S1: #15 - Why Cancel Culture Should Be Cancelled

Summary

Podcast Summary: Smosh Mouth S1: #15 - Why Cancel Culture Should Be Cancelled

Introduction

In episode #15 of Smosh Mouth, released on May 29, 2019, hosts Shane Topp, Courtney Miller, and Ian Hecox delve deep into the pervasive phenomenon of cancel culture. Throughout the episode, they dissect its implications, motivations, and consequences within the digital landscape, particularly focusing on high-profile controversies surrounding YouTube influencers. The conversation is rich with insights, personal anecdotes, and critical analyses, making it a compelling listen for anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of online accountability and its broader societal impacts.

Understanding Cancel Culture

The hosts begin by examining the inherent issues with cancel culture, emphasizing the authenticity—or lack thereof—in online personas. Ian Hecox remarks, “[00:35] I think the problem is the content isn't genuine. When that veil is pulled back, fans realize like, oh, this person that I idolized is a monster. And then they freak out.” This sentiment underscores the disconnect between a creator’s online facade and their true character, a gap that often fuels the fervor of cancel culture when discrepancies are exposed.

Shane Topp adds to this perspective, stating, “[23:12] Yeah. We pretend it's reality.” This highlights the illusion of transparency that platforms like YouTube promote, where audiences believe they are witnessing unfiltered content, only to later discover the constructed nature of these online identities.

High-Profile Cases: James Charles and Tati Westbrook

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the tumultuous relationship between beauty influencers James Charles and Tati Westbrook. The hosts dissect the sequence of events that led to a massive backlash against Charles, initiated by allegations from Westbrook and further amplified by figures like Jeffree Star.

Shane Topp reflects on the situation, saying, “[11:08] That's still the problem,” referring to James Charles soliciting fans for nude content, which remains a central issue despite the surrounding drama. Ian Hecox concurs, “[11:06] Courtney Miller: Yeah, still the problem,” reinforcing the notion that underlying issues persist despite the public disputes.

The conversation delves into the motivations behind the accusations and subsequent defenses. Ian observes, “[18:25] It's been the gladiatorial games of the modern day,” likening the online battles to gladiator fights where spectators revel in the downfall of public figures. This comparison underscores the performative nature of such conflicts, where the primary reward is entertainment and social capital rather than genuine accountability.

Motivations Behind Cancel Culture

The hosts explore the psychological and social drivers that propel individuals to participate in cancel culture. Shane Topp muses, “[16:42] I think we all think a lot of us are just bored,” suggesting that the spectacle of canceling someone serves as a form of entertainment in an otherwise mundane digital existence. This spectacle provides a clear antagonist, allowing participants to experience a vicarious sense of justice and elevated self-worth.

Courtney Miller adds, “[17:14] Yeah. The amount that people unfollowed James Charles,” highlighting the tangible actions taken to "cancel" someone, such as unfollowing or boycotting their content. These actions serve as both a punishment for perceived wrongdoings and a means for individuals to align their support networks with their personal values.

Economic Incentives and the Entertainment Value

The discussion shifts to the economic aspects of cancel culture, emphasizing how controversy can drive viewership and ad revenue. Shane Topp notes, “[19:33] It works for now,” referring to how cancel culture temporarily boosts engagement and visibility for those involved. This view is echoed by Ian Hecox, who states, “[21:28] I think the only people that won were the people watching was YouTube,” indicating that platforms benefit from the increased traffic generated by such scandals.

Shane further elaborates, “[19:56] What is the public opinion of Jake Paul? Not that he's ever really seemed to care about the public opinion, but,” illustrating how content creators like Jake Paul leverage controversy to maintain or amplify their relevance in the digital space. The hosts suggest that cancel culture, while ostensibly about accountability, often serves as a tool for content amplification and revenue generation.

Critique of Online Authenticity and Representation

A core critique presented by the hosts is the lack of genuine representation by online personalities. Ian Hecox summarizes, “[22:43] Yeah, it's like the content isn't genuine. So then when that veil is pulled back,” pointing out that the disconnect between online personas and real-life behavior fosters an environment ripe for backlash when discrepancies emerge.

Shane Topp echoes this sentiment, “[23:19] David Dobrik vlog, He presents it as if it's supposed to be real. Obviously, it's completely so,” critiquing the performative authenticity that mimics reality without the inherent transparency. This performative aspect diminishes the trust viewers place in creators, making them susceptible to sudden and severe backlash.

Esports and Contractual Exploitation: The Tfue and Faze Clan Case

In a segment that deviates slightly from the main topic but remains relevant to the overarching theme of accountability, the hosts discuss the contentious relationship between esports personality Tfue (Turner Tenney) and his organization, Faze Clan. They highlight the exploitative nature of the contracts offered by Faze Clan, which significantly favor the organization over the individual streamer.

Ian Hecox explains, “[44:51] And this is the issue. So obviously when he first signed this contract, he was a very like, small streamer. And I'm sure the idea of any sort of substantial money sounded great, but I sure also didn't expect to be pulling in millions of dollars a year.” This situation mirrors broader concerns about the exploitation of content creators, where organizations profit disproportionately from the talents they recruit.

Shane Topp adds, “[47:24] We're super hard workers, man. Even Jake Paul and Logan Paul. I'm like, God, the work ethic is crazy,” emphasizing that the content creators are diligently working, yet contractual agreements prevent them from reaping fair rewards. The hosts critique the imbalance of power in such contracts, comparing it to “corporate indentured servitude,” where individuals are indebted to organizations that control their earnings and brand decisions.

The Role of Social Media and Public Perception

The conversation also touches upon how social media platforms amplify cancel culture, making it a widespread and influential force. Ian Hecox observes, “[27:01] Now, but now we're reaching a level of like the cancel culture where, where it's now pierced beyond people that care about YouTube drama,” indicating that cancel culture has transcended niche communities and entered mainstream discourse, affecting individuals regardless of their prominence.

Shane Topp comments, “[26:33] We used to just kind of watch video by video, but now people subscribe to someone and so if something happens, there's a lot of power there and going, oh, I can unsubscribe to you,” highlighting the shift from passive viewership to active participation in canceling influential figures based on their perceived transgressions.

Personal Anecdotes and Reflections

Interwoven with their analysis, the hosts share personal stories that humanize the discussion. Courtney Miller recounts an incident from her birthday party where misunderstandings led to awkward social dynamics, illustrating how personal interactions can be distorted and exaggerated in the public eye.

She shares, “[59:35] And then there was this woman that tweeted about it. She's like, I've been in these situations before where like I just went along with, with like this guy thinking that he dated me for this period of time,” reflecting on the complexities of personal relationships and the ease with which narratives can be misconstrued and amplified online.

Shane Topp humorously interjects, “[60:55] You're allowed? Oh, we've never said you're not allowed,” lightening the mood while still addressing the serious underpinnings of miscommunication and misrepresentation in both personal and public spheres.

Conclusion: The Double-Edged Sword of Cancel Culture

As the episode draws to a close, the hosts synthesize their discussions, presenting cancel culture as a double-edged sword that simultaneously seeks to hold individuals accountable while also functioning as a source of entertainment and validation for participants. They caution against the superficiality of online judgments, emphasizing the need for genuine accountability and a deeper understanding of the individuals behind public personas.

Ian Hecox concludes, “[22:43] I think it's really just like, people aren't representing who they truly are online,” urging listeners to seek authenticity and resist the allure of quick judgments based on incomplete or misleading information. Shane Topp echoes this sentiment, “[23:10] Yeah. We pretend it's reality,” reinforcing the importance of recognizing the constructed nature of online content and the potential pitfalls of cancel culture.

The episode serves as a thoughtful exploration of the complexities surrounding cancel culture, its impact on digital communities, and the broader implications for personal authenticity and accountability in the age of social media.

Notable Quotes

• Ian Hecox ([00:35]): "I think the problem is the content isn't genuine. When that veil is pulled back, fans realize like, oh, this person that I idolized is a monster. And then they freak out."

• Shane Topp ([23:12]): "Yeah. We pretend it's reality."

• Shane Topp ([16:42]): "I think we all think a lot of us are just bored."

• Ian Hecox ([44:51]): "And this is the issue. So obviously when he first signed this contract, he was a very like, small streamer. And I'm sure the idea of any sort of substantial money sounded great, but I sure also didn't expect to be pulling in millions of dollars a year."

• Shane Topp ([19:36]): "They all made those videos. They all got massive amounts of views. Then people were like, okay, where's the proof of all this crazy molestation, accusation, all this stuff? And then suddenly everyone's like, we've decided to all just be friends, and this whole thing is in the past now."

• Courtney Miller ([27:07]): "I think it's very interesting. Jake was just like, I'm gonna try a cancel video. I'm gonna try cancel culture, see if that'll. Because, I mean, him and Tana Mongeau have been making videos lately."

• Shane Topp ([35:43]): "[...] wait till you hear this maniacally. Yeah. It's strange. Have you ever seen somebody smiling while they're running?"

Final Thoughts

Smosh Mouth episode #15 provides a nuanced examination of cancel culture, dissecting its role in shaping online interactions and influencing public perception of digital personalities. Through a blend of analytical discourse and relatable anecdotes, the hosts illuminate the multifaceted nature of cancel culture, urging listeners to pursue authenticity and thoughtful accountability in an increasingly interconnected digital world.

Transcript

[Ryan Hecox]

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[Shane Topp]

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[Courtney Miller]

Ramble.

[Ian Hecox]

I think the problem is the content isn't genuine. When that fail is pulled back, fans realize like, oh, this person that I idolized is a monster. And then they freak out.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what you should do in any legal situation is face all of his lawyers by yourself.

[Courtney Miller]

A guy thinks I was super in thinking that we were dating and he avoids me now because he thinks I'm in love with him or something.

[Shane Topp]

Virgo season. I'm just gonna wear a CL cloak all month and hide away and be like, don't look at me. An old TV in the back. Just playing Ally McBeal. Yes. Do it, Ally.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes. You litigate.

