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Shane
Hello and welcome to Smosh Reads Reddit Stories. I'm Shane, and today the theme is Liars. All things lying. And I am joined by someone who can only tell lies and someone who can only tell the truth, but I don't know which one's which. Trevor and Arasha.
Trevor
Yeah, I don't know why I was catching.
Arasha
Yeah, I've never lied in this life.
Trevor
This is ridiculous.
Arasha
Oh, maybe it's because we've never lied so we can offer some unique perspectives.
Trevor
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Arasha
Like as strictly truth tellers.
Narrator/Advertiser
Okay.
Trevor
Yeah, you've got honesty over here.
Shane
All right, all right, all right.
Arasha
Do you think.
Shane
Okay, we joke a lot about lying here at Smosh, but how good do you think you are at spotting liars or catching people lying?
Arasha
I'm really bad. I'm like a very trusting person. I think, like, I maybe to a fault, I just really lean on the side of trusting someone unless they give
Shane
me a reason not to trust them. Yeah.
Arasha
And someone here at Smosh has certainly given me reasons not to trust them.
Trevor
Totally. Totally. Yeah. Amanda.
Shane
Yeah, definitely.
Trevor
Seriously, I don't think I'm really great at catching other people's lies. I think when people are telling me the truth, I think they're lying to me. I think I'm like, I don't believe that.
Shane
Right. Cause you thought Amanda was lying about being pregnant.
Trevor
Yeah. I mean, I'll believe it when I see it.
Arasha
Yeah. She's not. I just saw her a few days ago. She's not pregnant.
Trevor
Right. Like, where did it go?
Shane
So what happened?
Trevor
What happened?
Shane
No idea.
Trevor
Right?
Shane
No idea. I don't know how it works, so. Exactly, you know. All right, well, we're gonna read some stories about liars, and we'll gauge who is the best liar by the end. First story comes from. Am I the asshole? Posted about August of 2023. Am I the asshole for lying to my girlfriend's parents about being on a diet so I won't have to eat their cooking?
Trevor
Right off the bat, I'm gonna say no.
Shane
Food lies are tricky.
Trevor
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Arasha
From the start, it seems harmless, but I feel like with these, there's always, like, there's more context, there's more. More has to happen.
Shane
And food lies are tough. I feel like they build. Cause we had that guy who lied about having a peanut allergy.
Trevor
Yes.
Shane
And then everyone started accommodating accommodating him, and it got worse and worse. And he really loved peanut butter.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
All right, let's see. My girlfriend's family are animal lovers and have several big dogs with long coats, a couple of cats, birds, and her younger siblings have rat pets. Their entire house is covered in a thin layer of hair. If you sit anywhere in the house, it's guaranteed you'll have animal hair joyriding on your clothes. It's so bad that their food will have animal hair in it. These people will pick the animal hair out of their mouths and keep on chewing like it's the most normal thing in the world. I've seen their cats use the litter box, then jump on the counter while their mom is cooking. Sometimes her mom pretends she's on a cooking show and narrates to the cats while the cats are pawing at the ingredients. Also, when I walk into the house, I'm immediately hit with the pungent animal odors. I don't know if it's from the litter boxes or the bird and rat cages, but. But I'VE gagged every time I've ever entered their house outside of these issues. They are great people. So her parents had a dinner party and were cooking lots of food because they were expecting about 50 people. I knew from past experiences that I can't eat there. So I told my girlfriend I will meet her there instead of driving together because I had some stuff to do at work. I stopped at a restaurant after work and before the party. When I got there, her mom tried to make me a plate, but I told her that I was on a diet and trying to lose weight. My girlfriend overheard and glared silently at me. Her mom tried to get me to eat, and I kept on saying how great her food smells, but I could see hair in it the entire time. When we got back to our place, my girlfriend tore into me as soon as she walked through the door. She said I was being disrespectful to her family by not eating their food and lying about being on a diet. That exploded into her, asking what else I am lying about. She wants me to admit to her parents what I did and apologize, but I don't think I should, as I did lie, but it was to save their feelings. It's been a week, and she's still mad at me and told me she'll remain mad until I apologize. She's angry sleeping on her side with her back to me right now. I never knew there was such a thing as angry sleeping, but I swear her snores are more aggressive than usual.
Trevor
Ooh. Oh, man, oh, man.
Arasha
Damn.
Shane
Well, rough.
Arasha
I think not the asshole. I don't think that that is something that you can fault a guy for. Like, that's not, like, a subjective thing if you can just see a ton of animal hair in your food. I think it's perfectly reasonable to be like, I'm gonna eat before. And I'm just gonna say a harmless thing that, like, hey, I'm on a diet or whatever. Like, I'm just not gonna eat right now.
Trevor
Yeah. Technically not a lie if your diet is that you're not eating animal hair.
Shane
Fair.
Advertiser
Ooh.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
Fair.
Arasha
And that's spoken like a professional liar.
Advertiser
Thank you.
Trevor
Thank you. I'm learning from Amanda. Yeah. I have to agree. Were you gonna say something different?
Shane
No, no, I agree. He's definitely not the asshole.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
I'm more thinking of, like, what else he could have done. I think the lie was probably a tough one. Cause his girlfriend was there, and his girlfriend's like, wait, you're on a diet? Immediately, she knows it's a lie. And he might have gotten off better if he just was like, you know, I'm just really not hungry right now. I know it's. You're kind of put in a tricky situation. Cause moms throughout the world, refusing food from them, that's really tough.
Trevor
Totally.
Shane
They're not gonna back down easily.
Trevor
I mean, and you know, I don't know where these people are from too. But also from a cultural standpoint, especially from an Indian household, like my mom is like, if you're stepping into the house, you're eating food.
Shane
Right. And it is seen as being extremely disrespectful to not eat the food I get. And I think that's a lot of cultures. So I would place bets that the mom, no matter who she is, would probably be.
Trevor
Yeah, I wonder too if like the misfire was maybe that he didn't let his girlfriend in on what he was going through. Cuz she wasn't cooking the food. And maybe she would find it. I guess she would be a little insulted if he told her. But it sounded like the family wasn't at all offended or worried. It was just the girlfriend who was like, you lied to my family. So maybe beforehand he should have been like, hey, just a heads up, like I don't really feel like all that excited about eating this food.
Arasha
Yeah, I'm curious what like the girlfriend's feelings are on the hair. Like if they've talked about it and he's like, God, there's like so much like hair in your place. Or if it's just something that he doesn't bring up or talk about because he thinks it would like offend her or something. Cause yeah, I feel like if they've had a conversation before about it, it would have been very easy to be like, hey, I'm gonna just eat beforehand. I just really don't wanna eat the hairy food.
Shane
Right. She may just have never realized. Cause when you grow up around pets and stuff, you kinda like, you kinda like, you just get used to the situation. Right. For so long I didn't have cats. I had cats when I was a kid, but for so long I didn't have cats. And when I would go visit someone who had cats, you kinda notice cats shed. There's hair where you kind of can smell the litter box sometimes. And then when I got cats, you kind of are aware of it for like the first couple weeks to months, but then you kind of start not always clocking it.
Trevor
You're like desensitized.
Shane
I try to be extremely clean and when I have people over, I try to really vacuum and clean it all up. But I'm still just like, I know that someone who doesn't have cats might notice it more than I do now.
Advertiser
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah, for sure.
Shane
I don't think. I know it would probably hurt her feelings, but he probably would have gotten off better if he just was honest with his girlfriend and was like, hey, like, look, I love your family. They're so great. Like, there's a lot of animal hair everywhere. And I don't know, I have a hard time. I don't really have an appetite when there's so much animal hair everywhere.
Trevor
Totally.
Shane
Like, I. No offense to their cooking or to them as people, but that's just the situation.
