we've got a serious case of influencer brain
An NYT Columnist Lying About His Restaurant Bill, 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, we've got a painfully bad take on a horror classic, people who think the world should stop for content creators and an NYT writer embarrassing himself online.
Sunday
Bad take on 'The Shining'
The character: an anonymous YouTuber/movie critic we don’t want to identify
The plot: The below clip made the rounds this week; I don’t know who made it. And I don’t want to know. Sometimes you just can’t engage or let yourself be sucked down a rabbit hole, because then you end up in a vendetta, a quest for vengeance of the kind embarked on by Tarantino protagonists. We should not identify the man behind this horrifically bad and idiotic take, as to not give him any more clicks.
going to spend the rest of this day being really annoyed by this clip pic.twitter.com/TsSOdfCeBg
— Princess Jane Little Dark Age Edit (@seinfelddahog) September 17, 2023
The repercussion: How could you possibly improve Stanley Kubrick’s "The Shining," which is already perfect? With CGI? And you think "Ready Player One" is better? I am going to lose my mind, turn into the Joker and get locked up in an asylum. This is just the all-time worst movie opinion imaginable, it goes against everything I stand for as a human with their brain stem intact — and other people online agree.
“just like in ready player one” is indescribable psychic damage
— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) September 17, 2023
If Kubrick wanted to nearly drown Shelly Duval in blood, he would've done it!
— Data Partridge🌲 (@RobbroRobert) September 17, 2023
Hmm, usually the bad takes get off on the second floor pic.twitter.com/ZhVOAK9FYs
— lazyPYRO (@lazy_pyro) September 18, 2023
— Kiala 🛁 🏊♀️🥙🌯🍎 (@Kiala) September 17, 2023
oh my god
— Tauriq Moosa (@tauriqmoosa) September 17, 2023
— 𝟘𝟘𝟙 (@Shamichoro) September 18, 2023
Jared Russo
Saturday
Self-absorbed influencers
The character: TikTok users/influencers who think the world revolves around them
The plot: Over the weekend, X user @schizarella shared a video from TikTok in which someone attempting to film "an aesthetic video" on the London Underground becomes increasingly frustrated by people walking past and ruining their shot. In the X post, @schizarella wrote that people should walk behind content creators or wait for them to finish filming their videos, and said people who refuse to do this "don't deserve to be part of a civilized society." Riiiight.
when you see someone recording just walk behind the camera or wait literally ten seconds, if you can't do this then you don't deserve to be part of a civilized society pic.twitter.com/5Gy1hUsNDu
— misha꙳ (@schizarella) September 16, 2023
The repercussion: A bewildering number of users responded in agreement with OP’s sentiment — but, thankfully, most shared the correct view: that people going about their day, traveling through a busy London tube platform, have absolutely zero obligation to stop walking or move around a TikToker who has decided to film their cute outfit in public.
Imagine the accrued delay of waiting 10 seconds for every narcissist to finish filming their TikTok & pretending to be a model. Walking behind the camera also means accepting that anybody can shut down public walkways anytime for nonsense reasons, like filming a TikTok.
— Connor Collins (@collinconnors) September 17, 2023
It’s giving main character syndrome
— Lu 🎙⚒🌹 (@recklesslntent) September 17, 2023
you’re in a public subway not a closed set, get a grip. https://t.co/PbwKL7zRbK
— h (@houseofhazel) September 17, 2023
when i was a production assistant i would often have to stand on busy nyc sidewalks and ask people to wait or walk around cause we were filming and about 3/5 looked me in the eyes, said “fuck you” and walked right through the shot. and they were right to do so. https://t.co/BOYih3vjnh
— frindle (@franfaced) September 17, 2023
girl it’s the tube platform. i have a job to get to
— kate ✨ (@pulpy_fiction) September 17, 2023
how about you drop the expectation that everyone in a public space should accommodate you if you’re “filming content?”
