Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Brittany Miller cancer lie, Madeleine White pink eye debate, Sydney Sweeney's flop, viral Jonas Brothers resume + more
Transcript
- 0:00Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
- 0:03daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
- 0:07from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
- 0:10Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
- 0:13I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
- 0:17media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll
- 0:22everyone. OK, you might notice that this
- 0:25episode has a million stories. We have an extra long mini today
- 0:29because I actually had an appointment booked this weekend
- 0:32that had to move to tomorrow. So moved to Friday and that was
- 0:36last minute happened yesterday. So I will not be able to do a
- 0:39mini tomorrow for you guys. So I'm going to do an extra long
- 0:42mini for you guys today instead to make up for it.
- 0:45And tomorrow there will be an episode of the grill from high
- 0:48stakes. If you guys still want a Friday
- 0:50episode, go subscribe to them or watch them on YouTube.
- 0:53If you you guys watch on YouTube.
- 0:54All right, the first story that I have for you guys today is
- 0:57that Brittany Miller has broken her silence on lying about
- 1:01having cancer. So British influencer Brittany
- 1:05Miller has admitted in a new video that she lied about having
- 1:08cancer years ago. Brittany is a food and lifestyle
- 1:11influencer with over three and a half million followers on
- 1:13TikTok. So.
- 1:14Back in 2017, I had extremely bad mental health.
- 1:20I lost my partner. I lost my job and there was lots
- 1:23of things in that year that led me to be mentally ill.
- 1:32I said something to someone within my immediate circle in
- 1:36confidence. One stupid sentence that I
- 1:39deeply regret. I said I had an illness which
- 1:42was cancer. I didn't do this for malicious
- 1:44intent or to scam people. I did this at desperation.
- 1:51I did it to keep the people close to me, to keep the people
- 1:55in my life close to me. So Brittany's confession comes
- 1:58after UK tabloid The Sun published an article that
- 2:02claimed to reveal that there was a dark truth behind Brittany's
- 2:05career. The Sun published this piece
- 2:07because even though Brittany's cancer lie apparently happened
- 2:10before she was an influencer, followers have suspected that
- 2:14she lied about having cancer since about two years ago when
- 2:17Post started going viral. That showed that there was some
- 2:20type of fundraising for Brittany's gastric cancer.
- 2:24So this is from NBC News quote. Rumors about Miller's lie hit a
- 2:28peak in 2023 when people accused her of having lied to friends
- 2:32about her illness to manipulate them into spending time with her
- 2:35and asking for donations from a crowdfunding campaign.
- 2:38The allegations circulated on TikTok and other social media
- 2:41platforms such as Reddit. In her video from this week,
- 2:45Brittany insists she never took any money from the fundraising,
- 2:48which was set up by other people, she says.
- 2:50So I'm not sure if you guys have seen the creator on TikTok who
- 2:53actually has dedicated, I believe his life's work, like I
- 2:56believe it's his career researching and interviewing
- 2:59people that do lie about having cancer or have lied about having
- 3:03cancer. He came up on my For You page a
- 3:05few months ago. But it's really fascinating.
- 3:07And he kind of explains that the majority of the research out
- 3:10there, you know, shows that it's largely young white women who
- 3:15lie about having cancer. And they don't do it for
- 3:17financial gain. They do do it for sympathy and
- 3:19attention and them being able to do it through online platforms
- 3:23is, you know, one of the most powerful ways to spread a lie
- 3:27like this and garner just like mass sympathy.
- 3:29I'll try and link him down below if I remember because his
- 3:33content is really interesting. All right, the next story that I
- 3:35have for you guys. This is also about an illness,
- 3:39but it is a much lighter story. Madeline White is facing lots of
- 3:46drama this week after she documented herself going out
- 3:49with pink eye to a rave for her 30th birthday.
- 3:53And this has specifically sparked a lot of debate online
- 3:56about cultural norms around health and how we treat
- 4:01conditions like this in different countries.
- 4:03So TikTok star Madeline White, she's a British fashion and
- 4:06lifestyle influencer. She has over 5 million followers
- 4:09on TikTok. And she recently got married to
- 4:11Andrew Fettick who is 1/2 of the DJ group Loud Luxury.
