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9-4: We Did It! The Influencer Era May be Over After These US Open Incidents · Wicked Radio with Bill Adams

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  Speaker 1: Absolute favorite episodes of Wicked Radio to do to get
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  Speaker 1: on here and record on a Friday or go live
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: on a Friday before a long weekend and have some
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: great news to talk about. And boys, they're good news.
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  Speaker 1: We've done it. We did it. All right. Maybe not
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  Speaker 1: you or me personally, but as a society, I think
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  Speaker 1: we have officially started the end of the social media
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  Speaker 1: influencer era. That's right. And you know who we have
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  Speaker 1: to thank? The U.S. Open. I mean, not them. It
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  Speaker 1: was incidents at the U.S. Open. And don't start to
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  Speaker 1: think that there's some sort of victim here, because as
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  Speaker 1: you are about to hear here in a minute, the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Open is part of this, and they created their own problem.
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  Speaker 1: But at least they're pushing back. But the real pushback
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  Speaker 1: is coming from consumers, attendees at events, sports fans. I
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  Speaker 1: think this is what's happened. The term influencer, which you
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  Speaker 1: may have always hated, you know, and nobody ever really
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  Speaker 1: defined it. Like, what are you influencing? What is an influencer?
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  Speaker 1: And remember that study that came out, that survey of
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  Speaker 1: high school students last year? where like 80% of them
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  Speaker 1: said the number one job goal, the number one career
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  Speaker 1: goal is to become an influencer. That was scary. No,
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  Speaker 1: what's happened here is the pushback. Influencer has become a
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  Speaker 1: true dirty word for most people now. And that's what's changed.
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  Speaker 1: That's where the pushback is. We'll get to it. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: for being here. I appreciate you. And it's true. Long
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  Speaker 1: Labor Day weekend. Hope you enjoy it. You may be traveling,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: maybe not. I don't know. But Be safe, enjoy, and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: thanks for hanging out with me on Wicked Radio, the
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  Speaker 1: live stream, and then the replay on X YouTube, Facebook,
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  Speaker 1: audio podcast, uploaded shortly after the live stream on all
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  Speaker 1: your favorite platforms. Let's get right to it, shall we? Now,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: this isn't the only event. It just happens to get
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  Speaker 1: the most attention, mainly because, yes, it's New York. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of celebrities there. Yes, it gets a
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  Speaker 1: lot of media attention. But the U.S. opened. National Tennis Tournament,
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  Speaker 1: one of the biggies, is happening right now. Always right
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: around Labor Day, beginning of September, all that stuff. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not the biggest tennis fan in the world, but boy,
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  Speaker 1: I was paying attention to this one. You started to
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  Speaker 1: hear rumblings this week about something going on with people
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  Speaker 1: in the crowd. Now, the first stories were popping up
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  Speaker 1: on ESPN and sports media where it was like disruptions
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  Speaker 1: in the crowd. That's how they reported it. disruptions in
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  Speaker 1: the crowd, and there was a story of an umpire
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  Speaker 1: that had to stop play during Naomi Osaka's play and
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  Speaker 1: tell the people in the crowd to be quiet. This
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  Speaker 1: is just rowdy American sports fans, you know, because the
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  Speaker 1: European tennis and golf fans have always said, those unkempt Americans,
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  Speaker 1: they don't know how to behave. Was it just that
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  Speaker 1: typical kind of behavior? No, not this time. Well, maybe
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of that, but not mainly. It was
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  Speaker 1: mostly influencers. Now, this was this was the video that
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  Speaker 1: got most attention. There were a few of these things happening, though,
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  Speaker 1: but this is the one that got most attention, and
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  Speaker 1: this sums up perfectly. There's even a still shot of
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  Speaker 1: this going on that's gone viral that is just so perfect,
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  Speaker 1: and it sums up the entire situation. So you audio-only listeners, well,
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  Speaker 1: I'll try to describe this best I can, but everybody else,
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  Speaker 1: you can see it. So this is a pack of,
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  Speaker 1: looks to be, I don't know, 15 to 20. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know exactly where they're from. This is the new thing, too,
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  Speaker 1: with social media influencers. They do it en masse, like
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  Speaker 1: groups of people, like influencing. There's still the individuals, you know,
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  Speaker 1: with their Instagram and TikTok accounts. Some of them have
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  Speaker 1: millions of followers, too. But now the new thing is
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  Speaker 1: packs of them all doing these videos. So I guess
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  Speaker 1: they multiply their social media reach. I don't know what
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  Speaker 1: it is. So they had one of them videotaping or
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  Speaker 1: a hired, you know, camera guy to post on there,
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  Speaker 1: and they all said this. Now, the key is, and
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  Speaker 1: I know you can't see this, audio-only listeners, but everybody
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  Speaker 1: else can. Right below them is clearly visible a guy
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  Speaker 1: and his wife, and as this is going on, you
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  Speaker 1: can see the guy, just a regular spectator who probably
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  Speaker 1: paid thousands of dollars for these tickets, literally put his
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  Speaker 1: head in his hands while this is going on. It's
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  Speaker 1: like a visual representation of him saying, Oh, would you
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  Speaker 1: please just shut up? So apparently this is right in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of a match that makes it even worse.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't during a break in play or commercial break
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  Speaker 1: or whatever. This is when this happened. And the greatest
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  Speaker 1: part ever is the pushback of this happening. And that's
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  Speaker 1: where we get the good news. Okay, guys, we're back.
