Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Gigi Gorgeous x Nats Getty divorce, Sabrina Carpenter $1 million charity tour + TikTok's sympathy-trapping problem

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Gigi Gorgeous x Nats Getty divorce, Sabrina Carpenter $1 million charity tour + TikTok's sympathy-trapping problem · 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. OK, we did survive the
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  bombogenesis bomb cyclone here in Sydney.
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  The weather was wild the last two days.
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  But wasn't Annabelle's at home Mini scroll like such a vibe?
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  Like the background was so cute. I feel like she was really
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  comfortable and like really enjoying herself in the episode.
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  If you guys haven't listened to her mini tech from yesterday,
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  definitely go listen. It was like definitely a vibe.
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  All right, let's just get into the stories for today.
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  So the first story that I have for you guys, this my draw like
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  on the floor. This shocked me to my core.
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  Gigi Gorgeous and Nat Sketti have filed for divorce OG
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  YouTube. Gigi Gorgeous and her husband
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  Nat Sketti have announced their divorce after almost six years
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  of marriage. In a statement from a
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  representative issued to People magazine, the two quote have
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  amicably decided to part ways. The statement continues.
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  While they've decided to end their marriage, they remain
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  friends and have the utmost love and respect for each other.
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  I, I feel like I was like the Gigi Gorgeous audience.
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  Like I, I am basically her exact age.
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  She's from Mississauga, I'm from Oakville in Canada and I just
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  have been following her and her journey for so long and I
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  followed her marriage so closely and I just like actually can't
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  believe this. They seemed so in love.
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  They really seemed like each other's person.
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  I do have to wonder if their IVF journey had a role in this
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  because I know they've been trying to have a child for a
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  long time. So as I said, Gigi of course is
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  kind of like an icon of like the OG YouTube beauty community.
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  She documented her transition on YouTube tube.
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  Like, she really was such a pioneer in that space.
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  Nats, her husband is a 32 year old fashion designer, LGBTQIA
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  activist and heir to Getty Oil. The two started dating in 2016
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  and were engaged 2 years later. They were married in July 2019.
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  Since then, like I said, the pair has been open about their
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  experience trying to grow a family.
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  So they were doing IVF in 2023, Gigi told PEOPLE.
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  Quote, The update on the IVF is that we have 6 embryos right
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  now. There's four girls and two boys,
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  which we're really excited about.
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  It feels very surreal to say because just a year ago I wasn't
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  able to give my sample and we weren't going to be able to
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  create any embryos. I know Gigi stopped hormones so
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  that, you know, she could produce sperm and they could
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  hopefully have a baby. Like this is just shocking to
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  me. I have to imagine the stress of
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  the IVF journey maybe played a role in this.
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  But I'm just so sad. Is anybody else like shocked?
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  I when I saw this news this morning, literally my jaw hit
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  the floor. So Gigi and Nats neither have
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  publicly talked, talked about the divorce or posted about it.
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  But either way, obviously I'm like wishing them the best.
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  I'm so upset about this. I'm, I'm like distraught.
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  I love them as a couple. They just, they really felt like
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  they belonged together, like they were each other's person.
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  OK, and happier news. Sabrina Carpenter has officially
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  raised $1 million for charities with her short and sweet tour.
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  The Sabrina Carpenter Fund has raised over $1 million in less
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  than a year since it launched. The fund is in partnership with
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  Plus One, which is a nonprofit organization that helped artist
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  with advocacy campaigns. So Sabrina partnered with Plus
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  one for her short and sweet tour where $1.00 from every ticket
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  sale was going to the fund or is going to the fund.
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  The Sabrina Carpenter Fund supports charities like Best
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  Friends, Animal society, The Jed Foundation, Rainbow Railroad
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  Rain. I can't say that Rainbow
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  Railroad and music cares. OK, I wanted to talk about this
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  story because it's obviously a bit of like APR fluff piece, but
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  I feel like this story makes sense in terms of its timing.