- 4:14I only mention her marriage because her wedding went super
- 4:18viral. I think I even talked about it
- 4:20on Minnie when it happened. So yes, Madeline turned 30 this
- 4:23weekend and she rented a big house with her friends in
- 4:26Orlando to attend a rave as her husband was playing a show
- 4:29there. However, during the weekend,
- 4:31Madeline contracted pink eye which she said she got from
- 4:34Andrew, her husband who used like cheap green makeup for his
- 4:37Halloween costume around his eyes.
- 4:39Madeline did her makeup and then she went to this rave and the
- 4:44Internet absolutely lost its minds over her going out while
- 4:49having pink eye, obviously, considering she could spread it
- 4:53to others, especially in a rave environment.
- 4:55I feel like a rave environment is like one of the least clean
- 4:58environments of like partying vibes that you can have.
- 5:01And I used to love a rave when I was like 19 to 24.
- 5:04Catch me out every single rave. It was notably Americans who
- 5:08were freaking out about her eyes.
- 5:10So Madeline indicated in a video amid the backlash that she
- 5:13posted. After that, all of this started
- 5:15blowing up that in England you would never be expected to skip
- 5:18out on anything for pink eye. And then Brits, Aussies,
- 5:22Canadians, Europeans were in her comment section largely agreeing
- 5:26with her saying that the way that we treat pink eye in our
- 5:29countries is very casual, Like you would get some antibiotic
- 5:32drops and go about your life. I do want to note here,
- 5:35everybody pretty much agreed that that's not the case for
- 5:38kids. Like if a kid shows up to
- 5:40daycare with pink eye or school, they will be sent home.
- 5:42But in terms of like adults in general life, they're not
- 5:46expected to skip work or social things for pink eye.
- 5:48So this started a massive debate about cultural norms around
- 5:53health practices in different countries.
- 5:55And I'm curious to hear from you guys about this because as a
- 5:58Canadian living in Australia, I mean I've never had pink eye
- 6:01since I moved to Australia. And the last time I think I had
- 6:03pink eye was probably as a kid, if I saw an adult out in the
- 6:06wild with pink eye like at a restaurant or at work or at the
- 6:10store or something like that, I probably wouldn't think much
- 6:12about it. I would just be cautious.
- 6:14Like, OK, I'm just not going to go, you know, super close to
- 6:16them because if they've accidentally rubbed their eyes
- 6:18and touched something like obviously I don't want to
- 6:21contract it, but I wouldn't think that being in their
- 6:24presence, I could just get it. But then like I said, that's
- 6:26made me think like, maybe I just don't know how pink eye is
- 6:29contracted. So I'm interested to hear, first
- 6:31of all, where you guys are from and how you believe, I guess
- 6:34your country, like culturally, socially would treat pink eye.
- 6:37I know this is the craziest thing I've ever asked on Mini.
- 6:40I can't believe that this sentence just came out of my
- 6:41mouth. But it's really interesting to
- 6:44see that online everybody's like, Oh my God, American St.
- 6:47Pink Eye like the plague. And everybody else is like, it's
- 6:51really chill for us. And I don't really know if
- 6:53that's totally true. I also do need to make a caveat
- 6:57here. Obviously this is just sourcing
- 7:01like general vibes from TikTok comment sections.
- 7:04OK so take that with a grain of salt.
- 7:06Like this is obviously not a scientifically valid study of
- 7:10results that I'm presenting to you guys.
- 7:12This is just like the conversation that is sparked
- 7:14online from the TikTok comment section of everybody being like
- 7:17oh wow we had no idea that Americans take pink eyes so
- 7:20seriously. One thing that some people have
- 7:22brought up though is that the countries who are claiming to
- 7:24treat pink eye very casually mostly have universal
- 7:27healthcare. So that could play a factor, I
- 7:30suppose into why some countries treat it more seriously and
- 7:34others don't. OK, the next story that I have
- 7:36for you guys is I wanted to talk about how Sydney Sweeney's new
- 7:41film has flopped so hard at the box office and why people online
- 7:46think that is the case. So, as you probably already
- 7:48know, Sydney Sweeney's new film Christie has flopped very hard
- 7:52at the box office in its opening days.