Trevor
I agree. I can see, like, maybe from her standpoint, she's like, you know, really zooming in on this, and she's definitely evaluating, you know, what other lies are you telling that I'm not informed of? But also, like, maybe there's a layer or a lens of kind of, like, how she is wanting him to be around her family. And she's probably also like, I want you to engage and eat with everybody and be, like, in the mix of things and him not being as strapped in to really invest in, like, the food and, like, whatever they're, like, kind of culture is in that household. I can see her also maybe feeling that, like, gap between them.
Shane
Yeah. Because is there, like, I also understand, especially because she's not clued in. She didn't know that he was going to refuse the food. Him refusing the food.
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Shane
Is there a way that that maybe puts pressure on her with her family now of like, oh, my boyfriend doesn't eat your food.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
And that's now like, are questions gonna come my way? Why my partner's not like now that's just been thrust upon her. Maybe not necessarily his fault, but the family.
Trevor
Yeah, I wanna offer too. Again, we don't know where these people are from but I've been in a couple of biracial relationships and I know, I've felt this before. Like where I will want my partner if they are not Asian or South Asian, I will feel like, oh, I really want my family to feel like we're all on the same page and it's really not that different. And it would really help if you were like really immersed in our food and you could help participate in it so I won't have to be like, sorry, I have a white boyfriend.
Shane
Right. You know, I get that.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
So the verdict was no verdict. Not enough info. But many comments lead towards not the asshole. I think a thing is we don't know if the girlfriend knows why OP won't eat at the parents house. She might know, she might not know. But she brought up like that he, what else is he lying about? That makes me lean towards. She doesn't know about this. He also went to a restaurant beforehand. I just think it's a lot where it's like, I get why that can feel hurtful because it's just like, oh, you truly are disgusted.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
And then that's tough of like that's how you feel about my family. No matter how justified he is because it was a secret and a lie, now it just has this burden to it.
Arasha
I wonder what the restaurant was like. Did he go, did he just like swing through a drive through or did he like go sit down at like a red Robin?
Shane
I'm assuming drive through, but I don't know.
Arasha
Yeah, it'd be hilarious if he just like went and sat at a restaurant and had like an hour Long meal by himself.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shane
He went to Checkers.
Advertiser
Yeah.
Arasha
He got a couple of the Wicked Margs from Chili's.
Shane
Wicked Margs at Chili's that are currently
Arasha
available in the month of February.
Shane
Good God. Yeah.
Trevor
And now February is over.
Shane
Yes, we have a bunch of comments here, info you didn't explicitly note. If girlfriend knows the real reason you didn't eat. If she doesn't know, it's no assholes here. OP versus girlfriend. In my honest opinion, she's acting reasonably if she only has the information she's been given. He snuck off to a restaurant, then lied to her family. If she knows the actual reason and she's still giving him crap, then, yeah, you're not the asshole. Someone said, I mean, I get both sides. I'm not bothered by finding my own dog's fur in my food, but I can't say the same for my friend's dogs. Someone said, I have two Boston terriers. They shed, but. But not too terribly much. However, I am constantly vacuuming and wiping down surfaces because they do shed and I don't want dog hair in my food, et cetera. Not the asshole. You lied. Yes, but you did so in order to spare the feelings of your girlfriend's family. Is your girlfriend aware of the pet hair issue or does it not bother her? It's gross to find hair of any kind in food, but pet hair is the worst. Lastly, someone said, if your girlfriend is a keeper, you need to come clean with her. If she already doesn't know, you are grossed out by her family, home's hygiene. She clearly loves her family and is defensive about this. Not sure why your girlfriend wants you to be honest with her parents. It will only hurt them and damage your relationship. But if you plan on a long relationship, she may not be the right girl. Talk to her honestly and see how to proceed from there. We don't have an update, so I don't know.
Trevor
Yeah, it sounds to me like in the best case scenario, OP is going to these great lengths to protect everybody involved. I would like to see it like that, that he's like, I just don't want to hurt anybody, his girlfriend included. I think it's like a tough situation when you're in a relationship to speak poorly on their family in any capacity. And if this is like a newer relationship, especially he's probably just trying to like, save face and not insult anybody. But it also makes sense in that context of like, you're right. If she doesn't know, and that is true, and all she heard Was, oh, I'm on a diet. She's like, that's not true. Why would you just make that up out of nowhere? Yeah, yeah. And I also understand the concept of, like, if it's your own dogs, like, it's less. It's like, you know, like cleaning like your own baby.
Shane
It's just kind of the psychological aspect too.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah.
Arasha
I get a little napkin hair in my food every once in a while and I just take it out. But also he's like, laying on my head in the morning while I'm in bed, like, licking his face. If someone else had a napkin hair in their food, I'd be like, yeah, I understand why you're grossed out by that napkin.
Narrator/Advertiser
Your dog.
Arasha
Napkin.
Trevor
My dog.
Arasha
Sorry, my dog's name is Napkin. Could understand why that would cause some confusion.
Trevor
Well, we just started imagining what napkin hair would be.
Arasha
Yeah, it's very light colored.
Shane
Well, damn. No updates, so I don't know, but that's tough.
Arasha
Yeah.
Shane
Those are kind of the lies that people are really on the fence of. Of like lying to not hurt someone's feelings.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
I don't know. That's tricky.
Advertiser
Very tricky.
Trevor
It's hard for me to relate too. I've never ever had pets, so it's hard for me to find any of that appetizing.
Shane
But yeah. Cause have you been to people's places where they have a ton of pets?
Trevor
Definitely. Yeah. And I so hear what you're saying exactly. Of like a smell that I might have. Like, everyone else is like, what are you talking about? I don't even smell that. Like, everybody's home smells like something, but you don't know.
Shane
It is also just true that it's the weird thing of like, your own mess in your own place. Like, kind of if you know the origin of something, it's not as gross. Yeah, like, weird. Like, I've over the years had times where, like, my room gets messy or like, I don't clean my shower enough or whatever, and it's like, okay, whatever. Like, it's not bothering me that bad. I'll clean it. But if I go visit somewhere else and it's in the same state as my own, I'm like, oh, gross.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shane
And I'm like, wait, I do this. It's just. Cause it's. You don't know the origin, Right? Something about it.
Trevor
Origins.
Shane
Our next story is a confession. Whoa.
Narrator/Advertiser
What?
Shane
This was posted in 2025. A year ago.
Trevor
Shut up.
Arasha
2025. Last year. Last year for sure.
Shane
I faked a Spinal injury to get out of paying late fees at Blockbuster.
Arasha
A spinal injury?
Shane
Yeah.
Arasha
Late fees at Blockbuster.
Shane
So they write long ago. Hey, real quick, y' all are both. Did y' all ever.
Advertiser
Y' all are so young.
Shane
Wait.
Trevor
Oh, we had Blockbuster.
Shane
Been to a Blockbuster.
Trevor
We went to Blockbuster.
Shane
You went to Blockbuster?
Trevor
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Shane
How old were you when you went to Blockbuster?
Arasha
I wasn't nine. Yeah. I was gonna say probably, like, eight or nine. Of the memories that I have of going to a Blockbuster.
Trevor
Yeah.
Arasha
Like, I remember going. And then you'd get, like. You'd go look through all the movies, and then you get the candy up at the front.
Trevor
Yes. Yes. That was the best. When we were just young kids.
Arasha
Is it crazy that we were nine years old in a Blockbuster?
Trevor
Yeah. For me, it's like when all my friends were gonna have a sleepover, we were like, oh, yeah, Blockbuster. We were like.
Arasha
I remember renting a video game there one time. It was like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.
Trevor
Yeah.
Arasha
And then I was like, this is so dumb because I played it for a few hours, and I'm like, I'm not even gonna be able to beat this. I have to take it back now.
Shane
Totally. Okay. The final Blockbuster.
Trevor
Yeah. Cause I do also remember it closing down in my hometown and, like, driving by and being like, oh, no, I'll miss that. But high school's next year.
Shane
The Blockbuster.
Arasha
The blockbuster in my hometown is now a yogurt. Oh, Is what it's called. It's like a frozen yogurt.
Shane
It's called Yogurts.
Arasha
Yogurts with a Z.
Trevor
No.
