Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Sarah's Day vs. Who Is Elijah, TikTok "Indonesian Boat Kid" + Adam McIntyre reported to ICE by snark

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Sarah's Day vs. Who Is Elijah, TikTok "Indonesian Boat Kid" + Adam McIntyre reported to ICE by snark · 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. For those of you who watch, you
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  would notice that I have a special guest on my lap today, a
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  little pumpkin, my 3 legged Chihuahua.
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  She doesn't make many appearances anymore.
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  She used to make more, but she really hates coming to the
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  office. It really overwhelms her.
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  But today our schedules a little all over the place, so I thought
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  I would bring her in. Then also yesterday there was no
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  mini scroll because if you listened on Friday then you
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  would know that yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the NBC
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  Universal offices and interview Teresa Giudice from the Real
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  Housewives of New Jersey and Whitney Rose from the Real
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  Housewives of Salt Lake City. They're here in Sydney right now
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  and I got to do a press interview with them and it was
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  so exciting. It was so cool to meet Teresa.
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  I've met Whitney before. I interviewed her when she was
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  here for South by Southwest with Heather.
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  But to meet Teresa in the flesh? Iconic.
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  And she said she liked my hair. OK, let's get into the stories
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  for today. The first story that I have for
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  you guys is that Sarah's Day has called out the perfume brand who
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  is Elijah for cancelling their collaboration.
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  Sarah's Day is an Australian fitness influencer turned mommy
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  vlogger. Basically, she's one of the Ogs.
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  You know, there were so many of them in Australia.
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  I know we did like a deep dive into fitness influencer culture
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  a few months ago. But like, Sarah's Day was one of
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  the Ogs, like in Australia specifically.
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  So she had a collaboration going on with fragrance brand Who, who
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  is Elijah in the works for what she said was about two years.
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  And she shared like a little bit here and there on her social
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  media about this potential collab.
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  Over the weekend, Sarah took to social media claiming that the
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  collaboration was axed and she was blindsided.
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  That is my collaboration with Who Is Elijah.
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  So two years ago they reached out to me to make a fragrance
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  with them. And as you know, I have
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  documented the entire process. You guys have come along on the
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  journey and we were all really excited and unfortunately it's
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  no longer happening and I'm sure you're asking why and honestly
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  we are asking the same question. I don't have the answers for you
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  unfortunately. I know that might sound really
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  confusing or frustrating, but I don't have more to give you.
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  OK, so before I get into what else transpired, this started to
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  blow up. I would say mostly like who is
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  Elijah is quite like a social media, like a buzzy brand and
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  the founder Raquel has become a bit of an influencer herself off
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  the back of being the CEO and owner of this brand.
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  Sarah's followers, I guess started going after the brand,
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  which prompted Raquel to respond.
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  Raquel defended herself saying that given the brand is
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  expanding internationally, they need to allocate the budget to
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  the expansion and this was just a strategic decision.
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  Quote, we ended a contract well within the agreed terms.
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  There was no breach. She stated.
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  The decision to end the collab was sent by me personally to the
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  other party via e-mail and I left the door open for further
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  discussion. But what I received in response
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  was unprofessional. What is being he said, is deeply
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  misleading and is harmful to the brand.
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  This was a business decision. We offered for the project to
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  continue under the parties own brand with our full support, but
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  that offer was declined. There's no scandal here, no
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  villain, just a strategic decision for the future of my
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  business, one I fully stand by. So here's what Sarah said to
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  news.com dot AU in a statement. One of my main roles and
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  obligations within our contract was to organically promote the
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  product, which of course I was excited to do.
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  I was documenting and creating content in good faith that this
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  collaboration would come to fruition and the finished
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  product would be accessible to my audience.
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  Our contract allowed either party to terminate on six months
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  given notice. Ultimately, I did not see this
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  coming after working on this together for such an extended
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  period of time. OK.