[Courtney Miller]

What level are you?

[Shane Topp]

37.

[Courtney Miller]

Okay, I'm a little behind.

[Ian Hecox]

It's the smash cast number 15 bros. What?

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, my gosh. I'm really glad I realized you were starting because I was about to start some really copyrighted music.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, good.

[Shane Topp]

Cancel the whole podcast.

[Ian Hecox]

Today, myself, Ian Hecox is joined by the lovely Courtney Miller and the illustrious Shane.

[Shane Topp]

That's how illustrious. Painting a lot.

[Courtney Miller]

I'm having a great morning. My avocado toast was creamer free.

[Ian Hecox]

I saw somebody comment on that episode when we talked about the avocado toast. I believe that was two episodes ago because not only did we talk about avocado toast, I also talked about my. My snobbery about coffee, which I will not. You will not stop me from being snobbish about coffee. Somebody was like, wow, they're. They're so California. I think people enjoy coffee everywhere.

[Courtney Miller]

Everywhere.

[Ian Hecox]

Pretty much.

[Courtney Miller]

Funny story. My keurig broke the next day after we recorded that podcast Sign from God. But I fixed it. Cause I'm a handyman.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, okay.

[Shane Topp]

Wow.

[Ian Hecox]

Dude. I fixed my dishwasher last weekend. I felt like such. I felt like such an adult. It was actually. It was the easiest thing ever I.

[Courtney Miller]

Was going to say, are you all, like, greasy or are you in a wife beater?

[Ian Hecox]

The rag, it was like Lego. I took like two pieces off and I was like, oh, there's the problem. And then, oh, there's a chicken bone.

[Shane Topp]

In the spinner thing.

[Ian Hecox]

There was, like a bunch of paper in there. I don't know if somebody was trying to wash their homework in my dishwasher.

[Courtney Miller]

Put a paper plate in there.

[Ian Hecox]

I like that.

[Shane Topp]

It's your home. So you're like, who is doing this?

[Courtney Miller]

You say that a lot.

[Shane Topp]

Who was doing this in my house?

[Courtney Miller]

Like, with where? I don't know how this decoration got here. It's like, who is in your house other than you?

[Ian Hecox]

I don't know.

[Shane Topp]

Hey, who pooped in my bed?

[Ian Hecox]

Well, that was me, clearly. But the other stuff, I don't know. I don't pay attention to things, but I do. I will say. I will say I thoroughly rinse all of my dishes that go into the dishwasher like the good boy that I am.

[Shane Topp]

Right.

[Ian Hecox]

And this must have been perpetrated by somebody else.

[Shane Topp]

Interesting.

[Ian Hecox]

I'm just putting it out there.

[Shane Topp]

Interesting.

[Courtney Miller]

Is it Ryan Todd, because he's been living with you.

[Ian Hecox]

That's true. So Ryan Todd, our. Our longtime director still lives in Sacramento, and he comes down here to shoot with us and to work with us. So to save. To save money, I allow him to sleep on my couch for we trade off every other week. So it's kind of like every other week. It's like we're two divorced dads that live together.

[Shane Topp]

Don't you have a guest room? Couldn't you get a bed and put that in there?

[Ian Hecox]

I do have a guest room.

[Courtney Miller]

You should put a full on.

[Shane Topp]

You should get a bed. Guys, let's start a petition. Get a bed for Ryan Todd. And also in that same petition, can we also make sure that Ian goes to therapy?

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, well, well, hold on. Let's.

[Shane Topp]

Let's try to make same petition.

[Ian Hecox]

Let's try to make some money off of this. Purple. Hit us up if you want us to sponsor your beds, because I know they do a lot of podcasts, right? I don't know. That's a bed company. I've never sponsor us. All right, and then. And then also talk space. Hit us up.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, both of you guys.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, get at him, because I'm not going to go to therapy until I'm paid for it.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, my gosh. He goes to college to become a therapist to get paid for therapy.

[Shane Topp]

No.

[Ian Hecox]

In the last episode, Pam came on Here, my ex girlfriend and we talked about how I never went to therapy and how I need to go. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I still want. I still like, know I need to go to therapy. And like, I totally believe in therapy and all this stuff, but I still haven't gone. Someone has since created a Twitter profile. The name of the profile is Ian's Reminder. And the bio says reminding something like reminding Ian to go to therapy. And now they're just tweeting me every day saying, go to fucking therapy. Go to fucking therapy.

[Shane Topp]

Wow. Well, it sounds like you need to go to fucking therapy.

[Courtney Miller]

I think it's a long way to go. Even when you don't think anything's wrong with you.

[Shane Topp]

Well, that's like, that's when you should go because you want to go before something awful happens that then brings out, exemplifies all those insecurities and issues you want to.

[Ian Hecox]

I don't have any insecurities. What are you talking about? I'm not insecure about anything.

[Shane Topp]

What are you talking about, bruh? Insecure?

[Ian Hecox]

Do you want to fight right now?

[Shane Topp]

Insecurities are for girls. I don't have any.

[Ian Hecox]

And I'm not a girl. I'm not insecure about being a girl. Damn. Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

It's crazy, the timing of my therapy. I had my first session the day before the shutdown of Defy or whatever.

[Shane Topp]

Wow.

[Courtney Miller]

Good timing right before anything was wrong.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Good little pillow to fall to fall back on. Yeah. I was actually really impressed with the response to last week's episode. There was obviously a couple tweets that were like, wow, got a freaking beta over here.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh my God.

[Shane Topp]

But actually those guys are always gonna be that way.

[Ian Hecox]

But surprisingly it was only a couple. Like everyone else was very positive. Some people were like, wow, that really encouraged me to go talk to my significant other.

[Shane Topp]

That's awesome.

[Ian Hecox]

And like, oh, wow. I like related to this part of it. So. Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. Sometimes the Internet likes healthy, non abusive relationships on Twitter.

[Shane Topp]

I was listening to it on my drive home and I got halfway through it and it was so good. I listened to it while I was at the gym as well. Like, I kept going, I was like, I gotta keep listening to this man.

[Courtney Miller]

This is in between squats. He's just hearing Pam, like, lovely voice.

[Shane Topp]

It was actually, it was leg day.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

I was listening to you guys talk about your problems. I was doing squats listening to you guys talk about your relationship.

[Ian Hecox]

That's.

[Shane Topp]

How's that? How's that? How's that make you feel, Ian?

[Ian Hecox]

It's a little strange. I feel like I need something a little bit more up tempo than.

[Shane Topp]

Well, I did do some lunges.

[Ian Hecox]

Okay.

[Shane Topp]

While you were. While you were. So that. Oh, oh, you mean the. What you're listening to is up tempo? I was saying what I was doing was uptempo while listening to you.

[Courtney Miller]

I think I love podcasts during workouts, especially when it's like the boring parts like cardio. I totally love a podcast. It makes it go way faster. Except for when it's a funny one and like when I'm like in the middle of like doing a set or something, I start laughing and I'm like.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, yeah, that's dangerous. I always avoid that for that reason. Well, same thing. If I'm running and I'm listening to a comedy podcast, I don't want to look like a psycho running and just laughing maniacally. Yeah, it's strange. Have you ever seen somebody smiling while they're running?

[Shane Topp]

No.

[Ian Hecox]

It's weird.

[Shane Topp]

I'll sometimes listen to audiobooks while I'm at the gym and that's a full body workout. Working out your mind and your body at the same time. Yep. I've listened to the entirety of Game, like the first couple Game of Thrones books while I was working out.

[Ian Hecox]

Whoa.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

You work out for a while. How long do you work out?

[Shane Topp]

I'd say it's roughly hour 15 to two hours.

[Courtney Miller]

He's doing pull ups. This character was. Blood was gushing and he's like, Littlefinger.

[Shane Topp]

Turned to Sansa and said, sansa, you can trust me. I promise. I'm just like, jump on.

[Ian Hecox]

Don't listen to Sansa.

[Shane Topp]

Sansa, don't listen to him.

[Courtney Miller]

About the podcast episode, what I meant was like, it's, it's. You hear usually so much drama and like hatred coming from breakups, and I think it's refreshing for people to hear the healthy side and good side of a breakup. Unlike what's been happening on Twitter lately.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shane Topp]

It's been a little bit of a. What could you call it? A shit show on the Internet.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, there's. There's a. There's three. Three sort of every time you think it's gonna smooth out a little bit on Internet land. It doesn't. And it's only gotten worse.

[Shane Topp]

I think this has been the craziest couple weeks as far as YouTube goes. Just cause it's been so many different. All of these would work if they were in one month, each of them individually.

[Ian Hecox]

Right.

[Shane Topp]

They all happened within two weeks of each other.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, man. And we thought, you know, we thought the Pro Jared thing would smooth over and, you know, that'd be done with and everyone would go into their respective hol. Oh, no, baby. Because I. I woke up this morning to my friend being like, whoa, you seeing this? And it's Holly Conrad, the accused mistress of the whole cheating scandal, with pro Jared clapping back at the former wife of pro Jared and just, you know, kind of spelling out this whole story with receipts being like, hey, she's not great. She's abusive. She said that, like, you know, this whole sort of, like, poly. There was, like, a poly relationship kind of thing with poly. Those. You don't know. I don't. I don't know if people don't know what that means, but, like, you could be with or sleep with other people in a room in a relationship. And I guess she. She said she was okay with that. Then the receipts didn't exactly show that she was okay with that. Yeah, and that's just kind of the thing. Like, that's why, like, I didn't. I didn't want to, you know, make. When we were talking about it before, Like, I didn't want to make it about Holly because it's like, look, we don't know what goes on in a personal relationship, and that's honestly none of our business. And that's why I chose to focus on, you know, him soliciting fans for nudes, which is obviously still the case.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, still the problem.

[Ian Hecox]

Still did that.