- 7:55Christie is a biographical sports drama starring Sydney
- 7:58Sweeney as Christy Martin, who was a pioneering female
- 8:00professional boxer who rose to fame in the 1990's.
- 8:03The story covers Martin's rise, her historic fights and her
- 8:06personal life, including her marriage to her coach slash
- 8:09trainer, who eventually became abusive.
- 8:12This sounds like such a good movie.
- 8:13However, the film grossed only $1.3 million in its opening
- 8:17weekend across over 2000 theaters in the US, which is an
- 8:20average of $649 per theatre. So this has sparked a lot of of
- 8:25debate online about what happened.
- 8:27And the theory that I saw that I think I subscribe to the most is
- 8:31that Sydney Sweeney is generally not liked right now, especially
- 8:35by women. And given this film is about a
- 8:38female boxer, you know, I don't think it's so far fetched for me
- 8:42to say that it can be harder to get men to care about women's
- 8:45sports. OK.
- 8:46So if you're going to look at who might be interested in this
- 8:49film at face value, I would argue probably more women than
- 8:53men. And then Sidney Sweeney, you
- 8:55know, she doesn't have her typical, like, a blonde
- 8:57bombshell sex appeal in this film, obviously, because she's
- 9:00playing a character who is so different from that.
- 9:02So this film in many ways feels like it needed women to buy in.
- 9:08However, Sidney Sweeney is so unlikable to women right now,
- 9:12given what she's publicly aligned with, how she's
- 9:15responded to criticism. I mean, I really don't need to
- 9:18rehash it all, but, you know, the bathwater, the American
- 9:20Eagle ad, she just did an interview, I think it was with
- 9:23GQ, where she basically laughed about the criticism around the
- 9:26American Eagle ad and was like, it was just a jeans ad.
- 9:29So, yeah, you could argue that her likability is down, and
- 9:32therefore it's really impacted the success of this opening
- 9:35weekend. And another part of this story
- 9:38is that there are reportedly these leaked emails from Sydney
- 9:42Sweeney's PR team being posted online that show they are really
- 9:46trying to change journalist narratives that they're putting
- 9:49out there about the film around the flop.
- 9:51So Eric Italiano who is a senior culture writer at Bro Bible
- 9:55posted this on X. He said got this PR e-mail
- 9:58today. Never got one like it before.
- 10:00Her team's down bad. And it's a screenshot again
- 10:03alleged. It's a screenshot from an
- 10:05alleged e-mail to him from APR person that says hi Eric, would
- 10:10you please mind updating the headline for us to say that
- 10:14despite low box office, the audience has spoken.
- 10:16We are 99% positive on the popcorn meter.
- 10:19Box office aside, this one's a win in all the ways that matter.
- 10:23We're so proud to back independent cinema and share a
- 10:26story that genuine deserves to be seen.
- 10:28At the end of the day, these publicists are just doing their
- 10:30jobs. This is like, you know, their
- 10:32regular 9:00 to 5:00. They need to appease their boss.
- 10:35They need to make their clients happy.
- 10:36Like their whole job is to put a positive spin on whatever is
- 10:40happening in the media for their clients.
- 10:41So, you know, you can't really say too much about it.
- 10:45And this actually it, it's surprising to me that this
- 10:47journalist said that he's never received an e-mail like this
- 10:50because we have definitely received emails like this from
- 10:52publicist asking us to make headlines positive or whatever
- 10:56it is. OK, The next story that I have
- 10:58for you guys is that a man named Scott Kelly has gone viral at
- 11:01the Jonas Brothers concert and he wasn't even there.
- 11:05So this is a very like internetty story.
- 11:07I actually love it. So a TikTok video went viral
- 11:10this week of someone in the crowd at a Jonas Brothers
- 11:12concert and they were reviewing the resume on their phone of a
- 11:16man named Scott Kelly. The person who posted the TikTok
- 11:19wrote Scott Kelly. Your resume was being reviewed
- 11:23at the Jonas Brothers concert tonight.
