Episode 298: Miss Finland And The Slitty-Eyed Picture

Summary

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Blocked and Reported - Episode 298

Miss Finland And The Slitty-Eyed Picture

Date: March 9, 2026

Hosts: Katie Herzog & Jesse Singal

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Katie and Jesse dive into a whirlwind of recent internet scandals. The main focus: an international uproar over a Finnish beauty queen’s “slitty-eyed” photo and the resulting diplomatic incident between Finland, East Asian countries, and even the microstate of Nauru. Along the way, the hosts update listeners on internet drama involving Lindy West, the legal escapades of notorious troll Charles “Chuckles” Johnson, updates on the CHOP/CHAZ lawsuits, and controversies around tech entrepreneur Brian Johnson. The tone stays irreverent, sarcastic, and self-deprecating throughout, as the hosts dissect both the absurdity and real-world impact of internet culture wars.

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Noteworthy Quotes

• Jesse (02:43):
  "I've never understood the logic, like, have send your best stuff out to everyone. No. That shit's valuable."
• Katie (06:23):
  "On Blue Sky, what would happen is people would like, go girl her... But that's not actually what happened... what actually happened was pity everywhere."
• Jesse (13:10):
  "Now I want to be solitary confined for the productivity."
• Katie (29:43):
  "I've always been pretty judgmental of beauty pageants... but now I wonder if my own conceptions of feminism were actually kind of misogynistic."
• Jesse (36:00):
  "She looks like she either is about to or just did say something very offensive in a certain accent."

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Episode Breakdown

1. Podcast Banter & Patreon Pitch (00:12 – 02:48)

• Jesse jokes about editing and podcasting “polish.”
• Discussion of Helen Lewis ducking a “body swap” sex question.
• Light advertising for premium ('primo') episodes; asserting their paid content is “way better” than the free version.
• Tone: Self-aware, self-deprecating, in-jokes for long-time listeners.

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2. Internet Drama Updates

a. Lindy West Goes Viral (02:54 – 09:37)

• Topic: Lindy West featured in NYT's "Modern Love" goes viral for her personal account of polyamory.
• Key points:
  • Internet reacts with “pity everywhere,” not scorn nor “girls support girls.”
  • Viral screenshot miscontextualized (as usual).
  • Mockery of both mean Twitter (X) users and “feminist hero” supporters.
  • Discussion of similar issues in pop culture (e.g., Lily Allen’s scorched-earth divorce album).
  • Observation: The internet—even on progressive platforms like Blue Sky—reacted with “pity” more than outrage or celebration.
• Notable quote (06:26, Katie):
  “I put a link here to the search on Blue Sky for Lindy West. ...Let me switch to my burner Because I'm so blocked.”

b. Charles "Chuckles" Johnson Legal Update (09:55 – 16:07)

• Who is Johnson?: “Legendary internet troll,” notorious for spreading hoaxes and conspiracy theories, now facing huge legal judgments.
• Key Points:
  • Has cozied up to tech/billionaire figures (J.D. Vance, Peter Thiel).
  • Recent jail stint: 77 days, mostly in solitary (“like a writer’s retreat,” jokes Katie).
  • Exaggerated claims of FBI-informant status, referenced in international media (re: Epstein-Mossad rumors).
• Timestamps:
  • (12:30) Jesse reads Johnson’s jail statement and rants: “Every sentence I read, I lose brain cells.”
  • (15:37) Katie: “He was in fact a Confidential informant for the FBI… but not apparently a super credible one.”

c. CHOP/CHAZ Seattle Lawsuit Settlement (16:08 – 19:23)

• Recap of 2020 “cop free zone” in Seattle’s Capitol Hill (CHOP/CHAZ)—part street fair, part lawless zone, part social experiment.
• Multiple lawsuits: business owners, shooting victims’ families, protesters, and journalists. Settlements totaling tens of millions.
• Recent: $30 million awarded to the family of Antonio Mays Jr., a teen shot in the zone, after emergency workers failed to enter.
• Quote (19:21, Jesse):
  “Did that whole thing just didn’t really work out?”
• Katie: “Not so much, no.”

d. Brian Johnson & the Lawsuit Saga (19:27 – 26:03)

• Brian Johnson: Biohacker, influencer with a strange personal life—and a boner-measuring contest with his teenage son.
• Revisiting earlier Blocked and Reported coverage about Johnson’s legal battle with ex-girlfriend Taryn Southern:
  • Southern’s abuse allegations, coercive NDAs, firing during cancer treatment.
  • Arbitration went Johnson’s way on contract grounds, not a declaration of his innocence.
  • Johnson weaponized this to frame himself publicly as a victim of “the accusation economy.”
  • Ongoing legal wrangling: Johnson has subpoenaed critics and journalists.
• Notable Quote (23:36, Katie):
  “Brian Johnson has subpoenaed all of Raspy Aspie's communications about him.”
• Jesse Joke (25:52):
  “No, I'm on Brian Johnson's side. Brian Johnson has been wronged by so Brian. Whoever has the most power to sue people is the person I will side with. That's why I'm a big Donald Trump guy.”

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3. Main Event: The Miss Finland Scandal

(26:26–54:45)

a. Scene Setting (26:26 – 29:20)

• Katie and Jesse riff on Finland: liquor ferries, the “Sinclair Method” and cultural impressions.
• A primer on beauty pageant scandals (snorting cocaine, makeup-artist blame games, viral moments, general behind-the-scenes chaos).

b. The Incident: The “Slitty-Eyed” Photo (35:51 – 40:30)

• Who: Sarah Dzafce/Jaffe, half-Finnish, half-Kosovan, recently crowned Miss Finland.
• The Photo: Screenshot from a private group chat of Sarah pulling the “slitty-eyed” face, captioned “eating with the Chinese.”
• Initial Defense: Sarah blamed a migraine/eye pain and denied authoring the caption; played up her own ethnic-minority status.
  • (37:24, Katie): “Do you buy it, Jesse? She does not look like someone suffering from a migraine in that photo.”
• Escalation: Sarah posted an Instagram from Finnair business class saying, “People throwing hate while I'm in Fin Air business class.” Backlash grows.

c. Institutional Response (40:30 – 41:47)

• Miss Finland Organization issues a rare English-only apology post: “We do not accept racism or discriminatory behavior…”
• Comments in English, Finnish, and Chinese flood the feed, many demanding she be stripped of the title.

d. Fallout & Political Escalation (41:47 – 45:04)

• Ms. Finland is stripped of her title, but the story doesn't end.
• Finnish right-wing/far-right populist “Finns Party” leaps in to “defend” Sarah by posting their own intentionally racist photos—amplifying the offense as a protest against “moral guardianship,” cancel culture, and “wokeness.”
• Notable Quote (42:46, Jesse):
  “Mina Olen Sarah” (“I am Sarah”)—echoing “Je suis Charlie” but used to defend someone for making a racist joke.

e. International Blowback: The Asia Connection (45:04 – 47:03)

• Real outrage comes from East Asian internet users—in Japan, China, Korea—who begin to flood Finnish threads.
• Boycott threats, Change.org petitions (with tens of thousands of signatures), angry threads, calls for apology.

f. Diplomatic Incident: Enter Nauru (47:03 – 54:05)

• The Nauru Tourism Board’s official Japanese-language Twitter uncharacteristically piles on, demanding an apology from the Finnish embassy.
• A former Finnish embassy staffer steps in, accuses Nauru’s account of being run by rogue Japanese staff.
• Nauru retorts: yes, this is the official government position.
• Japanese social media users side with Nauru.
• The Finnish embassy is forced to clarify, apologize, and eventually the diplomatic “war” is resolved, but only after multiple apologies and a great deal of embarrassment.

g. Aftermath (54:05 – 54:49)

• The first runner-up takes the Miss Finland crown.
• Katie’s takeaway: “If you’re going to do a racism, make sure your friends are not filming it.”
• Jesse: “Words we have always lived by.”