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  It's obviously a milestone that I assume her team would have
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  promoted regardless, but it obviously also comes at the
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  heels of her album cover backlash.
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  And during this backlash, I don't actually think I mentioned
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  this when I covered it last week, but during the backlash,
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  there were comparisons between her and Olivia Rodrigo.
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  And you know how Olivia Rodrigo ego is so vocal about women's
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  reproductive rights and she makes it very clear that a
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  portion of her tour sales or merch or whatever she's doing is
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  going to different causes. She always kind of stands for
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  something bigger. And some of the criticism around
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  Sabrina's album cover was like, you know, not only did it feel a
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  certain type of way, but also it felt like Sabrina has just in
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  general kind of stood for like nothing, quote, UN quote.
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  That is like general criticism. That's not me saying that.
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  So obviously this was a very smart story to get out there
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  because it kind of shuts down that narrative, reframes her
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  tour, reframes her image, kind of brings people back to what
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  she's been trying to do or like a part of like her artistry and
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  what she's been trying to do in the public eye.
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  It's like an education piece almost.
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  You know, it's like without having to like put out a
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  statement about this or like trying to kind of spin the
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  narrative in a certain type of way, like this story tells the
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  narrative for her. Also, I was going to talk about
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  the like crazy Celebrity cruise going on right now, the Ritz
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  Carlton cruise. If you guys want me to talk
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  about it in mini tomorrow, let me know because I don't really
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  know what I would say, but Annabelle and I were like
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  tossing up. Do we include it?
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  Do we not? And it's basically just like
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  every single a list celebrity in the whole world is going on this
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  cruise. And I don't know if you guys
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  want me to cover it, let me know.
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  But I I thought we could keep it out for today because I didn't
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  really know what else there was to say, but I can cover it
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  tomorrow if you want. OK, and the last word that I
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  have for you guys is I wanted to talk about a conversation that
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  I'm seeing happen online, specifically on TikTok, but you
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  know, on some other platforms too, about how we as users are
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  starting to fall for fake and sometimes AI generated sympathy
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  traps. This could also be a deep dive.
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  Let me know if you guys want us to do a deep dive into that.
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  OK, so I think a lot of us will have seen that viral video by a
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  woman named Pam, quote UN quote, who seems to be like
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  middle-aged. And she posted two photos, one
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  being a selfie of her in the car.
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  And then the second was a young couple with a baby.
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  And it's that trend that's like the swipe across trend where
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  it's like, but there was once a time.
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  And the trend is essentially people talking about like how
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  they're they're alone now or they're in like, you know, kind
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  of a sad place. But there was once a time when
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  they had family around or they had, I don't know, a successful
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  career or whatever it is. And it's people like pulling on
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  the nostalgia strings of like, things are kind of worse now
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  than they used to be. But I had everything at one
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  point. OK, so this is like a trend.
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  So in this video by Pam, quote UN quote, Pam, the first slide
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  is like I said, a selfie of her in a car, a middle-aged woman.
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  And it says eating dinner alone didn't cook much anymore.
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  House is very quiet by it and the second photo when you swipe
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  across says there was once a time and it's like I said her or
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  like a young couple with a baby. OK, so one TikTok user named
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  Alyssa went on to share this post and Alyssa's post is
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  getting quite viral now too, saying that she felt something
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  was off with it. So after doing some reverse
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  image searching, she discovered that both the pictures had been
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  sourced from the Internet. One even came from Pinterest.
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  Alysa said, Quote, people are out here writing morbid fan
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  fiction of these random people without their knowledge or
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  consent. Alyssa then went on to note that
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  Pam's quote UN quote post had accumulated over 3.7 million
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  likes and over 16 million views. Alyssa's video and the points
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  she's making are so true. There are so many of these like
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  fake sympathy traps for virality, for engagement and for
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  money. And we actually see this a lot
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  with older people on TikTok. And I'm not saying that they are
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  the ones doing it. I think sometimes they are AI
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  generated and I think sometimes they're just going along with
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  like whatever their child or their grandchild or whoever is
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  telling them to do so they'll be like saying things to the
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  camera, trying to get like sympathy.
