Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Pilates Body Raven backlash, Katie Fang new column, Ed Sheeran vs. Swiftologist + Gen Z Nepal update

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MINI SCROLL: Pilates Body Raven backlash, Katie Fang new column, Ed Sheeran vs. Swiftologist + Gen Z Nepal update · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:04
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
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  everyone. OK, I need to issue a formal
• 0:24
  apology to anyone that listened to Friday's episode.
• 0:27
  I was very quickly informed that it's actually not Tory Lanez,
• 0:32
  it's Tory Lanes. And I just put this very bougie
• 0:36
  flair on his name. And when the first comment came
• 0:40
  through about that, I was like, Oh my God, that's so
• 0:43
  embarrassing. I was sitting on the couch with
• 0:45
  my husband and we were looking at it just dying.
• 0:48
  Like we were laughing so hard. I literally laughed for like an
• 0:51
  hour. I could not get over it.
• 0:52
  I was like, what the fuck? What the fuck is wrong with me?
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  I'm Jed. And then I had comments of
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  people, you guys being like, Oh my God.
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  I had to like run to the comments to see if anybody else
• 1:01
  commented about this. I had to check if maybe I just
• 1:04
  thought his name was wrong, like if I was saying it wrong this
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  whole time. It is not Linnez, it is Lanes.
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  I just had never heard it said out loud.
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  OK, I've only read it in relation to Megan the Stallion.
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  I just put my own flair on it, I guess.
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  All right, before I get into the stories for today, Please
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  remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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• 1:38
  All right, the first story that I have for you guys is Pilates
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  Body Raven is facing backlash after she seemingly posted a hot
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  take about why Pilates should remain not diverse and
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  inaccessible. And you will understand why I
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  said seemingly in a minute. So Raven, who goes by Pilates
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  Body Raven on social media, is a fitness influencer and former
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  reality star from Love is Blind Season 3.
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  She has a popular online Pilates business where she charges 3999
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  per month or $479 a year for her virtual program.
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  Most in person Pilates classes cost like $40.
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  Basically that exact price for a single class.
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  So that's why this entire saga is even more confusing.
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  A few days ago Raven posted a quote UN quote hot take on
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  TikTok about why the price of Pilates is justified.
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  I think I think that's what she was getting at.
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  It's going to be an extremely hot take for my Pilates girls.
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  What are some words that you think about when you think of
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  like a really nice designer brand?
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  I think of legacy, think about craftsmanship.
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  I know a lot of the products are probably like handmade bolt.
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  Check them over and over again to make sure the quality is
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  there. OK, the design is there.
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  And that's why we pay top dollar.
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  We pay our top coins for these designer items, right?
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  Like you would never walk into Bottega and be like, where is
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  the diversity? Where is the accessibility?
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  Babe? There is no accessibility.
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  This is Bottega. I want you to think the same way
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  about Pilates. And I know a lot of us who've
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  just gotten into this, or maybe we're no instructors.
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  We have like been trained. Pilates is a legacy, OK?
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  People have worked generations to preserve this method of
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  exercise. To even just training an
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  instructor classically through a good program takes 500 hours
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  minimum. You can probably see why I said
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  I think because the point she was trying to make was
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  confusing. It was not very strong and there
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  are very mixed opinions about like what she was trying to get
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  across. However, this confusion of
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  course has really snowballed. A lot of people are taking her
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  video in bad faith. I didn't know who she was before
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  this. I don't have any opinion on her.
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  This is not me being like parasocial about her.
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  I'm just saying like there are conflicting I guess ways that
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  people have taken this video but the vast majority of people have
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  taken it or interpreted treated it as her saying like This is
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  why Basically trying to justify This is why Pilates is
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  exclusive, reserved for whiteness and if it was diverse
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  then it would cheapen the experience you.
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  Really want my fault. Trying to gentrify exercise
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  Pilates was started by Joseph Pilates.