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Key Timestamps

• 02:54–09:37: Lindy West and the internet’s pity Olympics
• 09:55–16:07: Chuck Johnson, FBI informant, jail, and defamation
• 16:08–19:23: CHOP/CHAZ lawsuits and settlements
• 19:27–26:03: Brian Johnson, toxic NDAs, and legal wrangling
• 35:51–40:30: The Miss Finland slitty-eyed photo surfaces
• 41:47–45:04: Finnish politicians amplify and escalate the scandal
• 45:04–47:03: East Asian social media backlash and boycott threats
• 47:03–54:05: The Nauru-Japan account’s intervention and diplomatic showdown

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Memorable Moments

• Jesse gleefully reading nasty Twitter threads and laughing at social media “pity” for Lindy West
  — “Did that whole thing just didn’t really work out?” (19:21)
• Katie’s savage summary of the Finnish far-right defending a disgraced beauty queen with offensive parody photos.
• Discovery that international diplomacy, modern racism, and internet culture wars go hand in hand—sometimes over a beauty pageant contestant’s group chat snap.
• A running throughline of calling back to hypocrisy: how “cancel culture” and populist backlash often mirror American culture war dynamics, even in homogenous countries like Finland.

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Final Takeaway

This episode offers a tour de force of recent internet absurdities—a window into how deeply online life, viral outrage, culture wars, and even ostensible “diplomatic crises” now intersect, usually tinged with both comedy and real stakes. Whether mocking the “bottom of the barrel” populist stunts of Finnish politicians or the high-minded culture of social media pity, Jesse and Katie keep things incisive, irreverent, and deeply skeptical of everyone involved.

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For more: blockedandreported.org – “for the good shit.”

Transcript

[Jesse]

I can just jump into it. Okay, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, keep this, keep this, keep this. I always like it when people understand how much polish it takes to do this. Right, we're going to keep that intro. What I was going to say is I have a bone to pick with Helen Lewis. Oh.

[Katie]

Because you've heard of her, right? Yeah. What did Ellen do?

[Jesse]

She wouldn't answer the body swap question.

[Katie]

Oh yeah.

[Jesse]

She wouldn't fucking answer the body swap. Like, if anyone is equipped to answer the body swap question, it's a bisexual who knows both of us. I don't know how I would answer it.

[Katie]

You're gonna have to explain this.

[Jesse]

Okay. Okay. At the end of your episode with Helen Lewis, which I'm.

[Katie]

Which you finally listened to.

[Jesse]

I listened to it not a half hour ago. Twice. It was really well done. It made me think, like, we should talk more. Once in a blue moon. If there's a really bar potish book out, we should do that. Marcus. It was a really good episode and surely I can replicate Helen Lewis performance. I mean, she's.

[Katie]

How's your British acc.

[Jesse]

Oi.

[Katie]

That's it. It's good.

[Jesse]

But at the. In the primo section, you guys answered some listener questions and who is it? Gia.

[Katie]

I think it was Gia.

[Jesse]

Yeah, Gia.

[Katie]

Some freak, some real pervert.

[Jesse]

And this is. I'm not reading the question directly, but it was basically, hey, hey, Ellen, you're a bisexual. And then it was like, if. If you could have sex with Helen, held Katie's body with Jesse's brain or vice versa, which would you pick? And Helen, like the coward she is, she'll cover the most hot button issues in the world. She'll answer like, questions like, what is a woman Stuff that the rest of us won't touch. She won't answer a simple question about who she'd have sex with in a

[Katie]

body soft scenario situation. Yeah, well, she told me off mic, so I just didn't want to hurt your feelings.

[Jesse]

I will, but my feelings will be hurt either way. Like you said. Which way? Like, so that your body. No, if it's your body with my brain, I don't want to be known for my body. Everyone already knows me for how incredible my body is, so my brain and your body was her choice.

[Katie]

It's. I'm not going to tell you.

[Jesse]

You.

[Katie]

It was. This was off the record. It was private, just between the two of us.

[Jesse]

Off the record.

[Katie]

She didn't tell me. Yeah, that was great. Really good questions. Really good and disgusting questions from our listeners. So if you haven't listened to that, become a primo. This is the sort of content you get when you become pr. I actually was thinking about this today, about how, you know, I sometimes I think when you join a podcast or a substack, oftentimes it's like kind of the worst parts of the content that they just, like, send out as extras. I think that is false in our case. I think our best. We keep our worst stuff for the free episode. The best stuff is paid. Would you say that's true?

[Jesse]

Yeah. And I've never understood the logic, like, have send your best stuff out to everyone. No. That shit's valuable.

[Katie]

Exactly.

[Jesse]

Absolutely not. So, yeah, you should all become Premium [e-mail] I guess we just did housekeeping.

[Katie]

Okay, Jesse, we have a lot to talk about today. The bulk of the show is going to be about a scandal in a Finnish beauty pageant. This became an international scandal. Yes. So we're gonna talk about that in the second half of the show. But before we get to that, we have a lot of updates, starting with Lindy west, who became the character of the day on X this week or last week as our primos are listening to this. Another perk of the show. You get primos get the episodes, early shows. Lindy was interviewed for the New York Times Modern Love column. Did you read it or listen to it?

[Jesse]

I did not.

[Katie]

It's okay. So as usual, as. As typically happens when something like this, like someone took a screenshot of a pull quote and a photo of her and put it on X and then that went viral with people commenting on it who hadn't listened to it. Including you. Yeah, but. And this is one of these cases where I don't think that actually, like, reading the interview or listening to it would elucidate it that much more.

[Jesse]

I didn't know you knew that word.

[Katie]

Elucidate. Yeah, I know every word.

[Jesse]

Oh, every word.

[Katie]

Yes.

[Jesse]

Okay, we'll see about that.

[Katie]

I'll test you later in every language.

[Jesse]

Okay. Okay. Chatgpt.

[Katie]

I may scrap. I've recently become quite addicted to the New York Times Scrabble game, so my vocabulary is improving, at least on medium level. So the poll quote on this image that went viral was. I was devastated. Our initial conversation was a lot of me crying and being like, I don't want anyone else. And so this is the part that people naturally latched in, latched onto. And then if you actually read the interview or listen to it, maybe they

[Jesse]

latched onto it because they thought that this was about the poly. Damn reason.

[Katie]

That's it is. That's what it was. That's what it was about.

[Jesse]

Yeah.

[Katie]

They weren't wrong about that. But then she goes in the interview, she goes into how she. And in the book it's Ellen and I discussed, she goes into how she actually gradually came to, like, her independence. And then she joined the throuple and everybody lived happily ever after. Although it seems like. And the reaction to this on X, I've become more and more obsessed with Lindsay Lindy west since reading her book. I. She was not a local. Now she is.

[Jesse]

I just hearing about it, I was like, yeah, I was. It was a dark listen.

[Katie]

Yes. And so I thought. When I saw this going viral, I thought like, oh, people are going to be mean to Lindy. My prediction was like, people on X are going to be really mean to Lindy. Basically just calling her a fat. A stupid fat bitch.

[Jesse]

And I mean, that is. It is given who is on X right now, I would think that would be a good prediction.

[Katie]

And then I thought on Blue sky, what would happen is people would like, go girl her. You know, you're poly. It's cool to be poly. Whatever. This is a woman reclaiming her whatever.

[Jesse]

Her right to have a husband who fucks multiple women, fucks other people.

[Katie]

Because slavery.

[Jesse]

Because slavery.

[Katie]

But that's not actually.

[Jesse]

I'm sorry, I can't get over. I admire this guy. I'm sorry, this is not the kind of.

[Katie]

He's also in the primo.

[Jesse]

This is not the kind of guy I am. But yes, he said the way Lindy west explains it is he made some sort of argument that I can't even explain right now off the top of my head, but basically that having to have sex with one woman was like being owned like a slave.

[Katie]

Yeah. And he felt this deeper because of. Because he's black. This is something. Yeah. This is something we also. You and I discussed in the last Primo.

[Jesse]

Yeah, yeah, we talked about.

[Katie]

So my prediction when I saw Lindy going viral was fat bitch on Twitter and then feminist hero on X. You know, queer feminist hero on X because she's now also fake gay. And that's not what happened. And what actually happened was pity everywhere. So, Jesse, in our notes here, I

[Jesse]

didn't know Blue sky was capable of pity. That's really interesting.

[Katie]

So I put a link here to the search on Blue sky for Lindy West. Just click that link there in our doc.