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  So from that statement, it does make it sound like they didn't
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  have anything beyond like, a preliminary contract possibly,
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  and that Sarah was starting the process of like, organically
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  promoting the collab before things were like, truly in the
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  works. But I mean, she does seem to be
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  blindsided. I mean, it's really interesting
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  because like on social media, like on TikTok and on Instagram,
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  people are very much on Sarah's side, but then on Reddit, people
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  are very much on Raquel's side. There's definitely no like right
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  or wrong. I think who is Elijah is like,
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  you know, they, they didn't terminate this contract without
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  knowing all of the legalities around it.
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  Like, I do believe that they did it within their rights.
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  However, I think at the same time Sarah had been promoting
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  this to her followers, people were excited for it.
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  That is very evident by the social media discourse by like
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  the comments on her video and stuff.
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  People were like genuinely excited.
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  So I understand Sarah wanting to tell her audience about what's
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  happening with this. I think where it all went really
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  messy was, you know, people started coming for Raquel and
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  the brand. And so she responded.
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  And then Sarah was getting in the comments with people who
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  work at the brand and the brand founders, friends and stuff who
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  were like commenting on her video and she was commenting
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  back to them. And there was like all this
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  infighting like in the comment section, which honestly just
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  made both sides look really unprofessional.
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  I would also be really surprised if this is the first time that a
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  business deal has fallen through for Sarah when they had just a
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  preliminary contract. Like, I don't know, I find it
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  really surprising that she's like, I was blindsided.
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  Like I can't believe they pulled this after working together.
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  I mean, I get it like that, that honestly sucks.
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  But in business this kind of stuff happens all the time.
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  So I am quite surprised. Like we will have basically
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  signed contracts with brands and they'll say, oh, you know what,
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  for like Q3, our priorities have shifted and we are going to use
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  that money and allocate it somewhere else and like, sorry,
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  this isn't going ahead. You know, like that does just
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  like happen all the time. So I'm surprised if this is like
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  the first time this has happened to Sarah, but I don't know.
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  OK, I had to put Pumpkin down. She was getting agitated.
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  So the next ray that I have for you guys, this is a bit of a
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  palate cleanser before we get into something really messed up
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  that happened this weekend. But there is this new viral
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  phenomenon on TikTok and people are calling it like the
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  Indonesian boat kids. But essentially that's to
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  describe the children, usually children who dance at the front
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  of rowing canoes during a racing tradition in Indonesia called
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  Paku Jalur. Paku Jalur is a traditional boat
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  race that takes place annually and started in the 1600s.
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  And it's going viral all over TikTok because at the front of
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  the boat, they have very often children.
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  Sometimes it's like very petite people, but usually it's
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  children who are kind of like at the helm while the rowers are
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  rowing and they're dancing. Clips of these boat kids are
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  going viral all over the Internet.
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  There's like fan edits of them. There's commentary pieces on
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  them. It's just like such an
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  expression of joy and it's so fun.
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  And I just wanted to note this. Like, it's going viral
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  everywhere, but it's just like, such a wholesome moment from the
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  Internet. Like, we're at such a weird and
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  divided time online right now, especially as it relates to,
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  like, learning about other cultures and their traditions.
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  And so I think it's like, really nice to see everyone kind of
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  coming together and being like, yeah, this is actually really
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  fun. All right.
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  And the last word that I have for you guys today, like I said,
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  this is a really messed up thing that happened over the weekend.
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  But YouTuber Adam McIntyre was reported to ice by his snark
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  Reddit. So Adam McIntyre is a popular
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  Internet culture slash like pop culture creator.
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  He's very well known for being the main person to call Colleen
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  Ballinger out for her inappropriate behavior with fans
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  as because he was one of her biggest fans when he was younger
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  and he ended up in a very weird relationship with her as a
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  teenager. Since being at the forefront of
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  that movement, he has built quite a following online doing
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  commentary content. So Adam has been in and out of
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  the US since February as he's been on a podcast tour.