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  Some dude that didn't have the means to exercise the way he
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  wanted to so he did some makeshift stuffing putting
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  together hospital beds and stuff in Germany you're trying to tell
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  me is only accessible to rich if designer exercises now and then
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  she going to say will it takes 500 hours to become a Pilates
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  instructor minimum. That's what she did it one of
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  them minimum it will taught you that it take fit fingers one of
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  hours just to become a Barber. This has led to a flood of
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  videos on TikTok pushing back obviously, and talking about the
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  origins of Pilates and how that was actually anything but like
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  elevated or exclusive. So for anyone who doesn't know,
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  the Pilates method was created in the early 20th century by a
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  German man named Joseph Pilates. He designed a system of
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  exercises called contradology to help him recover from childhood
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  illnesses during World War One. He adapted and refined the
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  practice using bed springs to build resistance based equipment
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  for rehabilitating injured soldiers.
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  And he did a lot of this while he was in prison.
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  Now despite Raven's take and how TikTok is taking it, a lot of
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  people especially on Reddit are defending her saying that she
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  just didn't articulate herself well.
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  So this one comment on Reddit says I don't think she
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  articulated it well but I took it to mean that a well trained
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  instructor has put in 500 hours which takes time and money.
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  Basically you get what you pay for.
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  Pilates is inaccessible because good instructors are paid what
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  they are worth and therefore out of reach for a lot of people.
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  She didn't say, nor do I think she was trying to imply that it
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  should be inaccessible. Another comment says her whole
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  thing is making it accessible. Free classes, modifications,
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  advancements. So every class is for everybody
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  at every level. The Internet loves to hate her.
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  Membership is 3999 a month and the app slash site have so many
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  options. Y'all can read into whatever and
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  cancel her but this is someone who cares for making things
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  accessible. OK, so Ray Evan has removed her
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  original video and has now addressed the backlash in an
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  apology video. I want to address my set of my
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  previous video. Start by saying classism,
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  elitism, or anything adding to the larger conversation of like
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  exclusion in Wellness or fitness is unacceptable.
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  Insight is always 2020 and I see how my words contributed to that
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  narrative. And even though that wasn't my
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  intention, I know that intention doesn't erase impact.
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  But my mission has always been to share my passion for Pilates
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  and Wellness with as many people as possible, specifically women.
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  Like I care about women and everyone else too, but I really
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  care about supporting women. If I made you feel like
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  plottings wasn't for you, I have literally failed at my entire
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  mission and let y'all down. Honestly, being a black
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  instructor in this space is what motivates me to consistently
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  perfect my craft, to make the best possible product that I
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  can, and to try to get the plottings word out there with as
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  little barriers as possible. However, creating accessibility
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  is about more than content. It's also about culture, words,
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  nuance, actions and I missed the mark.
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  Unfortunately, the Internet won't let her have this either
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  because everyone's saying that it sounds like this was written
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  by ChatGPT. And obviously I have no idea if
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  this was written by ChatGPT or not, and I know we've talked
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  about this a lot on this podcast, but it does concern me
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  that it seems collectively we just like jump to believing that
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  people are using generative AI in situations where they sound
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  articulate, well spoken, when something sounds too polished.
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  We saw this with the M dash discourse like justice for the
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  M-I have written with M dashes for literally years and years
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  and years. My entire craft before
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  Centennial was writing like that was literally what I was a
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  writer. And I have used M-AS.
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  Every writer that I know in media uses M dashes.
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  And now we're all afraid to write properly with M dashes
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  because someone's going to be like ChatGPT.
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  People think our deep dives are written by ChatGPT because
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  they're like academic. Like I just can't.
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  So I really, I, I don't know if she used ChatGPT.
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  Maybe it's not how she normally talks.
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  Like I said, I wasn't super familiar with her before this,
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  but like I can't with those accusations.
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  Some people are actually just well spoken.
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  Some people are actually just well researched.
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  Some people know how to write. How do you think Chachi PT
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  learns to use M dashes? They're trained with academic
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  sources. OK.
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  Anyways, so I actually am happy that we're having this
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  conversation though, like around Pilates because the Wellness
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  industry and that like Pilates Princess elitism like it is out
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  of control right now. And I love how now social media
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  is flooded with all these videos talking about how Pilates was
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  invented by a circus performer in a prison.
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  Basically. Not because I want like a gotcha
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  moment for the Pilates girlies, but as somebody who is very
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  entrenched or immersed in the online fitness community myself,
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  the elitism is damaging, especially to beginners who are
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  made to feel totally out of place in these spaces.