[Jesse]

Well, I mean, I'm gonna have to switch to my burner Because I'm so blocked. Let me switch account. Oh, I recognize all these people from the battle days. The other half of the Lindy west thing is it really shows the tragedy inevitable and make a career based on telling extremely personal stories about yourself and specifically your love life. So the person who tweet skeeted that I know her to be psychotic, at least in my dealings with her. But that's absolutely true.

[Katie]

Someone says wishing Lindy West a pleasant divorce in the next three to five years.

[Jesse]

I think Helen was right about the next memoir she's going to write. I read the Lindy west article and crawled out of my skin with a selfie of her looking disgusted. Yeah, there's a lot of this.

[Katie]

Do you see the Emily Nussbaum tweet I did?

[Jesse]

That was one of the top ones.

[Katie]

She says, what is Lindy west think of Lily Allen's album? Do you get that?

[Jesse]

I don't. I mean, I obviously know who Lily Allen is, but what was it? What was the controversy? Lily Allen's album.

[Katie]

So she put out an album earlier or last year, I guess late last year about her husband. She was married to the guy from the adult in Stranger Things. That actor. I can't remember his name. And he. Very similar situation. Like, he. It was basically like coercive polyamory. And this out. This album is like scorched earth.

[Jesse]

Lily Allen is like the fucking. I mean, I'm not a pop culture guy, but she's like, undeniably, incredibly cool. Like, highest social status imaginable for a woman, and she gets sucked into something like that.

[Katie]

I think that your concept conception of pop culture stopped in, like, 2007. I think that, like.

[Jesse]

No, I know. Come on. I. There's a. There's a. There's a British artist I know Called Jamie T. And she does really good vocals for one of the songs. And I know some first Songs is like 2008, but still. She's still a very. She's like our age. She's very high status.

[Katie]

Yeah, she. That's what I'm saying. She's our age. That's the problem. She's no, like, cool now is like tiktokers. We have never heard.

[Jesse]

You think.

[Katie]

You think you're our age.

[Jesse]

Yes, Liliana would be cool, but you think that's what. Anyway, sorry, continue. I just find it crazy that, like. Anyway, sorry, go ahead.

[Katie]

You find it crazy that someone as like, high status as Lily Allen would have a man who's like, I have to fuck other people, even if it's not because of slavery and that she'd

[Jesse]

be like, she'd be okay with it if she wasn't.

[Katie]

Well, I don't think she was okay with it if you listen to her album. Okay, more tweets. The Lindy west modern love is. Oof. I have my issues with her, but yikes, sis, throw the whole man out.

[Jesse]

Oof. Wait, so this person unironically says oof and yikes in the same tweet? That's so awesome. I love Blue Sky. I was wrong about Blue Sky.

[Katie]

Yeah. So it's mostly that. So even on Blue sky, people feel bad for her. And I'm just curious as to how this is going to play out. Like, I'm sure the reviews will be good. I'm sure the book will sell well. But she, you know, on the one hand, like, I have to give it to her. She, like, did this, like, very vulnerable thing. But also, if the reaction is the whole world telling you to dump the Already, like, how is this. I just don't think that. That the empowering narrative of, like, finding yourself enjoying the throttle and realizing that you're bisexual. I don't think that's coming through.

[Jesse]

That was this whole thing. Yeah. Should I read the memoir?

[Katie]

You should. I don't think you would enjoy it, but you should read it. I'll send it to you.

[Jesse]

She really did a road trip and just didn't. Well, we don't need to rehash everything you said. Okay.

[Katie]

Okay. So that is our Lindy west update. There will probably be more.

[Jesse]

When does he get to write a memoir? Why is he being silenced?

[Katie]

You know, he's a trumpet. A trumpet player. I don't know if he. If he. I guess he does, right? He did make a couple movies.

[Jesse]

He should at least get to write a trumpet solo about the relationship.

[Katie]

That's pretty good.

[Jesse]

I get to have sex with whoever I want. Okay.

[Katie]

We also have an update on Charles Chuck Chuckles Johnson, who we did an episode about with Anti Racism.

[Jesse]

Akles.

[Katie]

I was texting with Richard Hanania about Chuckles today. Or not texting. I was emailing.

[Jesse]

Oh, okay. I'm canceling. I'm canceling.

[Katie]

That he said. And he said that he finds Chuckles highly fuckable. I don't know if this was off the record or on the record. I'm saying it's on the record. He said highly. I said he had the sex appeal of a sponge. A dish sponge. Anyway, the update is not about Richard Tonania wanting to kudle with him. It is about his legal problem. So, Jesse, remind people Who? Charles Chuck Chuckles Johnson is just a

[Jesse]

legendary Internet troll who like somehow cozied up to folks like J.D. vance and Peter Thiel. Powerful people on the right. Lots of false accusations, including Senator Bob Menendez soliciting underage pro that he has made.

[Katie]

He would say false accusations made at him, but he has. In fact, what you are saying is he has made false accusations.

[Jesse]

He has made. Well, I'm sure both. I'm sure he's been true. Well, he shit on the floor according to Gawker, but we don't know if

[Katie]

it was in the bathroom, the hallway.

[Jesse]

We don't know if that's a false accusation. He has been accused of making a lot of false accusations. He was sued for defamation after falsely accusing an anti Trump protester of killing Heather Heyer in Charlottesville. That's at the Unite the Right rally. Claimed to have access to a sexual harassment suit against Chuck Schumer based on a forgery. He also has wild stories we've been gone over in the past about his ties to like intelligence and like arms dealers, I think, and shit like that. He was sued by former business associates in 2024 and was ordered to pay a lot of money, tens of millions of dollars.

[Katie]

Yeah, it was like $70 million. So the last time we checked in with Chuck, he was locked up in a Texas county jail after failing to comply with court orders and also stealing a mug and bottled water from the courtroom. He was also facing outstanding charges for wire fraud. Of course, Chuck explained to the court that it wasn't him, it was his government handler. So the update is this. Chuck is finally out of jail. Chuck has been freed. And this was a real roller coaster of a case. So he was let out of jail in late January. He claimed to have been assaulted by other inmates who, who they, they said he was a child molester. Probably because he's a ginger. The judge let him out, but his freedom was short lived. So right after he was released from jail, there was a hearing over a contempt of court charge and the order to release was rescinded. But then a few days later, Chuck was released again and he put out this statement. So, Jesse, please read this excerpt.

[Jesse]

I lost 31 pounds after the 77 days I spent in jail, 51 of which were spent in solitary confinement. Jesus.

[Katie]

I think that sounds great. Like people always say that solitary confinement is torture. I would want solitary confinement.

[Jesse]

No, I know, but you're a freak. It's totally torture. Although I don't, I don't believe anything Chuck Johnson says. Even Chuck Johnson if anyone does deserve solitary confinement, it's Chuck Johnson. But even Chuck Johnson doesn't deserve solitary confinement. 51.

[Katie]

Is it worse to be around a bunch of degenerate con artists and violent people who are farting?

[Jesse]

And I think you're picturing like a motel. Just you're alone in a motel room with like.

[Katie]

It's a box.

[Jesse]

Uber eats. Yeah, it's a little.

[Katie]

No, I. Hey, I've never used Ubereats in my life. It would be. It would be hard. It would be a box. I assume that I would get very strong, that all I would do is spend my time doing push ups and like writing notches on the wall. Day by day trying to track the time.

[Jesse]

This is your worst take yet. I lost 31 pounds after the 77 days I spent in jail. 51 of which were spent in solitary confinement in one of the most corrupt jails in the country. Indeed. While I was there, the sheriff who oversees the jail was indicted. Am I continuing to read? I was not idle and I wrote over 400 pages.

[Katie]

See, it's like a writer's retreat.

[Jesse]

And read dozens of books. Wait, dozens of books in 77 days? That's so. I wish. Okay, now I want to be solitary confined for the productivity. I'm talking. You finished your book way before talking to publisher and studios. My opponents have claimed that I was not a chs.

[Katie]

That's confidential human source. So that's like confidential informat.

[Jesse]

But the record is clear. I was among the very best. I could not turn over documents to the law firm of the very people we were investigating without violating my oath as a confidential informant and potentially incurring criminal sanctions. Every sentence I read, I lose brain cells. Do I have to continue?

[Katie]

Yeah, I keep continuing.

[Jesse]

I am pleased with the court receivers in this case and I've already been assisting them. And though it cost me and my family tremendously, my parents mortgaged their home while my assets were frozen. I've kept my commitment. Yes, even now I stand ready to be of service to the country I love.

