PLEASE WATCH SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE 'MATRIX'
A YouTuber Who Has No Idea What 'The Matrix' Is About, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Every day somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
Each day on twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it
— maple cocaine (@maplecocaine) January 3, 2019
This week’s characters include usual suspects like Logan Paul and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Gwen Stefani being Gwen Stefani.
There were few others who we couldn't get to, but still think are worth checking out. Like this CEO who wants to pay someone with a Supreme Court case to wear AirPods and let a robot argue for them, or M&M's, who are finally releasing an all-girl package(???)
Monday
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
The character: Rep. MTG, politician who needs a legal intern
The plot: Either Rep. Greene is some kind of 4D chess mastermind (highly doubt it) where she knew she'd get caught using at Dr. Dre tune without permission, or she needs someone on her team that'll explain to her what legal copyright and getting music clearances mean.
Greene tweeted a now-removed video, saying "It’s time to begin.. and they can’t stop what’s coming," and was soundtracked by the melody of Dr. Dre's track "Still D.R.E."
It’s time to begin.. and they can’t stop what’s coming. pic.twitter.com/NoCNg3ujAT
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 9, 2023
The clip was eventually removed, but, as you can see, the tweet's still up.
The repercussion: The whole saga produced a few headlines, but nothing more. Just another day in MTG-ville.
Apparently somebody can stop it. https://t.co/3vwPrOvq6l pic.twitter.com/DVcxQV6x5t
— Beau of The Fifth Column (@BeauTFC) January 9, 2023
... you could always still use Kid Rock?
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 9, 2023
Adwait Patil
Monday
Logan Paul
The character: Logan Paul, internet personality, wrestler, idiot
The plot: Earlier this week, accusations that controversial YouTuber Logan Paul had abandoned a pig he’d bought thinking it was a mini breed arose on Twitter. User Def Noodles posted a photo of Paul and Pearl the pig, alongside a screenshot of a video from a rescue sanctuary that said it had found Pearl in a bad way.
Logan Paul’s pig Pearl found nearly dead, abandoned and maimed. Absolutely disgusting pic.twitter.com/TKxZ1fy3MH
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) January 9, 2023
In response, Paul tweeted a thread claiming that he had rehomed Pearl at a ranch before moving away, and that she had been given to a different farmer without his knowledge.
Pearl was rehomed to an amazing Ranch that I visited in Santa Clarita when I moved to Puerto Rico. I was unable to bring her to the island.
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 10, 2023
She lived there happily for 10 months before the owner sold the Ranch. She was rehomed w/o my knowledge to the Farmer across the street.
But by the time he’d tweeted his defense, Paul had already received widespread condemnation across Twitter and elsewhere on the web. This brings us to one of the week’s worst Main Character moments: Paul seemingly likening the criticism he received for allegedly abandoning an animal to being “targeted” by the matrix.
the matrix is real. pray you never become its target
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 10, 2023
In referring to “the matrix,” Paul joins violent misogynist Andrew Tate — who has just been arrested as part of a human trafficking investigation — in suggesting that powerful members of politics, media and large organizations are unfairly targeting controversial “truth-speakers.”
The repercussion: Some people tried to remind Paul that being held accountable for your actions is not persecution, and others just made fun of him.
It's called personal accountability. Try it sometime.
— Mutahar (@OrdinaryGamers) January 11, 2023
it costs $0 to not be a shitty person dude
— Akinola Verissimo (@AkinolaGG) January 11, 2023
*sitting in the back of a cop car after robbing multiple banks* wow. the matrix is cancelling me. there’s no other explanation. https://t.co/WIFgqx1juI
— Mac (@GoodPoliticGuy) January 11, 2023
Logan Paul accepting accountability for his actions challenge (impossible) https://t.co/HPE8xHr8sH pic.twitter.com/u6MjETLB0m
— Trey the Explainer (@Trey_Explainer) January 12, 2023
U not it’s target you just an idiot
— YourRAGE (@YourRAGEz) January 11, 2023
that's not a thing in the movie. the matrix doesn't target people in the movie https://t.co/DLSq2FH2CD
— august smith 🎀 (@augustjsmith) January 11, 2023
my guy just take some accountability lol
— Omni ☕️ (@InfernoOmni) January 11, 2023
Bro, the matrix just pissed my pants
— CaptainSauce (@TheCaptainSauce) January 11, 2023
People, The Matrix is a Hollywood movie created by two trans women who loathe fascism and right-wing authoritarianism. It's fiction. It's not real. You don't need to take red pills. Just don't be stupid. https://t.co/92RQ4es9C9
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) January 11, 2023
Impossible to approach this tweet pic.twitter.com/kfSRMiQezw
— Your Inner Thought (@nickdorazio3rd) January 11, 2023
“The matrix” is a strange way to spell accountability.
