This is not what we meant when we asked for a twee revival. To even call Colleen Ballinger’s response video to allegations of inappropriate behavior with her fans an “apology” is giving it too much credit. Instead, against the advice of her team, the longtime YouTuber behind the Miranda Sings character decided to address the backlash, and against the advice of anyone ever, she did it with a ukulele. In a combative and dismissive ten-minute song titled “Toxic Gossip Train,” the 36-year-old accused the public of believing rumors over facts while failing to provide any evidence herself. Instead, the lyrics are so baffling they earned their own Genius page.
Why it’s a three: If Colleen had released a more straightforward video addressing the allegations, it’s possible this controversy would have remained secluded to the world of YouTube. But in an attempt to subvert her own PR team (“Even though my team has strongly advised me to not say what I want to say / I recently realized that they never said that I couldn’t sing what I wanna say”) she instead created a piece of internet history so bonkers it became its own news moment, covered by news outlets and, even more damning, Pop Crave.
Influencer marketing may be a $20 billion industry, but it’s no match for the environmental waste, toxic chemicals, and labor violations of fast-fashion company Shein. Still, the brand tried it by inviting a handful of influencers to its factory headquarters in China earlier this year. Then, on the week of June 18, influencers regurgitated a bunch of robotic propaganda via sponsored videos that landed with a thud on Instagram and TikTok.
In the most widely critiqued video posted by creator Dani DMC, she praises the efficiency and transparency of the factory, and refers to herself as an “investigative journalist” because she spoke to a garment worker who told her to ignore all the rumors and that everything is fine. Another creator, Destene Sudduth, remarked in her video that the workers “weren’t even sweating.”
It should go without saying that a Shein-sponsored, Shein-led brand trip is not an objective look at the company’s working conditions, but this is even more disingenuous because the labor violations — which include subjecting workers to 12-14 hour days and permitting just one day off a month — are alleged to have occurred at the factories Shein contracts out to, not the ones it owns. However, when all this and more was pointed out to Dani DMC, the creator doubled down in a now-deleted video and claimed that much of the backlash was instead due to xenophobia and not, of course, the piles of evidence and detailed reports she could have easily Googled herself.
Why it’s a three: Despite the widely known nature of Shein’s questionable practices, it’s still one of the most popular brands among Gen Z. The hashtag #Sheinhaul has received over 10.9 billion views on TikTok. However, this recent effort to do reputational damage control completely backfired on Twitter and TikTok, the latter of which is reportedly planning its own Shein competitor. Like the actual cover-ups they sell, this was flimsy and fell apart fast.
At least three different countries joined forces to scour the Atlantic Ocean in a four-day search for the missing Titanic submersible and the five people onboard. Brian Szasz, stepson of passenger Hamish Harding, on the other hand, was nonplussed. Szasz found comfort in the little things: tweeting thirstily at OnlyFans models, attending a Blink-182 concert, and fighting with Cardi B. His bizarre and erratic internet behavior in the midst of what should have been a life-altering tragedy became a second tier of submarine entertainment, something to tune into when the wall-to-wall coverage was on commercial break.
Why it’s a three: Please, if my online behavior ever becomes so unhinged that I land myself an Us Weekly’s “5 Things You Should Know” explainer, put me on the next submersible.
Of all the social-media platforms, Twitch and its creators tend to stay in their own lane. But Canadian Twitch streamer xQc made it all the way to the New York Times with news he was signing a roughly $100 million deal with rival streaming platform Kick. This figure would be a huge wake-up call for Twitch had xQc not immediately started feuding with his new overlords. Twitch has been navigating blowback from creators due to changes in how they split revenue, and Kick launched as a direct competitor this year with an emphasis on its streamer-friendly policies. But xQc almost immediately earned himself a copyright violation for streaming himself watching The Dark Knight, and responded by streaming himself watching Breaking Bad two days later. Do season two of The Bear next, I gotta catch up!
Why it’s a three: A $100 million deal is on par with that of professional athletes like LeBron James, making streamers some of the most successful online content creators you’ve likely still never heard of.
On April 28, scientists actually discovered the world’s first ever non-invasive lobotomy. All you have to do is simply bear witness to the sentence: “Is Baby Gronk the New Drip King?”
First spoken by TikTok creator Henry De Tolla, the words refer to 10-year-old Madden San Miguel, whose prodigious football talents earned him the nickname “Baby Gronk.” On a recent trip to Louisiana State University, San Miguel met up with gymnast Livvy Dunne, a prominent social-media figure over whom lacrosse player Caleb Hammett, who goes by the moniker the Drip King online, publicly lusts. But the poetic indecipherability of the sentence, and others like “Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk,” catapulted De Tolla’s video away from the audience that actually knows what those words mean (for some reason) and in front of hundreds of thousands of other people, who then brought it to Twitter this month.
De Tolla says he’s aware of how ridiculous his video sounds and that it was meant to be satire.
“It’s kind of my thing at this point,” he told writer Max Read, I assume in between reading Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift.
Why it’s a three: “Is Baby Gronk the new Drip King” is by no means De Tolla’s most popular post on TikTok, but it’s had impressive longevity. While Twitter may have been late to the game, it’s responsible for solidifying the phrase as a kind of catch-all meme for whenever any other sentence doesn’t make sense, as well as inspiring parody videos and deep dives into the lore from publications like Defector. If Baby Gronk is the new Drip King … am I my own grandpa?