[Shane Topp]

So that's still the crime. Yeah, the overall crime. But as far as their relationship goes, you. You can't really know what really went on there. And that's the same with the Tati and James Charles stuff, you know? Cause Tati comes out, accuses James Charles of all these things that are kind of personal between the two of them. Everybody takes her side because they're believing her. And then James Charles. James Charles comes back a week later, and they're all like, oh, now Tati's the villain, and James Charles is our hero. And it all made me realize. I'm like, if you don't know someone personally, you have zero idea what's going on. Yeah, you're never gonna know.

[Courtney Miller]

It's just so uncomfortable and weird to see so many people's dirty laundry, you know, it's just like, remember when you'd be like, oh, I love that celebrity. Oh, did you hear he's actually married? And you're like, oh, cool. And that's it. Like, now it's like, I know too. Much about these people that I don't know. And I feel like I don't like it. I really don't.

[Ian Hecox]

And then that scandal, like, opened up to all these other things and allegations that had nothing to do with the reason why she came out in the first place. And look, I am. I'll be completely honest. I didn't watch all of. All of the videos because I got better to do, and it doesn't involve my life, but I did watch some. And then I saw some of the. Some of the fallout and some of the other stuff, and it's like, I'm just sitting there like, well, I mean, most of these people are going to benefit from this.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, they're all going to benefit from it.

[Ian Hecox]

But. But then you have, like, you know, Jeffree Star weighs in and lays on some pretty heavy allegations against James Charles, saying. I think he. I think he said that he accused James Charles of molesting a Dolan twin while he was sleeping or something.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Shane Topp]

I didn't even hear that.

[Courtney Miller]

I didn't. I didn't hear about that. I. I just saw in James's video, he, like, was like, yeah, there's some weird rumor about him, me and the Dolan twins, but we're. And they were one of the first people to call me and check on me and see if I was okay. Where did you hear that one?

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, I didn't hear that one. Cause all I heard was that Jeffree Star said he was gonna come at him with receipts and then was like, you know what? I choose to just stay out of this.

[Courtney Miller]

And, like, I take everything back.

[Shane Topp]

But that does bring up something that I. Something I was upset about with the whole thing. And this was with Tati's thing. Cause in her video, she said, james Charles, you. You kind of harassed or tried to manipulate this waiter. And I'm curious what other people's opinions are on this. Cause my opinion is. I'm like, you don't get to. You don't get to bring up an accusation for another victim. I'm like, that is the victim's. That person who was attacked, if they want to bring it to the forefront, they want to make it public, they are fully allowed to talk about that. You don't get to accuse someone else of doing something to someone else. You don't get to say, hey, this person. I. You assaulted this other person. And I saw it. That just opens up a can of worms on the Internet. That is awful.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, I guess it was a tweet that Jeffrey had sent to James and then James posted it. So it's like, oh, that's weird. But yeah, but it's like if you're gonna say like that's some high.

[Courtney Miller]

Jeffrey gets very heated and emotional and like impulsive when he posts on social media. It's pretty regular, right?

[Ian Hecox]

But it's like, come on man, like Jeff Jeffree's got this huge business to run. Why is he getting involved in this garbage?

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

At the end of the day it's.

[Ian Hecox]

It'S none of his business.

[Courtney Miller]

Grown adults trying to take down like a kid.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

That's just turned 20.

[Shane Topp]

Like it was before it even, even before James Charles came back. I was just like, this is a 37 year old who mentored this teenager and is now like, I'm going to destroy you because you promoted a brand that competes with me. I'm like, that's a little, that's crazy to me that I would never, I can't think of anything that would happen where I'd, in my mind I'd be like, I'm gonna make a 45 minute YouTube video annihilating a person. And what is really scary is how much people enjoy it. Millions of people enjoyed watching someone getting destroyed. We love it.

[Ian Hecox]

Yep.

[Shane Topp]

We are so into it. It's the gladiatory games of, of the modern day. There is, it's very sadistic and it's not massively sadistic, but it's something that seems to exist within the average person.

[Courtney Miller]

It just feels like high school. Like you hear a rumor and you believe it and then someone has an even crazier rumor that's like, no, it's actually even more insane. You're like, oh, okay. Like do not believe everything that you hear.

[Ian Hecox]

Well, so these people have a lot of followers and they have a lot of money and there's nothing we like seeing more than somebody with a lot of money getting, you know, dragged. Because, because it's like, oh, haha. Like, you know, we, we all, you know, he's a, he's a celebrity and you know, people are, people are jealous of, of success like that. And obviously there's, there's probably some, some hatred for like who he is and how he represents himself. So I mean, and I don't know, maybe a lot of those people are just angry girls too. Like angry young girls. I don't know, there's, I think there's, there's just a whole lot of stuff and all of our lives are boring. So when something exciting like this happens, you know, some of us happen to jump on the wagon. We're like, yeah, ha ha. Watch it burn.

[Shane Topp]

I think we all think a lot of us are just bored. I mean, I. I really. And I think. I think we really want a villain right now because things are so muddy, and that's the reality of life, is no one's perfectly good. So we kind of want to find that, and we kind of want to be like, oh, well, this person's evil. So we're all good because that person shows what he's truly bad. So we're not.

[Courtney Miller]

They enjoy finding opportunities that make. That are making other people look lower so they feel higher and feel elevated in their ego.

[Shane Topp]

It's affirmation.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. The amount that people unfollowed James Charles.

[Shane Topp]

And then came right back.

[Ian Hecox]

Crazy. Oh, did they?

[Shane Topp]

They all came right back.

[Courtney Miller]

Tati lost a ton of subscribers, and they all went back to James.

[Shane Topp]

It was so fast.

[Ian Hecox]

Hilarious.

[Shane Topp]

So fast. And I mean, I can't say that I'm innocent. I mean, when. When she came out with her video, I was like, wow, I can't believe James Charles is like, in my head. And now I'm looking back and I'm going, I can't believe I would make a decision that quickly based off a YouTube video.

[Ian Hecox]

When she. Well, when she came out that video, my first response is, wow, I can't believe this video is 40 minutes long. And it is not getting to the point.

[Shane Topp]

There really isn't a point.

[Ian Hecox]

And I was like. I was like, so wait, why. Why is she mad? There's something about makeup. And, like, I just. I just couldn't understand why people gave a shit about any of it. And then it was just like, I.

[Shane Topp]

Don'T think they knew. I don't think they knew why. I think they just wanted to hate him.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And then it was like he clapped back with receipts about refuting all the garbage reasons that she had. And then, you know, then we got clap backs from other people. And she's like, I don't. It's all garbage. And it started from a garbage place, and it's just piling on more garbage.

[Shane Topp]

And what's. It's. Because she made it public. If she. If I met Tati on the streets, and she said, hey, oh, hey, it's.

[Ian Hecox]

Tati on the streets.

[Shane Topp]

Tati on the streets. And she said, oh, yeah. James Charles, he, you know, we're friends, and I helped him start his whole thing. And then recently he promoted a competing brand. I'd be like, that's really crappy. I'M really sorry to hear that. It's that she made it public. That was like, that doesn't need to be public. That sounds like a very personal thing. But she chose to make it public, and she felt she faced public repercussions and is now acting like can't believe this happened. Of course it happened.

[Courtney Miller]

And if that small mistake hadn't happened with the promotion, she wouldn't have aired out all his dirty laundry and accused him of all this other stuff.

[Ian Hecox]

I think she might have still, like.

[Courtney Miller]

Maybe if something else set her off. Yeah, but it's like she was just waiting for something else. Otherwise, she was holding this back willy nilly. Like.

[Ian Hecox]

But it's. It's so ridiculous. Because why. Why did jeffree star have to get involved? It wasn't about him. Why did he get involved? Because you see that it's reality TV. Because her video got 16 million views in, like, two days.

[Shane Topp]

And it's smart. It's why Jake Paul was like, oh, this is the thing that's working right now. And then cancels Cody KO Cody KO Or I'll cancel you. But this is the thing. Even though it looks. It appears as though it blew up in Jake Paul's face. Jake Paul is gonna get more views from this. That video got so many views. It works. It works every time.

[Ian Hecox]

It works for now.

[Shane Topp]

But, yeah, it's.

[Ian Hecox]

What is the public opinion of Jake Paul? Not that he's ever really seemed to care about the public opinion, but. But it's not. I don't think that's really thinking long term when you're. When you're just looking for short term, massive gains. You're not thinking about, does this really reflect who I am and what I believe? Or am I just chasing something in the hopes that I get views or followers?

[Shane Topp]

But yeah, I will say that video is hilarious.

[Ian Hecox]

Well, okay, so let me. Let me wrap up. Let me wrap up the. The James Charles thing. I just want to just wrap that up. Nice little package. Kick it into the garbage can. They all made those videos. They all got massive amounts of views. Then people were like, okay, where's the proof of all this crazy molestation, accusation, all this stuff? And then suddenly everyone's like, we've decided to all just be friends, and this whole thing is in the past now. Please, no one ever talk about it ever again.

[Courtney Miller]

Well, I think in a way, I think James Charles kind of had the last word because he had all the receipts and had actual video proof from the people who were accused and all this stuff he had Proof that those things weren't true. And then Tati was like, I'm on family vacation, so I'm not gonna speak on it. And then Jeffree's like, I'm coming at you with the receipts. And then the next day, he's like, you know what? I'm never doing this again. I take back my involvement. It's like, oh, okay, so you. Okay. So James kind of won in my. That's how I see it. I feel like James kind of won that one.

[Ian Hecox]

I think the only people that won were the people watching was YouTube.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Damn, that got a lot of views. So many views.

[Shane Topp]

It's crazy. I mean, the reality is, you don't. We don't know any of them. We have no idea. And you might think, you know, who's the worst person on the Internet or the worst, you know, person out there. You have no idea. There's probably a YouTuber you think is great and is actually evil. You have no clue.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, it's like with Jake Paul's documentary that Shane Dawson did. It's like, I just. I wanted to watch it, but, like, I just would get upset and be like, this is literally none of my business. This is no one's business. I don't need to understand this person. It's their job to put out content and for other people to enjoy it, like you, it's not your job. Like, Bo Burnham dealt for a long time with when he would perform and have this Persona on stage. When people met him in person, they expected him to act a certain way, and it's like, no, that's a separate thing. I'm still a human being, and I have my life that I'm gonna keep my own. It's like, people, I just like, I hope this whole cancel culture and, like, this everything is my business stuff is just. People just need to get over themselves and, like, just allow content to be enjoyed and be genuine. And I just hate it.

