Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: KJ Apa's TikTok alter-ego, Sydney Sweeney & Scooter Braun romance rumours + Crumbl co-founder outed
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.
- 0:14I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
- 0:18media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll
- 0:22everyone. Happy September 1st.
- 0:26What the hell? I'm not well.
- 0:28I cannot believe we are one month away from Q4.
- 0:31I remember making our like 2025 plan for Centennial in Q4 and
- 0:36presenting it to the girls the first week back in January.
- 0:39And I'm like, I can't believe that's almost over.
- 0:42And so little of that has been accomplished and achieved.
- 0:47But you know what, that's just how it goes and start up Life.
- 0:49OK, anyways, before I get into the stories for today, Please
- 0:53remember to rate, review and subscribe.
- 0:55Please Spotify star rate US. It helps us so much.
- 0:58It helps us grow. Leave us an Apple review if you
- 1:00feel so inclined. Buy us a coffee to show your
- 1:03support. All of that good stuff helps us
- 1:06so much. You don't even know.
- 1:08You don't even know. All right, let's get into the
- 1:10stories for today. So the first story that I have
- 1:12for you guys, Annabelle messaged me about this on Sunday in
- 1:15extreme urgency. She was like you need to cover
- 1:19this for Minnie tomorrow. So there is this rumor going
- 1:23around that KJ Appa is cosplaying as this like new
- 1:27TikTok character called I am the Real Mr. Fantasy.
- 1:31So this is a new account but it is going so viral.
- 1:35The oldest video posted on this account was from August 19th and
- 1:38it shows a man with a shoulder length of black Bob nodding
- 1:41along to a song. His videos range in content but
- 1:44for the most part it's him talking to the camera, posting
- 1:47pictures or vlogging I'm feeling.
- 1:49Good today, yeah. I'm.
- 1:52Feeling. Good.
- 1:53Danny, I'm didn't do this. I'll tell.
- 1:57You what? That's the man.
- 1:59That's the man. Mr. Fantasies lore is extensive
- 2:04so far he is allegedly an aspiring actor.
- 2:09The caption in one TikTok so far reads Quote my name and shining
- 2:12lights soon. Also John and I have begun
- 2:14shooting lots of exciting content coming soon.
- 2:17Another majorly important piece of his lore is that he only
- 2:21follows James Franco fan accounts.
- 2:24So after his content started making the rounds, social media
- 2:28users were convinced that it was KJ Appa.
- 2:30First of all, his facial structure looks exactly like
- 2:33him. The only differences are the
- 2:35hair and Mr. Fantasy has buck teeth and like a different
- 2:39accent. KJ is obviously from New
- 2:42Zealand, but Mr. Fantasy has an English accent.
- 2:45Now there seems to be confirmation that it is actually
- 2:47KJ Appa. So he posted like Mr. Fantasy
- 2:50posted on TikTok where you could see his arms and shoulders.
- 2:53And TikTok users noted that he has the exact same tattoos as KJ
- 2:57Appa. So while it does seem to be
- 3:00confirmed that it's him, people still have no idea why he is
- 3:05choosing to do this. Some people think maybe he's
- 3:08preparing for a role, others think maybe it's just for fun.
- 3:12He's always kind of been a bit of a troll online.
- 3:15But there are also theories circulating that this may be
- 3:19part of some, like, weird promo for his new movie with Madeline
- 3:22Klein called The Map that Leads to You.
- 3:25Or maybe like another upcoming project.
- 3:27Either way, we need answers. We need to know why he's doing
- 3:32this. I actually think this is just a
- 3:33troll. I don't think, like, there's
- 3:35just no way. I don't I think that this is a
- 3:37promo. I don't think this is him
- 3:38preparing for a role like this is not a real character.
- 3:41This I think this is like a full on troll.
- 3:43The James Franco fan account situation tells me I think it's
- 3:47definitely a troll. I don't know, what do you guys
- 3:49think? It's so unhinged.
- 3:50It's so funny. That's what the Internet is all
- 3:53about. OK, so the next story that I
- 3:56have for you guys is just a quick one, but there are also
- 3:59other rumors going around online this weekend.
- 4:02I'm sure you guys have seen this, that Sydney Sweeney is
- 4:04allegedly dating Scooter Braun. The two were first seen together
- 4:08at Jeff Bezos wedding I guess, and then they were spotted
- 4:11leaving a dinner date in Venice together.
- 4:14However, I actually wanted to cover this story because I think
- 4:17it's important. It's getting lost in the
- 4:19reporting that the rumors apparently were first reported
- 4:23by Star magazine, which I don't know if it's any different now,
- 4:26but when I was growing up, Star magazine was like the least
- 4:29legit source of celebrity news. So I was really surprised to see
- 4:34that people are taking this and running with it and that like,
- 4:36publications are covering it. Maybe it's different now and
- 4:39maybe there is some legitimacy to it.
- 4:41But yeah, apparently it was * magazine that first reported
- 4:44this. And like, literally when I was
- 4:45growing up, they would just like, make up lies.