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  Speaker 1: Did you miss us? Because we missed you. So there's
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  Speaker 1: someone in the lower deck. videotaping them just going, what
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  Speaker 1: is going on with this? And he happened to catch
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  Speaker 1: the guy who's become our star here, who just has
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  Speaker 1: had enough in the visual frustration on his face. And
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  Speaker 1: he puts his head in his hand and he's just
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  Speaker 1: so over it. And the reason why that went viral
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  Speaker 1: and is getting so much attention is because that guy
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  Speaker 1: represents so many Americans who are just so tired of
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  Speaker 1: this crap. Because not only Your news feed, your social
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  Speaker 1: media feed, whether you're on X or Instagram or Facebook
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  Speaker 1: or TikTok, whatever you like to go on, being flooded
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  Speaker 1: with these people because you can't avoid them. You really can't.
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  Speaker 1: They're like a bad penny. They don't go away. They
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  Speaker 1: really don't. Even though in your algorithm, you never clicked
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  Speaker 1: like or follow or any of that stuff, they still
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  Speaker 1: somehow show up. You may not know them by name,
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  Speaker 1: but they're there because they're hired by the brands you
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  Speaker 1: probably like. More on that in a minute. Anyway, but
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  Speaker 1: that guy represents all of us that are just So
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  Speaker 1: tired of this stuff. So apparently, as the story goes,
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  Speaker 1: and the New York Post has been all over this
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  Speaker 1: because it's in their market, but they also, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they have their own gossip report and they love to
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  Speaker 1: talk about this stuff. So it's big news for them.
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  Speaker 1: They've really made this viral. During another incident of groups
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  Speaker 1: of influencers interrupting play during it happening, apparently, reportedly, an
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  Speaker 1: umpire at the U.S. Open had to stop the tournament,
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  Speaker 1: directly address those so-called influencers in the crowd and say, Guys,
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  Speaker 1: please stop doing this. You're interrupting the entire thing. Please stop.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Now, one of those players, and I think
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  Speaker 1: this is during Naomi Osaka's play, she actually was asked
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  Speaker 1: about this, but now it's become a news story of
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  Speaker 1: the U.S. Open. She was asked about this at the
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  Speaker 1: press conference after the tournament. What did she say about it?
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  Speaker 1: It sounds like even she's had enough, but here's the problem.
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  Speaker 1: she's not coming out and saying it strongly enough. And
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  Speaker 1: a lot of tennis players, golfers, even pro athlete, like, uh,
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  Speaker 1: football players and baseball players, they've not come out strongly
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  Speaker 1: enough to sort of admonish this kind of thing, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and to criticize the influencers. But I think that's about
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  Speaker 1: to happen, but Naomi is still polite about it, but
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  Speaker 1: here's what she said.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's a really tough question. I think obviously
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  Speaker 2: if you come to a sporting event, you have to
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  Speaker 2: respect the sport. Um, And I feel like it's common
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  Speaker 2: courtesy to like read up on the sport, especially like
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  Speaker 2: the etiquette. And I mean, I feel like it could
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  Speaker 2: be a good thing for people to make the sport
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  Speaker 2: of tennis popular to their specific.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, wait, I'm going to pause it there. Sorry to
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  Speaker 1: cut her off, but that's what happens here. That's the problem. See,
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  Speaker 1: that's the problem with the athletes, the stars, the celebrities, whatever,
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  Speaker 1: who have tolerated long enough these social media influencers who
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  Speaker 1: are to a person, annoying. They just are. It's just
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  Speaker 1: in their nature to get in your face and obnoxious
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  Speaker 1: and they're loud, like we saw at the U.S. Open.
