something that like, who wouldn't take
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  this opportunity? Of course, like so many people
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  would take this opportunity to be a full time tik Toker, a full
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  time content creator, if they were making enough money to do
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  so. You can control your own
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  schedule, your own work, like all of that, of course.
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  But he's received so much backlash for this and it's gone
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  so poorly that he's had to turn off his comments.
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  That being said, I've seen so many people say like, why did he
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  not just continue to fake that he has a nine to five?
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  Or why did he not keep his 9:00 to 5:00 And then just like keep
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  working at this as like the most successful side hustle ever and
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  start transitioning his content into like building this very
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  successful, lucrative side hustle.
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  And then maybe he would have built more of a following around
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  that. And then he could have
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  transitioned his content from like, you know, I work a nine to
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  five as a regular dude to now I'm a full time tik toker.
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  Like that's not very regular. It's definitely a bit of a
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  cautionary tale on how you build your personal brand and what
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  you're putting out into the world.
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  And you know, just just realizing that what you're
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  putting out there is what and like you building a following
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  off of that. That's what people want to see.
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  If you change that, it might not go over well.
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  All right, the next word that I have for you guys.
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  I can't, I can't. Zac Bryan and Brianna Chicken
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  Fry are posting their text messages on Instagram stories as
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  like receipts around the breakup.
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  I thought we were done speaking about these two feuding, but Zac
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  Ryan pulled a fast one on us yesterday.
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  He posted and quickly deleted 2 screenshots of text messages
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  from their breakup. I think trying to imply that the
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  story that Brianna has been telling the world isn't totally
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  accurate. If you want more of a recap on
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  their feuding from last week, I have a couple episodes on it.
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  OK so the first screenshot he posted was a long text message
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  that Brianna sent him after he broke up with her.
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  She said enjoy Oklahoma and know through this all I still have
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  love for you and things would have ended a lot differently if
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  it were up to me. I hope one day you can see past
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  all the bullshit of your life and no, I was always in your
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  corner. Finish off the last leg of your
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  tour, strong like you always do. Enjoy Paris and wherever you end
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  up. Just know I'll be wherever I end
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  up. Wishing the best for you.
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  If you ever need a family to lean on, mine will always be
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  yours. Me not attached.
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  I'll never forget the love I felt for you at one time in this
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  life. Timing was wrong and you weren't
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  ready and that's OK. Enjoy being a rock star.
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  If you ever need a friend that gets it, I'll always be here.
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  I never wanted the lifestyle or money attached to you.
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  Just wanted to love someone I felt was worth loving.
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  And I'll choose to believe you didn't mean all the things you
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  said to me tonight. Even if you did, I want to leave
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  this with love and love only on my end.
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  That's all I wanted. And I do believe I deserved a
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  goodbye. You knew you'd never see me
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  again when you left. And so did I.
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  And then she responds again. So are we just ending on that?
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  So Zach had loved this message. OK.
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  And then the next one he posted presumably a text from Brianna
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  to, people think, his manager. What's interesting is this
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  message was sent on October 27th.
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  OK, The one to the manager, The message before this, we don't
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  know. There's no date on the big
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  message, however. So are we just ending on that?
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  Was sent on October 29th. They were already in
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  negotiations about how they were going to publicly handle the
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  break up and then she still messaged him saying like so are
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  we just going to end like that? OK so this is what the message
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  says where I'm at option A 12 million.
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  I say nothing about him. Just say yeah we broke up.
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  I really want to move on and heal.
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  Option B Duxbury House which is their home that I think he
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  bought them in Boston. I essentially take the High
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  Road, talk about the ending, won't talk about the non public
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  cheating. There is a lot throughout our
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  whole entire relationship I'm finding out about.
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  Won't talk about him being a narcissist.
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  Just say he did me a favor. I'm happy I got out and I wish
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  him the best. Let him be a lesson learned.
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  Can guarantee the Grace recording never gets talked
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  about. That is the bonfire recording.
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  I think that when she says the Grace recording, I think Grace
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  when Brianna went to bed at her birthday and they were around
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  the bonfire. Grace must have recorded him
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  being vile. I have no control over Josh and
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  Dave. As in her BFF's barstool Co
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  hosts. They really hate him but I will
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  not feed into any of it. They are on their own.
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  They have no insider information from me so everything they ever
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  say would be already public knowledge.
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  Option C Essentially a messy war.
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  I arrowed everything I experienced and don't hold back.
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  So he posted these and quickly delete it and then Brianna
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  responded on her Instagram stories and said boy is blackout
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  at 7:00 AM again. Shocker.
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  And then she posted screenshots of his manager sending her the
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  NDA option. She said I rest my case.
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  His manager texting me their options for NDA and it says a
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  Duxbury house plus 3 million or $10 million payment terms would
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  be say nothing about Zach XYZ. All the things that she's
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  already said. She says I have not told one lie
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  ever. And it's baffling to me the
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  brain dead little army of of men that so clearly abused women too
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  that blindly follow their little leader because he makes songs
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  for them about being bad boys lol.
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  And then she kind of answers some of the questions she says
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  I'm finally happy and free of the hold he had on me and I will
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  not be giving an open invitation to that dark cloud back into my
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  life. I was offered $12.9 million to
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  stay quiet. I was presented options and what
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  I could choose. I chose none because I have
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  morals. End of story.
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  So I didn't read Zach's screenshots as damaging for
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  Brianna at all. But unfortunately, I fear that
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  it is kind of shifting the narrative because Reddit TikTok
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  comments just like everywhere is filled with people being like,
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  Oh my God, this proves Brianna blackmailed him.