Shane
Yeah, that's pretty rough.
Trevor
That sucks.
Arasha
Yeah. They make great yogurt, though, so.
Shane
All right, well, it's in the name.
Trevor
Wow.
Arasha
Actually, it's not just yogurt is in the name. Not great yogurt.
Shane
Long ago, obviously, I rented a movie and didn't return it for a month, so I owed roughly $30. I wanted to rent another movie, but I didn't want to pay the late fee, so I started scheming. My girlfriend at the time had been in a bad car accident and had to wear a big plastic splint that covered her whole torso. For a while, I devised the excuse that I had been in the hospital and therefore could not return the movie in a timely manner. I so sorry. Please pity me. I strapped that thing on awkwardly, got in my car, and drove down to the movie rental to pitch my story and pick up another. The clerk saw me walking stiffly up to the counter and bought it so wholeheartedly that they gave me a free rental to take with me. That movie was How High? Starring Method man and Redman. I remember because I never returned it. And it sits on my shelf to this very day.
Trevor
Wow.
Shane
That's incredible. God, what a. All that to get How High by Method man and Redman.
Trevor
Oh, my God.
Arasha
And, well, you know, $30 back in that time was like. It was like $300,000.
Trevor
That's crazy. This is tough because these are the lies that are like, karma is gonna find you, you know, if you believe in that. Of, like. It's just like, this awful lie that's like, obviously you don't ever wanna get into a car accident, so to pretend that you did. Or it's like, it's reminding me of, like, family emergency, or, like, oh, I have to go to a funeral. Like, those kinds of things where it's like, you're really manipulating people. You're tugging at their heartstrings so that they give you some leeway.
Shane
It's true.
Arasha
It's true. Well, unfortunately, this guy's the reason that Blockbuster went bankrupt.
Shane
I think they needed that $30 really bad, and now they don't have it. That's what I was gonna say.
Arasha
A lie at the expense of a large corporation. I'm more inclined to forgive, but he's the reason they went out of business now.
Advertiser
Yeah.
Trevor
Mock their busters.
Shane
He's the reason we have Netflix now.
Trevor
Oof. Yeah. Cause, wait, what was the other. It was Redbox. Is that what it was?
Shane
Red Box was also around. Yeah. Outside of grocery stores.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we were 10 then.
Arasha
I remember the original days of Netflix, though, when my mom would get them in the mail. I remember that.
Shane
Yeah. I used to. I was a big Netflix person at the beginning, where I was getting the. I was getting them in the mail every month, and I was putting those suckers in, watching them.
Arasha
Yeah.
Shane
And I had the final one for, like, ever. I think it was. What was it? What's the Akira Kurosawa movie? Yojimbo. I had that for, like, fucking five years. And I was like, I really need to cancel the subscription.
Trevor
I don't think I ever got Netflix mailed to me.
Shane
Yeah. Cause you were too busy at Blockbuster.
Trevor
Yes, I was too busy being born.
Shane
I agree, though, Arasha, that it's like, even though this is for $30, it's at Blockbuster. It's silly. You are still ultimately pulling off a pretty bad lie here. And especially, like, it's one of those where it's like, hey, man, don't fake things of that nature. Cause that could potentially. I know it's like such a silly, small version of it, but it's like, it's very serious when you lie about stuff like that. Cause then it puts people who actually have those things going on in a position where people then don't believe them all the time.
Trevor
Yes.
Shane
And they don't wanna do it.
Trevor
His girlfriend. His girlfriend is the one that experienced that. And he's like recycling her brace.
Shane
Did he does his. We don't know if his girlfriend knew about it or not.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, right. He's like, let me just borrow this
Arasha
for a second here.
Shane
Let me take that off.
Arasha
She's like, ah, I fear I have a problem where if something like that is funny enough and also isn't at the expense of like an individual, I'm like, that's pretty funny.
Shane
I like, it's really hard when things are really funny. Yeah. When you threw. It's a problem. It's tough. It's bad.
Trevor
Listen, I'm all for avoiding late fees. I will do everything possible, but talk to customer support, do whatever you can. Beg, make other excuses. It just feels like you went from A to Z real quick with the car accident.
Shane
Yeah, it's true. Faking any sort of disability is so bad and it's so damaging for people with real disabilities.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
Comments? So you're why the company tanked? Someone said, this guy is called Netflix. It's me, Mr. Netflix. Someone said, hey, baby, I know you got your shit crushed last month and you need this brace thingy, but I owe blockbuster $30. So you just lay there and don't move too much. I'm gonna need this for an hour.
Narrator/Advertiser
Literally.
Shane
If she was still using the. Then he is an extra bad person. That's so funny.
Trevor
He's like, why don't you just take a nap for a second?
Shane
Andy, just chill out. I got this.
Trevor
Just calm down.
Shane
Hey, relax.
Arasha
Just chill out. Dude, I gotta go to Blockbuster.
Shane
Our next story comes from. Am I the asshole? Posted in February of 2024. Am I the asshole for lying to my girlfriend and inadvertently humiliating her on social media?
Arasha
Am I the asshole for lying to my girlfriend and humiliating her? Huh, that sounds like a toughie. I think I'm gonna need some more context.
Shane
This is a 22 year old man. My girlfriend, who's 23, is a very artistic person who loves trying new things. Her most recent obsession is songwriting. About two months ago, a friend of hers got her to attend a beginner's workshop for it and she's been hooked ever since she signed up for guitar and voice lessons and writes whenever she has a moment of free time. When she finishes something, I'm the first person she shows it to. I love seeing her so excited about something and I'm glad she feels comfortable enough to share her art with me. She is, however, terrible at singing. Like, truly awful. And to be fully honest, she's not that good at guitar either. Buddy, she just started.
Trevor
Sorry, do you like her? Yeah.
Shane
She picks up a guitar for the first time. He's just like, you're not Willie Nelson. But obviously I never wanted to tell her that if she asked me how something sounded, I always said it was beautiful. I didn't think there was anything wrong with this kind of lie since it supported her and made her feel more confident. She disagrees. To give some context as to how she found out I was lying, a few weeks ago she asked me if it would be a good idea to start a TikTok page for her singing and songwriting. I could tell she was excited about it, but was nervous about putting her work on the Internet. I told her she was crazy talented and should go for it. She lit up after I said this and in the following days worked really hard to make videos of her original music. They didn't gain much traction, but she seemed to be having fun being a content creator, so I felt like I'd made the right decision in encouraging her. But yesterday she walked into our bedroom sobbing and demanded to know why I told her she could sing. I asked her what she meant and she threw her phone down for me to look at. On it was one of her TikToks. It was one of those trends where you duet another musician by singing color coded lyrics. Her video had been reposted to a cringe meme page and had blown up overnight. The comments were all horrible, truthful in some cases, but really mean about it. She asked me again through tears why I'd never told her she was bad. I told her she wasn't bad. People were just meant to if hundreds of comments say I can't sing, then I can't sing, she snapped at me. So stop lying. Okay? I said. Fine. You're definitely no Beyonce. Oh, nobody's Beyonce. There's only one. There's only one Beyonce. There's only one Beyonce. You have a really unique sound though, and I love that you share it. I thought she'd feel encouraged by this, but it only made things worse. She started crying harder and insisted that the only reason she posted things in the first place was because I told her she was talented. And now she's been humiliated in front of thousands. She's deleted her TikTok account along with all her videos, and hasn't stopped crying or talked to me since. I feel like she's blowing this out of proportion. I was just trying to do a nice thing by supporting her. And it's not my fault. The Internet is what it is. I don't think I should have done anything different. But since the Internet put me in this position, I'm curious if it will think I'm in the wrong. Am I the asshole?
Trevor
This is tough.
Shane
This is a tough one. I'm. This is one of those stories where I'm a little bit biased because I am a person who puts all my stuff on the Internet.
Trevor
Yeah. Yeah.
Shane
So I feel a lot of different things about this.
Trevor
Mm. We've all been on cringe memes.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Shane
I mean. Yeah, you have.