[Ian Hecox]

I think the problem is the content isn't genuine. So then when. When that veil is pulled back.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Then fans realize, like, oh, this person that I idolized is a monster. And then they freak out. So I think it's really. It's really just like, people aren't representing who they truly are online. And because YouTube is so close to reality compared to television or movies, people feel like, no, no, no. That is the real person.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. We pretend it's reality.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Like a David Dobrik vlog, He presents it as if it's supposed to be real. Obviously, it's completely so.

[Ian Hecox]

Wait, wait, you're not telling me that in the daily normal world, David Dobrik just isn't going around buying people Ferraris? No, no, I refuse to believe that. I think he's been doing that since day one.

[Courtney Miller]

I feel like the last time I saw him in person was like at Vidcon and he's just like tired.

[Ian Hecox]

Did he.

[Shane Topp]

I'm sure he's tired. The guy works so much.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

That is the thing I'll say Overall is every YouTuber, regardless of what type of content they're making, they're all hard workers, man. Even Jake Paul and Logan Paul. I'm like, God, the work ethic is crazy.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Everyone's just, just grinding.

[Courtney Miller]

And people who have worked. I think we know some people who have worked with James Charles and they've said James Charles is like a powerhouse and he works really hard.

[Shane Topp]

I don't doubt it.

[Courtney Miller]

James Charles or Jeffree star has the frickin company.

[Shane Topp]

Like they all, all three of them are super hard workers.

[Ian Hecox]

I mean, I can't imagine. I mean when did James Charles start making videos us when he was like 14?

[Shane Topp]

A couple years. Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Like the, the, the fact that he has this, he has such a control over the way that he, that he presents himself and even what I watched, I actually watched his entire receipts. Receipts video.

[Courtney Miller]

Me too.

[Ian Hecox]

And he is, he is like, he is. You could tell he has total control of like how, how he looks on video and he's able to completely put somehow put Together this like 12 minute long run on sentence that you, you literally can't escape the video because he's so good at like whether talks so fast. Yeah. And so constantly that there's no way that you can actually like pull away. Like with, with the toddy video I was like, I was like a minute and I was like, yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

A lot of pauses there. I think James Charles has mentioned he's actually like impatient in general. Like with. With other makeup videos he puts it on like sped up.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

So when he watches them and I think he's generally just like wants things to move.

[Ian Hecox]

So he just thinks in two times.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

I believe that man. He is a product of growing up on YouTube.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. He was the first male on the CoverGirl magazine.

[Shane Topp]

I wish the cancel culture affected other jobs like it does makeup gurus on YouTube because imagine if some, if your house was on fire and some firefighters showed up and it was like, oh, that's Craig the firefighter. He was mean to his buddy Steve the firefighter and he didn't support Steve's birthday, so. Greg, get away. You're not allowed to take out the fire here in my house. I don't support you.

[Courtney Miller]

That's my dad's whole life.

[Ian Hecox]

And that's the T. And that's the.

[Shane Topp]

T. And that's the tea. Chief.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Cancel culture is very strange. Who do you think was like the first person online that got canceled?

[Courtney Miller]

Wasn't it Toby? Toby Turner.

[Ian Hecox]

Kind of. I mean, that's one of them for sure. But there's kind of.

[Courtney Miller]

Is it one of the big ones?

[Shane Topp]

Shay Carl kind of got canceled.

[Courtney Miller]

Was that afterward?

[Ian Hecox]

That was after, I think.

[Shane Topp]

I don't know. There's probably someone forever ago who got canceled, but it really is more now because we follow people.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

We used to just kind of watch video by video, but now people subscribe to someone and so if something happens, there's a lot of power there and going, oh, I can unsubscribe to you.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

And destroy you.

[Ian Hecox]

I guess maybe Toby was, I think he was. Was really like one of the first people to get like super canceled where, you know, he saw like a serious hit to his fall.

[Courtney Miller]

And that was before the beast evolved. The cancel beast, where, yeah, he would have clapped back because, like, he didn't. He didn't really fully clap back. And I think it wasn't until like the past year where he decided to like upload a video like.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

Reopening up the whole thing.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Which is weird.

[Courtney Miller]

It's weird. I think. I mean, he was the first cancel I ever experienced.

[Ian Hecox]

But now, but now we're reaching. Now we're reaching a level of like the cancel culture where, where it's now pierced beyond people that care about YouTube drama. Like, I think like Newsweek and other, like, publications were reporting on the James Charles situation. And so you have all these like 40 year old, you know, stay at home moms that are like, what? Who is this? James. James Carl's man. Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Well, the James Charles thing is also weird because with Toby or with a lot of things, it's canceling someone because they committed a crime or something. It's like, oh, they're a criminal, that's one thing. But James Charles one, We were canceling him and we weren't really sure why. Yeah, that's what was weird is I'm like, I'm never gonna cancel someone because of a personal thing that happened between him and a friend if he didn't support, like, honestly, even hearing, it's like people were mad. People were canceling him because he didn't support her brand. And he supported. And I'm like, that is a business decision that he is allowed to make. He. I do not care what business decisions he makes.

[Courtney Miller]

And the circumstances are all. But, yeah, I feel like if I. And I've had people who are, like, in the digital space who have wronged me, and I'm like, you have the option to not be able to work through it on your own and be okay, or you can get it off your chest in this kind of immature way, which is announcing it to the world.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

Which is like a feast for all websites. Twitter. Everyone goes to Twitter to see what's up. Everyone. It's. Everyone's just feasting on it and gaining adsense from everything. It's crazy.

[Ian Hecox]

Also, the thing that, like, she got mad at him about were fucking vitamins.

[Courtney Miller]

And she made so, so much money off of the whole thing for her vitamins.

[Ian Hecox]

Vitamins that will make you pretty.

[Shane Topp]

I can't believe James Charles ate Flintstone vitamins. That made her so mad.

[Ian Hecox]

I just don't. I don't know. Supplements. I just like, when I see it's like supplements, I'm like, okay.

[Shane Topp]

It is weird, though, because I feel like we exist in this part of YouTube. There's a lot of channels that are just so out of the drama, and then there's all these channels that are constantly in it, so it's weird to watch it from the outside.

[Ryan Hecox]

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[Ian Hecox]

I mean, I guess now I'm like. I'm like, wait, now are we part of that drama loop?

[Shane Topp]

No, because we're not. We're not, like, reveling in it. It's not like Keemstar or something where it's like, oh, wait till you hear this.

[Ian Hecox]

We're just.

[Shane Topp]

We're.

[Ian Hecox]

Do you mean wait till you hear this?

[Shane Topp]

It's also kind of in the past now. Like, we're walking around the rubble being like, oh, what happened here?

[Ian Hecox]

Whoa, what's that? That's gross.

[Shane Topp]

But the Jake Paul Video I thoroughly enjoyed that is actually. I wish it. I wish it was scripted because it's so funny.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, my God.

[Shane Topp]

Because it's him being like, I'm gonna confront Cody Ko. He's an. He's an Internet bully, which he's mainly bringing up just that Cody Ko has made fun of him and his brother.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, no doubt.

[Shane Topp]

And that's the reason he's upset. But he goes to confront him, and he catches Cody Ko off guard, and all he says is, you're a cyberbully. I don't like that. Yeah, I don't like that you're. I don't. I don't like that. I'm like, this is so funny.

[Ian Hecox]

It's almost as effective. It's almost as effective as the Dobre Brothers. Stop that.

[Shane Topp]

It really is. No, that. It was actually a joke. I was like, this is so, so funny.

[Ian Hecox]

Maybe he's the Kaufman of our generation.

[Shane Topp]

He really could be, cuz. Man.

[Courtney Miller]

What was Cody's. Is my mic not working? Hello?

[Ian Hecox]

He's gotta get closer.

[Courtney Miller]

Hello.

[Shane Topp]

Sorry, you've been. We can't. Courtney. We canceled you.

[Courtney Miller]

I didn't see the video.

[Shane Topp]

So what did Cody Ko say Cody Ko responded to? Well, Cody in the video, he's just like, oh, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry for cyberbullying you. He says that.

[Courtney Miller]

He just kind of like.

[Shane Topp]

He says it in a very Cody code. He's like, oh, man, I'm sorry for cyberbullying you.

[Ian Hecox]

Also, there's literally no good way that he could have responded in that situation. Like, Jake Paul ambushed him with cameras and was like, you're a cyber bully. And it's like, what are you supposed to say to that? No.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes.

[Shane Topp]

Cody Ko uploaded a video. Just kind of going over it a little bit.

[Ian Hecox]

Really?

[Courtney Miller]

I need to see it. And his podcast comes out.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. And he's just kind of like. He's just kind of like, yeah, it's weird. I don't know what to say about it. I've never, like, any. The. The evidence that Jake Paul used is not good evidence.

[Courtney Miller]

Cody Ko has totally, like, gone and dissected videos and, like, made fun of people. Like, there's this whole, like, Blue Ass Water where he's making fun of this, like, influencer, and he later had that dude on his podcast, and it was, like, a wonderful time. And he's like, oh, I want to have him back. Like, he's actually a really cool dude. And so, like, I. It just feels like Jake didn't even do much research. At all.

[Ian Hecox]

No, because Jake is confusing criticism with bullying. Like, what Cody Ko makes is critiques of videos. He's not bullying people because he thinks they look dumb. If they say something dumb in a video, he critiques that. Yeah, and that's. That's the whole.

[Shane Topp]

There's so many of those. That's a whole section of YouTube.

[Ian Hecox]

And maybe. Maybe it's a small difference if you're. If you're just. If you're dumb.