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  They're like, Oh yeah, you know, if you stay for one minute, then
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  I can do XYZ. I can pay for my wife's funeral
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  or whatever it is. But if you go into these
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  accounts, that's what the whole account is.
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  It's just like an older person being used for sympathy, for
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  likes, for views, for money. OK, so there's a few things that
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  this phenomenon can really show us.
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  Firstly, it shows us how deep the pursuit of virality actually
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  goes, to the point where people are willing to fake it.
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  They're willing to fake the person who owns the account.
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  They're willing to fake these stories.
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  They're willing to fake hard times so people can donate to
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  them or watch their videos so they make more money.
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  And this isn't new. Social media users have long
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  fabricated stories to go viral. But Co opting someone else's
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  story and pictures is arguably worse.
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  These are innocent people. I think that Alyssa found Pam's
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  picture on LinkedIn. Like this is her LinkedIn
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  picture. OK, now her face, this is
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  associated with this like sob story and there's millions of
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  people that are feeling so sorry for her for this fake story that
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  doesn't exist. And I'm sure that people in her
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  real life have seen this being like, what the fuck is this?
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  It's so invasive and it's so weird.
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  And you know, I think it really feeds into the main character
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  syndrome that we see so much on TikTok.
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  Everybody's obsessed with virality.
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  Anyone can go viral. But I think with the rise of AI,
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  because a lot of this also is AI generated, I think we can only
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  expect this to worsen. It's becoming increasingly
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  easier for social media users to fabricate content, spread
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  misinformation, like I said, create entire accounts of AI
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  generated people who are essentially begging for money.
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  On top of this, I think sympathy trapping and people falling for
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  these traps and and like, OK, it's like not our fault.
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  You know, I saw that video, I saw Pam's video and I thought,
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  Oh my God. But then I also thought that
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  picture looks a little bit off, you know, that second picture.
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  But yeah, like, of course, like we are naturally inclined.
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  I mean, I don't know, I'm naturally inclined to believe,
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  you know, I don't watch something on the Internet and
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  think initially like, oh, that must be fake.
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  I definitely look at accounts and I look at content I see.
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  And I initially believe, unless it's so obviously AI generated,
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  I initially believe the person is telling the truth.
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  I think a lot of us are just kind of wired like that.
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  But I do think it highlights, you know, how so many of us
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  continue to struggle with media literacy and the ability to spot
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  fake content that is posted and to just kind of like jump on
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  these viral trends to, you know, have this moment of virality and
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  attention and success. And TikTok has not just
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  democratized virality and fame, it's democratized income for a
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  lot of people. It's it's made it so that a lot
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  of people can make additional income, like quite literally
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  from their homes. And that hasn't always been
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  possible. Plus, if you think about how we
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  behave on TikTok, so many of us just scroll mindlessly that of
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  course it makes sense that we're not always going to clock stuff
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  like this. Half the time you're like, not
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  fully conscious. Half the time, you know, you're
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  falling asleep or you're watching TV at the same time or
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  whatever it is, you're on the bus.
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  Like, whatever, you're taking in so much content when you're
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  scrolling, it's just like constantly being bombarded with
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  stimulus. So yeah, it makes sense that
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  things like this are happening. They're believed.
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  And the fakeness of it is falling through the cracks.
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  But I do think anyone who is making fake accounts of people
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  using real people's photos to generate sympathy views
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  attention money for yourself. I feel like that is just way too
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  far. That is super unethical and you
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  need to stop. Not that I think anyone that
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  listens to this podcast is doing that.
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  I feel like it's such a violation.
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  Anyways guys, that's it for Mini Scroll today.
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  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate review and subscribe.
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  Please leave us a review. Please start rate US on Spotify.
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  I love you guys and I will talk to you guys tomorrow for a mini
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  scroll. Bye.