Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Try Guys expose Buzzfeed, Benny Blanco cheating rumours, TikTok's caveman skin girl + 100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Try Guys expose Buzzfeed, Benny Blanco cheating rumours, TikTok's caveman skin girl + 100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla · 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. I realized on Friday, I said
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  like Monday to Thursday and I was literally recording a Mini
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  scroll on Friday. So I'm going to have to update
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  that little intro, but I am excited to let you guys know
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  that this Friday I will have a deep dive.
• 0:33
  I just recorded it. I think it was like an hour and
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  a half long. It'll get chopped down a little
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  bit with editing, but I just recorded a huge deep dive for
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  you guys on the rise, the origins, the influence on of the
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  manosphere, and I had a very exciting guest with me, so I'll
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  leave it at that. If you follow me on Instagram,
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  then you'd be able to see who I did the episode with.
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  If you're in Australia, then you might know him.
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  But yes, it was a very good episode.
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  I'm excited to bring you guys a deep dive again.
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  I know it's been a few weeks. I have to edit this myself this
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  week because we still don't have a video editor.
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  We're still trying to figure out like what we're going to do
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  about that whole situation. So yeah, I am.
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  I'm going to be under the pump this week doing that.
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  So I'm going to take all of Wednesday to edit it.
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  But again, if you see the deep dive and you're like this
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  editing, she's not quite right. That's because I did it.
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  It's because I'm not a professional video editor, and
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  our video editor got a really sick job at Master Chef, and I'm
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  so proud of her. All right, let's get into the
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  stories for today. So the first way that I have for
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  you guys is that the Try Guys have exposed BuzzFeed.
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  So Keith and Zach from The Try Guys have opened up on their
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  podcast about their experience at BuzzFeed, highlighting why so
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  many creators left the company. The episode was seemingly
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  prompted by this wave of nostalgia that the Internet is
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  currently having for BuzzFeed. And like this kind of OG era of
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  digital media. So they sat down and kind of
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  shared their side of the story and kind of tried to like, I
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  guess set the record straight on why people shouldn't be
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  nostalgic for this era. Also, side note, we actually did
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  a whole episode on like the rise and kind of fall of that OG
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  digital media era where we talked a lot about BuzzFeed and
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  everything that went on there. So go back and listen to that.
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  It's in the infinite Scroll playlist if you guys watch on
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  YouTube. But coming from digital media
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  myself, I wasn't surprised to hear some of the things that
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  they were saying. There were two main takeaways
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  from this that people have been really kind of like pinpointing.
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  The first is that the company tried to own their employees
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  likeness with like sneaky contracts.
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  So they told a story about how they were moving offices at one
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  point, and the company used the move as an opportunity to get
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  employees to sign new image release contracts, basically
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  saying that they would be filming and creating content and
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  whatever in like a new location. So they had to sign new release
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  forms. You know, they were kind of
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  pressuring everyone to sign it, saying like, don't worry about
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  reading it, just sign it. It's just like an image release
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  form. And when they read it, they
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  realized it was a lot more than just an image release form.
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  It also included owning their life story.
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  Keith said that he sent a company wide e-mail after
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  reading it saying nobody should sign this.
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  And that got them into hot water with the company.
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  And then they actually hired their own lawyer.
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  And BuzzFeed said if you're going ahead with like this legal
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  situation, then a storm is coming.
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  That's what they said like word for word they said to them.
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  And then second, they said people would get fired if they
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  worked on anything like freelance work or anything
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  outside of the company. They were told they wouldn't and
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  that they just needed to disclose it.
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  But as soon as they disclosed it, people would get fired.
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  So look, I have experienced both of these things in working in
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  digital media, like working in mainstream publishing before
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  Centennial, I actually went through something very similar
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  with like the likeness situation, not really contracts,
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  but I was doing YouTube and like some of my own paid stuff before
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  and like that was totally fine because I came in like doing
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  that already. I know a lot of my friends who
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  are working in mainstream publishing all across Australia,
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  like across a variety of titles and publishers.
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  They really struggle to keep themselves afloat.
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  First of all, because the pay is so low.
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  Like it is so incredibly low in these roles and like, I get it
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  as somebody who runs a digital media company, like there is
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  very little money in this industry.