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  Like I started my hardcore fitness journey in 2017 and I'm
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  so glad that I did it back then and not now.
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  Because back then there were just fewer expectations on what
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  working out looked like from like an aesthetic point of view.
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  And it made the experience for me a much less daunting to get
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  into the gym. There were fewer expectations
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  that working out looked a certain way and also that it was
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  for a certain type of person. I feel I do think this like,
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  Pilates Princess aesthetic vibe has really altered who we feel
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  is worthy of like, working out and looking cute and wearing
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  these matching sets and having like the whole like experience
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  around working out. The next story that I have for
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  you guys is that TikTok star Katie Fang has landed a column
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  for The Cut. OK, so Katie is 19.
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  I had no idea until I started researching for this story.
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  I watch her on and off. Like when she comes up on my For
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  You page, I'll watch her videos. I had no idea she was so young.
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  Obviously you can tell she's young, but like, I can't believe
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  she's so young. I was struck to the core.
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  So yeah, she has been tapped by The Cut for a beauty column.
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  So she's a New York City based creator.
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  She shot to TikTok fame for her makeup routines and her Get
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  Ready with me videos. She's actually Canadian girly
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  too. Like me, she's from Vancouver
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  and she built her following of over 6 million in just two years
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  and then obviously now lives in New York.
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  So she will be writing for The Cut on what's popular and
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  trending in the beauty space. This is from the Cuts
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  announcement quote. In true Fang fashion, her column
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  debuts today with a post on the makeup products she would
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  splurge on. And though she would skip Intel,
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  Fang has gathered while trying the hundreds of products that
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  she gets sent. Consider her your younger or
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  older sister who always has a scoop on the best and latest
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  beauty launches. OK, so I don't know if this will
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  really work to be honest. I still don't think likethe.com
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  is where young people want to be getting their information from.
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  I think this might have worked better if it was in a newsletter
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  format. I'm not sure if like on their
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  website asa.com it will work, but I still love that The Cut is
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  truly one of the only like really mainstream media brands
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  collaborating with the creator economy in actual like, relevant
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  and interesting ways rather than looking at creators as
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  competition. That's a huge problem, at least
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  in the Australian media industry.
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  There is so little collaboration between media and influencer
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  slash creators and all the budgets just go to influencers
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  and creators because of media cannot find interesting,
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  meaningful, relevant ways to work with them too, except for
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  us. OK, the next story that I have
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  for you guys is that Ed Sheeran has addressed criticism from
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  online commentator The Swift Ologist in a new podcast for the
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  New York Times. Ed Sheeran, he just did a
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  podcast interview with The New York Times, and in it he
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  addressed some criticism that he's received from the
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  swiftologist. And this has become kind of like
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  a big piece of news amongst pop culture music fans online.
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  I've talked about the swiftologist a few times lately,
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  but his name is Zachary. He's 28 years old, and he makes
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  like, music critique slash commentary content.
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  He's divisive because many find his delivery quite harsh.
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  But I will say he's also one of the main online voices right now
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  who is like quite big, that's doing like actual critiques of
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  the music industry. And he's not afraid to give
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  like, negative feedback or negative reviews.
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  Fandom culture has made it so that, like, journalists who give
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  actual critiques of new music or of artists are sometimes
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  harassed so harshly that it's really challenged and changed
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  music journalism, especially when it's done on social media
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  specifically. And this is only made worse by
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  the kind of like collective mindset that everyone seems to
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  have now where it's like, oh, just let people like what they
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  want, you know, don't be such a hater.
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  And that mentality just goes against like the entire
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  discipline of art critique. So I don't really subscribe to
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  that. But anyways, a few months ago,
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  Zachary he made content about how Ed Sheeran has and off and
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  one of his main reasons was because Ed Sheeran is too
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  focused on numbers and not focused enough on the art of
• 13:44
  creating music. Now, Zachary referenced an
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  interview that Ed Sheeran had done years ago, saying that he
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  woke up every day and checked his streaming numbers.
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  Interestingly, when this happened, Ed Sheeran actually
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  responded. He was in the comments section.
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  OK. And then his official like
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  Instagram. It's like a fan page, but also
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  his official Instagram. It's called Ed HQ made fun of
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  this with just in a post, like right after that happened.
