Pop Culture Mondays/10.10.22
The “STFU” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture fans. We have a quick one this week because, really and truly all the oxygen was sucked out of every single room by Kanye, aka Ye, aka STFU please. I don’t want to talk about him ever TBH, but I will give a quick catch-up below for what has happened, and where we are as of today (at least by the time I publish, but things move fast in Kanye world so likely he will say some other antisemitic or homophobobic or fatphobic or sexist thing some point soon.)
BUT we have a lot going on in the WORLD and since the US is NOT awesome in sharing global news, we have TIKTOK for that so let me give you a quick look at what people are talking about in the socials. NOT happy news tbh so please either skip this part or grab tissues and a soft blanket and maybe some kittens. Lots of kittens.
Iran.
The protests are entering their 4th week, and more people are being killed including reports saying 19 children. CHILDREN. And the family of Mahsa Amini who’s death is what sparked the moment we are in, are getting death threats and yet the voices of Iranians protesting grows more and more each day. 16 year old Nika Shakarami who was this beautiful and talented and full of life teenager was killed during the protests and some reports suggest raped as well and it is just heartbreaking:
Thailand.
Well this comes with a trigger warning as what has happened in Thailand is a gruesome and horrifying tragedy. And maybe a reason US media doesn’t talk much about this stuff is apparently CNN got complaints from viewers over the distressing footage. But it happened. And it’s a tragedy of tragedies. 37 people in total were killed by a madman…24 of these were children between the ages of 2–5 at a nursery school. The ex-cop madman went on a rampage with a gun and a knife and killed these babies and then his own wife and child before killing himself. I am just going to say the TikTok below will be very hard to watch as it shows the pain of the families and the kids before the massacre but it is what the world is talking about:
OK guys I am not going to lie…I had to put PCM down for a bit to gather myself because I could not stop crying and I just needed to take a walk.
Ireland.
There was an explosion at a gas station that destroyed the station and adjoining apartment building in Donegal. Beautiful lives were taken senselessly including several children. The tributes coming out on TikTok have been heartbreaking and friends of those lost have been posting and commenting.
Ok so with that…welcome to PCM. Sometimes world events becomes pop culture because it hits at something in all of us…sometimes it is tragic…sometimes it is silly…so let’s get to what else is happening.
YE:
If you want my unfiltered thoughts on ALL things Kanye, Ye, whatever, then please listen to LAST week’s podcast which had the AMAZING Jason Hirschhorn, as my guest. We REALLY get into it.
ANYWAY…I know TOO many people connected to this man who I have immediately discounted as NOT MY people as a result. His recent behavior is NOT new. This is not shocking in that none of us should be like “where did this come from?” and once and for all of the people who say, “Well, Kanye is a GENIUS…” like actually shut up. STFU. You can be a genius and be an asshole and be a mentally ill person and be antisemitic and sexist and fatphobic and everything else he is. I happen to think the man is SO so sick that this is his sickness taking him on these crazy and horrifying rants and that he needs real treatment and meds but this just doesn't happen. But those people who work FOR him, or get close to him and are blided by the fame and the cameras and the mania…they are the guilty ones. They are the ones taking advantage of a sick person and feeding the beast. But we are here today to look at what got Kanye suspended/restricted/whatever you want to call it from Insta and Twitter. By NOW you know where things in the latest drama began to unfold as we spoke about last week.
PARIS FASHION WEEK.
YE ordered some t-shirts on Etsy with “WHITE LIVES MATTER” printed on them (sorry to Etsy I am just trying to make a point that they were plain white t-shirts with plain black font, yawn) and Kanye got his headlines. Seemingly what he craves. Maybe like Elon and Trump. Whatever it takes to stay in the news, ABOVE THE FOLD PEOPLE…ABOVE the fold.
For someone who LOVES to criticize and antagonize, he is NOT able to take that back in return and cries like a little baby…usually he attacks women publicly. Whether the editor/stylist for VOGUE or Hailey Bieber or Gigi Hadid. That’s his sweet spot…bullying women. Which INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER ARE OK WITH.
But they are NOT ok with ANTISEMITISM (grateful they actually do have a line but think they could have drawn that line before we got here but OK…)
This was the Insta post that apparently got him locked out of Instagram. After a series of crazy and manic posts including posting screenshots of his text convos with various people, it was this one with Diddy, aka Puffy, that made the social media platform DRAW THEIR LINE. So we are seeing his views on Jewish people start to come out (not the first time though).
SO….Ye cannot get into his Instagram. He needs an outlet…LOOK no further than our trusted Twitter. He has not been on Twitter in two years so he first comes back with a pic of a baseball cap that says “2024” which we all take to mean he is gonna run again for President. OY.