— Elon Musk's Exploded Rocket (@aj_was_annoying) September 17, 2023
me stopping everyone in
— derek guy (@dieworkwear) September 17, 2023
the london underground
so a content creator
can film a tiktok
🕴️🚶♂️🫷 😞 🫸 🚶🚶♂️ https://t.co/RyGpEws96F
there’s still time to delete this
— sim (@__sim0ne_) September 17, 2023
whats crazy is that if she had continued to act natural when ppl got into the frame it would've have multiplied the cunt factor immensely https://t.co/ZBIUEYhLZg
— adrien ⚢ no they ☆ comms open 0/5 (@butchjpg) September 18, 2023
As someone who is on-camera professionally, people should walk where they want. If I did this in a busy spot where people were trying to get to work, I would go in with the understanding they were going to walk in front of the camera.
— Ahmar Khan (@AhmarSKhan) September 17, 2023
you are not more important.
god i wish i had issues like this
— 𝔐𝔦𝔞 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔫𝔢 (@MIAxTHORNE) September 17, 2023
Darcy Jimenez
Thursday
David Brooks
The character: David Brooks, NYT columnist, air traveler, intuitive economist
The plot: Brooks, NYT columnist and gourmet food blamer, was at Newark airport recently, and posted a picture of his meal — which consisted of a burger that was gnawed at, crinkle cut fries and a cold beverage that looks alcoholic.
"This meal just cost me $78 at Newark Airport. This is why Americans think the economy is terrible," Brooks posted.
This meal just cost me $78 at Newark Airport. This is why Americans think the economy is terrible. pic.twitter.com/1qeV9qOBL3
— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) September 21, 2023
Brooks has been in the ring before and ended up battered by the public on previous occasions. This time was no different.
The repercussion:
With Brooks you can either clown the man, or the idea. People in the replies decided one of two things: that Brooks was lying, or that he'd racked up a $78 bill because of the drinks he was putting away, not the burger.
Eagle-eyed users soon identified the restaurant he’d eaten at, 1911 Smokehouse Barbeque, and the establishment itself confirmed on Facebook that 80 percent of the writer’s bill consisted of orders from the bar. Embarrassing — and to think, he could’ve just not posted.
This jello salad just cost me $3.75 at O'hare. Thanks Eisenhower! pic.twitter.com/xdx6Hc7NRK
— Etan Nechin (@Etanetan23) September 21, 2023
I’m guessing it’s the $30 double barreled whiskey to blame and not the $25 burger & fries entree + tax & tip🤔
— Parker Ross (@Econ_Parker) September 21, 2023
(bar bill: $66. food bill: $12. tip: $0 N Y Times expense account) https://t.co/ZcmHOKuPIi
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) September 21, 2023
Dude is being roasted in the proposed community note https://t.co/qK9zcg6tdP pic.twitter.com/Fds4GsU3XT
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 21, 2023
people aren't talking enough about the fact that he took absolutely everything off the burger except the patty and (perhaps) cheese like a little baby https://t.co/VBIEDLWDzX
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) September 21, 2023
David Brooks getting roasted by the restaurant he ate at lmaooooo pic.twitter.com/NOEw0zk8Tx
— Ham Elliot (@r0wdy_) September 21, 2023
This meal just cost me $0 at your mom's house pic.twitter.com/oiMnq6pVqQ
— tea ☕️ (@realteaemoji) September 21, 2023
David Brooks not realizing that people could find the restaurant and figure out he put back like five drinks by himself here to get to this number is very funny https://t.co/XM9qnfqwIg
— Combo 🪴🚂🪴 (@thiccgenius) September 21, 2023
Since we’re talking about David Brooks’ meal choices again, let’s remember this classic pic.twitter.com/TOsmWrfaXI
— Chris Taylor (@christaylor_nyc) September 21, 2023
Adwait Patil
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, featuring tasteless 9/11 tweets, yet another person taking photos of strangers in public, someone who claims glasses are a hoax and a woman who think it's normal to have several identical pairs of shoes.