[Shane Topp]

Are you cyber bullied Jake Paul?

[Ian Hecox]

But I mean, like, look, if he honestly believed that. That Cody Ko was a cyber bully because he made fun of his videos, then dudes got to take a little step back.

[Shane Topp]

H3 was like, wait, you doxxed Post Malone's house? And then he was later held up at gunpoint because of that. So, no, you don't get to call someone out for cyberbullying when you've legitimately bullied people.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna go and call Jake Paul a cyber bully. I don't. I don't have. I don't have. I don't have receipts.

[Shane Topp]

I think it was a stunt. I think. I think Jake Paul knew it was a stunt. I think he was. I think before he made the video, he's like, this is gonna get a lot of views. And it' he actually. All Jake Paul did was help Cody Ko. Cody Ko's gonna have so many more views and subscribers now.

[Courtney Miller]

I think it's very interesting. Jake was just like, I'm gonna try a cancel video. I'm gonna try cancel culture, see if that'll. Because, I mean, him and Tana Mongeau have been making videos lately. And, like, that was their whole thing that was, like, kind of making them more relevant. And they had talked about, like, yeah, we haven't really been controversial in a while. Like, what's the deal?

[Ian Hecox]

The timing was very suspect.

[Courtney Miller]

It's very funny. And then Tana, in a way, I think kind of using jokes and humor kind of got Jake out of that slump of controversy or whatever, just by being like, when he's in a controversy, when he's in a scandal and you're not, it's like a photo. And everyone was like, oh, yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Anyway, I hadn't been watching their videos, but I heard they were actually kind of endearing, that the videos with. With him and Tana were actually kind of cute.

[Courtney Miller]

It's a really cute dynamic.

[Shane Topp]

So I. It's. I mean, hopefully he just goes back to doing that. I mean, I think there's a world where if Logan and Jake and I haven't heard anything about Logan in a while, but if he just like, was like, oh, maybe I'll just start making content that isn't like this. I'll just have fun.

[Ian Hecox]

And yeah, I think he came out with a couple series that I think were not problematic, but I don't think they were really getting a ton of views. I mean, the problem is, like, when you. When you build your whole sort of career off of, you know, pushing the limit, you have to keep pushing the limit if you want to keep people entertained.

[Shane Topp]

Well, it's like if Keemstar was like, hey, I'm gonna talk about positive things today and the good things that people have done, nobody would watch it. Yeah, yeah. It's an unfortunate reality. So I understand there's probably a part of Jake Paul that's real that doesn't want to do that, but he's thinking, I have to. And that's tough.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Let's all pray for Jake Paul. He needs it. He needs a bad guys text. Five five, five, five five five five five five five five eight five five five.

[Shane Topp]

I can't sing in the arms of an angel.

[Courtney Miller]

Three one four, one five.

[Ian Hecox]

One penny a day.

[Shane Topp]

Sarah McLaughlin's angel is playing in the background.

[Ian Hecox]

One penny a day will go to Jake Paul just directed me so he could go to school and learn the difference between criticism and bullying.

[Shane Topp]

I'm just thinking of like a anti cancel suit that you could wear. It's like, well, you can't get canceled if you're wearing this suit.

[Courtney Miller]

I just think all this YouTube drama is gonna make for a great YouTube detention sketch soon.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, snap.

[Courtney Miller]

I think it's time for another.

[Ian Hecox]

I agree. We do need to come out with another one of those.

[Courtney Miller]

They're really fun. The format's really fun.

[Shane Topp]

Of those ones, we. We were having a conversation yesterday of like, oh, if we made another. Who. What. What YouTubers would we play? So I don't know. We'll see. We'll see, man.

[Ian Hecox]

Because when you played Logan Paul, you died dabbing.

[Shane Topp]

I did. I think I did log Paul and died dabbing. So. Yeah, maybe we could take on a fictional version of Jake Paul. Yeah, something.

[Ian Hecox]

So. So Jake and Tana are dating. They're now Jana.

[Courtney Miller]

They're. They're. They're quote unquote dating. They're like teasing that they are, but they aren't, like, just making this will they, won't they thing out of nowhere.

[Ian Hecox]

They should have a new word for like clout dating. You know what I mean?

[Shane Topp]

Like Isn't that power couple?

[Ian Hecox]

Well, I mean, like. But power couple could be, like, a real thing. Like, do you think this is a real thing, or is this. Is this a play for clout?

[Shane Topp]

No, you're right. It's a. It's a clout thing.

[Ian Hecox]

So there's gotta be. There's gotta be a new. We need to come up with a new word for that because. Because, you know, first it was, like, drama for clout, and now it's like, oh, no, they're getting together, and they're, like, doing kissy kissy things for clout. Kiss for clout.

[Courtney Miller]

Recloutch and ship. Relation. Clout. No, clout. Chinship. I don't know.

[Ian Hecox]

We're gonna. We're gonna get to the bottom of this. We'll let you guys know.

[Courtney Miller]

Tweeted us and comment. Some idea. Yeah, you'll get the credit.

[Ian Hecox]

So, Courtney, your apartment's falling apart.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, yeah, I put that down. My flooring is coming up, like, in large. Like, there's one that's, like, almost as big as this table here, and I, like, stumble over it sometimes. It's just air. It's like that cheap laminate wood that's just like a layer of rubber pretty much that looks like wood. And in two places, it's like a bubble coming up. And they said they were gonna fix it, but it's taking longer than they thought.

[Ian Hecox]

Are you sure you don't live above a fault line?

[Shane Topp]

Or maybe you live above a geyser like they have in Yellowstone.

[Courtney Miller]

They checked for moisture. There's no leak.

[Ian Hecox]

There's no geyser. Wait, did they check for moisture, or did they check for geysers?

[Shane Topp]

Geysers.

[Courtney Miller]

They didn't bring their geyser test arms.

[Shane Topp]

Dang it. Amateurs.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. So my stuff. My furniture's kind of moved around away from the bubbles, so that they can cut with scissors, probably the laminate wood, and lay some new stuff down. Or re. Glue it with Elmer's scissors. Yeah, they're gonna fix it with some scissors and some Elmer's glue.

[Ian Hecox]

Elmer's glue, yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. I love my apartment, though. It's, like, my favorite that I've lived in so far for sure. And it, like. It was funny when my landlord came in. He's like, you. You've done well with the place. It makes it look good. And I was like, thank you. It's my favorite so far. And he was like, oh, my God. It's, like, nice, because.

[Ian Hecox]

Are you, like, crazy tight with your landlord?

[Courtney Miller]

He's chill, he's young. He's like, he's not my landlord.

[Shane Topp]

He's 12 years old.

[Courtney Miller]

He's like. I think he like works for the landlord. He's like the manager for the building. But like, it's awesome. Like, I texted him about my floor and he had someone over within the hour and it was like 8:00 at night. It's. I. Dude, there are things like the apartment's dark. I wish I had more light in it, but, like, I'll take a good landlord system over some extra sunshine. It's priorities when you're apartments.

[Ian Hecox]

Guys, I wanna know more about this landlord. Is he cute?

[Shane Topp]

Oh, shit.

[Courtney Miller]

He's actually. He kinda looks like you. Oh, so he's cute.

[Ian Hecox]

He's like real fucking cute. He's a snack.

[Courtney Miller]

He has the same. Oh my God. He has the same.

[Shane Topp]

He's a whole lunchable.

[Courtney Miller]

He's the same, like kind of monotone, ish voice as you, I think. But his hair is black and dark.

[Shane Topp]

Ian.

[Ian Hecox]

Ooh.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, but he's really nice.

[Shane Topp]

My landlord's a older German lady.

[Courtney Miller]

Wow.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, I had a noise complaint early on when I moved in and she knocked on the door and was like, it's very loud and it's late at night, so please.

[Courtney Miller]

What were you doing that was so loud?

[Shane Topp]

We were trying to put up picture frames.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, okay.

[Ian Hecox]

Slanging down.

[Shane Topp]

I can hear that you're slanging down, so please stop.

[Courtney Miller]

Dude, it's so nice. The people next to me who I share a wall with, they moved out and so it's an empty. That's where my sound system is. And then there's a big gap before the next apartment and the girl above me says she can never hear me. So I've been blasting music with my sound bar.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes. Slangin beats.

[Courtney Miller]

Slangin beats.

[Ian Hecox]

Shoot, dude.

[Courtney Miller]

Shoot, dude. Slangin beats, beats, dude.

[Ian Hecox]

That's cool. So, but you, you. Because I had pitched you when. Because some of. Some of the people that we work with are now moving closer to the office. Because some people live very far away. Like our producer, Kevin.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

And he lives in Oregon. And I was like, yeah, maybe. Maybe he needs a roommate. Maybe you could move in. Move with him. You're like, I like living alone.

[Courtney Miller]

I do. I've lived with people and Kevin, you're married. Kevin's married.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

And I do not need to live with another. I've lived with couples before and it's.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. You don't want to hear marriage banging. That's just weird.

[Courtney Miller]

Marriage banging is a whole other beast.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Because they say, like, I do.

[Courtney Miller]

I do.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. You have to keep saying that. You have to keep, you know, reiterating.

[Ian Hecox]

You have to renew your vow before you bang. That's the rule.

[Shane Topp]

That is.

[Ian Hecox]

Or else Christ will be upset as God intended it.

[Shane Topp]

Wow. Just a bunch of. I like how everyone who's not married is on this podcast and all the other people who are in this room are married.

[Ian Hecox]

That's true. What's up with that?

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, what's up with that? Guys?

[Courtney Miller]

Cece, Kevin, Ryan, all hitched.

[Ian Hecox]

They're just. They're just throwing all this judgment at us.

[Shane Topp]

Like, wow, you had to get married and not be famous. Isn't that crazy?

[Courtney Miller]

What was. What was the third? Because there was like, three drama related things on the Internet this past week. What was the other one?