But then quickly followed up with a pic and nasty post about Mark Zuckerberg, because Ye was locked out of Insta:
But what happens next?
YES kids…our boy, the great white whale Elon, has ENTERED STAGE LEFT into the scene presumably thinking he is already the owner of the Twitter. And responding to this tweet in particular is dark:
Well, as you can imagine things escalated from there. Sure, Kanye threw out some tweets in support of Iranian women just for shits and giggles or his social media person did and people celebrated him for it. But NOT so fast kids…
This was the breaking point for Twitter which removed this tweet and suspended/blocked whatever we are calling it…Ye from the platform. IF ONLY IT WOULD STAY THAT WAY. Well, my favorite take on this particular moment is from actor Michael Rappaport (btw I did not know he was Jewish!):
But before he was kicked off these platforms, he went on every racist’s FAVORITE PLATFORM, Tucker “Pancake Face” Carlson because….OF COURSE HE DID. And he spewed madness and hate and Tucker was like orgasming in ways he probably NEVER has in his life. And one of the topics Ye, fuck it I will just call him Mr. West as I cannot say Ye anymore…and of COURSE Mr. West decided to start fat shaming LIZZO. Just goes into a rant on Lizzo and how people promoting plus size lifestyles are demonic and yeah…this MOTHERFUCKER…
But our girl Lizzo…she clapped back without ever mentioning the man’s name while performing in Canada…and yes Lizzo, let’s all move please…together…
I am done writing about this guy. I hope for the sake of his children, the man gets the help he needs.
AND NOW FOR SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (OR SOME OF THE DESPICABLE ONES…)
OK…let’s move onto some fun stuff…we all need a PALATE CLEANSER!!!
- If you are not watching HOUSE OF THE DRAGON on HBO made LONG before the new all white, all male, all old regime that is in place at Warner Discovery NOW, then you are MISSING out. But if you were consumed by NEGRONI-talk this weekend and you don’t know why…well, here is why. And you will run straight to your screen and start watching this show. And while I am on the topic of STRAIGHT, this clip had straight women everywhere questioning their sexuality:
The Internet exploded.
A Negroni.
Sbagliato.
With Prosecco in it.
These words are killing bartenders everywhere at the moment.
First, let me start by saying I do NOT like Campari. It is not my jam. My dad was a Campari Soda man and I respect that, I do. But just NOT for me. I also do NOT drink gin so a Negroni is not going to be my jam either way. BUT WHAT IS A NEGRONI WITH PROSECCO?? “Sbagliato” means “messed up” in Italian and the legend goes a busy bartender poured prosecco in by accident instead of gin and voila…here we are. LIKE I SAID…palate cleanser:
- DUMPY FROG DRAMA. Wait, have you not heard about the DUMPY FROG SCANDAL?? WOO boy…let’s get into it. It started, I believe, from this TikTok which I will say took my breath away. I was like wait why don’t we all have a giant and I mean giant pet frogs named Dumpy. But then the video seemed weird to me like I was like, “SURELY this is edited,” but I moved on. Well, surely it was. Here we have the OG video:
But alas, Dumpy is not that big. The creator used video tricks and editing to enlarge it…he claims to cause a conversation but me thinks I am a BIT more skeptical than that!
- CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT. I am here for it. Let’s kick things off with the trailer I did not see coming and that is for the upcoming movie, BONES AND ALL and I guess with the success of Dahmer on Netflix, we are a culture obsessed with cannibalism. So add Timothée Chalamet and it’s a “YES PLEASE” from me and you can guess where I will be in November…in the movie theatre for this one:
Taylor Russell, Timmy’s co-star, is riveting. And both she and Timmy made a MASSIVE fashion splash at the premiere of their film at the London Film Festival:
The socials have gone wild for them:
And Hulu’s TELL ME LIES has finally come out and it is good I didn’t think I would like it but it is really good.
And in theme with human tragedy of this PCM, this 3 part series on Netflix is shocking and tragic and IN REAL TIME as the case is still unfolding. You remember the mom who ran off to Hawaii with her new husband after both of their previous spouses died mysteriously and then her young kids were missing? And then found dead…well this series will blow your mind:
- A video went viral in Spain this week that shows dozens and dozens of posh college boys in a boys dorm calling out to the women in the girls dorm and it is scary and the sign of the times I guess:
Here is a good explainer:
- This darling cutie has gone viral not just because she is having a purely magical joyous moment at DISNEY ON ICE, but because her singing is AMAZE. The pitch! A star is born:
- And to end on an uplifting note…sort of. This comedian handled a heckler amazingly well. But then as we are seeing happen more and more with artists, she was attacked on stage. She handled it even better:
THAT IS IT MY DARLINGS…
Happy Indigenous People Day and be kind to one another. We need kindness this week.
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