Narrator/Advertiser
I see.
Trevor
I think we've all.
Shane
I think there's one that's dedicated to Arasha, but last week we were talking about this. Cause we did cringe for the last episode of Reddit. And I was talking about how just like, I'm kind of sort of immune at this stage to feeling it, because after 10 years, we've posted so many videos that have definitely ended up on places where they're just getting made fun of, where all the comments are like, this is fucking cringe.
Trevor
Unfunny bad. Yeah.
Shane
There's plenty of times where I do a joke on, try not to laugh, and I'm like, they're gonna say I'm a cringe millennial. And it is what it is.
Trevor
It is what it is.
Shane
But the Internet's really tough. It's a tough place. It's sad that it's just, like, this is just everyone, when they're anonymous, they become horrible people.
Arasha
Yeah.
Shane
But is he an asshole? Is what he's asking. And the verdict was that, yes, he is the asshole. I think a lot of that might be about how he wrote this.
Trevor
Sure. Yeah.
Shane
How he's writing.
Arasha
How did he write it?
Shane
He did not write it in a way that makes me want to be on his side.
Trevor
He's like, totally. But I do understand where he's coming from. And that's a very real situation that you could place on lots of other experiences too. Right. Like, it's kind of like when somebody, like, has a dress on and they're like, what do you think? Like, you don't want to insult them, but at the same time, I think if he used language that misguided her and genuinely made her think something that was more than support, you know, like if he used the word talented, that's like, okay, maybe we reel it back and in forms of support. Maybe we encourage classes, more training, coaching, stuff like that.
Shane
He wrote, I told her she was crazy talented and should go for it. When she talked about putting her work on the Internet.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Arasha
Seeing crazy talented is insane.
Shane
Cause to be clear, there was someone who pointed out, I think it was a stand up comedian. I saw this. That Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, one of the greatest symphonies of all time, has tens of thousands of downvotes on YouTube. There are haters for everything. I mean true, like earnestly people are gonna laugh at this. Look at Taylor Swift. Right? Biggest artist on the planet also probably has some of the most haters on the planet. You can be also talented and posting online, you're gonna have tons of people saying you suck.
Narrator/Advertiser
I hate you.
Trevor
Major fame is going to ask for polarizing views is especially because a lot of those haters are just hating on the fact that you're finding success.
Arasha
Yeah. I mean I'm one of like the funniest people probably on the planet. And so many times I see people making comments like, oh, Trevor's not that funny, like I don't like his job.
Shane
And then you look over and you realize it's not a comment, it's just me and Ian off to the side.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yes.
Trevor
No, no, no.
Shane
But it's like Ianmar. Wait, that's just Ian's.
Trevor
There's a blue check mark on that one.
Shane
Wait a minute.
Arasha
That's my dad, bro.
Shane
I forgot to switch accounts. I'm just kidding.
Advertiser
I'm kidding.
Shane
But then there's also the fact that like, yeah. If you are also if you are genuinely earnestly trying something on TikTok, you're gonna get made fun of.
Arasha
Yeah.
Shane
And that's not indicative of if you're good or not. That's just how social media works. People are just extra mean there. Now this is also a thought that I have. She is freshly beginning something. I think there's definitely hubris to when you are a month into anything and to go, I'm gonna post this online and everyone's gonna think I'm great. It's like you're just starting out. You might have the potential to do great things with this, but you're in the first month. Even if you are talented at singing, you're not gonna know how to do it. Just give yourself time you can even
Trevor
market it as day one of starting my singing journey.
Shane
Absolutely.
Trevor
Making it the focus of it. Rather than like, oh, this is something I'm an expert at.
Shane
Right.
Trevor
Every skill, every new skill you're gonna suck at. That's how you get better.
Shane
And there's been a lot of that. I've seen a lot of that on TikTok, and that stuff is great. I love that. Cause what is amazing about picking up a new hobby is not if you're good or not at it, it's seeing progress. Like, that's such a beautiful thing to experience. And kind of the worse you are at the beginning, the more satisfying it is a year from then or two years from then. I think a lot of people do this with, like, drawing and sketching. Cause it shows, like, day after day, you get to really see your progress. People do it with stretching. People do it with working out. Yeah, that's like the joy of it. But when you start and you're expecting positive, that's gonna be really, really tough.
Arasha
I think, like, in. And maybe, yeah, this is because we're on the Internet and we see so many things. But I feel like if I'm talking to anyone who doesn't post a lot on the Internet and they're ask like, oh, should I, like, put this thing up? My first piece of advice, no matter how good they are at a thing, is like, be prepared for people to be just shitty. Like, there are shitty people on the Internet and they say really mean things no matter what. So, like, you totally should. You should do the things that make you happy, but just, like, be prepared for there to potentially be just really mean people.
Shane
Yeah, I'm kind of curious and I'm not trying to. I'm not blaming her here, but I'm curious If being on TikTok, if she's seen other comments on other people singing. Yeah, I'm like, you've definitely seen it. It's such a vicious place. Now, obviously he's asking if he's the asshole. He really. It sounds like he really dug in on. No, you're amazing. Post on there. And there's the aspect of. As a partner, of being super supportive. There's also the aspect of being a teammate and being the confidant and being the trustworthy source and finding that way to be positive, but also honest. It's just like, hey, should I post something? It's like, you're just starting out.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
You are a beginner. I think you're amazing. And also being honest about being like, hey, But I'm biased. I'm your boyfriend. I'm biased. I love everything you do. I would maybe sing for some other friends and maybe build up a little bit more and then put it online.
Trevor
Totally, totally.
Shane
Or at the very least, my view is put that shit online. Like, embrace who you are, have fun. But you're gonna get the comments.
Arasha
Yeah.
Trevor
I got this piece of advice a while ago that was super helpful as well, that if you are posting it and you're being vulnerable and just starting out with something, nobody that is better than you or has found success is gonna be hating. It is only people that are afraid to post themselves or again, just hiding behind the Internet. But nobody who has perfected a skill will be doing that because they know the grind, they know the hustle, and on top of progress. I think the other thing is also passion. As long as you're having fun and you're into it and you're energized and stimulated, it's a great hobby.
Shane
Yeah. And I think what I think is sad about that we've lost in social media is the social aspect, which is that it is a platform where people are supposed to find community and sharing things with each other. It's like, yeah, you're posting online singing. Hopefully you'll find other people who are posting their songs and singing. And then like, you're meeting each other and working together and making songs together or making content together. Talking like that was kind of the point of it all.
Trevor
Right.
Shane
But now it's become this weird place of like, oh, get up there and do your thing and everyone's gonna make fun of you.
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Trevor
Sad, super sad comments.
Shane
You're the asshole she asked me if it would be a good idea to start a TikTok page for her singing and songwriting. I could tell she was excited about it but was nervous about putting her work on the Internet. I told her she was crazy talented and should go for it. She lit up after I said this and in the following days worked really hard to make videos of her original music. You deliberately encouraged her to embarrass herself publicly instead of being at least somewhat honest. You lied to her repeatedly telling her what she wanted because it was easier for you in the moment rather than respecting her enough to have a serious conversation about something she was very passionate about. How difficult is it to say that? Whilst she sounds good to you, perhaps she should get other opinions or ask the voice trainer that she sees for a more professional take on what your girlfriend can do to maximize her talent. Instead, you threw her to the wolves after over encouraging her to believe something untrue under the guise of caring. Be supportive, do not routinely lie and knowingly cause someone you purport to care about to humiliate themselves. Could you not foresee this outcome if not the scale? Someone said My husband told me years ago I can only hit a note on accident. Thank goodness. I don't want a career of it and enjoy my off key singing at home. To be fair, he also said my voice was good. It did hurt to hear, but thankfully I never embarrassed myself in public. Someone said not being a dick. This is a genuine question. How does someone think they're good at singing ears? Can you really be that clouded by one other person's opinion? Someone responded, it's actually called being tone deaf. You basically more or less hear what you want to hear. I know I can't sing, but when I was younger music was an escape for me and I would constantly sing. I thought I was going to be a pop star until someone had me listen to a recording one day it was awful, dude.