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  So check on your media friends because they're making like
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  $2.00 an hour. No, but like for real.
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  So they're not making a lot of money, but you know, then their
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  skill set is writing or their skill set is content or whatever
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  it is. And in your employee contracts,
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  like it says like you cannot freelance right, for anyone else
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  or whatever. And it's like, well, that's how
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  they make their living. So I feel like it's so unethical
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  just to pay people such a low wage, especially in comparison
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  to their seniority and in comparison to their workload.
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  Because I'm sure so many of us are going through this and in
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  all different industries. But in media, you know, somebody
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  leaves and they never replace them.
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  And then everybody else's work just becomes more.
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  So it's like all of these people have these roles that are
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  already under paying them, they're overworked, they're told
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  they're not allowed to have any type of like side hustle or side
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  gig as well or they could lose that job.
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  So I know that's very common in this industry.
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  And yeah, when I went to actually like leave one of my
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  jobs in digital media, I I went to quit and my boss said to me,
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  OK, we need to tell everybody right now because sales just
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  went to market with a deck and your face is all over it.
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  And I never signed anything that said like, you know, I could be
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  talent. I never got a pay rise for like
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  my face. Like when I looked at the deck,
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  it was like all my personal Instagram photos, like my
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  personal Instagram content that was put throughout this deck.
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  And they were selling me as like an influencer, like an in house
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  influencer. I wasn't getting compensated for
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  that. I wasn't getting like anything
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  extra for that. I wasn't getting like a title
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  change like any of that. Maybe I would have if I stayed
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  and they had quote, UN quote, sold me into some of these
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  campaigns or whatever they were trying to do.
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  But yes, I can relate on a much smaller scale.
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  But I know that this is like a very big problem across the
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  board everywhere in digital media.
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  And it's only going to get worse, I imagine, as media or
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  digital media continues to kind of fall behind.
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  You know, these mainstream publishers, a lot of them, like,
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  just haven't for some reason been able to figure out, like
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  how to keep up with the changing times.
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  They don't have podcast wings. They don't have all these
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  different things that you realistically need to be
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  creating, like good content, digital content as a publisher
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  in 2025. Like, they are still kind of
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  figuring that out. So I imagine these problems are
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  going to just, you know, keep being a thing and we're going to
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  probably see more titles closing, which is very sad.
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  And that makes me sad for my industry.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys actually have two
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  stories today that are kind of like debunking things.
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  So the first one is that Benny Blanco has been accused of
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  cheating on Selena Gomez, kind of.
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  So last week, rumors started circulating online that Benny
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  Blanco was cheating on Selena Gomez, possibly with her best
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  friend, Teresa Marie. Teresa I think used to be
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  Selena's assistant. The rumors claimed that Benny
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  and Teresa were spotted together, which some fans
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  thought was SUS I guess. But then immediately after it
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  was reported that number one, Selena unfollowed Teresa and #2
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  Benny followed Teresa's only fans account.
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  So this obviously seemed questionable.
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  There was no verification that Selena ever followed Teresa.
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  And like, you know how some celebrities, like, won't follow
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  people in their personal lives to, like, protect them?
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  And I feel like Selena gives that energy.
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  So I wouldn't be surprised if she was not following some of
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  the people that she's closest with in her real life.
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  But second of all, I think if Benny and Teresa were going to
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  have an affair, like, they would be able to do it out of the
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  public eye. If Kylie Jenner can hide her
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  entire pregnancy, the amount of paparazzi that was on the
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  Kardashians at that time, I would say is probably more than
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  what's currently on Selena and Benny.
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  But either way, Selena and Benny definitely have like a lot of
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  paparazzi around them right now. I'm sure like they are quite
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  famous right now. They're like in a moment.
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  But yes, I think if Kylie Jenner can hide her pregnancy, I think
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  Benny Blanco and Teresa Marie can hide their alleged affair.
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  After all of this, like speculation and questions and
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  people being like, is this true? Is this not true?
