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2023: The Wildest Internet Main Characters Of The Year

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2023: The Wildest Internet Main Characters Of The Year
A father and son both make the list for having some of the worst takes this year.
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From an unprecedented AI hype to the fall of crypto bros and more, this year was another whirlwind for the chronically online. Posters from all over the world continued to broadcast their thoughts, and many of those thoughts ended up being audience-worthy spectacles.

Here's a snapshot of what happened this year: the good, bad and ugly of it all.



January

Ben Dreyfuss

Ben Dreyfuss, son of Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, is a notorious online poster, and nothing exemplifies that more than when he kicked off 2023 by inserting his foot directly into his mouth with a bunch of terribly tasteless and crude tweets about sleeping with overweight people.

Sharing too much information is one thing, but this is clearly another level of stupidity. Like, a really bad look and a dumb thing to publicly say, on top of all of the other countless dumb things he's previously said. So not a great start to the year year for Ben, or for nepo babies in general.

Here's everything else that happened in January.


Jared Russo



February

Matt Walsh

You may encounter an unsavory reaction if you ask a random person on the street if they know who or what Matt Walsh is. He's a right-wing troll who says incendiary things purely to get a reaction out of people, and also happens to have starred in the online documentary "What Is A Woman?"

Walsh harps on about anti-trans rights, making him an easy target for those who oppose his political views (of which there are a very large number). Taking a look back, it looks like 2023 really did kick off with a bunch of rotten apples saying rotten things — and getting rightful backlash for it.

Here’s everything else that happened in February.


Jared Russo



March

Molly Gunn

March was a mixed bag with equal representation from celebrities — like NYC Mayor Eric Adams dropping one-liners at press conferences and Seth Rogen getting candid on a podcast — and random netizens. During these five weeks, folks made fun of celebs, discovered new nepo babies while "EEAAO" discourse reached its peak.

Amidst all the chaos, there was Molly Gunn, a writer for The Times (UK), whose essay titled "My husband used to be hot," took the cake for March's character of the month. Gunn's undeniably attractive husband, who was pictured beside her, was on the end of rather harsh criticism in the piece, and the internet immediately let Gunn know about her folly.

Here’s everything else that happened in March.


Adwait Patil



April

Charlie Carrel

From college sports to celebrity sightings, April brought a mixed bag of characters, including continued terrible takes from Silicon Valley and AI people. It was also around this time that X's (then still known as Twitter) verification tick got rejigged, which divided the online world into two clear categories.

Amid repeat offenders, like Joe Russo and Michelle Tandler, it was an unfortunate victim of the blue tick industrial complex, one Charlie Carrel, who stood out. Carrel, just some guy on the internet, was going back and forth with musician and producer Steve Albini when he noticed that Albini's engagement (likes, retweets, etc.) was far superior to his, even without Albini having a blue tick himself.

It took a few seconds for the internet to tell Carrel that the guy who was in his mentions, calling his post out, was a guy whose name is on the back of millions of CDs around the world, and that he didn't really need to pay for his "nonsensical" engagement analytics.

Here's everything else that happened in April.


Adwait Patil



May

Richard Dreyfuss

Years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took some heat online about just how white the Oscars were. As such, they implemented some eligibility rules for the best picture category, starting in 2024. You'll never guess how that went down among the people who have historically benefited from the biases of the Academy.

Richard Dreyfuss is a wealthy white septuagenarian who got very, very mad about the changes. Even worse, he was upset that people don't think blackface is socially acceptable anymore. Blackface, of course, is a long-running tool used by ruling elites to enforce racist stereotypes, but Dreyfuss doesn't care about any of that.

Here's everything else that happened in May.


Grant Brunner



June

Texas Family Project

The middle of the year was unfortunately littered with the worst takes of the AI boom, including from techies dipping their toes into the then-nascent world of generative and AI art. Alongside Nate Silver, who tweeted about accepting a hypothetical free Titanic ride ticket, there were also a few run-of-the-mill Tesla fanboys, bagel gatekeepers, generic internet trolls — like H. Pearl Davis — and twitchy academics who made the cut.

But June was also special because it was when "cracker barrel has fallen" was first codified. While the DEI wars continue to intensify and show no signs of slowing down in 2024, it was conservative non-profit The Teas Family Project's denouncement of Cracker Barrel, saying they "caved to the mob," for — checks notes — celebrating during pride month that reigned supreme in the middle of the year.

Here's everything else that happened in June.







July

Bob Iger

By mid-July, Hollywood writers had been on strike for months, and the actors were just about to begin their action. Disney's Bob Iger, noted for being powerful and wealthy, said he didn't think the strikes were "realistic," and vastly overplayed his hand.

As we found out, the public was broadly on the side of the creatives during the entirety of the strikes, and quotes like this from someone who gets paid millions of dollars only made the executive class seem even further out of touch.

Here’s everything else that happened in July.


Grant Brunner



August

Ro Khanna

Ro Khanna, a US Representative from California, is always spouting takes. Mostly, they're not remarkable enough to even make fun of, but this one in particular caught fire because of how wildly he misunderstands Vivek Ramaswamy's run for the GOP presidential nomination.

Khanna seems to think that because Ramaswamy isn't white, he is still somehow fulfilling the dream of a multiracial democracy. The internet wasn't about to let that kind of naive observation fly.

Here's everything else that happened in August.


Grant Brunner



September

David Brooks

As summer ended, it was mostly athletes, academics and grifters who took the stage — and one special character, who definitely ticked one of the those three aforementioned categories, stood out. The New York Times's David Brooks, no stranger to food bants, returned to the arena with a take that he thought could marry his two loves: traveling and the economy.

After posting a photo of an airport meal and its misleading price, Brooks's post had a clarifying community note added by a user — and the establishment itself also didn't shy away from taking the opportunity to set the record straight and name and shame him.

Here's everything else that happened in September.


Adwait Patil



October

Gwyneth Paltrow

Yes, it's October by now, but we're still not done with the "nepo baby" discourse. This is largely because nepo babies keep talking about it — instead of just keeping quiet and enjoying the success of being born rich — and insist on attempting to defend themselves or lash out at those who dare point out how they achieved their fame.

One such figure is Gwyneth Paltrow, who waded very unnecessarily into the debate and drew a more than unconvincing comparison between herself and doctors who share their profession with their parents. When people working in hospitals start earning millions of dollars, Gwyneth, maybe you'll have a slither of a point.

Here's everything else that happened in October.


Darcy Jimenez



November

Joe Russo

In November, MCU director Joe Russo posted something that went down badly with pretty much everyone. Stitching with a TikTok featuring Martin Scorsese and his dog Oscar, Russo joked that his dog is called "Box Office" — implying that he has accomplished more with his superhero movies than one of the greatest directors of our time. Some people were angry, some were cringed out and some had no problem pointing out the obvious fact that Russo simply can't hold a candle to Scorsese.

Here's everything else that happened in November.


Darcy Jimenez



December

DINKs

In case you missed it, yet another economic trend-related term dropped this year, and it's "DINK" — meaning "dual income, no kids." In December, a couple of DINKs shared a TikTok in which they listed the benefits of a child-free life — such as going out to eat often and buying whatever they like — and it sparked a hell of a lot of discussion online.

A concerning number of people were irrationally angry at the couple's decision not to have kids (or, more likely, were deeply envious of their seemingly carefree and financially stable life), and it resulted in some pretty unhinged responses. Who cares if someone else chooses not to reproduce, weirdos? Mind ya business.


Darcy Jimenez


Here's everything else that's happened in December so far.


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