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  He's been doing the chronically online tour and it was like sold
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  out all over the US. So in his snark Reddit, which he
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  has been very open about, like he's OK having, you know, he's
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  like, I don't really they feel like it's fair if I like talk
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  about people online publicly and then I try and get like my
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  subreddit shut down, like a lot of influencers do that a lot of
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  creators. And he has been quite open about
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  the fact that he doesn't care, not that he doesn't care that
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  he's a subreddit or a snark Reddit, but that, you know, he
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  doesn't feel like that's necessarily fair.
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  So the vast majority of the people in his snark Reddit seem
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  to be calling Ballinger fans. OK, so that seems to be kind of
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  how this started. And a lot of them seem to be
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  very much like on her side, even though that whole scenario, I
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  mean, his first video about her was years and years and years
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  ago. And then of course, like when
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  more started coming out a couple years ago, he was like very much
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  at the forefront of this whole situation.
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  But it's just been such a long time and he has had such much
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  bigger career since then. So over the weekend his visa,
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  like a picture of his visa, his work visa to go into the US was
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  posted on his snap Reddit. Adam has an O1 visa from
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  February until the end of July this year.
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  So for anyone that is unfamiliar, an O1 visa is a
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  quote non immigrant visa for individual who possesses
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  extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education,
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  business or athletics. I remember one of my friends got
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  an O1 visa, like one of my Australian friends to go over to
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  the US and she was like, it's a wanky visa.
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  It's like a visa that you get. If you're like kind of famous,
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  you have some press articles about you.
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  You're going to do things that like, you will basically be able
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  to like propel your fame, not always, but like, you know,
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  propel your career in kind of a like public figure esque way in
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  the US. OK.
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  So when his visa got approved, Adam posted this photo of it on
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  social media. So that is how they got this
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  photo. This photo was not like obtained
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  in any type of weird way. OK.
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  He had posted this and then it got shared to his subreddit this
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  weekend. So in this picture that he
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  posted, you can see it says visa type slash class and it says R
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  and then it says O1R at the front of like RO1 visa.
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  So the R at the front of this visa class in the US it just
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  stands for regular quote. The visa R is a temporary visa
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  for business and tourism. The R used during the
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  application or shown as the visa type on passports means regular
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  instead of diplomatic residents work or another visa type.
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  So what happened is this was posted people in his snark
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  Reddit decided to like look into his visa allowances or
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  restrictions and things that he was allowed to do.
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  OK, and they put like the US visa R, maybe they put RO one,
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  but either way, they put R somewhere into Google to figure
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  out like what his visa allows and what Gemini, which is
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  Google, Google's version of essentially like Chad GBT,
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  right? It's like their AI Gemini at the
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  top. You know, when you Google things
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  now it's just Gemini at the top and then articles.
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  OK, so Gemini came up and it said that the R1 visa is a
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  religious visa specifically for religious activities.
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  And you cannot make money on this visa.
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  Reminder he is not on an R1 visa, he is on an O1 visa with
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  an R at the front to indicate it is a regular visa type.
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  So Gemini was saying like this is a religious visa and instead
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  of doing any little bit of research beyond this, the snark
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  Reddit ran with it. They all hyped each other up and
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  they went into like some of them went into.
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  Honestly it felt like mass psychosis reading some of these
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  posts where they were just like snowballing off each other,
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  hyping each other up, just truly believing that he would post on
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  the Internet that he was doing something illegal like going
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  into a country on a religious activities visa and very clearly
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  making money. And then at least one person,
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  Adam, has said several. I don't know about that, but at
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  least one person reported him to ICE under the pretense that he
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  was lying about the purpose of his visa, and this person posted
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  proof that they submitted him to ICE online.
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  The post has obviously been deleted.
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  The whole thread has been deleted.
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  OK, but it's a screenshot that says thank you.
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  Your submission has been received on the US Immigration
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  and Customs Enforcement website. And then they commented saying
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  the only time I won't say fuck ICE.