Arasha
Honestly, knowing someone who is genuinely tone deaf, My friend Elias, I love him to death.
Trevor
Damn at him. Exposes shit.
Arasha
Oh, he's one of my best friends. I've known him since I was in, like, first grade. And that man cannot sing. And I tell him every time. And I love him so much because he does not care.
Shane
That's so great.
Arasha
He just. From the heart. He's just.
Shane
Is his heart.
Arasha
And it's so beautiful.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Shane
And those are the main events at karaoke bars.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Shane
They're like, oh, shit. Elias is about to go up.
Arasha
Yeah.
Shane
Everybody get their shots ready.
Trevor
If you sing, do not show up at karaoke.
Shane
It actually kind of cringes. I'm gonna be honest. It kind of cringes me out when a really good singer goes up at karaoke and they pick the song they're really good at. And I'm like, okay, pal. Okay.
Trevor
All right. Awesome.
Arasha
Okay, we get it.
Shane
Get Elias back up there. He's gonna sing one week. Yeah, yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
It's bad.
Shane
Hell yeah.
Trevor
But that's what you want. You want. Cause you're all gonna be partying. So you're like, that guy sounds fucking amazing right now. And if you actually sound amazing, it's like, shut up.
Shane
It's like, goes back to your point. There's nothing better than passion. And I'm always envious when someone's in flow state. I'm like, that's awesome no matter what. Yes, it is. I will say I agree with these comments. It is. Also, as a perfectionist, as someone who's very self conscious, I am amazed at just. You needed one person's approval, no matter even if it was your partner. I'm like, no, I need. I need 20 people's approval before I posted that online.
Trevor
Yeah. I mean, again, if he really came in with that much positivity, though.
Shane
I know.
Trevor
Cause I imagine the conversation where she's like, I don't know, should I? And he's like, yeah, you should. And she's like, oh, okay. Then I.
Shane
Hey, I'll make your TikTok page for you. Okay. I've got it typed in right now. You're long.
Narrator/Advertiser
Okay.
Shane
Can you get the profile picture? Okay, upload it in. He becomes a full cowboy. It's Flip seven energy right now. Okay, last comment. Part of being supportive of someone's dreams is actually being honest, which he refused. Someone wanting to be a professional chef, being told their burnt chicken is heavenly isn't going to help them achieve that goal. At best, you've refused to Help them. And at worst, you're helping push them to a point where their spirit and will to try are too crushed to chase said dream. Being supportive means that sometimes you're slapping the shit out of their ego and helping them see how to change and make it work.
Trevor
Mmm.
Shane
Yeah. I mean, it's true.
Arasha
I believe that no matter how talented you are at something, seeing someone do something with like, true joy and passion, it's like, I don't care how good you are, that's beautiful. To me, that makes me so happy. But unfortunately, people on the Internet don't think like that and they just love being mean.
Trevor
Totally. I'm also thinking, like, in terms of, you know, this specific post, maybe OP I mean, definitely OP didn't have the tools to navigate a serious conversation like that. What I'm thinking of as well is, like, with acting, right, it's really hard to give, like, notes. A lot of the times Fabian and I will do our self tapes together, and it's like, you can't just be like, that was the take. That was it, let's send it in. But it also can be very touchy to be like, I think you should do it like this, or, you know, let me do this. So we kind of implement this thing where we're like, are you open to notes? Or like, would you like some feedback? Like, that kind of thing. And almost like prefacing before you're about to say something that could be misconstrued.
Shane
Right. I also think, I think when it comes to the work we do here, you know, it's a very vulnerable thing that we do as a team and we do a lot of writing together, we do a lot of creation together. And I think where I've gotten nowadays is that I treat each individual thing as a separate thing from them. It's where it's like we might be in a writer's room and you pitch something and you go, oh, I think this is really funny. And if I don't think it's funny, I'm like, well, I'm just saying that I think this isn't funny. That has nothing to do with whether. With you. I think we all know and we all work together and trust like, oh, we're all really good at this. We're professionals at this. Especially in creativity. It's a fluctuating thing. Like, totally. And like, I think it's important to have creative hobbies because I think humbles you in a way where it's like, oh, I can make something amazing one second, and something so dog shit the next.
Trevor
Oh, yeah.
Shane
And that's just human nature.
Trevor
Totally.
Arasha
LeBron doesn't shoot 100% from the field. Greatest basketball player of all time.
Shane
Exactly.
Arasha
He doesn't shoot 100%.
Shane
But if I started to play basketball right now, I think within like 30 days I'd be shooting like 100% though.
Trevor
Hey, you should get a TikTok.
Shane
I think if I got like a basketball coach, I would think I would get there really quick.
Trevor
You should put that on and I'll put it on.
Shane
TikTok me just shooting for you. Go ahead. You're actually okay. Honest to God, a TikTok of me missing basketball shirt every time is kind of incredible.
Arasha
Just day one, don't make a single one.
Shane
If I had a basketball hoop and every single one was just one shot and I miss and I just miss. And I never make it.
Arasha
Do it. Every day for a year I make one.
Trevor
But that would be awesome.
Shane
Well, that's funny.
Trevor
Cause all the comments are like, you suck. Thank you.
Shane
But no, I get it though.
Trevor
It's just the words that you really have to be careful.
Shane
But I think it is a respect thing when you can give honest feedback to people because it's respecting them as a person and going, I know you can handle this.
Trevor
Yes.
Shane
I'm not worried about saying this to you.
Trevor
But you know what, We've had this conversation too where it's like, you can't be on the other end of being like, I'm just being honest. You suck.
Shane
Of course.
Trevor
I'm just like, I'm just gonna be forward, I'm gonna be blunt. You're ass at that.
Shane
There's a disrespectful level on that. I think it's also the notes that whenever we give notes to each other here at Smosh, it's always more of like, oh, I don't think that works. But here's how, like, I believe you can make this work.
Trevor
Or like, I'm failing to see the connection here. Like, can you draw that out for me a little bit? Like, instead of just like, I don't get it. I don't like it.
Shane
Absolutely.
Arasha
There's a level of trust too, of like knowing like, hey, I am gonn. That might not just be the super nice, positive thing, like giving a critique on something and trusting that your coworker, partner, friend, whoever it is, is gonna be able to receive that. And then if they aren't able to receive that, then that's on them. You've been honest with them, you've tried to like, as long as you're not being mean about it, you have to have that trust of like. No, I can take kind of like honest feedback.
Trevor
Totally.
Shane
Absolutely. Our next story comes from True off my chest. This was posted in December of 2024. I edited a K Pop idol's Wikipedia page with wrong information as a joke and accidentally contributed to a massive spread of fake news. Oh God. I was reminded of my shameful past yesterday while talking to a friend when I was a teenager, probably 14. I thought it was hilarious to edit Wikipedia articles with random incorrect information. I was also a huge K Pop fan, so a lot of my victims were K Pop idols. Well, one day I thought it would be funny to edit artist Jo Kwon's Wikipedia page to say that his former stage name was Sacre Bleu. That's pretty funny. That's awesome. Why? I have no fucking idea. I guess I thought it was a funny expression and I was deep in my lulz so Random XD phase xd Rawr xd.
Arasha
No.
Shane
I was expecting the mods to correct my dumb joke within a couple of hours, but to my surprise it didn't get removed. In fact it spread like wildfire. News articles, fan pages, K pop profile sites, famous birthdays all started including fucking Sacre Bleu. Confusion spread among the fandom, but most just ran with it as a fun Jo Kwon fact despite zero proof to back it up because it literally just came from my stupid 14 year old mind. I have compiled a small collection of Sacre Blue here to show just how bad it got. But all you have to do is google Jo Kwon Sacre Bleu and it shows up. I was mortified watching this happen in real time. But instead of coming clean about my wrongdoings, I decided to completely disengage because I was 14 and scared of the life consequences. I never told anyone until now. Over 10 years later, Jo Kwon's English Wikipedia page has since been cleansed of any mentions of Sakre Blue, but the damage has been done. His wiki page is in French, Portuguese, Vietnamese and probably more. Have never corrected the misinformation. Wiki data still has Sakre Blue stated as his former stage name. To this day, several K Pop profile sites have Sakre Blue stated as his nickname. 2024. I feel awful that I did him so wrong. I could have done him the courtesy of picking a cooler name, but I went with Sakre Blue. This is my dark past dude.