- 4:47Like we wouldn't even buy Star magazine.
- 4:49Like, I was addicted to tabloid culture.
- 4:51I was addicted to celebrities and entertainment.
- 4:54And like, I would never buy Star magazine because I knew it was
- 4:56all fake. So I don't know.
- 4:58I'm really surprised that this is apparently, allegedly,
- 5:01according to news.com dot AU, the origin of the rumor.
- 5:05But regardless, the reaction to the rumor has been kind of
- 5:08funny. I think the swiftologist, he
- 5:10made a TikTok about this and it's going like somewhat viral.
- 5:14Like it's getting a lot of traction and people are like,
- 5:16yes, this is exactly it. So he was like, who on her team
- 5:19hates her so much that they keep letting her make these
- 5:22decisions? We go from a eugenic scandal to
- 5:25now dating literally the most hated man on the Internet for
- 5:29her target demographic. Feels like that is so true.
- 5:33And it's really interesting to see what's going on with Sidney
- 5:35Sweeney right now. Because I was thinking about how
- 5:37like fresh out of Euphoria, she was generally liked.
- 5:41And then she did that big, I think it was The Hollywood
- 5:43Reporter profile. And she talked about how like
- 5:46she supports her family and that's why she does all of these
- 5:49different campaigns. And that's why she might seem
- 5:51overexposed. She says yes to everything
- 5:53because you really have to hustle.
- 5:54And actually that went down really well.
- 5:56Like people actually really respected that article.
- 5:58So she came out of that again, looking really great.
- 6:01And since then, I don't know who's doing her PR then and if
- 6:04anyone different is doing it now, but it is like a night and
- 6:07day. She really was like on top and
- 6:09now public sentiment around her. It's not great.
- 6:13OK. And the last word that I have
- 6:14for you guys is the Crumble Co founder was seemingly pressured
- 6:18to come out after a TikTok user started a rumor about his sexual
- 6:22orientation. This is an episode that just
- 6:24covers a bunch of Internet rumors, I guess this week.
- 6:27But the Crumble Co founder Sawyer Hemsley publicly came out
- 6:31as gay in an Instagram post last week after influencer Grant
- 6:35Gibbs speculated about his sexuality in a viral TikTok,
- 6:38which drew millions of views and comments.
- 6:41This is my face after watching a video of the Crumble CEO and
- 6:46seeing that that's apparently a straight man.
- 6:48No, it's not. That man is so gay.
- 6:52That man is gay to the gods. Oh my God, that's a gay man.
- 6:59That's a gay man. And I'll say it to his face.
- 7:03I don't even care. I don't care if I'm outing the
- 7:05CEO of with millions of dollars. I don't give a fuck.
- 7:08But that's a gay man. So this video saw over 21
- 7:13million views. And after this obviously getting
- 7:17so many views, people online started diving into Sawyer's
- 7:20online history, noting that he follows tons of pop stars like
- 7:24Lady Gaga and Kim Petras. And there were also some
- 7:27apparent leaked DMS that proved that he was into man, I guess.
- 7:31Sawyer posted a lengthy explanation on Instagram.
- 7:35I won't read it, but he essentially said it took him
- 7:37years to process and feel ready to share, which has LED a lot of
- 7:41people to assume that he didn't necessarily, like, want to
- 7:44publicly come out as gay, but he felt pressured to give in.
- 7:47Grant's video drew so much speculation and just went so
- 7:51viral. Grant then did issue a quote, UN
- 7:54quote apology. I think it was like, kind of not
- 7:56that serious. I'll play a clip.
- 7:58Hey guys so I just got word that the crumble Co founder just came
- 8:02out. This was not my intention to
- 8:04ever out somebody in this way, but girl, I am so happy.
- 8:09Hurry up, our trains coming. Girl I am so happy for you and
- 8:13so proud of you. You are hot and you are going to
- 8:15live your best being without daily life.
- 8:18Mama like you are just you are cut.
- 8:21Like it's going to be such a gag.
- 8:24The reception online to this has been quite mixed.
- 8:27So of course there is a huge cohort of people that are like,
- 8:30it is never OK to out anyone. And then there's also a lot of
- 8:33people who are part of the LGBTQ plus community who are basically
- 8:38saying that this didn't feel like a true like, quote UN quote
- 8:40outing. It was more of like an
- 8:41observation. And they feel like it's valid
- 8:45because apparently Sawyer is a registered Republican.
- 8:48If you're part of this community, please let me know
- 8:51what you think about this situation.
- 8:53All right, guys. Well, that's it from any scroll
- 8:54today. Thank you so much for listening.
- 8:56This was a little short 1 to get us back into the groove because
- 8:59like I said last week, she was a dry week, but we're back.
- 9:03I already have two stories for tomorrow.
- 9:05It's going to be a good week. So I love you guys.
- 9:07Please remember to rate, review and subscribe and I will talk to
- 9:11you tomorrow. Bye.