[Katie]

I think that's what they look for in a confidential informant is someone who talks a lot about his a lot service.

[Jesse]

The first rule of spy club is you talk about being a spy a lot.

[Katie]

So Chucky's now out of jail and he is supposed to keep quiet, although we will see how long that lasts.

[Jesse]

And okay, so he's probably back in jail. But then by the time you hear this.

[Katie]

Yes, I, I think, think maybe the wildest thing about his story, that he was in fact a Confidential informant for the FBI. Although like that is true, that is verified, not apparently a super credible one, as far as I can tell. So last month the London Times posted an article about Jeffrey Epstein and his supposed link to Mossad. You know, one of the persistent rumors is that he was working for Israel. And they included this sentence. The files include claims from a confidential informant to the FBI that far from disliking Israel, Epstein was in fact employed by its spy agency, Mossad. And an FBI report from the Los Angeles field Office written in October 2020 said the bureau's source had become, quote, convinced that Epstein was a co opted Mossad agent. And the London Times did not name the source, but Ben Smith of Semaphore did. It's Chuck Johnson.

[Jesse]

So he was. So everything he said was true.

[Katie]

I wouldn't go that far. But quoting from Semaphore here, the source offers no evidence and their name is redacted in the document. But you can find the same case number. The redactions are incredibly sloppy. In a related document and it reveals that the source is Charles C. Johnson, a famous troll and occasional cola class den recently found liable in a fraud scheme that involved impersonating an intelligence agent. London Times did not mention that. Seems like they should have. I don't know.

[Jesse]

Yeah, I would think so.

[Katie]

But he is currently out of jail and we'll see how long he stays out.

[Jesse]

Any other updates, Katie?

[Katie]

Yes, we have at least two more. Maybe three. I think two. All right, Chop Chaz. You remember that old thing, Summer of Love and all that?

[Jesse]

Yes, it was a neighborhood during the Summer of love in 2020, that would have been a utopia if not for all the people who are murdered in the Cop Free Neighborhood Autonomous Zone.

[Katie]

So Chop, this was the Capitol Hill occupied prot. Nay, Chaz. The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Renamed I assume, because Chaz sounds like the name of a Fordham student interning at Goldman Sachs. So yes, this was the area in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood that was occupied by protesters following George Floyd's death. Cop Free Zone. The police actually withdrew from their own precincts, which was in Chop Chaz. So the idea was that this was going to be this model of what a community could do without policing. And there were activities, live music, art events, a community garden and several rapes and murders. And on the left, Chop Chaz became a symbol of community organizing and the power of protest. And on the right, lawlessness and dysfunction. And to some degree, both things were true. I visited several times, and during the day it did feel a bit like A street fair. Although I suspect that was not the vibe at night, you know, when people were being raped and murdered. And conservatives were right when they said it was bad for local business. So Nellie Bowles did some great reporting on this for the New York Times. And she interviewed, among other people, the owner of this very sweet little coffee shop called Cafe Argento. I actually took your brother there, Jesse.

[Jesse]

Yes.

[Katie]

And the owner was this gay guy who moved from Texas because he wanted to be. He was Middle Eastern. He wanted to be someplace more liberal. And he, along with other business owners and residents, actually ended up suing the city for abandoning the area. And they claimed that it harmed their businesses and put public safety at rest. And they ended up settling with the city in 2023 for 3.65 million. So the update is about another lawsuit that recently concluded. So the city was sued by the family of Antonio Mays Jr. He was one of two teenagers who were shot and killed within Chop Chaz. And the family argued that the city was negligent and emergency responders failed to provide timely care when Antonio was shot. So basically what happened is that there was a shooting inside chop. The police and emergency responders refused to enter, so bystanders had to transport him out of the zone to the ambulance. And he was still alive. And the family argued that he could have survived if he'd received immediate care. And last month a jury decided the case in the family's favor and awarded them 30 million doll.

[Jesse]

Good for them, man. Like this total abdication of any responsibility like we're just gonna hand over this neighborhood remains very crazy to this day.

[Katie]

So there have been at least eight lawsuits over Chop Chaz, Antonio Mace. His friend Robert west was also shot in the same incident. He was just 14. He lost an eye and has other very serious injuries. He's currently suing the city. The family of 19 year old Lorenzo Anderson, who was also killed, they sued the city and settled in 2022 for 500k. And there was a suit filed by over 50 protesters claiming that police use exceptive force. They settled for 10 million in 2024. And there was a whistleblower suit bought by two public employees. The city. The city settled that one for 2.3 million. And there was a suit by the Seattle Times over city officials deleting public records. And that one cost the city or their insurers 200k. So the summer of Love was, if nothing else, really expensive.

[Jesse]

Did that whole thing just didn't really work out?

[Katie]

Not so much, no. All right, next update. Jesse, who Was Brian Johnson.

[Jesse]

He's the fitness influencer who had a boner contest with his high school age son.

[Katie]

That is a way to put it. I don't know if cont. Were they competing or was it just like a discussion?

[Jesse]

He was curious about his. His teenage son's boners versus his boners.

[Katie]

Right. He measures everything. He's like a data head. So he. Yes. Like not just like sleep patterns but like nighttime erections, things like that.

[Jesse]

Yes, he's a big, big data guy. Very. You know, he does look very young.

[Katie]

I don't think he looks young. I think he looks his age. Like he. I think he looks good for his age, but I don't think he looks young.

[Jesse]

Yeah, he.

[Katie]

But he's basically been doing this 40 plus version of looks maxing. He's been doing this for years. He sells lots of products related to his various protocols. He has a very regimented, very strange life. And we did an episode on Brian Johnson in 2024. We actually got a demand letter over that episode because of our use of a screenshot of a tweet that included a photo of Brian. We've mentioned this before, but we ended up settling before a lawsuit was filed. We just paid this like shitty.

[Jesse]

There will be an episode on this at some point anyway.

[Katie]

Giant Headache. Don't recommend it. But that episode was largely about a legal battle between Johnson and his ex girlfriend and former employee Taryn Southern. So do you remember what she alleged, Jesse?

[Jesse]

I know, I just remember. Very abusive and coercive and. Yeah, not great. I don't remember the details, to be honest.

[Katie]

Yeah, so among other things, she claimed that he was controlling and coercive and that he forced her out of their shared home when. And fired her from his company when she was undergoing treatment for stage three breast cancer. Cancer. That was kind of the big thing. She also says that he pressured her to sign a separation agreement that would penalize her $500,000 every time she broke an NDA. She says that he promised to pay her $150,000 to move out of the house after their breakup and didn't do it. He denies all this. He says he supported her through her entire cancer treatment. He does have his own receipts showing him present at various appointments, including at surgeries and at her bell ringing ceremony. So you know, that's marks the last day of treatment. He also later said that he was afraid she was going to murder him

[Jesse]

with sc just like normal relationship stuff.

[Katie]

But she sued him. He petitioned to have that suit moved to arbitration, which was part of this separation agreement that she signed. He won an arbitration, and as part of that separation agreement, the winner got legal fees. So she had to pay him like half a million dollars. Now, the arbitrator did not make a decision on whether or not her claims were true or false. This was purely about the terms of the contract. But after he won, Johnson framed this victory as exoneration. So he posted this 16 minute video.

[Jesse]

I remember he like really badly misconstrued. Construed what happened? Yes.

[Katie]

So yeah, he posted this very long video. It went very viral, claiming that he was the victim of a shakedown by a scorn woman. He called it the dark underground accusation economy. He was sort of leaning into like post me to allegation, like false allegations. But he did. He prevailed in the end. That. That part is partially true. He was not exonerated by the arbitrator, but he did win. And our former researcher, tracing wood grains, AKA Jack to Spain Zoo, he'd did the heavy lifting on that episode. So he did a ton of research on this case, not just for us, but for another substacker who goes by the name Raspy Aspie. Raspy Aspie saw Johnson's video. He started looking at the legal documents himself. He saw that Taran Southern was bound by a gag order so she couldn't defend herself. And he hired Trace to do more digging. So Trace ended up posting most of what he found rather than on Raspy Aspie's substack. Trace posted on this long Twitter thread. So, Jesse, just read the top of this here.