Arasha
That's hilarious.
Trevor
This is awesome.
Arasha
Incredible. We have A few photos.
Shane
We have some photos here. It shows English Jo Kwon description. South Korean singer and actor, also known as Sakre Blue.
Arasha
That's so good. Oh my God. No, that's hilarious.
Shane
He did nothing wrong. Then we have a couple tweets. Someone says, why does Kwon's wiki say Jo Kwon, commonly known as Sakre Blue? Quotations. Jo Kwon, formerly known as Sakre Blue. I'm screaming his pre debit name. Y like bad spelling. Jo Kwon, formerly known as Sakre Blue, trained at JYP Entertainment seven years after joining the company. Wow. Oh, that's brutal.
Trevor
And there's never been any direct interaction with his team or anybody.
Shane
It's not.
Arasha
Yeah, I was gonna say it feels like a pretty simple thing to clear up of just asking the guy and being like, no.
Trevor
Right.
Shane
What's that interviewer who knows all the information about music artists. The guy who wears the like, what Nardwar's talking to Jaequan. He's just like. He's like, hello, it's interesting to talk to Sakrae Blue. And he's just like, what?
Trevor
What did you say?
Shane
He's just like, well, I have to know. You're Sakre Blue.
Trevor
That is so awesome. And funny how much traction it got.
Shane
And it was just a 14 year old. Isn't it so scary how much power people have from their computers now?
Arasha
Yes.
Shane
Like you just lie and that's all it takes.
Arasha
And you know, Wikipedia, generally speaking, is really good about if something gets edited, it's immediately like fact checked, reviewed, whatever. Find the source. Yeah, that's so funny that. That's one of the things that slips through the cracks though, right?
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Arasha
It's just such a funny, dumb little fact. Yeah. And then everyone picking it up.
Trevor
Why was it believable?
Arasha
Hilarious.
Shane
I think 14 year olds should have their own Internet. And I think just 14 year olds, they. For one year you go off and you have to have your own Internet. Yes. It's called 14 year old Internet. And you have to be 14.
Trevor
Oh my God.
Shane
And if you're 14, you have to be there because 14 year olds are too smart and too devious for the Internet.
Trevor
That's a lot of people's personal hell actually.
Shane
Just like go off, do your thing, you come back at 15, you're like, that was crazy.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shane
We were really diabolical in there.
Arasha
Accidentally being like 20 years and put into 14 year old Internet.
Shane
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Your Runescape character accidentally enters 14 year
Trevor
old Internet gets killed immediately again upon hearing the title felt a lot more damaging other than this man's career and reputation.
Arasha
No. Cause I don't believe that that's on the 14 year old. I think the 14 year old did nothing wrong.
Shane
They were so.
Arasha
I think what they did is really funny and I think that this is
Shane
on all those news outlets that were just using Wikipedia.
Arasha
Exactly.
Shane
What the hell?
Arasha
Not cross everything sources.
Shane
You're journalists.
Arasha
Call the guy, call his team. It's that easy to clear up and you didn't.
Trevor
Yeah, yeah.
Shane
Unbelievable.
Trevor
No. Yeah, let's blame the media on this one. They're the asshole.
Shane
Yeah, 14 year old was funny. Comments. I know you feel awful about it, so I'll start saying I'm sorry, but this is the funniest shit ever. Someone said, this is hilarious. Did he ever address it? Someone said, I don't think it ever reached Korea. Thankfully my biggest fear would be someone asking him about it. Someone said, you can't be held responsible for other people's stupidity and lack of fact checking. You are a dumb teen doing dumb teen stuff. The main lesson from all this is to not take Internet wiki chatgpt as the final and absolute truth. Bailey, you wrote in. When I was in sixth grade, I broke up with my middle school boyfriend and I logged into his Facebook account and made it a Justin Bieber fan page.
Arasha
That's hilarious. Whoa.
Trevor
And speak on that.
Arasha
That's hilarious.
Shane
Craig Bailey is awesome. All right, our next story. This was posted in 2023. Am I the asshole for avoiding my parents after discovering they were spreading super inappropriate lies about my husband and I. Oh shit. So their parents were spreading lies about them.
Trevor
Super inappropriate ones.
Shane
Last year, my husband H and I met my parents aunt and uncle for Thanksgiving. They had been vacationing together a few days prior. As we were leaving, my aunt, who was visibly upset, pulled me aside. I need to talk to you. Can you call me in a few days? I asked if she was okay. She said yes. I just need to ask you something. But not now. When I called to ask what was going on, my aunt said, I heard something that seems very out of character for you and I want to see if it's true. Evidently, a few days before Thanksgiving, my parents told her an untrue story about how my current husband and I met. To note, I was separated at the time from my now ex husband when we met, she explained, according to my parents, I met H while online soliciting for a proposed threesome with my ex husband as a last ditch effort to salvage my then failing marriage. However, during this tryst, H and I supposedly realized we had a connection which led us to be together while choosing to dissolve my previous marriage. My parents shared more gross details, but I'll spare you. I was shocked as none of this was true. We met at work through mutual friends, and our romantic relationship developed slowly over a period of time. I had repeatedly told my parents how we met and even introduced our mutual friends to my parents at our wedding as the ones who got us together. So I FaceTimed my parents and asked them why they're lying about us behind our backs. They look me dead in the eyes and say, because that's what you told us. Excuse me. When I refuted this, my dad proceeded to get angry at me, saying that I must have amnesia as my mom stormed off, refusing to discuss the issue. The rest of the call is me sitting in silence while he attempts to gaslight me. I'm dumbfounded. A few days later, I got a call from my cousin. She explains that my dad had told her husband the same story almost eight, eight years ago, which they had believed until now. My cousin apologized for not saying anything sooner, but the story made them so uncomfortable, they didn't know what to do. H and I wrote my parents an email explaining what we had discovered and asked them some simple questions like, why did you make this up? Who else have you told? Et cetera. We've been emailing back and forth for almost a year and gotten nowhere. Their story keeps changing, the blame keeps shifting, and they have continuously tried to diminish the seriousness of this issue, even saying, no one thinks any less of you because of it. What? It never happened. Period. The only apology we've gotten is we're sorry for upsetting you. You mean you're not sorry for lying about your daughter for 10 years? Most recently, they have almost demanded that we forgive them and move on, since we haven't forgiven them yet. We're responsible for my mother crying all the time and essentially breaking the family apart. So am I the asshole for wanting to continue to avoid my parents even though I'm tearing the family apart?
Arasha
Yeah, she should have forgiven her parents.
Trevor
I'm sorry, can you go back for a second?
Shane
Yeah, yeah.
Trevor
So they. How did they discover that what they were saying wasn't true?
Shane
The aunt. Their aunt, after a dinner, walks up to her and goes, can I call you in a few days?
Trevor
Yeah. No, no. Sorry. How did the parents like. And they still believe that that's true.
Shane
They're saying that, well, it's changed. Details are changing and stuff. But they're saying. No. That you told. They're saying you told us.
Trevor
And they're sticking to that.
Shane
They're sticking to that.
Arasha
Source. I made it up.
Shane
Source? Yeah. Dr. Manhattan. They're saying she told them 10 years ago or whatever that that's what happened.
Trevor
And they're asking for forgiveness. But still sticking to the story.
Shane
Yes. They've said, I'm sorry for upsetting you.
Narrator/Advertiser
That's.
Trevor
That's crazy.
Shane
There is so many. This is a lasagna of insanity.
Trevor
Right? Like, they had to have just this. Like, they both had the same dream.