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  Whatever. There were like news reports
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  about it. It was revealed that the
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  original source of the rumors allegedly came from a pop
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  culture parody news account, and I say allegedly because I
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  couldn't trace it back to this myself, but this was reported by
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  Yahoo. The original source was
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  apparently Drop Pop net, which is a sarcastic pop page where
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  every NEWS UPDATE they post is fake rage bait content basically
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  posted for fun. If this is not a lesson to all
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  of us, but like especially people consuming Internet rumors
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  like this news and also writers who are looking for content.
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  And I get it. I get the pressure of needing to
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  be like, Oh my God, I saw this tip.
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  I saw this thing on Twitter and I can be the first one to
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  publish it and I will get all the traffic.
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  Like I totally get the high of that.
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  I also understand the need for that when you're a writer trying
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  to cut your teeth and you know you're working in digital media
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  entertainment journalism is like really savage.
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  I totally get it. Like IA 100% get it.
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  But the fact that it has now been reported that the original
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  source was like a Sark has like a satire page.
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  We are not. Well, this should be a lesson to
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  all of us. OK, Speaking of lessons to all
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  of us, the next word that I have for you guys is that Tia Zucker
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  has gone viral for her controversial caveman skin
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  routine. And it turns out she is not a
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  liar. So over the past few weeks, a
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  creator named Tia has gone fairly viral on TikTok for
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  documenting her experience with the caveman skin routine to heal
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  her skin barrier. Basically, the caveman skin
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  routine is doing nothing to your face quote.
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  It's where you do nothing to your skin, including avoidance
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  of washing, moisturizing, sunscreen, anything at all,
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  dermatologist doctor Rachel Nazarian tells People magazine.
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  Tia started doing this technique in March after years of skin
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  picking and wanting to heal her acne scars.
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  So OK, her skin looks very unique.
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  It looks very unusual and interesting.
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  And because of that, so many people have claimed that she's
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  lying for clout. It's kind of similar to the
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  accusations that were going around about scar girl a few
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  years ago. Everyone's like, this has to be
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  fake. Tia has insisted that her skin
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  is real and that she's actually doing this regime.
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  But a lot of people either like, don't believe her, think she's
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  totally faking it, or some people think maybe she has some
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  type of, like, infection and she's just, like, in denial
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  about it. The number one belief around the
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  conspiracy theory is that she's using some type of like,
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  Amazonian clay mask with setting powder over top of it to give it
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  that, like, really textured, almost like greenish look.
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  So this was part of the discourse for about a week, but
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  now it seems that one Internet sleuth has confirmed through her
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  own research that Tia is not lying.
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  Creator that mummy over there made a video last week
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  explaining that she put a screenshot of Tia into ChatGPT
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  asking what the skin condition could be.
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  Then she put that result into Google and in her Google search
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  she found a Reddit post. OK are you following from last
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  year in which a woman who looks very very similar to Tia, like
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  it definitely was her and her eyes were just like blurred out
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  looks similar to Tia was posting about the skin condition asking
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  for advice. This is some insane level
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  Internet flu thing and I love how the woman was like I clearly
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  have like no life. Tia commented on this video and
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  confirmed that it was her and that she tried doing the caveman
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  technique at that time and she didn't follow through because of
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  like how annoying her skin was and like how it looked and
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  everything. She just like couldn't keep
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  going. So she's trying it again now.
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  So the condition that she has is called retention hyperkeratosis
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  and it's where the skin, it doesn't properly shed its old
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  skin cells. But if you just keep going, I
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  guess apparently it will get to the point where it will start
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  kind of acting like a normal skin barrier again and start
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  shedding those skin cells. So Tia has confirmed to people
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  that she has a friend who is a dermatologist that she is seeing
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  and they have diagnosed her with this and she does not have a
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  fungal infection. So again, a lesson to all of us.
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  I understand like it's hard because when you see stuff
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  online, it's like we don't want to be those people.
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  That's like always believing everything that we see and like
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  that's a huge problem that we see with like AI generated
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  content, for example, right? It's like you do always have to
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  come into everything with like a healthy level of skepticism.
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  But I also really feel for her. She's documenting this
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  experience, asking for advice and like the entire Internet on
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  TikTok is like you're a liar, you're using a clay mask for
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  clout or like you have an infection on your face.
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  And she's like, no, I don't. This is real for me.