[Ian Hecox]

You want to get. All right, yeah, we can get into that. Tfue and Faze Clan.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, yeah. I don't know anything about this. So this is like. This is like legal drama.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, well, it's like legal and bro drama.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, bro.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Because if you know anything about the esports community, a lot of bros.

[Shane Topp]

Interesting.

[Ian Hecox]

You know what I mean, Bro.

[Shane Topp]

Law and Order, Bro squad.

[Ian Hecox]

So, yeah, there's this guy, he's one of the top streamers around. He plays a lot of Fortnite, and his name is Tfue. Yep.

[Courtney Miller]

It's a cute name.

[Ian Hecox]

Shane is dabbed.

[Shane Topp]

I'm dabbing.

[Ian Hecox]

He joined.

[Courtney Miller]

I'm sorry.

[Shane Topp]

You did that on purpose. You did that on purpose.

[Courtney Miller]

It was originally gonna be a small bird, but then the rest was like, surprise. I'm coming.

[Ian Hecox]

It's okay. We're gonna that out. People don't. People don't like burp noises on a podcast. They just don't on our podcast. They want to see it, but they don't want to hear it. All right, so there's this. This very longstanding esports team called Faze Clan. I think they got started in, like, Call of Duty stuff. Cool.

[Shane Topp]

Sick, bro.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Yeah. And it's like if you. I'm trying to explain, like, if you were to check out Faze Clan, the kind of guys you would see because, you know, because you. You have this idea of what a gamer looks like, like a pro gamer. You kind of get that sort of thought in your head. But these guys, like, they all kind of remind me of, like, dudes that. That never left college, like, go to Warped Tour.

[Shane Topp]

Interesting.

[Ian Hecox]

They're total bros. You know what I mean?

[Shane Topp]

Well, gamers come in so many different forms, man. It's way different cultures. If you're playing JRPGs, you are a completely different person than if you're playing.

[Courtney Miller]

Call of Duty or like League of Legends.

[Shane Topp]

League of Legends and Fortnite are completely, completely different types of gamers.

[Ian Hecox]

This is true.

[Shane Topp]

Very different types.

[Ian Hecox]

This is true. Faze Clan very successful. Obviously the top streamers that are playing Fortnite are making a shit ton of money. Like dollars on dollars, like $5. Yeah, yeah.

[Shane Topp]

So many dollars.

[Ian Hecox]

So this, this Tfue guy joins. I think he joined maybe a year ago, maybe longer than that. But anyway, he clearly wants out of his contract. And he claims that the contract is extremely predatory. So he urged Faze to release the contract and they were going to. Then it leaked on its own where they claim that in the contract, brand deals brought in by Faze clan, Faze keeps 80%. Whoa. In game sticker slash merchandise. Faze takes 50 brand deals brought in by the gamer. So if t. If, if advertiser comes to tfu, TFU and says, hey, will you put G Fuel in your video, in your videos, in your stream? And he says, sure. FaZe gets 50% of that appearance fees. 50%.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, my God. Why would he sign on to this?

[Ian Hecox]

And prize money? Faze can get 20% of that. Well, and this is, this is the issue. So obviously when he first signed this contract, he was a very like, small streamer. And I'm sure the idea of any sort of substantial money sounded great, but I'm sure he also didn't expect to be pulling in millions of dollars a year.

[Shane Topp]

True.

[Ian Hecox]

So I'm sure he's kind of signed on. And Faze says that they only collected $60,000 of whatever deal they had with him, but they're clear they clearly could be entitled to more. And then like he said that they, they offered to change the contract earlier and offered him a million dollars as like a make good, and he turned that down.

[Courtney Miller]

What?

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. So that, like, if this is weird. Yeah. So you can imagine they're making so much money that, that Faze is like, here, here's just. Here's a million dollars. Just please, like sign a normal contract. But this is the.

[Shane Topp]

Almost like a settlement.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Kind of like, hey, here's a million dollars. Just please, like.

[Ian Hecox]

Well, I think, I think they obviously, I think Faze realizes how predatory this contract is as well. And Faze came out with the sort of video today and they, they blamed former management on making these contracts. I'm like, look, you're. You're running this company. You know what these contracts, you know what's in these contracts? And you just said, like, well, yeah, I mean, like, look, you know, Faze is gonna. Is. He was. He was not a popular streamer. He was brought into Faze and was pumped up by the other Faze clan people in the streams, and he became a big streamer. So you could say that Faze should be entitled to some of that money, but it's not. He's doing it on his own channels. It's not like there's a phase channel that he's getting famous on. It's his own Twitch channel that he's on.

[Shane Topp]

It's. It's kind of like corporate indentured servitude in a weird way of like, hey, we'll make you famous, but then you owe us for years, and you owe us everything. Right?

[Ian Hecox]

But it's. But it's. It's more like if. If you were a movie star and say Paramount was like, okay, you're gonna be in our movies, and we're gonna take this amount of money, whatever. But this is like, if he were running his own movie studio, and Paramount's like, yeah, yeah, we'll mention your movie. You know what I mean? Like, he's. He's doing all the work.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

And they're taking all that. So it's. It's. It's a little weird.

[Shane Topp]

They're advertisers for him, in a sense.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. I mean, and they're. And they're probably bringing in some brand deals, but they're taking an insane amount.

[Shane Topp]

He signed that contract just to get known?

[Ian Hecox]

I think so. Yeah. And I mean, look, when. When you. When you promise, when you show a kid, you know, six figures, they're gonna go, holy crap. Yes. Tell me where to sign.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

They don't realize. And obviously, he had no way of knowing that he would be making millions of dollars a year. So this is just one of those issues where if you don't hire a lawyer to look at any kind of contract, you can really get fudged over, because there's no way. There's no way if. If this guy brought this contract to any lawyer, he go, what the fuck are you thinking? Like, so.

[Shane Topp]

But contracts in Hollywood are just garbage in general. I mean, this.

[Ian Hecox]

Well, this. This contract's probably illegal.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, is it that, like, the labor percentages or.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, like the.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, is it over? Yeah, there's probably a lot of guidelines that are. I don't. Not aware of. My favorite thing, though, is the tweet that Faze sent to Tfue.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

He goes. He says, I think the wording is, listen, you fuck. I still love you to death, bro. Come, like, let's talk. You bring whoever you want, and I'll go alone. I'll come alone. And someone retweeted that and was like, yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what you should do in any legal situation. Face all of his lawyers by yourself.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, that was Faze Banks. He's been very vocal. He's one of the guys that started Faze, I believe. Yeah. And, well, he's the owner of Faze Clan.

[Shane Topp]

That makes sense.

[Ian Hecox]

And it's just like, he just keeps tweeting. I'm like, dude, stop. Stop it.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. He's had a lot of stuff in the past that he, like, gets a lot of controversy for. He. And it's because it's people who just get very emotional and heated and use social media as an outlet.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And I get it. Like, there's obviously a lot of people coming after him. And I. And I understand his. His. That he feels the need to defend himself. But it's just like, the more you're saying, like, there was somebody posted a. A gif in response to, like, his post, and it's like, TFU's lawyers. And it's that shot of Jack Nicholson, like, grinning and nodding.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, of course.

[Ian Hecox]

Because it's like he's just saying all this stuff. I'm like, dude, just.

[Courtney Miller]

You're gonna dig yourself a grave. Leave.

[Ian Hecox]

Leave this to the lawyers. It'll all just kind of smooth out.

[Shane Topp]

God, like, always lawyer up in those situations, man.

[Courtney Miller]

And there's not gonna save you.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And there's also a theory that tfue is maybe starting his own org. So he's maybe using this as a way to be like, I'm standing up for the gamers. We gotta. We gotta do what's right. And we gotta. We gotta. We gotta make things right. I'm gonna do it the right way. So come on over to TFood.

[Shane Topp]

My contract only takes 70%, not 80.

[Ian Hecox]

So, Courtney, it's Gemini season. What does that mean?

[Courtney Miller]

I don't know. I think it just means that the planets are aligned to be Gemini. But I feel like people are saying that, like, I'm more powerful. I'm a Gemini, guys.

[Shane Topp]

Did you know the planet is more Gemini or Geminis have more power?

[Courtney Miller]

Geminis have more power during this month. But I could be wrong. I've just been. People have been like, oh, it's Gemini season. I was like, oh, I didn't know this Was a thing until this year that people were like, ooh, it's Aries season. It's Virgo season. So it's apparently currently Gemini season. It was really weird because one morning a couple. Like, a little bit ago, I woke up, and I was just feeling super empowered, like, extremely empowered. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna dress up today. I feel good. I'm gonna kill it today. I'm taking on the world. I was like, why do I feel so powerful?

[Ian Hecox]

You know, it could be Gemini season, or it could be a manic episode.

[Courtney Miller]

Or I went on Twitter, and they're like, guys, today's Gemini season starting. And I was like, whoa. Maybe that's why I felt so powerful today, But I don't know.

[Shane Topp]

Have you never felt powerful at all, Courtney?

[Ian Hecox]

Have you been. Have you been smoking crack again?

[Courtney Miller]

You know, maybe that bubble in my floor is just meth being cooked under my flooring.

[Shane Topp]

Just smoking meth. It must be Gemini season, because I feel gray. Woo.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. I don't know. Literally, this year, I just started hearing about seasons, and since it's my season, I'm like, all right.

[Ian Hecox]

Gemini's the name of your crack rock.

[Shane Topp]

You know what? I think it's always. It's fine to celebrate everything, and if you want to celebrate Gemini season, you go ahead. But I think I feel like maybe there is something to it. Cause I hate Virgo season. September. I hate that month. Even though that's my month. I just. I'm like, it's a lame month.

[Courtney Miller]

Would you like someone to wake you up when September ends?

[Shane Topp]

Get out.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, dang it.

[Shane Topp]

Even just saying that guy copyrighted. Way to go.

[Courtney Miller]

Watch out. I'm super powerful right now, so don't threaten me.

[Shane Topp]

What? Did you do anything that day that was very powerful? Did you just feel powerful?