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  So the Ed HQ page posted a photo of a fan holding a sign that
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  read list of pricks #1 Rod Stewart #2 the swiftologist and
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  #3 all of Norwich City FC. So like, this commentary
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  undoubtedly got under Ed Sheeran's skin.
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  Now, in this new podcast interview with the New York
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  Times, Ed Sheeran was asked if this is something that he's
• 14:31
  still obsessed with. And he basically said no.
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  So this is what he said. I sort of got over all of that
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  at the end of the Divide tour. I think all of that was linked
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  to being a quite unpopular, nerdy kid at school who played
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  music that everyone took the piss out of.
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  No one ever really thought that I'd be successful.
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  Then success started to happen and I was getting obsessed with
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  the fact that success was happening and it was getting
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  bigger and bigger and bigger. I describe it like, if Usain
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  Bolt sets a record, someone's going to break that record
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  eventually, and I think he's probably got over that fact.
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  But everything I was doing seemed to be working and I was
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  pushing it further and further After the Divide tour had broken
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  all these records and shape of you had done this and that.
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  It got to the point where I was like, cool, I've done it and
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  someone else is going to beat those records, but at least I've
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  done it. Then you can kind of move on.
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  So what this new podcast interview has done is start this
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  big discourse on TikTok about the relevancy of online creators
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  and how they are starting to shape mainstream pop culture in
• 15:26
  very meaningful ways. I mean, I agree with that.
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  I think somebody like the Swift Ologist has much bigger reach,
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  especially to younger audiences. Then I don't know, probably
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  Pitchfork or, you know, Billboard, some of those kind of
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  bigger, like industry music publications that would
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  typically be doing these critiques.
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  But I also want to say, like in Defensive Ed Sheeran, I actually
• 15:47
  understand why he would want to clear this up because that
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  became like a big narrative. Like I said, the Swiftologist
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  has a huge platform and I understand why he'd want to
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  clear this up because like two things can be true.
• 15:58
  Can be obsessed with being successful at your craft while
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  also doing it for the love of that craft.
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  Like Ed Sheeran never said that he plays music or creates music
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  so that he can have the biggest streaming numbers and break
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  records. Like he obviously does it for
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  himself because that's what he loves and what he's good at,
• 16:18
  what he's passionate about. But at the same time, of course,
• 16:21
  you would like to be successful at the thing that you are trying
• 16:23
  to do and trying to like make a living from.
• 16:26
  That's how I take it. OK.
• 16:27
  And the last story that I have for you guys, this is just a
• 16:29
  quick little update from the story that I reported on on
• 16:32
  Friday about the Gen. Z Nepalese who are protesting
• 16:35
  against government corruption and a national social media ban,
• 16:38
  which as we know, resulted in the prime Mr. stepping down from
• 16:41
  his post. OK, so I'm not going to go
• 16:44
  through the whole story because I literally just reported on it
• 16:46
  in last week's episode, like on our most recent episode.
• 16:49
  But the update is that this group of Gen.
• 16:52
  Z activists have selected a new candidate to run for Prime
• 16:55
  Minister to represent their interests via a poll on Discord.
• 16:59
  This is so cool. OK, so this is from the ABC
• 17:02
  quote. Within six months, a national
• 17:04
  election will be held alongside the essential amendments needed
• 17:07
  to safeguard the future of our youth and generations to come,
• 17:10
  the post by Hami Nepal, one of the organizations behind the
• 17:13
  protests, read. A step necessary to prevent an
• 17:15
  inevitable power vacuum. The plan?
• 17:18
  Select a representative to present their agenda to the
• 17:20
  president, followed by an election in six months and a
• 17:23
  promise that every citizen will have the right to cast their
• 17:26
  vote freely and choose their candidate.
• 17:28
  So yeah, they literally had a poll on Discord.
• 17:30
  Like, that's so cool. This is so badass.
• 17:32
  I'm obsessed with this story. They are so cool.
• 17:35
  I hope they get everything that they want.
• 17:37
  All right, guys. Well, that's it for mini scroll
• 17:39
  today. Thank you so much for listening.
• 17:40
  I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
• 17:43
  and subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US, buy
• 17:45
  us a coffee if you feel so inclined.
• 17:48
  And I will talk to you tomorrow. Bye.