[Jesse]

Now that I've read all thousand plus pages of arbitration documents. Jesus, Trace, I screwed. Screwed twice, actually. Does he mean screwed up?

[Katie]

Yes, I screwed.

[Jesse]

No, because. Okay, what it says is I screwed twice, actually. Good for you, Trace. First, I nodded along to RianJohnson's account of his experience based on my own prejudices. This was foolish of me and I regret it. Then I laughed along with him and millions of others when he tried to push people into denying events that actually happened. Because I didn't like the people who were speaking against him and wanted to see them taken down a peg. Because truth matters and because I was so wrong. Here's the truth.

[Katie]

So then he went into what he found when he read all these legal documents. Documents. And basically what he found was that Brian Johnson misconstrued this sort of victory. And the update is that Brian Johnson has subpoenaed all of Raspy Aspie's communications about him.

[Jesse]

Really?

[Katie]

Yes. So. And this is all part of a different lawsuit than the one that ended in arbitration. So in 2024 Taryn Southern filed a complaint against Colonel so that's one of Johnson's companies, the one that she worked for. She filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Bureau which for our non American listeners is a federal agency that among other things things adjudicates labor disputes. So they're like basically a referee for labor labor law. Jesse, guess who's representing Taran Southern?

[Jesse]

Lindy West.

[Katie]

Matt Bruding.

[Jesse]

Good for him.

[Katie]

So he's representing both Taran Southern and at least two other former employees of Johnson's. He's arguing that Johnson's non disclosures violated labor law. I'll post a New York Times article about this in the show notes. But the subpoena of Raspy Aspie has to do with this case and Raspy Assy is fighting this. So he posted this on his own sub quote because he. So that's Johnson is more of a coward than he's an idiot. He is abusing the non party subpoena process issued as part of an ongoing arbitration between him and his ex fiance instead of coming after me directly, which limits the legal defenses I have available. I will not learn the legal basis on which the subpoena was issued until and unless his lawyers respond to my formal objection to it. If he believes I have defamed him or otherwise acted in violation of the law, he should take legal action against me directly. He won't do that because as he is likely where truth is an absolute defense to defamation. And I was a bit mystified by the subpoena because Grace hasn't gotten subpoenaed. We haven't heard anything. I hope we don't or we're gonna have to turn over all of our checks calling Brian Johnson the hottest, most virile baby blood drinker. It's just the coolest guy. His skin is so glossy.

[Jesse]

You could see your coolest guy.

[Katie]

Also very smart and amazing boyfriend. Please don't sue us. So I was curious about. So I was just sort of mystified as to why he would be subpoenaing, subpoenaing Raspy Aspie. But he told me this in an email. Email. It was and still is my belief that Brian Johnson only started lying so egregiously about Taryn Southern in public because he didn't realize that almost all of the documents from his private arbitral proceedings with her were public. So his theory is that Brian Johnson thinks that he got these documents that trace read from Lauren Southern, which he did Not. He got them like through Pacer. So he's trying to get her on that, using Raspy Aspie communications to do it. That's his theory.

[Jesse]

Best of luck to. To friend of the pod, Brian Johnson.

[Katie]

No, no, Jesse. To Raspy Aspie. Not to Brian.

[Jesse]

No, I'm on Brian Johnson's side. Brian Johnson has been wronged by so Brian. Whoever has the most power to sue people is the person I will side with. That's why I'm a big Donald Trump guy.

[Katie]

Okay, Jesse, on to our main event. So why don't we do housekeeping before we get to this? We do it.

[Jesse]

We are a podcast. We are called Blocked and reported. You can find us@blocked andreported.org where you can also find the best way to support us, which is to become a premium subscriber, which gives you get the good shit.

[Katie]

This, all of this. This is like the drags. This is the bad shit.

[Jesse]

This is just garbage. We suck. No, this is great, but that's even better. Yeah. Extra content. You get to hear Helen Lewis answer our listeners questions. You get often early or exclusive access to meetups and events, stuff like that.

[Katie]

Should we do a live soon?

[Jesse]

Yeah, we should.

[Katie]

You want to do it right now?

[Jesse]

Yeah, set the date to Wednesday, March 11th.

[Katie]

Okay, we'll do it. I'll put it on the calendar right now. What time?

[Jesse]

I'm now scared. Well, can we do like 5pm Western? Oh, no, wait. We have the. We have the coastal advent. We have the west coast advantage. Yeah, 3. 3pm No, 3pm Western, 6pm Eastern.

[Katie]

I'm putting it on my calendar right now. Live. All right, 3:00pm Pacific Time on March 11, Jesse and I will do a live. We'll do you want to do an ama?

[Jesse]

Let's figure it out. Maybe a hybrid. We'll have something. We'll be able to come up with stuff. Okay.

[Katie]

Okay.

[Jesse]

So yeah, if we. If we're going to do an ama, we'll send out an AMA solicitation to our primos. But we haven't decided yet if that's gonna be the format.

[Katie]

Okay. So stay tuned for that. Anything else?

[Jesse]

Absolutely not.

[Katie]

Jesse, our main event today is another international scandal, this one taking place in Finland. Have you been to Finland?

[Jesse]

I have. I took a boat from Tallinn, Estonia. This would have been not too long before we started this podcast. Within a year or two.

[Katie]

That's how you measure time. Before podcast, after podcast, bp. Yeah.

[Jesse]

And then you take this amazing ferry across to Helsinki. And what I remember the most is there's really steep Taxes on liquor in Finland because they constantly drink themselves to death because what else are you going to do? You're in Finland, you know, that's actually.

[Katie]

So the Sinclair method, which was what my book is about, was developed in Finland, naturally by a researcher who worked for their like state alcohol distributor.

[Jesse]

Yeah, I mean, I'm not trying to overgeneralize, but literally every single Finnish person drinks himself to death by age 25. It's just science. But anyway, the Finns would come down to Estonia where they don't have those taxes buy massive amounts of booze. So I saw people on this ferry with like pallets of booze and there was like live traditional folk music in a big theater on the boat. And I don't know if it was Finnish folk music or Estonian, but it was great.

[Katie]

Could you do a rendition for us?

[Jesse]

Yeah, that was it.

[Katie]

That sounded very authentic.

[Jesse]

Anyway, I only saw Helsinki. It was a very beautiful city, very quiet. They seem like introverted people. Yeah, it's a you place.

[Katie]

I have not been to Finland, but I hear year they let babies nap alone outside in the winter, which sounds amazing to me. And I'm always telling new parents, leave your baby outside in the snow. They don't listen for some reason. Okay, so our story today is about a Finnish beauty queen. Her name is Sarah. Like Jaffe. Jaffe. It's spelled D, Z, A, F, C, e. Jessica the 80s baby. When she was putting these notes together, she said, pronunciation. You're on your own for this one. I'm just going to call her Sarah. Yeah. Jesse, what's your take on beauty pageants?

[Jesse]

You a big pageant guy involving women or like children?

[Katie]

Either one.

[Jesse]

Yeah, I have a big child beauty pageant follower. I don't have like kids participating. I just really like them.

[Katie]

You just go?

[Jesse]

I just go. Beauty pageants, what's my take? I think they're incredibly empowering and wonderful. Unless people get mad at me for saying that, in which case I think they're just the latest sign of the patriarchy's iron grip over every woman.

[Katie]

Such a centrist. You know, I've always been pretty judgmental of beauty pageants. Like they seem so anti feminist, right? You know, parading around being pretty. But now I wonder if my own conceptions of feminism were actually kind of misogynistic. Like when I was younger, if I were asked to paint a picture of the ideal feminist, it would have been someone like me. Like a muff diver who refused to shave for political as well as dry skin reasons. I basically considered the best feminist to be as masculine as possible, which, when you think about it, is a little sexist. And really, I should have been into beauty pageants because, as you might expect, because you're also a sexist, there can be a lot of drama within these contests, and I do love drama.

[Jesse]

I. I'm. That doesn't surprise me. But, like, give me. Give me an example of, like, the good beauty contest drama.

[Katie]

Okay, so at the 2025 Miss Universe pageant, there was some controversy because during the event, this was held in Bangkok, Ms. Chile posted a video of herself pretending to snort cocaine. I assume the issue was that she stole this bit from Miss Columbia. She later apologized and blamed her makeup artist.