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  I suppose the take away and like the line that I'm going to draw
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  is if anybody's talking about a medical condition or anything
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  very sensitive like that, I'm going to choose to believe them.
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  And I do think that's where we should draw the line because
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  then I think it becomes a slippery slope.
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  Like we see a lot of those videos where people are talking
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  about how they have, let's say like an invisible disability.
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  They go into an accessible parking spot and they get yelled
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  at because they don't have, you know, a visible physical
• 13:35
  disability. And I think moments like this
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  where the entire Internet is rallying against someone
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  claiming that they are lying about their medical issue,
• 13:44
  people feel more emboldened to look at everyone, even in their
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  real lives and think like, are you lying about that?
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  Like, it adds to that kind of like skepticism and like
• 13:55
  conspiracy theory mindset. It leads to that intolerance
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  and, you know, that kind of belief that everybody is just
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  like lying to us so that they can get something out of it.
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  So I do think when we have these viral moments, that's what we
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  should take away from it. We just need to believe people
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  until proven otherwise. OK.
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  And the last story that I have for you guys, obviously, I need
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  to talk about the gorilla versus 100 men meme.
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  So the latest online meme that has turned into a debate could
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  100 unarmed men take on one gorilla.
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  This meme slash debate was started on Twitter by a man
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  named Michael Cheryls who posted on April 25th that he thinks 100
• 14:36
  men could take on one gorilla, but they would have to be very
• 14:39
  dedicated to the cause. This tweet went viral and like
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  actually viral. Like has almost 300 million
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  views at the time of recording and it was discussed all over
• 14:49
  Facebook, Reddit, TikTok all weekend.
• 14:52
  All these different podcasts have been talking about it, and
• 14:55
  now even Mr. Beast has chimed in.
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  He made a fake thumbnail for a video about the topic and asked
• 15:01
  if there were 100 men who could help him make this video.
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  So Michael Cheryl's told NBC News, quote, the thing people
• 15:07
  love the most is things that probably won't ever happen
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  because, you know, you can debate about it.
• 15:13
  It's like tasting a dream, you know what I'm saying?
• 15:15
  And I think people love to feel it out.
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  OK, So then Rolling Stone took this very seriously.
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  They interviewed primologist, primatologist, I guess that
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  these are people that study monkeys, primatologist.
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  I think about this debate to get a solid answer.
• 15:32
  So Ron McGill, who is the communications director of the
• 15:35
  Zoo Miami, told Rolling Stone that quote.
• 15:37
  As a wildlife conservationist, I would never want to see this
• 15:41
  come to fruition. Gorillas are in fact gentle
• 15:44
  giants and would avoid this conflict whenever possible. 100
• 15:48
  men in their 20s and excellent physical condition could
• 15:51
  ultimately defeat a gorilla if they are committed and go in
• 15:55
  united. That doesn't mean it would be
• 15:56
  pretty. The human assault force would
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  quote have to expect severe collateral damage that could
• 16:02
  easily include death from broken necks, severe arterial bite
• 16:07
  wounds. Massive can suck massive
• 16:10
  concussions leading to fatal brain bleeds and asphyxiation
• 16:14
  from other men piling on top of each other.
• 16:16
  I'm sorry, what the fuck? McGill says quote.
• 16:18
  It could be a kamikaze mission for the men closest to the
• 16:22
  gorilla. What?
• 16:25
  I can't I. I don't know if this man just
• 16:29
  took this interview opportunity like so seriously or if he is
• 16:33
  like playing along with the joke, but this is crazy.
• 16:39
  Anyways, the memes are going insane, so you guys just have to
• 16:43
  look it up. It's really, really funny.
• 16:45
  And it's just one of those moments kind of as the creator
• 16:47
  said, as Michael said, like it's just fun.
• 16:51
  It's light hearted. It's never going to happen.
• 16:55
  So it's like interesting to think about.
• 16:57
  And it's one of those things that's just like uniting the
• 17:00
  Internet in a very neutral way for a very short period of time.
• 17:06
  Anyways, guys, that is it for Mini Scroll today.
• 17:09
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
• 17:12
  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
• 17:14
  We're trying to get to 10,000 YouTube subscribers.
• 17:17
  I love you guys and I will talk to you tomorrow.
• 17:19
  Bye.