— David Hogg ☮️ (@davidhogg111) January 11, 2023
Wow you did not get that movie
— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) January 11, 2023
How come the only people i hear say stuff like this are human traffickers and scam artists?? https://t.co/c55ynulrFi
— 🦋The Other Happy Place🦋 (@otherhappyplace) January 11, 2023
This is the dumbest fucking thing you could have possibly said at this point
— The Act Man (@TheActMan_YT) January 11, 2023
Darcy Jimenez
Tuesday
Gwen Stefani
The character: Gwen Stefani, pop star, fashion icon, white woman
The plot: Oh Gwen, why. Why would you do this. Why. Why! Simply do not give this interview, don’t say anything, and just apologize for whatever you did in the past! We want to forgive you, but after this………………no, sorry. You cannot say stuff like this! You can’t do it, Gwen. We want to go back to loving you, but you keep doing and saying problematic things! Wealthy famous people are on a different planet.
It is disappointing that Gwen Stefani is choosing to double-down on her Orientalism in 2023. I remember how uncomfortable her “Harajuku Girls” era made me almost 20 years ago, but it wasn’t so easy to share those feelings pre-social media. https://t.co/oCmU38Bu55
— Erica Kanesaka 兼坂えりか 🌸 (@EricaKanesaka) January 11, 2023
Exactly the backlash you would expect from her saying she is Japanese is what happened, and rightfully so.
The repercussion: Did no one learn any lessons from Rachel Dolezal? Or the movie “Cloud Atlas”?
So many takes about this Gwen Stefani controversy are from white people who think it’s okay—and meanwhile diaspora and other mixed Japanese people are saying why this is harmful because we’ve literally been denied our own heritage for a white woman to come in and take it.
— Sachiko Ishikawa (@Ishikawa_Sachi) January 12, 2023
Bruh.
to my fellow mixed asians: may we one day have the same confidence in our racial identity as gwen stefani 💛
— julia (@juliashiplett) January 12, 2023
imagine you're gwen stefani's pr team and you've done the years of work to bury her fetishism and cultural appropriation from the public's consciousness and in 2023 she brings it back to the forefront, DOUBLES DOWN, and goes around calling herself japanese. I would just quit lmao pic.twitter.com/ViQ6b6krsH
— Kay Taylor Rea (@kaytaylorrea) January 10, 2023
Everyone trying to analyze Gwen Stefani's worldview keeps forgetting about her chronic cognitive disorder (being from Orange County)
— Julia Claire (@ohJuliatweets) January 10, 2023
gwen stefani walked so ariana grande could run https://t.co/trnrxL0UUI
— Jill_Krajewski on IG (@JillKrajewski) January 10, 2023
So glad that an Asian American journalist, Jesa Marie Calaor, interviewed Gwen Stefani and held her to account on her appropriation of Japanese culture. This is why it's so important for us to be reporting stories. (HT @ruthbuchwald for the link!) https://t.co/fFs2WHFmi5 pic.twitter.com/V6wGwj9hdT
— Hannah Bae | 배한나 (she/her/hers) (@hanbae) January 11, 2023
Now that we’re re-examining #GwenStefani’s history of cultural appropriation, can also re-examine Beyoncé’s super cringe orientalist phase? pic.twitter.com/o4N4YeuvmG
— Nick Lacke (@nicklackeart) January 11, 2023
Everyone forgets that Gwen Stefani is also part Lakota. pic.twitter.com/zzmcf9igCM
— ashley fairbanks (@ziibiing) January 11, 2023
Scientists at Tokyo University have used cutting edge technology to recreate how Gwen Stefani's great great great grandfather may have appeared. pic.twitter.com/iJHrILKIQf
— ◢smokedsausagesupper46 (@osaka_87) January 11, 2023
Jared Russo
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Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which included a novelist disgusted that movies aren't real and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].