[Jesse]

That's racist. Should we just apologize now or wait till people get mad at us? And then when do we do our apology?

[Katie]

Then the pageant director publicly chastised Miss Mexico. She called her a dumb head.

[Jesse]

A dumb head? Is that like a failed translation?

[Katie]

Alto caballo, maybe.

[Jesse]

Yeah. Local in love cupboard.

[Katie]

Beza that. What is that? Crazy?

[Jesse]

Crazy. Yeah.

[Katie]

Yeah. Miss Mexico then walked out on a live stream, as did several of the other contestants. There were also allegations of favoritism and bad management. Several judges and officials resigned. And after a video went viral that appeared to show Miss Israel giving the first ever Miss Palestine a side eye, Miss Israel allegedly received death threats and rape threats. Also, Miss Jamaica fell off street the stage.

[Jesse]

That last one's true. You're not just being racist?

[Katie]

No, that's true. Why? Why is it. Why would it be racist to say that Miss Jamaica fell off the stage

[Jesse]

because, like, she got too high?

[Katie]

I didn't say that at all.

[Jesse]

You're replying on Reaper.

[Katie]

So it was a turbulent year for the Miss Universe contest, but the biggest incident by far happened after the competition had finished and the tiaras and sashes were stowed away for another year. So, as I mentioned, Ms. Finland 20255 was Sarah Jaffe, whose name I'm surely mispronouncing. She's half Finnish, half Kosovoan, and she spent a lot of time shortly after she was crowned talking about her experiences with racism. And of course, in an American context, that's like white on white violence. You know, if any European here said that he or she was a person of color, we'd be like Hasan. No, but I do think this demonstrates how stupid racist, like Kim Kardashian, who is Armenian, is considered white. White. But Drake, who is also white, is considered a person of color. You know what I mean?

[Jesse]

Yeah, I do.

[Katie]

So anyway, Miss Finland, she'd been outspoken about her own experiences as an ethnic minority in Finland. And Finland is one of the most ethnically homogeneous nations on Earth. So about 90 of the population is ethnic Fins, about 10% is foreign born. And of that group, the largest block is Russian. They also have a very interesting indigenous population. So, Jesse, do you know about the Sami people? People?

[Jesse]

Yeah, if you go to either. Sweet. I've been to little bits of both Sweden and Finland and the Sami are the people, I think more up in the north. They're like an indigenous think that gets like actual Arctic circle up there. I know them. They're like reindeer herders, stereotypically. So like.

[Katie]

And I put a picture of some like a stock photo of the Sami people or Sami people in our notes here. Yeah, so.

[Jesse]

So just describe that photo without being offensive or with.

[Katie]

You can be. You can either one. It's fine.

[Jesse]

I mean, they look like white people dressed up in sort of of like costumes. Mid summer. Like it's the film Midsummer. Yeah, a little bit.

[Katie]

Yeah. So they're wearing their traditional.

[Jesse]

I thought the Sammy were like. Now that I say this out loud, makes no sense because they're completely descended from like parts of the world that have been cut off from one another for a while.

[Katie]

They were Asian?

[Jesse]

No. I thought they had that sort of the look of like Inuit, like just like darker skin and stuff. But yeah, they, these, these folks are white looking.

[Katie]

That would be like the other side of Russia, like the Siberians would have.

[Jesse]

Right. Because they came across the Bering Strait. It's just a completely, A completely different population.

[Katie]

Right. So these people, These people.

[Jesse]

These folks would be. If they were dressed in different clothes, I'd think. These are white people.

[Katie]

They are white. I mean, they are, they are indigenous.

[Jesse]

No, that's. Well, okay, so you're. Wait, hold on. You're telling them they're not allowed to identify as minority?

[Katie]

No, I'm saying that the indigenous people of Finland are white. Are Caucasian.

[Jesse]

Wow, that's. And you, as you say that you don't realize how racist that is.

[Katie]

So in this photo, which I cannot.

[Jesse]

Wait, were you saying white with capital W or lowercase w? Actually, white does not usually get capitalized.

[Katie]

Yeah, only it only gets capitalized on like, like. What's the Stormer website? The Stormer websites. So the photo that we have here, which I can't put in our notes because I don't want to get sued, is these very white looking people.

[Jesse]

And just to be clear, it's three Sammy people and then Brian Johnson's in

[Katie]

the background flexing these Three Sammy people in their indigenous costumes, and they're in front of a teepee, and they're so white that they look like they should be canceled for gentrifying the teepee.

[Jesse]

They look like. They look like this is like a party. Like, Sammy frat party. The. And that they're about to get canceled. Except this is actually them.

[Katie]

Yeah. Okay. So it is a moment.

[Jesse]

It's interesting that you and I are

[Katie]

both compared to these people. We are people of color. That's how white they are.

[Jesse]

Well, no, but it's. There is something genuinely interesting that we are so, like, fascinated. Making fun of the fact that they look like they're just white, but they're dressed in a way we find unusual for white people. I think we're actually being racist for the first time on the show. So it's been almost six years, actually. Oh, wow. When's the anniversary?

[Katie]

I think April. Happy anniversary.

[Jesse]

No, it's March. You don't remember when we fucking started the podcast?

[Katie]

Oh, you know, it is March because it was like. I think our. I think our podcast anniversary is like the day before my wedding anniversary, which I also don't remember. I'm gonna have to look that up. I'll get my.

[Jesse]

Don't celebrate. Do you celebrate one more than the other?

[Katie]

The only thing I celebrate is Moose's birthday.

[Jesse]

Okay, so let's get to this scandal, though.

[Katie]

Yeah. Okay. So it's among this population, among this very, very white place, that Ms. Finland is an ethnic minority who has herself experienced racism and has talked much about it. That's a big part of her identity. But that would not help her in this particular scandal.

[Jesse]

Well, so what is a scandal?

[Katie]

So this started in November last year when a photo of Ms. Finland, Sarah, went viral on social media. So, Jesse, please describe this photo.

[Jesse]

It's a woman who. Pulling her eyes back.

[Katie]

She's doing China eyes.

[Jesse]

She's doing China eyes and smiling. That's it. And it says, Canela Senka Siom. Yes. If she's going to be racist, I'm going to be racist in pronouncing the Finnish kina silenka siomnias.

[Katie]

So that translates to eating with a Chinese.

[Jesse]

Eating with a Chinese.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Jesse]

And she. Okay, but she. Someone posted a screenshot of her having posted this.

[Katie]

Okay, so this was. The photo of her was originally shared in a private group chat. So her friend took this photo, put it in their friend group chat chat, and according to Sarah, it was the friend who added the caption, eating with the Chinese, not her. But this soon broke free from the group chat and started circulating across social media. And at first it was contained to social networking site that's really only used in a few countries in northern Europe. But soon the story broke into the news in Finland. Sarah herself quickly made a statement. So she said, I was eating at a restaurant with a friend and I had a severe headache and pain in my eye. Eyes. I leaned against the table and rubbed my temples and stretched my eyes because it relieved the pressure. My friend found the situation funny and said, hey, let me take a picture. I smiled at the camera and he wrote his own text on it. The text is not mine and it is not related to my purpose in any way. Do you buy it, Jesse? She does not look like someone suffering from a migraine in that photo.

[Jesse]

She's smiling. She looks like she either is about to or just did say something very offensive in a certain accent.

[Katie]

Yeah. And we actually don't know this.

[Jesse]

We have no idea. I'm. I'm judging a book by. I'm just judging by this one screenshot. Yeah.

[Katie]

Yes. And as you can probably tell people, other people didn't buy this either. So there was more backlash and Sarah decided to take a different tactic. So a few days later she posted a video on Instagram. It's been taken down, but here's a screenshot. So Jesse, can you describe that?

[Jesse]

I mean it just says her, Ms. Sammy 2025. I don't know what am I looking?

[Katie]

Okay, so she's in a. She's in a, like a first class flight. And the caption.

[Jesse]

Oh, I didn't realize she was on plane. She's got like a gold. A watch. Very visible.

[Katie]

Yeah, it looks very high end. The caption translates as people throwing hate while I'm in fin Air business class.

[Jesse]

That's not going to help.

[Katie]

Right? This just made people angrier. She. She failed to read the room, as they say.