[Courtney Miller]

Wore boots.

[Shane Topp]

Wow. Holy crap.

[Courtney Miller]

What did I wear?

[Shane Topp]

Workout?

[Courtney Miller]

I don't know. It was just that morning, I was just sitting, doing makeup, and I was like, man, I feel really powerful.

[Ian Hecox]

Did you wear more pins than normal?

[Courtney Miller]

I don't think I wore any pins. I was like, I don't need these pins for confidence.

[Ian Hecox]

I have it.

[Shane Topp]

Whoa.

[Ian Hecox]

The pins are a defense mechanism.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, the pins are my insecurities.

[Ian Hecox]

Mmm.

[Courtney Miller]

I wear a lot of pins. I actually had a little hard time this morning because I had a specific set of pins I wanted to wear to match the red on my pants.

[Ian Hecox]

Nice.

[Courtney Miller]

I was like, okay, so I need these red pins. And I was putting them all on one jacket, and I finally got them all on, took off all the other ones. And I was like, leaving, and I saw this other jean jacket. I was like, ooh, that one's really cute. Took all the pins off the one I was wearing. Had to put them in, place them all artfully, nicely on that one. I was like, wait, I can't wear this jacket because it's black. Because that blends in with the podcast wall. So I have to put them all back. All these pins back. Pin problems. Am I right, boys?

[Shane Topp]

Son of a bitch.

[Courtney Miller]

Pins are. Pins are hard.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, pins are real tough, man.

[Courtney Miller]

Screw you, Shane.

[Ian Hecox]

Meanwhile, Shane just shows up in the same shirt, just a different color every day.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

This is actually a brand new shirt. I bought this shirt this week.

[Courtney Miller]

I'm not kidding. It's a nice green. I actually.

[Ian Hecox]

I actually do like that color.

[Shane Topp]

Thank you.

[Ian Hecox]

It looks really good.

[Shane Topp]

I actually put on a. I was gonna wear a tie dye shirt today. I bought a tie dye shirt for the first time in my life.

[Ian Hecox]

Whoa.

[Shane Topp]

And then I was like, you know what? I'm not feeling powerful enough to rock this today. I was like, someone's gonna make fun of me and it's gonna destroy me.

[Ian Hecox]

Tie dye's coming back, man.

[Courtney Miller]

Maybe in Virgo season you can wear it.

[Shane Topp]

No Virgo season. I'm just gonna wear a cloak all month and hide away and be like, don't look at me.

[Ian Hecox]

It's Virgo season.

[Shane Topp]

It's Virgo season. I need to go organize some things.

[Courtney Miller]

Ew.

[Shane Topp]

I need to organize. Light some scented candles and read a book.

[Ian Hecox]

Watch Ally McBeal.

[Shane Topp]

I'm going to watch Ally McBeal. All Virgos watch Ally McBeal on repeat.

[Courtney Miller]

Ew.

[Shane Topp]

You Geminis wouldn't understand. Stand going further into my cave. An old TV in the back, just playing Ally McBeal. Yes. Do it, Ally. Do it.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes. You litigate.

[Shane Topp]

People listening. Love this. I know you're all Ally McBeal fans. Oh, God.

[Ian Hecox]

So I figured I'd end this podcast with some funny news.

[Courtney Miller]

Uh.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh. So Moby came out with a book or something.

[Shane Topp]

Nice.

[Ian Hecox]

Came out with a book.

[Shane Topp]

Call me Ishmael. I've read it.

[Courtney Miller]

Nice. I like that. That was a good one. That was a good one.

[Shane Topp]

I don't get that.

[Courtney Miller]

I like the movie.

[Shane Topp]

You don't get Moby Dick.

[Courtney Miller]

That's the first sentence.

[Shane Topp]

Herman Melville.

[Courtney Miller]

Call me Ishmael.

[Ian Hecox]

Sorry, what?

[Shane Topp]

Oh, my God. I have actually read that book and I don't recommend it.

[Ian Hecox]

So he wrote a book, I guess, and in it he talked about his relationship with Natalie Portman, the famous actress and rapper. You may have seen her in things like Leon the Professional.

[Shane Topp]

Star Wars, Phantom Menace.

[Ian Hecox]

Phantom Menace, Yes. Black Swan, Darjeeling Limited.

[Shane Topp]

Is she in Darjeeling Limited?

[Ian Hecox]

Yep. Right at the beginning. Haha. I threw a deep one in there.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, that's my favorite, like one of my favorite movies.

[Shane Topp]

Wow. Well, clearly not Leon the Professional.

[Courtney Miller]

Also one of my favorites.

[Shane Topp]

Leon the Professional, dude.

[Ian Hecox]

Leon the Professional. So dope.

[Courtney Miller]

That was on the list of movies you gave me when I first started that movie.

[Ian Hecox]

So freaking dope.

[Shane Topp]

Natalie Portman's in a lot of hits, man. We could probably list movies.

[Ian Hecox]

She's a great actress. She's a lot of things.

[Shane Topp]

She's one of the best.

[Ian Hecox]

One of those things though is someone who has not dated Moby.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. So Moby claimed that they dated, right? She was just like, no.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes.

[Shane Topp]

So can you imagine if I just like tweeted being like, you know, my relationship with Olivia Wilde five years ago is crazy, but you know, short lived.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And I saw this photo, I saw this photo of Moby with like his arm around Natalie and she's like laughing, but it's like, it's like the, it's like the sort of girl laugh. Like I'm really uncomfortable, but if, yeah, but if I say something I might get my neck snapped.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh my God.

[Ian Hecox]

It's kind of like a, kind of laugh. So apparently she claims they never dated. And, and he's like, and he's like, look, I understand guy looking like me. You wouldn't want to admit that you dated me. And that was his response. So he's clearly convinced that they had dated. She's like, we never said we had never dated. And then like, and then there was this, this woman that tweeted about it. She's like, I've been in these situations before where like I just went along with, with like this guy thinking that he dated me for this period of time. And I was like, that's crazy. And then I looked at all the responses. I looked at all the responses and there were so many other women that said the same exact thing where, yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

The guy is, he's just really like he has feelings for or just like one person has way more feelings for the other person and it's not reciprocated like that it happens. And then they go on thinking that there was something that maybe wasn't a mutual thing.

[Ian Hecox]

But to go like to be in like all these situations and not say.

[Courtney Miller]

With the same way they. All those women had it with him.

[Ian Hecox]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just guys in general. Just guys in general being, like, thinking that they're dating. And then in both genders.

[Courtney Miller]

Any gender.

[Shane Topp]

That's so weird. So weird. Maybe they just hung out.

[Ian Hecox]

Can you be so convinced?

[Shane Topp]

Just thought it was a date, but I don't know. That's so weird. Or he's just blatantly lying for clout.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. Make his book more relevant.

[Shane Topp]

But it is. It is a weird thing to. To make up, too, because it looks weird on him.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, my God.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. He was in his 30s, and she was barely 18. And he's like, yeah, dated. Yeah. I think in the words of Eminem, moby, you're too old. Let go. Doesn't he say that in that song? Something like that just rips off the 90s.

[Ian Hecox]

Nobody listens to techno. Let's go.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, man. Eminem ahead of his time, ripping on Moby.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, it's rough. Have you guys ever had that, like, where someone is way more emotionally invested in something than you?

[Shane Topp]

Well, it's less that, but that's fine if someone has feelings for someone. But to claim that they dated if they clearly didn't? What were the signs that he was thinking that?

[Ian Hecox]

I don't know, man. I mean, like, I figured it's a pretty. It's a pretty understood social contract that you have with somebody if you're dating or you're not.

[Shane Topp]

You go on dates, and it sounds like they didn't go on any dates.

[Ian Hecox]

You go on dates, you get a little smooch mooch. Maybe a little more than that. But, I mean, then I would assume it's. Then you would both understand that you're dating. So did he just, like, have her arm around her sometimes, and he's like, aha, my girlfriend.

[Shane Topp]

Honestly, it sounds like it, and that's not so great.

[Ian Hecox]

Have you ever been in anything like that, Courtney?

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. I mean, I feel like I'm in a We. I've had. Well, yeah. Yes. I was going to bring up this story where I think a guy thinks I was super in, like, thinking that we were dating, and he, like, avoids me now because he thinks I'm, like, in love with him or something.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, weird.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. Where, like, we hooked up, and then, like, he acted like we were gonna keep hanging out, and I was like, okay. Like, I was literally, like, freshly single. I wasn't, like, obviously trying to have anything at that time. It was a birthday hookup. That's all it was to me. Yep.

[Shane Topp]

And it was Gemini season.

[Courtney Miller]

It was. It really was. And I needed this.

[Ian Hecox]

Was it Gemini season.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, it was my birthday.

[Ian Hecox]

When's your birthday?

[Courtney Miller]

Gemini season.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I forgot. I forgot. We no longer go by months or days. We just go by moons.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah. Gemini season once again, very different from Virgo season because Virgo season, this is my moon. Because Virgo season, I'm like, don't talk to me on my penis ever again. We're gonna go watch Ally McBeal. Me and my wiener.

[Ian Hecox]

However, my penis is going to go watch Grey's Anatomy. Sandra oh. He just loves Sandra oh. Killing Eve is great.

[Shane Topp]

Killing Eve is great. Sandra oh is actually fantastic in that show.

[Ian Hecox]

I'm enjoying season two less.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, my gosh. I'm behind on it.

[Courtney Miller]

I'm so behind. I've only watched the pilot, the season premiere. Yeah, that's what it's called.

[Ian Hecox]

Sandra's great in it, though.

[Shane Topp]

I'm very hooked on all the shows that I was watching outside of Game of Thrones because after Game of Thrones just broke my heart.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah. It's now like, wow.

[Shane Topp]

I really love what we do. In the Shadows and Killing Eve and Attack on Titan and Barry. Barry.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, One punch. Man's back.

[Shane Topp]

It's great.

[Ian Hecox]

It's getting better. I feel animation's like, still not as like op as the first season was, but enjoying it.