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  First of all, you obviously support ICE if you are going to
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  report somebody to ICE, OK, like to say all the only time I'm
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  going to say fuck ICE to weaponize ICE during this time,
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  specifically at any time, but especially during this time is
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  so sick. And is this kind of stuff that
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  we're talking about when we reference like snark going too
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  far. And I know we've referenced
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  snark going too far several times recently, but this is like
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  a prime example of how extreme snarkers and those kind of
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  gossipy forum websites can go. And like I said, a lot of his
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  snarkers seem to be pro calling Ballinger.
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  So this is possibly another example of when parasocial
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  relationships go too far, like trying to almost like defend
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  their fave in this like very horrific roundabout way.
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  I wanted to read a comment from Reddit that somebody posted I
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  think it was on like the R YouTube forum where people were
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  talking about this scenario and they wrote this mentality from
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  Americans that reported Adam to ICE but simultaneously hate ICE
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  is a direct reflection on how US got to the current state it's
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  in. Oh I hate this thing unless it
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  helps me win against someone I hate is exactly how you divide
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  people so they fight amongst themselves and don't look at the
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  bigger picture. And now if you go on his snark
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  Reddit OK. Like there are tons of people
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  who are like, what the fuck, guys?
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  Like, why did we do this? Why did you guys do this?
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  What is going on? But there are also people in
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  this thread on his start page saying that like he's pushing
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  this narrative that he's the victim and that like he did this
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  to himself. And they don't mean like the
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  visa situation because he is fully in the US legally and he
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  did nothing wrong with his visa. But I guess they mean like his
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  behavior online, his commentary, I guess how he shows up, his
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  content, whatever. It doesn't matter how much you
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  hate his content. OK, Nothing is as damaging that
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  he has ever done is as damaging as you reporting him to Ice.
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  We all know the stories and we all see what's happening with
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  people who are being taken away by Ice right now.
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  And I really think if everything going on in the US with Ice
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  right now wasn't happening, they wouldn't have reported him to
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  Ice. Like they did it knowing that
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  this is like such a hot button topic right now.
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  They know that like Ice is on this like tirade right now and
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  that there is a possibility that he would like get in trouble
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  with them and that he would get taken away.
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  I truly believe that. I truly, I really believe that
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  that is why they did that, because they wanted to inflict
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  like such extreme harm on him. I'm not saying this in defense
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  of Adam McIntyre in general, OK? I'm sure there are many valid
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  reasons to not like him, to think that his content is
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  damaging or whatever these people think.
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  I'm sure that there are some valid reasons there.
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  But this scenario is so fucking sick and so crazy and like we
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  all need a fucking wake up call. I'm interested to hear from you
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  guys why it feels like, why you think it feels like right now.
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  Snark specific specifically, you know, if there's not just like a
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  spotlight on it. Like we are at a time when
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  everything is just like coming to a head and things are just
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  feeling more and more extreme. And I don't know if it's just
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  because like in our everyday lives, things feel more and more
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  extreme. And so it's kind of like
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  projection. I don't know if it's just like
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  these instances are being highlighted more because there's
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  been a few of them in like very quick succession or if things
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  actually are like getting much worse.
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  But like, what the actual fuck? No, no.
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  I hope the person who reported him to ICE has to face
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  consequences. I'm sure they won't, but I hope
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  they do. Adam has made his own video
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  addressing all of this, so definitely go watch it if you
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  guys want like more contacts from him and kind of how it all
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  came about, how he feels about it, all of that.
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  But yeah, this is just so messed up.
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  And I, I'm just, Oh my God. I actually, I don't even know.
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  I don't even know. I don't even have words.
• 16:09
  OK, that's it for Mini school today guys.
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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.
• 16:16
  Annabelle will talk to you guys tomorrow for Mini tech and I
• 16:19
  will talk to you on Thursday. Bye.