- 11:24Good luck. And now the comment section is
- 11:27filled with celebrities, brands, and even the Jonas Brothers
- 11:30themselves wishing Scott Kelly well.
- 11:33So Joe Jonas wrote bro Scott Kelly was there for me plenty of
- 11:36times. Hired, Kevin wrote.
- 11:39I'm one of Scott Kelly's references.
- 11:41Nick wrote. Scott Kelly's work ethic and
- 11:43critical thinking inspired me to write the line Red Dress.
- 11:46Pepsi wrote. Cannot recommend Scott enough.
- 11:48He's an elite employee. AT&T wrote not Scott Kelly
- 11:51waking up to 1876 LinkedIn requests.
- 11:55Garnier wrote Scott Kelly saved my life.
- 11:57Kleenex wrote Scott Kelly gave us tissues when we were sobbing
- 12:00in the hallway. Lineage wrote Scott Kelly has
- 12:02hydrated skin, you should deaf hire him.
- 12:04Sonic wrote Scott Kelly's impact on company culture is unreal.
- 12:08Zillow wrote Scott at home watching this.
- 12:10Steve Madden wrote Scott Kelly bailed me out of jail when
- 12:12Jordan Belfort ratted me out. Hire him.
- 12:15And then someone named Scott Kelly, who knows if it's
- 12:17actually him, wrote No job offer yet.
- 12:20So this is fun. I don't usually love when brands
- 12:23like jump in on viral trends like this and these kinds of in
- 12:27jokes. I think it's a bit cringe and
- 12:30try hard, but I think this was fun.
- 12:32However, I will say the one thing I don't really love about
- 12:35this is I think it is a bit questionable to from the person
- 12:39who initially posted it to film somebody's resume.
- 12:42Like you couldn't really see what was on it, but you never
- 12:45know, right? Like zooming in on someone's
- 12:47resume and now if they are currently employed, their
- 12:51current employer could see that they are looking for other jobs.
- 12:54I feel like it's really invasive.
- 12:55Also, I would not want somebody to see my like detailed resume.
- 12:58I feel like it's almost, I don't know, it's very personal, you
- 13:01know, So that is something I don't love about this story.
- 13:04But everything else, it's fun. OK.
- 13:07My last couple stories are really quick.
- 13:09However, I did want to say here that I was considering covering
- 13:13the situation going on online where Ashley Graham, the model,
- 13:17her sister Maddie has been making tons of content right
- 13:19now, kind of like exposing, quote UN quote, her family and
- 13:23horrible things that Ashley and their mother have done to her
- 13:26over the years. But I'm not going to actually
- 13:28give it any more airtime. I feel like it's getting
- 13:30litigious now and I'm scared. But if you guys are interested
- 13:34in that, there is a lot of stuff going on on TikTok talk right
- 13:36now. If you just look up Maddie
- 13:37Graham, you'll be able to see. So my final stories are a few
- 13:41relationship updates. So first, there have been
- 13:43reports this week that Timothy Chalamet broke up with Kylie
- 13:46Jenner. However, Page 6 is denying this
- 13:49and Kylie recently liked a post by Timothy amid these rumors.
- 13:53So page 6 seems to be trying to really indicate that this is not
- 13:57true. Although we know that apparently
- 13:59the Kardashians have a very good relationship with Page 6, so who
- 14:03knows? Sometimes they do feel like
- 14:04where there's smoke, there's fire.
- 14:05Like, there's a reason that that narrative is out there.
- 14:08So we'll see. Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater
- 14:11are also reportedly still together, despite reports this
- 14:14week that they split again. Who knows?
- 14:17And actress Brittany Snow is reportedly engaged to 1 of
- 14:21Tanimoja's friends. Hunter Morano.
- 14:24This is so random. I love a crossover like this.
- 14:27But yeah, anyways, guys, that's it for Mini Scroll today.
- 14:30Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
- 14:33Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe.
- 14:35I'm sorry there'll be no episode tomorrow.
- 14:37It was a bit out of my hands. But there will be an episode of
- 14:40the Grill from High Stakes tomorrow.
- 14:41And then I will talk to you guys on Monday.
- 14:44Bye.