Shane
Yeah.
Arasha
No, that's. I was literally just about to say this feels like something that happens in a dream that you wake up and then like, a couple days later, you're like, was that real? Like, did I just dream that? Was that real?
Shane
Did they watch, like, a porn together? And then they were like, wait, I'm sorry. I'm getting mixed up. I thought that was our daughter's story. No, that was a porn we watched.
Trevor
Right? They're watching the porn and they're like, I'm thinking of my daughter right now. Yeah.
Shane
I'm like, what? How did this happen?
Arasha
Watching porn? He's really giving my daughter.
Trevor
He's giving kid.
Shane
What if the parents were like, oh, wait, no, that was us back in the 70s. That happened to us.
Trevor
It has to be an intricate lie. It has to be that they are, like, committed to following through with. I don't understand.
Shane
But for. Why, like. And, like. And, like, do they lie about a bunch? Like, are they pathological liars? Cause it doesn't seem like that's tracking.
Trevor
I would say if. For an explanation. Yeah. Maybe it is their story. And they're, like, trying to keep the attention off them. So they're like, we're just gonna, like. But nobody knows. They're like, listen, just in case.
Arasha
I'm like, even if that is the story, like, on behalf of my children, I'm probably not. If they're asking how they met, I'm like, oh. It was like, what? Like, you should ask them if she
Shane
told them that story. They shouldn't be telling other people that story.
Trevor
100%.
Shane
You know?
Trevor
Yeah. Also not the focus, but. Who says, we need to talk? Call me in a few days.
Arasha
Yeah. No, if my aunt said, call me. We need to talk in a few days, I'd be like, what?
Shane
Yeah.
Arasha
Is something like, what?
Trevor
Like, tell me right now. You bet.
Shane
What is going on?
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
Verdict. Not the asshole.
Arasha
Duh.
Shane
Comments. Not the asshole. I think they've earned a nice long time out. 10 years seems about right, doesn't it? 12,000 upvotes. Someone said, not the asshole I literally laughed out loud at. No one thinks any less of you because of it. About something that is made up. Lol. It's so ridiculous that it's funny. Have they always been this way? I mean, making up stories for no reason? No accountability? OP responds, yes, but never towards me. My dad would always tell crazy stories. Most weren't bad or weird, but they were about people I didn't know, so there was no way to prove they did or didn't happen. Plus, he's my dad and I was a kid. You just believe my mom can't be wrong ever about anything. Someone else asks, are they. Were they on good terms with your ex? Is it possible he told them this story and they believed it?
Arasha
Oh.
Shane
Oh shit, that's huge. We forgot about the X.
Trevor
The X. Always the X.
Shane
The ex. But the parents also sound awful.
Trevor
But the mom's never wrong.
Arasha
I just don't understand if you're the parents and you're like, that didn't happen. Holy shit. And like immediately apologizing the fact that
Shane
they're doubling down on it.
Arasha
Like, I'm pretty sure it happened though, right?
Shane
So this person asks if the ex told them the story. OP says, no, not at all. They hate him more than us. We were married young and mutually decided to end things. It wasn't overly dramatic. Divorce sucks regardless. But generally speaking, it went smoothly in my opinion. At the end of the day, he's happily remarried, as am I. However, my dad still has a lot of issues with it. For example, I had to reprimand my dad last year because he kept bringing up my divorce and how bad it was, which it wasn't. Or my ex in general. Around my husband. H and I. I told my dad to stop because it makes me and H uncomfortable. It's been 10 years. Let it go and move on. And then whenever he caught himself bringing it up around us, he'd say snarky comments like, oh yeah, I'm not supposed to talk about it. Yeah, why are you? Someone lastly, someone lastly commented. What the. I want so badly to believe this is fake, but unfortunately I do know people who would absolutely do this. Um, well, firstly they made up the story and got themselves in this whack ass dilemma. So the responsibility is on them for a start. And who in their right mind makes up stories about their kids soliciting three ways? Even a grown up kid. What does H, think of all this. Is this on par with your parents personalities? Can I ask what the hell? Again, the biggest mystery of all is how can you possibly be the asshole here? Not the asshole op. So if the parents. If it tracks, it sounds like the dad's a pathological liar. He gets a kick out of telling wild lies.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Trevor
And probably was like still upset about not being able to discuss the previous divorce. So maybe in like a weird, like twisted way was like, well, then I'll make up a lie about you and tell the family.
Arasha
Yeah, I have to judge someone. I don't know. But the dad just kind of sounds like an asshole. Just like, oh, I'm not allowed to talk about your divorce.
Shane
Yeah. Which is shitty. I don't know, like the studies or anything behind it. But I have heard and I might be doing the thing. But fun fact, I think it's also very true anecdotally that if you tell a lie enough, you do start to believe it. I mean, our memories are fickle, right. And our memories change over time. So like what we tell ourselves, you can make a memory. And so this dad, if he just spends 10 years convincing himself of this thing. She told them.
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
And they're so in denial, so staunch in it. That's exhausting. I think clearly, like, she can't talk to her parents.
Trevor
Totally. Cause there are people like that that just like blatantly lie about things that can so easily be disproved. And they'll do it like right in front of the person who like, knows the truth and they will still stick to it.
Shane
Yeah.
Arasha
I had a friend one time that like, came and like up to me and handed me a fully fake, like, save the date because she was lying that she got engaged. And I was like. And I held it and I was like, oh, incredible. Congratulations. And I swear the whole time I thought she was actually engaged and gonna get married. And it turned out to be this whole bit and prank.
Trevor
Wow, that's so cool.
Arasha
And it was like the craziest thing ever. And it literally made me feel like shit.
Shane
What a disgusting.
Trevor
Seriously, she sounds hot.
Shane
Despicable. All right.
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Shane
last story Buckling up.
Arasha
Click click click click.
Trevor
There's only one.
Shane
You're not moving around that much if you clicked in that much. Yeah, our last story comes from off my chest and Best of Redditor Updates Holy shit. So she knows this is gonna be good. My wife is addicted to making up Reddit stories for TikTok and it's ruining this marriage.
Trevor
Oh, this is meta.
Arasha
Yes.
Shane
So the OG post and account have since been deleted, but the original title was I Caught My Husband with My Daughter. So this is a comment on a fake Reddit post that the wife had made titled I Caught My Husband with My Daughter.
Trevor
Gross.
Shane
Liz, what the actual fuck is this story? You showed me that you were posting this right before you went to bed. I hope you wake up and see this. This is not healthy and I've been telling you not to post stories on Reddit anymore. It's a new throwaway, a new fucked up nightmare scenario that you keep creating so you can get some chuckle fuck on TikTok to make a video about it while playing Minecraft. Parkour I'm taking your ass to therapy and if you refuse, it's over. I'm tired of it. I cannot reach you like I have been as you shut down any attempt to talk about this issue. So everyone here deserves to know the truth. This is a 100% completely fabricated story. Another comment down the thread. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I See your phone light on from the guest bedroom since you chose to sleep in there tonight. An additional comment down the thread. Yeah, now you go to sleep after I catch you. Just know if you get fired from your job for this and you still can't quit, it's over for us. I hate to shame you publicly like this, but you won't listen to me or anyone else.
Narrator/Advertiser
Whoo.
Trevor
I'm scared.
Arasha
Damn the Reddit divorce the live update Reddit divorce thread.
Trevor
I see you sleeping over there.
Shane
Um, malieving.
Arasha
Oh my God, that's really good.