[Courtney Miller]

Do you guys think Game of Thrones would have been a good anime? I've been meaning to ask.

[Shane Topp]

I think a lot of things would be a good anime, but you know what I really want? Wait, sorry, did we, did we finish your story?

[Courtney Miller]

I mean, it was kind of open ended, but it's like, it's just a thing that happened. I mean, I've been through that a couple times where like I. When I'm newly single, I hook. I slang dong a little bit. I mean, there was an actual slanging of anything but like I get a little smooch. Smooch.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, I witnessed some of that. Can I mention that?

[Courtney Miller]

Oh my God. I didn't already had enough time left?

[Ian Hecox]

It doesn't take that long to explain what I witnessed.

[Courtney Miller]

Can I explain it and then you can say what it looked like from far away?

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, sure.

[Courtney Miller]

Okay. It was my birthday party. I was newly single, unhappy, but also happy because it was my birthday and I was there.

[Ian Hecox]

So you were super happy.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, yeah, it was, it was a nice party. I'm really glad a lot of people came. I was very surprised. Except for you.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, Shane, you weren't there.

[Shane Topp]

Where was I? Watching Addy McBeal with my wiener.

[Ian Hecox]

So explain it, Courtney.

[Courtney Miller]

Yes, it was My birthday, and I was wanting to have fun, you know, Jesus, can I take that back? Is my birthday. There was this guy there that I had known for a while, and, like, we had kind of a little bit of history.

[Ian Hecox]

And so, like, your tongues had history.

[Courtney Miller]

Maybe. Okay, maybe. But he was there. And I, like, I wasn't like, super. I didn't expect this to happen right where I was. Like, I just decided, like, oh, yeah, like, this could be, like, a thing. And so we were sitting on these lawn chairs in my backyard, and, like, I leaned over and smooched him. And I don't think. And I think I've done this a couple times where, like, I don't realize, like, how public we are when I kiss a guy. And I enjoyed it very much. What did you see?

[Ian Hecox]

Well, what I saw. And mind you, this was a party that you started at probably noon.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was supposed to be like a day thing.

[Ian Hecox]

And there was. There was alcohol involved. Everyone was legal drinking age.

[Shane Topp]

That's why I didn't go. I don't support league. Never mind trying to think of a joke. It was just dumb Ally McBeal.

[Ian Hecox]

We'll go back to that.

[Courtney Miller]

Good joke.

[Ian Hecox]

So I arrived to the party around maybe eight or six. So everyone was several drinks in.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

And so I was just chilling, you know, just. Just chilling. Had a drink here, had a drink there. I was just kind of just. Just being a. Just being a dude. Just talking to people, talking to. Christine Sidalco is a very funny lady. And I look over and this is around, like, maybe, like, this is around this getting into, like, the shitty hour, where, like, if you started. If you started drinking at noon and you kept a steady stream of alcohol into your system for eight hours, you get into what I refer to as the shitty hour, which is where your body just starts to just kind of like, you know, I actually don't think.

[Courtney Miller]

I've heard this, so I'm really scared.

[Ian Hecox]

So what I saw was just a sloppy mess.

[Courtney Miller]

Hey, I'm allowed to be sloppy. It's my birthday.

[Shane Topp]

It's Gemini season, you bitch.

[Courtney Miller]

Gemini season.

[Shane Topp]

I'm empowered right now because I have the power crystals. And it's Gemini season because if you.

[Ian Hecox]

Guys were listening, they were in separate lawn chairs.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, we were in separate lawn chairs. And I.

[Ian Hecox]

And. And. And Courtney decided to, like, the way that. That they were going to, like, make out was they were going to stay in their lawn chairs but, like, lean over to each other to make out.

[Courtney Miller]

I leaned in and I kissed him from my Lawn chair to his respective lawn chair.

[Shane Topp]

Bold play.

[Courtney Miller]

And then I decided to level up, and we were going to share a.

[Ian Hecox]

Lawn chair, but the whole transition was very awkward because, you know, there was some alcohol. So things, you know, bodily functions, not quite as, you know.

[Shane Topp]

So you're yourself.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, you're yourself. No, but, like, what? I. What? I don't really recall the. The leveling up part, but mainly just like the leaning over and, like, the chairs kind of like sideways. Like, the late. Like the legs on the left side are just kind of like sticking up.

[Courtney Miller]

Good.

[Ian Hecox]

And like, that's how I like it. And you were kind of like, just kind of like half, like, on him and the chair was like, sideways.

[Shane Topp]

Courtney thought this was a cute moment up until right now. She is finding out that it wasn't.

[Courtney Miller]

I knew it wasn't cute, but I.

[Ian Hecox]

Just, you know, I'm sure in her mind it was.

[Courtney Miller]

That some stuff to the imagination of the viewers.

[Ian Hecox]

I'll say that regardless of how romantic it was or wasn't, it wasn't romantic at all.

[Courtney Miller]

I just want him to smooch and go, that's it.

[Ian Hecox]

Right? Makeouts are never gonna look good from the third person. It's always on.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, never. Never.

[Ian Hecox]

But it's like the lawn chair make out. I was like, I looked over, like. And then like, I tried not to watch because that'd be creepy. But then. Yeah, that's right, you did. Then you moved over onto the lawn chair, which is not a two person lawn chair.

[Courtney Miller]

No.

[Ian Hecox]

Right.

[Courtney Miller]

They never are.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. That just looked very uncomfortable.

[Courtney Miller]

I'm sure it was, but it's Gemini season, so I was impervious. Guys, it was my birthday. I'm allowed to hoe it out.

[Shane Topp]

You're allowed? Oh, we've never said you're not allowed.

[Ian Hecox]

I wouldn't say you were hoeing it out.

[Shane Topp]

No, not at all.

[Ian Hecox]

Look, you did the Terminator thing. You know, you scanned the room, you found your target, and you locked on.

[Shane Topp]

Target acquired. Going to smooch.

[Courtney Miller]

And he was very nice.

[Ian Hecox]

And. Damn it, Courtney, I'm proud of you.

[Shane Topp]

Thank you.

[Ian Hecox]

You got what you were trying to get.

[Courtney Miller]

Yeah, that was.

[Ian Hecox]

And you got it.

[Courtney Miller]

That was my quick little rebound. Thank you. Thank you.

[Ian Hecox]

We could cut that whole thing out if you want us to.

[Courtney Miller]

I don't know. I can't decide. I feel like there's some parts that I'm like, goo, but.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, the whole thing is a goo.

[Shane Topp]

I don't think we should cut this whole podcast. It's pretty rough, honestly.

[Ian Hecox]

But maybe Courtney Just in case, as a backup, let's tell your side of the story. What happened?

[Courtney Miller]

He made some weird commitments that he was like, we're gonna hang out again. And I was like, okay, dude. I was like. Because after having. I was just like, this is fine. Like, I don't need. This doesn't need to continue if you don't want. But he's like, no, we totally will continue. But then future events, he, like, started to, like, really awkwardly avoid me, as if, like, I was this clingy girl. But, like, I literally, like, left him alone. But, like, at future stuff that I see him at, he's, like, super uncomfortable around me, so that sucks. I feel like he thinks that I was, like, super invested in that night when I wasn't at all. It was just my birthday, but.

[Ian Hecox]

And it was Gemini season.

[Courtney Miller]

And it was Gemini season.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. I think that's what we can really draw from this talk is that it's Gemini season when Gemini season happens. Gemini's Courtney throws down.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, man.

[Courtney Miller]

Watch out.

[Ian Hecox]

She just watch out.

[Courtney Miller]

I will follow a lead.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes. She'll follow a lead, and she will kiss it.

[Shane Topp]

And right now, the caterpillar from Bug's Life is the top lead.

[Courtney Miller]

Oh, hell yeah.

[Shane Topp]

I don't know where that came from in my brain, but no.

[Courtney Miller]

Real weird, but, like, down.

[Ian Hecox]

No. Courtney's lead is Childish Gambino's titties.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah.

[Courtney Miller]

I love Childish Gambino titty. Childish Gambino is best. Childish Gambino.

[Ian Hecox]

And on that note, I think it's about time I wrapped up this podcast. So thank you guys so much for coming on.

[Shane Topp]

Thank you.

[Ian Hecox]

And thank you guys for listening or watching the Smosh Cast. If you're not yet subscribed on the YouTube channel, do that so you can see your pretty faces. You can see all the fun pins that Courtney's wearing.

[Shane Topp]

Oh, my gosh. Check it out.

[Ian Hecox]

And if you're listening to this podcast on the podcast app of your choice, it comes out two days before the YouTube video, and you could hear us say bad words like. Like cod swallop. Yeah. And pork.

[Shane Topp]

And Ally McBeal.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes. So. And also, we. We still. We got all our merch. We're not wearing any of our merch today. What the hell?

[Courtney Miller]

We got our cups. I keep my coffee in this every day because it keeps it so hot, and it's big, so it makes me feel like I'm getting more.

[Ian Hecox]

Dude. Yeah. Smosh store. Check it out if you haven't. And thank you guys so much for listening to smosh cast. Number 15.

[Shane Topp]

Number 15.

[Ian Hecox]

Throw us a five star rating on itunes.

[Courtney Miller]

Love ya.

[Shane Topp]

Yeah, because we still. We still need more. The more we get, the faster tinder for hot dogs comes out faster for.

[Courtney Miller]

Tinder for hot dogs.

[Ian Hecox]

All right.

[Shane Topp]

We've never. We'll never forget.

[Ian Hecox]

No, it's coming faster than you think, actually.

[Courtney Miller]

I don't think I'll actually know when.

[Ian Hecox]

It'S coming out, but it's coming it. Goodbye.

[Shane Topp]

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[Ian Hecox]

Test your luck in the shadowy world.

[Shane Topp]

Of the Godfather slot. Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play the Godfather now at chumbacasino. Com. Welcome to the family. No purchase necessary VGW Group void where prohibited by law, 21/ terms and conditions apply.