Pop Culture Mondays/3.25.24
The SHAME ON US Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. How are we all doing? It’s Spring Winter in many places, which irritates us all, I know. It is completely unacceptable to be 70 degrees one day and 40 degrees the next. UNACCEPTABLE. And in LA, we had a freak hail storm out of the blue on Sunday. Do we need frogs and crickets to fall from the sky to let us know we are doomed? I mean, COME on. It all feels rather ominous. So, instead, let us indulge in candy for the brain, and let’s get into some pop culture.
If you missed my pod last week, you can INDULGE me and take a listen. I describe my very strange experience sitting directly next to Kanye and Naked Wife at dinner where if I leaned my chair back, I would be in Kanye’s lap…NO thank you. They looked at their phones the whole time while watching videos and talking to one another but never looked up from said phones. ANYWAY…it’s a fun one.
This is a speedy PCM this week because sometimes that’s life. 🤷🏼♀️
Grab your 🎧 and a 🧊☕️ and enjoy…
Xx,
Brooke
SHAME ON US:
It’s been a minute since I think a lot of us felt that thing that connected us all at once. We all got the push notification about Kate’s diagnosis. We all learned the news at the very same time.
My phone blew up. People were shocked. Saddened. GUILT RIDDEN. “How could this be??” I was asked time and time again by various friends. “Why didn't they say this in the first place,” others asked. And even some…SOME asked, “Is this real? I don't believe it. What are they hiding?” To which I responded, shut the fuck up.
AS I said last week in the newsletter and the pod…it felt like a statement would come soon. My understanding is that instead of a written statement, Kate herself thought it was important to give it directly via video, which is unprecedented for the Royal family. And it was heartbreaking. I mean, by now, all of us should have seen it, but in case you missed it:
Heartbreaking. For so many reasons. This young, beautiful mom with three young kids reminds so many of how fragile life and health can be. We are reminded of Diana and the tragedy that impacted her sons. We are also, PROBABLY, feeling a bit guilty for how so many of us behaved before we knew she had cancer.
How did we get here? My belief is that we have two reasons why this was so out of control:
- The Palace PR team is a disaster. This is weird because they have had some amazing people work on the team in the past, but either they do not have the A team, or the A team is just unaware of how to deal with the world of social media at this moment in time.
- We are all horrible.
That’s it. That’s my explanation.
But from a PR/Comms perspective, I believe you can trace the mistake all the way back to the first statement.
“Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to The London Clinic yesterday for planned abdominal surgery. The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
I get what they were trying to do here. Be transparent or AS transparent as they could be. They were not releasing more details on the surgery, so let's appease them by giving them a little detail about her recovery. They also thought they would give the Easter timeline so people would not wonder where she was because…they said she would be out of public eye until EASTER.
But see where they went wrong?
They said 10–14 days. IMMEDIATELY, everyone who has had surgery or has had a friend or family member have surgery starts to think, “Wait a minute. Ten to fourteen days???” For example, I had massive open heart surgery where I was hooked up to a heart and lung machine for hours and had my chest cracked open like a walnut, and I was in the hospital for less time.
Now, perhaps they had to do it because the press would be tracking the comings and goings, but I have to believe some deal could have been made with everyone. Anyway, people literally lost their minds on the amount of time she would be in the hospital, and so, therefore, the guessing games began.
And the conspiracy theories began.
And the Easter date was totally ignored, despite that being in the statement.
And last week, I pointed out celebrities like Kim Kardashian who made light of Kate being “missing,” but she was one of MANY.
But Kim’s post is still up, which is interesting:
But many responses to her post since the news has come out have been like these:
But look…so many others did the same, including Blake Lively, who posted a silly, overly edited pic on Instagram for her drinks brand to buy into the whole Kate trend. And she regretted that. Once the news broke, she posted this:
I honestly thought this article summed it all up so well. LEGIT this became QAnon for WINE MOMS:
While I understand why people are fascinated and how a frenzy grows, I did not understand the callous way people were trying to make it about something salacious. There is no way they were going to release a false statement about surgery and health to cover up something else. I mean, it is not Russia, for God’s sake. The thinking that this was some elaborate ploy to divert attention from William’s alleged affair was preposterous. It was clear she was ill. Just how ill we did not know. Now we do, sort of. I am already hearing the tumor mill start back up again with WHAT kind of cancer it must be and the prognosis.