[Jesse]

Would. Would a racist be able to fly business class? Come on, let's be real. I don't.

[Katie]

I think they have rules against that. And as the backlash grew, the Miss Finland organization was compelled to make a statement. So Jesse, please read this excerpt.

[Jesse]

The Ms. Finland organization states clearly and unambiguously that we do not accept racism or discriminatory behavior in any form. We are deeply sorry for the offense and distress caused by the conduct of our representative. We recognize the seriousness of this matter and its impact on those who have felt hurt or disrespected. We offer our sincere apology.

[Katie]

Do you notice anything odd about this statement?

[Jesse]

I'm probably Missing it.

[Katie]

It's written in English and none of their other posts are in English. So that might tell you who was mad about this. This.

[Jesse]

Yeah.

[Katie]

That said, a number of the comments are in Finnish, so let's read a few of these. These are translated via Instagram. Instagram's like auto translator. So Jesse, read these comments.

[Jesse]

When Ms. Finland gave gum in Universe interviews.

[Katie]

Imperfect translator.

[Jesse]

I thought that these young women should definitely have a longer education from the organization side. But this outcry and making fun of the business class is totally vile and still supported by the organization. And as a foreign fan, I think that that Finglish doesn't suit anyone, at least not Finland.

[Katie]

Very clear. Read this one.

[Jesse]

This is a good use of our time. I'm Chinese and I especially wanted to travel to Finland for Christmas. I'm sorry, maybe it's real, but that's like when people are mad about something you wrote to the stranger. People are like, I canceled my stranger subscription. I'm a Chinese person. I was so excited to go to Finland. But because of this Ms. Finland, I'm scared because I don't know if Asians will face discrimination there. I don't d to go anymore.

[Katie]

Keep going.

[Jesse]

We Asian people would not accept any apology unless you cancel her title.

[Katie]

And then one more.

[Jesse]

There's no way these are real. I would like to ask that the current Miss Finland title be removed.

[Katie]

So the. So the comments were not super supportive, but the organization announced that a quote, formal meeting with the current Ms. Finland will take place tomorrow, during which the full sequence over dim sum during which the full sequence of events will be reviewed thoroughly, responsibilities were clarified and further will be determined.

[Jesse]

Sorry. What happened? What happened at the meeting?

[Katie]

So the next day they posted another statement. This one was written in Finnish, so quoting here. This is also via translator. Following this thorough consideration, we may have made a difficult but necessary decision. The title of Miss Finland held by Sarah Drafe has been revoked as of today.

[Jesse]

Damn. She lost Ms. Finland.

[Katie]

Yeah. And the organization, they also shared an apology from Sarah herself, yourself. And you might think that this story would end there. You know, someone does or does not do a racism, gets canceled, apologizes and promises to do clap better clap. But it's no longer 2020, so we're just getting started. And this time the backlash came from the Finns Party. So this is a right wing political party and you've probably never heard of the Finns Party. But the mere fact that they used to be known as the true Finns may give you an idea of their Ideology. And the party is essentially, it's one of these European parties that some people call right wing, some people call far right. They're not full on Nazis. But their policies, things like withdrawing from the eu, banning the burqa, so they want to reduce the refugee quota, they want to teach something called healthy national pride in schools, and they favor subsidizing traditional art instead of, not instead of like postmodern art. That's one of their more popular policies. And then, yeah, anyone from Europe is probably nodding along because there are similar populist parties in every European country at this point. So at the moment, the Finns are a junior coalition partner in the Finnish government. And in general, it would be very unusual for the Finns part party to be on the same side as an ethnic minority, particularly the daughter of an immigrant, like the former Miss Finland is. But strange times, strange bedfellows. So, Jesse, I want you to describe this photo of Finn's party mp. His name is Juho Rola. I'm sure that's mispronounced. This was his Facebook profile page.

[Jesse]

Oh God, he's going way further than she did in terms of certain, you know, I want to, I don't want to amplify this, but I want to describe it. So he, he's taking the eye thing Sarah did and then also adding a dental or teeth component, like a mouth thing.

[Katie]

Like imagine the most racist impression of a Chinese person you can imagine without doing like literal yellow face.

[Jesse]

Well, no, he's not like wearing the hat. Was not wearing the hat without a costume.

[Katie]

No costume.

[Jesse]

And he says, Mina Olen, Sarah, which I can pick up from context clues, probably means like basically, je suis Sarah. I am Sarah.

[Katie]

I am Sarah.

[Jesse]

Yeah.

[Katie]

So the night the New Jesu Charlie, except it's about a disgrace beauty queen who may or may not have made a racist joke. And within a few days, three other Finn's party politicians had decided to stand with Sarah by posting their own slutty eye photos.

[Jesse]

Oh my God.

[Katie]

And yeah, and you know, when I saw this, I was just struck by how stupid this is and how politics have just gotten more and more kind of low brow. It's very like, it's very Trumpy. And this absolutely might have preceded Trump, but doesn't this seem like the kind of shit that Trump would do?

[Jesse]

Trump and like, like populist social media? Because like this, it's just so absolute scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[Katie]

Totally. It's very Internet, very online. So the deputy leader of the party also posted this incredibly long diatribe on Twitter. So Jesse, read a few of these quotes.

[Jesse]

The current media environment, social media culture and moral guardianship is merciless. Don't make mistakes. Don't be yourself. Don't speak freely. Don't joke. Don't even gesture disrespectfully. Don't. I mean what's funny is like there's he's gesturing at something that in some cases was true like the guy who got in trouble for like making the okay sign gesture. Who did it. But it's pretty easy to not do a Chinese thing assuming that's what she did.

[Katie]

And then he continued. You can't squint your eyes among friends without being a cinnaphobe. That's a new term for me. You can't play around with an African star without being a racist. You can't. I don't know what that means. You can't good naturedly joke with your wife about being a misogynist. Misogynist. I think you can do that. I think that's allowed. You can't marvel at lessons on male menstruation without being a bully of trans people. You can't twirl your hair without being a white supremacist or cultural appropriator. I bet that's twirl your hair. That probably refers to dreadlocks. You can't play with cultural difference without being xenophobic. You can't be proud of your genes or your. That's jeans. J E N S or your genes.

[Jesse]

So you can't round up Jews into camps without being a Nazi. It goes on in that vein for

[Katie]

quite time some without being at least a touch of neon. I think that's probably a reference to the. What was her name?

[Jesse]

Sydney Sweeney.

[Katie]

Sydney Sweeney. You can't even make mistakes without being no men.

[Jesse]

Men do not forget Sydney Sweeney's name and what women do.

[Katie]

What strikes me about this is how American it is and I think extremely American. Yeah. That that America or that Finland is also has gone through its own sort of awokening and that these cultural issues are also present in Finland.

[Jesse]

It's also. I mean I could be coloring the past but I think I remember when I was in Swindland and feed mentions of the Sami culture did seem to be a little bit trying to slot that into American talk about indigenous people which is just I think very different just because a whole populated continent and then white people show up and wipe them off their land. I get the sense their history is very different. But I could be misremembering. But I just don't think it's a clean fit. But yes, this all strikes seems me to like, you know, right wing American culture war grievance mongering and then so.

[Katie]

Right. And the MPs getting involved meant that this story which had started out on Finnish social media now went global. And the people who were really pissed off here were not actually second gen Asians living in the west, they were Asians in Asia. And you can see that like that. The top comments on his post are all from East Asian people and many are in Japanese. Japanese. So Jesse, read this example.

[Jesse]

You white folks really lack manners, don't you? Self proclaimed leaders in etiquette yet you haven't learned a damn thing. A herd of idiots. Honestly, poor things. Why not stop calling yourselves white people and go with white monkeys instead? It's embarrassing that you lot are the ones claiming to have civilization. Also Japanese people are historically very racist too. But that's a fair tweet.

[Katie]

Someone tags Grok, summarize this excuse for me. It'd be nice if Finns could receive discrimination education and become an advanced country too. Someone says quit yapping, you racist piece of shit.

[Jesse]

Quit yapping. On which is itself appropriative, you racist piece of shit.