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  This proves Brianna's been lying about how horrible he was to
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  her. She sent him this nice message
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  when they broke up. You know, obviously it wasn't
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  that bad. Whatever.
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  I feel like anyone that's not believing her and that is like
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  looking at these text messages and thinking, Oh yeah, this
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  proves everything. They have either a never been in
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  an abusive relationship themselves, an emotionally
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  manipulative relationship themselves, they've never seen a
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  friend go through that, they've never learned the warning signs
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  of that, or how women might react in those situations.
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  Like I feel like this is just standard shit.
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  Like just because you were in a really toxic abusive
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  relationship doesn't mean that when the relationship ends
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  that's easier for you. Sometimes it's harder because
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  you have this like weird traumatic bond with this person.
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  I wholeheartedly disagree that the message he showed us proves
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  that she asked for $12 million unprompted.
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  I think it just proves that she considered all of her options
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  and like, wouldn't you, if somebody was offering you $12
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  million for essentially all she had to do was just say like,
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  yeah, we broke up and move on? Like, would you not consider
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  that? Of course you would.
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  Who would not consider a $12 million payout for something
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  like that? I probably said this last week
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  that I don't think we'll ever talk about them again.
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  But I actually think this is the end.
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  I actually, I something inside me tells me this is the end.
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  Zac Ryan and Brown Chicken Fry will stop feuding.
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  We will stop talking about them as a couple, their breakup, all
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  of that. We can only hope, OK?
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  And the last word that I have for you guys, this is crazy, OK?
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  The creator behind the Sylvania drama TikTok account is being
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  sued by the company that makes the toys.
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  Irish creator Theavon Engelbrechen has been sued by
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  Japanese toy company Epoch Epoch.
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  Epoch. I'm sorry I don't know how to
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  say that for using their dolls. Sylvanian families in her TikTok
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  account. Sia is a 23 year old creator of
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  the wildly popular sylvanian drama account on TikTok where
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  she creates essentially like dark comedy skits with the
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  dolls. Her account reached 2.5 million
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  followers and has done brand deals with huge commercial
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  partners like Marc Jacobs, Netflix, like so many in 2023,
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  the tab in the UK actually interviewed her and she said,
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  quote, the Sylvanians remind me of Desperate Housewives because
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  they all looked really perfect. I'm still surprised that people
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  even watch the videos because they're so stupid.
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  Usually I don't make up the script, I just do it as I go
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  along and see what happens. I'm surprised I'm not already
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  cancelled, but I don't mean any harm.
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  I joke about the problems in my own life.
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  There's a lot of stuff about weight and dieting and that's
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  just like me. If there's a joke in there
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  that's bad, it's probably about myself.
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  So in April, the toy company that owns Sylvanian Families
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  filed A copyright infringement lawsuit against Thea.
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  They filed it in the US even and though they're a Japanese
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  company and she is in Ireland so I don't know how that works, but
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  they filed it in the US for her using their dolls without their
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  permission. OK.
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  This is directly from kfmradio.com.
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  The company claims the videos, some of which reference drugs
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  and violence, could harm its brand and mislead viewers into
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  thinking they were endorsed by the company.
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  AUS Court, according to the Irish Independent, has extended
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  her deadline to respond to the lawsuit to August 8th with a
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  pretrial conference for August 14th.
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  Epoch or Epoch or whatever, I'm Sorry, is seeking to stop the
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  use of its stalls, citing copyright infringement and false
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  endorsements. It's also seeking damages.
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  Oh my God, you guys. I'm so sad for her.
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  Like nothing is worse than legal issues.
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  Nothing is worse than being like an individual sued by a
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  corporation. Like actually it is so scary and
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  traumatizing. And I understand from the
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  corporate perspective, they don't want their dolls
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  associated with that content. Like like I said, it is dark
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  comedy. And there is no disclaimer on
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  her TikTok account or as far as I know, the Instagram account
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  either that says like, we are not associated with Sylvanian
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  families. So maybe if she had that
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  disclaimer somewhere, if it was made clear in every single video
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  or something, maybe it would be a bit different.
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  Like I understand. However, I also feel like they
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  can probably trace back such a huge chunk of their recent sales
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  to her making these dolls relevant online and giving them
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  like a chronically online life. Like they obviously don't want
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  her making money from their IP. And I bet you if she wasn't
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  doing commercial opportunities, like if she didn't have brand
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  deals and stuff, then maybe they wouldn't be suing her.
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  I feel like they just want to be able to capitalize on this and
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  make their own money from this because it's such a cultural
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  phenomenon now. But I can tell you, I had never
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  even heard of the Sylvanian families before the Sylvanian
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  drama TikTok account. And now I've purchased them.
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  I use them in memes all the time.
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  They're like culturally relevant for me now.
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  Like the brand awareness that she has given them and like this
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  new life that she has kind of breathed into them.
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  Like I said, she's brought them into like the chronically online
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  zeitgeist in a way that like truly a brand can only dream of
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  because it happened organically. I'm so sad for her.
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  Like, I can't believe this. And maybe if she hadn't used the
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  name Sylvanian, like maybe if she just, I don't know, called
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  it something else. Like I, I do feel like there
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  were a few things here that maybe she could have done
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  differently. However, like when she started
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  this account, she was like 20 I think, or 19, like she's only
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  23. I don't know.
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  I feel so bad for her. This must be very scary.
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  I'm obsessed with the Sylvanian drama account.
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  Like I will be so devastated if she has to take down this
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  account. Anyways guys, that's it for Mini
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  scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
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  I love you guys. Please remember to rate review
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  and subscribe. Annabelle will talk to you guys
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  tomorrow and then I will talk to you on Thursday.
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  Bye.