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  Speaker 1: Naomi Osaka should have come out and said, no, I
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  Speaker 1: hate them, they're obnoxious, and they need to go away.
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  Speaker 1: You know, call out these dinks for what they actually are,
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  Speaker 1: and the problem starts to go away. Because it's become,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, a dirty word to be a quote-unquote,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm using finger quotes, influencer. That used to be
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  Speaker 1: a thing where it's like, oh, that's cool, an influencer, wow.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody ever asked, what do you actually influence? Now it's
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  Speaker 1: become a dirty word in many different ways. But here's
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  Speaker 1: the thing. Now you're going to just start to see,
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  Speaker 1: I predict, tennis players, golfers especially, because these are sports
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  Speaker 1: where you need to concentrate, you need to be quiet.
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  Speaker 1: You'll have baseball players because they get chirped at in
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  Speaker 1: the crowd all the time, football players, whoever it is.
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  Speaker 1: They'll start to get a little bit stronger in these
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  Speaker 1: press conferences as they talk about influencers. Why? Because it's
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  Speaker 1: safe to do so now. Because it's become... A dirty word.
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  Speaker 1: You and I may have been annoyed for years of
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  Speaker 1: these influencers, but now everybody all together, all of society,
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  Speaker 1: now they're actually getting mad at them, and that's a
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  Speaker 1: healthy and good thing. And there's more. Back to the
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  Speaker 1: New York Post for a second, because like I said,
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  Speaker 1: they've been all over this, because the tournament's in their backyard,
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  Speaker 1: and it's New York, and they just... I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: It's something to talk about. And even talking about influencers
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  Speaker 1: gets them more attention by the influencers. That's part of
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  Speaker 1: the rigged game, too. But how about this? Follow-up of
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  Speaker 1: the story. Here's another little piece of evidence that influencers
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  Speaker 1: become a dirty word. This is according to the New
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  Speaker 1: York Post just yesterday. A pair of New York City-based
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  Speaker 1: influencers claimed they were kicked out of the U.S. Open. Hmm.
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  Speaker 1: Just two hours after they posted photos, here was the problem,
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  Speaker 1: photos of their credentials online. Oh, they don't like that.
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  Speaker 1: So what they mean is they get the lanyards like
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  Speaker 1: media access, press, influencer. And that's the thing, too. Traditional
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  Speaker 1: media hate them because they call themselves press. They get
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  Speaker 1: the same press credentials as they do, so they hate
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  Speaker 1: that too. Well, these two posted photos of their credentials.
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  Speaker 1: A stuffy organization like the U.S. Open doesn't like that.
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  Speaker 1: Meg Radice, Audrey Jungens, I don't know who the hell
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  Speaker 1: they are, but they run a social media account called
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  Speaker 1: the VIP List, which, let's face facts, is massive. They
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  Speaker 1: have millions of followers across all platforms, so that's one thing.
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  Speaker 1: They said they learned that their access to Billie Jean
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  Speaker 1: King National Tennis Center was revoked when they went to
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  Speaker 1: have dinner at a restaurant they had partnered with for
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  Speaker 1: the tournament. That partner part of it is a big
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  Speaker 1: part of this story. We post our credentials on our story.
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  Speaker 1: We go to our favorite restaurant, have a nice steak dinner.
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  Speaker 1: We were downing honey deuces, having a great time, haven't
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  Speaker 1: even made it to the court yet. Okay. Okay. here's
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  Speaker 1: something that didn't happen before this can't be the first
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  Speaker 1: year that influencers posted their own credentials to brag about
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  Speaker 1: it you know to flex online but this is the
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  Speaker 1: first year that the U.S. Open has started to revoke
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  Speaker 1: their press credentials and their access right okay and don't
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  Speaker 1: start thinking that because of all these incidents, the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Open is some kind of a victim here. Because here's
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  Speaker 1: the true part in the story. Like any headline, any
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  Speaker 1: story in traditional media, you've got to get down to
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  Speaker 1: the nitty-gritty of it. It's never in the headline. It's
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  Speaker 1: usually in the fourth or fifth paragraph where you get
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  Speaker 1: to the real story of what's going on here. And
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: this is it. Major brands, including Moet and Chandon. I'm
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: not familiar. It's above my pay grade, but whatever. Grey Goose,
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  Speaker 1: I know them. Ralph Lauren. Adidas and Dobel Tequila are
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  Speaker 1: hosting influencers at the tournament this year. Wow. So the
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  Speaker 1: sponsors of the U.S. Open are inviting the... So how
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  Speaker 1: many influencers are we talking about? This is where the U.S.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Open and other tournaments and other corporate brands are to blame.