[Katie]

So both China and Japan send large numbers of tourists to Finland each year. And now Asians across social media were threatening to boycott Finland. Finnair. All things Finnish. I suppose the mackerel industry was probably terrified. And what started out as this minor scandal around this beauty queen was threatening to become an international incident. So there was a Japanese Change.org petition calling for a public apology from the politicians that got over 38,000 signs signatures. There was also this incredible post on threads. Read this.

[Jesse]

Jesse Ray Chang. 502 Finnish beauty pageant contestants and politicians showing their true colors. I've been to 60 countries but will not be going to Finland unless I'm invited to do a workshop on anti Asian racism. He just wants a trip to Finland, which is fine.

[Katie]

He does.

[Jesse]

Yeah.

[Katie]

So by this point the Finnish politicians had started to realize that they may have gone too far. So Juno Arola, he was the first one. He deleted the slutty eye picture and uploaded a new Facebook profile picture. So Jesse described this one.

[Jesse]

He's doing the opposite thing. He's making his eye really big. Okay, that's actually. I'm sorry, but that's actually funny.

[Katie]

Yeah. Although that could be anti black.

[Jesse]

Do black people have big eyes? Is that even a stereotype?

[Katie]

That's one of the stereotypes. Yeah, big eyes. Anyway, the Finnish prime minister stepped in to do some damage control. He issued official apologies in both Japanese and Korean, but not Chinese for some reason, probably racism. But despite the Prime Minister's apology, a lot of Asians were still not happy be. And the incident had generated a lot of press in Japan in particular. And there were grumblings on social media about how the Finnish embassy in Tokyo had stayed silent throughout this. They hadn't apologized or condemned Ms. Finland or her high profile defenders. So the Japanese were pissed. And at this point, we have a truly unexpected plot twist as another country steps in the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru. Jesse, what do you know about Nauru?

[Jesse]

I think I've actually, I think I saw a YouTube video. I think. Think it's the least healthy country on earth or something.

[Katie]

And like the people being like, they only eat McDonald's.

[Jesse]

I think so. Give me a sec. No, it's like cigarette. More cigarettes in a. I don't think they have McDonald's. They have like a.

[Katie]

Very highly doubt it. Yeah.

[Jesse]

Least healthy country, Earth.

[Katie]

So it's one of the smallest countries on Earth. It's smaller.

[Jesse]

Well, Central African Republic. That sounds.

[Katie]

It's smaller than Central Park. It has a population of about 12,000 people. And back in the 70s, it was briefly the world's second richest nation per capita, second only to Saudi Arabia because it had enormous phosphate deposits. And that became the backbone of the economy.

[Jesse]

I think. Sorry, just breaking in. I think it's maybe the fattest, not the least healthy. As we all know, obesity has no correlation with health.

[Katie]

And with a few, you know, wise economic decisions, they could have generated the kind of sovereign wealth fund that leaves its entire population with generational wealth. But that's not what they do. And the government was comically bad at handling money. Like poor person winning the lottery bad. They lost millions financing a musical about the life of Leonardo da Vinci.

[Jesse]

Nice.

[Katie]

It was one of the biggest disasters in London theater history. At one point, they started selling passports which were bought by members of Al Qaeda. That caused a lot of diplomatic tensions. And today the island has been totally gutted by phosphate mining. The natural resources have been largely depleted and its economy just sort of limps along. By taking a deal with Australia to hold an offshore detention center for asylum seekers.

[Jesse]

That's a very cheerful story.

[Katie]

Yeah. So Nauru does not have an embassy in Japan, but it does have a Japanese language Twitter account that is run by the national tourism bureau called Nauru, Japan. The bio reads, official Republic of Nauru government tourism bureau. A South Pacific country with total population of about 10,000. Follow back 100%. It takes time. And then there are some hashtags.

[Jesse]

A lot of hashtags. Yeah.

[Katie]

So the account is quite popular in Japan. I'm not sure if this actually translates to Japanese tourists visiting the island. Probably not, but generally it's one of those, like, nice, feel good Twitter accounts that everyone enjoys. So here are some of their typical posts. Will you read these, Jesse?

[Jesse]

This is the Naru bento. And it's just like rice with a drumstick and fish on it.

[Katie]

Spam.

[Jesse]

It looks like maybe spam. I don't know.

[Katie]

I think that that's probably fish. It looks like it's like triangle fish.

[Jesse]

They probably have a lot of. They have a lot of fish. There's just like another weird cooking one. Translated from Japanese production of Japan's first domestically made naru cola. Oh, they're making cola. Okay, this seems pretty non controversial.

[Katie]

Yeah, non controversial. Good morning. May the person who sees this post of Nauru island and beautiful clouds be blessed with good luck. And so these are all translated. These are all. These are all.

[Jesse]

That's pretty.

[Katie]

Posted originally in Japanese. Nothing controversial there. It's a tourism board. But in the midst of this situation with Ms. Finland, the account stopped posting, you know, its usual content, these cheerful posts, bento clouds. And started tweeting about the situation. And they started asking why the Finnish embassy had an apology, apologized. And in response, an account called Hadoliko spoke up. And Hadaliko is a former staffer at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo. And he called Nauru's repressed for an apology misguided and dangerous. So here's one of these posts, roughly translated from the Japanese. So, Jesse, will you read this?

[Jesse]

The incident began when an unrelated Nauru Tourism board account blew a misguided dog whistle at the Finnish Embassy in Japan because they used an official account instead of a personal one. The issue has already been archived and passed on to the Finnish Embassy, escalating into an international issue.

[Katie]

So he went on to accuse the Nauru Japan account of being run by local Japanese staffers and therefore not representing the true views of Nauru. He said it was rogue Japanese people using the name of a sod, a sovereign nation to give their opinions.

[Jesse]

Yeah, stolen Nauru valor.

[Katie]

Basically, yes. And the Nauru account responded by confirming that, yes, it is the official account account of the Nauru Tourism Board. And its post did in fact represent the views of the Nauru government. And they invited how to call the Nauru foreign minister if he wanted. I don't think the foreign Minister is very busy. And throughout all of this, Japanese onlookers were firmly on Nauru's side. So. So Jesse read this commentary from a Japanese, presumably a Japanese national, Mama Fukute.

[Jesse]

So to sum up, what we've got so far, while some Finns were mocking Asians and couldn't stand by to watch, now his official account stepped in with some advice like, you might want to cut that out only for their own countrymen to turn beet red and throw a fit yelling what business does an unrelated country have butting in Dog whistle Is that about the gist of it? Another one says, I can't believe this. Naru Sen is not bad at all. 100% at fault is Finland. Finland's image has plummeted to rock bottom. By the way, why does Finland have so much influence on human rights issues even though they don't even understand human rights? As a Japanese person, is there anything I can do?

[Katie]

Read one more, Jesse.

[Jesse]

The Finnish Embassy keeps making blunder after blunder and at this point their moves are on the same level as the Chinese embassy. It's just baffling to discriminate that much while being so alike. They've got to be out of their minds. Ahem, ahem. Like a little koi emoji. That's how deeply ingrained that intense discrimination against Asians must be, huh? Mr. Ms. Nauru, don't get down about it. Lots of Japanese people support you, you know.

[Katie]

So then the Finnish Embassy confirmed that Haroliko was merely a rogue former staffer whose views did not represent the country's official position. He then delet his Twitter account, a few more Finnish apologies were made and the Nauru Finland war was called off. So what started as a photo in a beauty queen's private group chat eventually escalated into a legitimate diplomatic incident between several nations.

[Jesse]

When I think about the bullet we dodged by avoiding all out confrontation between Finland and Nauru.

[Katie]

Rough.

[Jesse]

Yeah. Can you imagine living in a world with that level level of just warfare going on? That would suck too much. Most importantly, did they crown a new Miss Finland?

[Katie]

Yes. The title went to the first runner up. Her name is Tara Latonin, who has hopefully internalized the lesson here, which is if you're going to do a racism, make sure your friends are not filming it.

[Jesse]

Words we have always lived by. Well, thank you for that, Katie. That's a lot more than I ever thought I would know about Finnish Twitter or Narut Naru Twitter. Narutan Twitter. That's probably not the right thing.

[Katie]

Apologies for all of the. The mispronunciations here. I'm sure there were at least one.

[Jesse]

Just. Probably just maybe just one. Thank you guys for listening. This has been blocked and reported. As always, we are produced with help From Jessica the 80s Baby, goodbye. Bye.