As someone who lost her mom to cancer too young, it breaks my heart.
As someone who has fought cancer herself, it breaks my heart that Kate’s struggle has to be so public. When all you want to do in that moment is curl up and hide from the world. At least I did.
And there have been some of the responses I thought you might like to see.
AND…this one…she is not wrong either, which goes back to my blaming the PR team for letting it spin SO out of control:
This should have shut people up, though, at the end of the day, right?
Think again. Many say it is AI-generated, a fake video, and so forth. They are trying to say this is an old sweater and, therefore, an old video. LIKE WTF.
So, back to my initial analysis:
People are terrible.
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
So, yeah…how are you feeling now? Again, perhaps we would ALL be better off without social media of ANY kind. American companies. Chinese companies. All of them.
Let’s check out some other things this week that have people talking that’s slightly less depressing.
All Hail Beyoncé:
I will say, the SONG is now in my head. I find myself whistling it in the shower, or humming it while I walk the dog. SHE knows what she is doing.
And now we have a very detailed dance to go with it! This has been out for while but growing and growing like the song in my head is growing and growing.
And if you want to learn the dance so you can do it with your kids or embarrass the SHIT out of them, here you go:
But before we close out on our Queen B, we do have a thing unfolding between her and Erykah Badu. Apparently, Badu is accusing Beyoncé of stealing her braided look, which is really an OG RICK JAMES look, so I don’t know. She tweeted this:
WOO BOY.
But here you go for comparison:
I mean, there are a plethora of artists who have pulled this look.
But then there is the hat.
Which Badu has ALSO taken issue with:
Socials have not been in support of Badu for the most part:
Milk with Cereal? NOPE:
This is not new, but it is new to me and maybe then new to you. But I had a friend stay with me for a couple of days along with his teenage son. Who loves Lucky Charms. So I gave him a bowl of Lucky Charms at breakfast and was about to pour milk into it before the teen said, “NO! No MILK!” I was like, wait, what? I asked him if he was allergic to milk, as I had almond AND oat milks too. And he said no, he prefers his cereal plain. And then proceeded to eat dry cereal out of a bowl. WITH a spoon.
I was shook.
His dad told me that was the way the kids eat cereal these days.
No, not all kids.
But, like, it’s a thing.
END OF DAYS.
What is Rotting Girl?
Or Girl Rot. Either goes. I have seen videos here and there about it, and it seems to me that it’s about girls (ahem, me) who hang out in their beds or on the couch for hours, endlessly doing nothing but scrolling or something meaningless.
You’re welcome.
TIMMY:
We are back to talk a little Chalamalabingbong…aka Timothée Chalamet. This pic is of him as BOB DYLAN. Yes, that’s correct. He is filming a Bob Dylan movie in NYC, and nothing makes more sense.
And my fave take obviously comes from The Cut:
But TC is also making the CRUSH rounds again on TikTok. These compilation videos have blown up, but some are saying it is because in some he sounds like he is saying UNDER THE BLUE SEA, but I don't get it. I need to investigate more:
This is what the kids are talking about this week!
3 Body Problem on Netflix, which I have started watching and am SUPER digging.
Palm Royale on Apple TV Plus…Kristen Wiig and Laura Dern to name a few? SIGN me up.
Road House on Prime Video—Ummmm…I am not saying to watch this, but it is definitely being talked about. Just not in the way they might want.
Ouch.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
It’s been fun. DO me a favor and try to avoid conspiracy theories this week. And do not watch the Russian terrorist videos for your own mental health. I don't mean the ones where the terrorists are getting the shit kicked out of them…do what you want there. I mean of the attack itself. They should not exist on social media because they are devastating and graphic and terrifying, but on Elon's hellscape of Twitter… they are there. But avoid them. But your kids might see them, so make sure you're prepared.
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Have a fantastic week.
Xx,
Brooke