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  Speaker 1: They have increased the influencer access from 50, some 50-odd
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  Speaker 1: influencers last year, to 100 this year. So here's your problem.
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  Speaker 1: The U.S. Open invited them. They created this problem that
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  Speaker 1: everybody hates. That's the thing. So they're no victim in this.
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  Speaker 1: They just realized that the general public, because they're smart,
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  Speaker 1: they have their own PR firms, they've realized that the
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  Speaker 1: public is starting to push back against this crap, just
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  Speaker 1: like the guy in the video who is sitting right
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  Speaker 1: beneath the pack of 15 to 20 gaggle of influencers
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  Speaker 1: interrupting a tournament, and he's putting his head in his hands.
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  Speaker 1: That guy represents most average everyday Americans. We have had enough.
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  Speaker 1: But here's where the pushback happens. If we've learned anything
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  Speaker 1: about corporate power over the past, I put it at
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  Speaker 1: five years, excuse me, is that it actually works. Your
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  Speaker 1: influence works. When you get to these corporate sponsors, tournaments, leagues, anything,
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  Speaker 1: and if enough people actually reach out to them and
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  Speaker 1: they say, we're not going to buy your product anymore,
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  Speaker 1: no matter what it is. And when they start to
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  Speaker 1: see their numbers dip, oh, they'll listen. The most powerful
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  Speaker 1: thing you have is your vote as your voice. And
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  Speaker 1: it's starting to happen. And that's great. But here's the
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  Speaker 1: real difference that's really happening. Like I said, and I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: kind of teased at this before, that whole term influencer
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  Speaker 1: might have been a dirty word to you the whole
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: time and to me. I mean, for years now, I've
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  Speaker 1: cringed when I hear it. I'm like, oh, you don't
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  Speaker 1: influence anybody. No one's ever defined what an influencer is, right?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: But now for the general public, for everybody else besides
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you and me, now you hear the word influencer. Now,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: it's been building for a while, but now you really
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: hear it and you go, Oh yeah, I hate them.
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  Speaker 1: That's where it is right now. And there's another piece
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: of this where influencers become a dirty word. You might
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: have seen this story that came out this week as well.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: It kind of got exposed and somebody, I'm not sure
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: what outlet, did an expose, going back to New York again,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: where Mayor Mamdani has been exposed as having a army,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: this is the quote, an army of social media influencers,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: some getting as many as $ 20, 000 dollars per hit on
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Instagram to influence voters in that area to make it
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: seem like everything's peachy keen in New York City. And
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: he's doing great things, and it's amazing. Of course, most
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: of the influencers have absolutely no idea whatsoever what it's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: all about or what's going on in that city. But
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: an army of influencers has actually happened to it. And
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: let's be big boys and girls about this. Of course
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Republicans do it too. Of course all politicians do it too.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And yes, you can even say even President Trump has
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: an army of influencers out there too. We've all seen them, right?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And the ones that actually turned against him too, pro
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and con, are getting paid by somebody to become that.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: So when the influencers went into the realm of politics,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: that's when influencer became a real dirty word. No one
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: can stand them. So that's good news. Two different things happened.
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  Speaker 1: They started to do things like this, cringy behavior at
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: corporate events, and then influencers went into the world of politics.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: We all saw that in podcastistan world, right? We all
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: saw that happen. I think it's finally ending. It'll be
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: a slow change and reversal, but finally the general public
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and regular everyday people have had enough of influencer culture.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: And that is something to celebrate. But if you want
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to end it, you tell any sponsorship, any corporation, any league, anybody,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: that if they have this army of influencers, you're not
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: going to put up with it. That's what makes the change.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: It's a great thing. It's great. It's something to celebrate
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: on the long holiday weekend. Speaking of that, make it
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: a great one. I'll catch up with you next Wednesday, Monday.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: So I'll talk to you on Tuesday. In the meantime,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the replay on X and YouTube and Facebook. Thanks for
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: checking that out and the follows and likes and shares,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: which have been great. I appreciate it so much. Livestream
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: for Wicked Radio is Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. Eastern time.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, the audio podcast posted and uploaded.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: just after the live stream every single day. I appreciate
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you so much. Make it a great Labor Day weekend. Enjoy.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Take your time off. Enjoy your family. And be safe
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: if you're traveling. I'll talk to you later.