Shane
Update husband. Then posted a day later in off my chest. My wife is addicted to making up Reddit stories for TikTok and it's ruining this marriage. Hello Reddit longer term lurker and first time poster here. Need some advice? My wife of three years, age 25, has been constantly on Reddit and TikTok for the past eight months, to the point where both take up anywhere from nine to 13 hours of her battery usage. She got into them heavily after I sent her one and it just spiraled to the point where she is writing her own for clout, I guess. Two of them that I know she wrote herself were about a man whose dad thought he was cheating on his boyfriend and cut him off for a year, then coming back begging to reconcile. One that she showed me she wrote earlier tonight before bed was where a 43 year old woman found her husband cheating with their 20 year old stepdaughter. What the actual fuck? By the way, that one she posted and it's already gained so much traction that it'll probably be on TikTok by morning. We work at the same company and she has gotten written up for being on her phone multiple times to the point where she might get fired. I've tried to get her to go to therapy because a lot of these are disturbing scenarios she's writing about, but she says it's just a creative outlet. I'm worried for her and honestly, if she doesn't quit, I'm most likely gonna separate from her as she's shown me such a dark and twisted side of her mind through these. From the twisted mind?
Trevor
Yeah.
Shane
Wow. I've always wondered when there's so many fake stories on Reddit. I'm like, who's writing these?
Trevor
Her.
Shane
And it's all her. Turns out it's her.
Trevor
I mean, I wonder what the gratification is.
Shane
I think there's probably similar to like. There's probably something similar to like the lying. It's like an attention you make up A big fabrication. You get all this attention, like, that's a very.
Trevor
All these people angry for you or advocating for you.
Shane
And there's something very. It's deep within the ID of human behavior, of we do anything and you get a big positive or a big reaction. Our brain is like, oh, I'll do that again. I think. And you don't wanna get caught in that loop with something bad.
Arasha
It is. And I mean, when she says it's a creative outlet, like, yes, it is a creative outlet. One that you're using in a very toxic way. Like, Right. Like write, like creative stories do creative writing. Like things that aren't weirdly harming or making people uncomfortable or just straight up lies that you're posing as truth.
Trevor
Right. She's already creating fiction. Just make them other characters and direct a short.
Shane
Literally hop onto. Just hop over to a different subreddit. Yeah, there is a subreddit for everything. Go there and get that affirmation of people know that you're making it up, but they're appreciating what you're making up.
Trevor
Yes. I love that idea.
Shane
Look. And what she's writing is pretty far, but I think posting these on places where it's like, oh, this is real. Like, that's so dangerous.
Trevor
Totally.
Shane
Because people are reading these as real. And I think having done this show for so long, I take everything with the caveat of, like, it's a hypothetical, it's an anonymous story. I don't know, could they be real? Yes. Every type of scenario happens in the real world. So I kind of take it from that angle. But I still get really frustrated when I'm like, hey, man.
Trevor
Yes.
Shane
Don't. Like, this is an outlet for people to try to really get a genuine response when you make stuff up, especially, I mean, I don't hate it as much as the people who run things through ChatGPT. I'm like, come on, like, at least make it up yourself. Yeah, like, good God, no.
Trevor
But you're so right. There's been a handful of times where like, certain stories actually stick with me. I take them home with me. And I'm like, yeah, I heard this crazy story and this happened. And like, gosh, I really feel for this person. And it's like you're actually toying with people's feelings and what you're writing is just gibberish that you've made up.
Shane
And it sounds like this is really dysfunctional to their personal life and their relationship and her job. So there's problems on several layers and I think he is right to look at these stories and go, hey, the content of these is disturbing. Where is this coming from? You're doing this for fun. Yeah, we have some comments here. I never thought I would have read about a relationship between two grown adults ruined by Reddit. My God, we've come a long way. OP responded. It's actually fucking appalling. I only ever use Reddit for news or stuff and junk. Meanwhile, she's actually seriously addicted. Someone responded to that saying if she's that addicted, she's going to find this if it gains traction. How do you feel about that? Op says I hope she does. I hope it's a wake up call. She brushes it off whenever I try to make conversation about it. One of those stories I mentioned is already locked and deleted, so it's a start, someone said. Or is this the Wife and a new wave of Stories? Oh my God, the plot thickens. So Liz the wife found this post and commented, but it's been deleted. OP responded to it though, saying go to bed.
Trevor
He is my hero.
Arasha
Go to bed.
Shane
Update.
Trevor
Oh yeah.
Shane
Hi guys. Long story short, we're getting marriage counseling and therapy. As far as I know, she hasn't made any new accounts and hasn't posted any other stories on here other than her last. Her boss came to me and commented after her third day post Reddit fight and commented on her work ethic stating that she has improved. Not remarkably improved, but it's a good start. I did get Liz's permission to make this update as I want to be as fair as possible, but just know that she said herself that every one of your comments gave her a brutally fair reality check. I tried telling her what some of y' all told me in that if she wants to write horror, go do it in one of the horror story subreddits, but that the R off my chest one wasn't a good spot for that. Anyways, we're slowly getting better and I'm spending more time with her. I've also come to realize that I haven't been a perfect partner to her and I've started packing her lunch as well as buying her flowers every day after work. I've realized how much I truly love this woman and I do not ever want to push her away or lose her. So yeah, thanks to everyone for their support. Also making an edit here. Please do not harass anyone posting any stories on the pretense or feeling that they might be listening. She has given me zero reasons to not trust her as she's had less phone usage time both at work and at home. And it's also discrediting other people who are experiencing in real life events and venting to Reddit about them. I know I am to blame for part of that, and I deeply apologize to anyone who has been falsely labeled as Liz. My coworker just showed me that the post I made did in fact get made into a few TikToks. Oh, the irony.
Trevor
Well, that seems like a happy ending.
Shane
Yeah, I mean, hey, I'm glad. I hope it was a wake up call for her. But you know what it makes me think of is like, how many people like this there are on the Internet. A countless amount. And what's crazy is like, there's. For most people, we have two selves, our self and our Internet self. Right. And it's just like, isn't it scary to be like, I don't know what people are doing on the Internet, they could be making a fake account. Cause there was another story, and I can't remember if we read it on an episode or not, where a woman found out that her husband, who was a sweet, loving, great guy, she found out that he was a horrible, horrible Internet troll. Like, going on subreddits where women were posting and just talking horribly about them. Like, any photo of a woman, he would go on and just discredit her looks and just rag on it. And she was like, she found this out, like, oh, this is what you're doing anonymously on the Internet.
Trevor
Oh, man.
Shane
And it's just like, it's kind of the same with this, where it's scary, where it's like, hey, just because you're making a throwaway account doesn't mean that's not you anymore. It is who you are.
Trevor
Totally. But you know what? I want to give him a lot of credit for the empathy that he's showing, though, because it's such a real thing you're talking about with these two selves. That Internet self, it sounds like she just got lost. Lost in that, you know, and. And 9 to 13 hours is a lot. It is a significant amount. And I'm sure if you are constantly just like scrolling and reading and writing and just like really, really getting immersed in that. Like, I just feel like, again, it's not an excuse, but it's just an explanation that it sounds like she really did become addicted.
Shane
Yeah.
Trevor
And found herself maybe making choices that she wouldn't otherwise. Especially now, through therapy and counseling, it seems like she actually is reeling back. She's taking the opportunity to Right her wrong. And that progress, I feel like, should not be going under the radar.
Shane
I do agree her behavior was so interesting, so extreme that I really hope a therapist can like, dig into it and get to the bottom of it. Cause it might be symbolic of something going on deep down.
Arasha
Yes, it's scary, like. Cause obviously very grateful that she had a husband who was wanting to hold her accountable and be good. It scares me the amount of people that could be like that, that are just alone and doing these things and don't have anyone to hold them accountable or hope for them to be a better person. Which is unfortunately, I think the reason there are so many awful people on the Internet because they don't have people to hold hold them accountable.
Narrator/Advertiser
Right.
Trevor
But I think this is like even just a testament to relationships, right? Of like, nobody's gonna show up perfect if you're willing to grow with people and see their flaws and be able to be like, hey, like, we're gonna work on things together instead of just expecting them to be this like flawless human being. I feel like that really does show how much he actually cares about her because he's able to sort of put that to the side and be like, let's work on it. Like, let's make sure that we get you to be the best version of yourself.
Shane
Yeah, absolutely.
Trevor
Really Honorable.
Shane
What a ride.
Narrator/Advertiser
Wow.
Shane
Well, I had such a great time reading these stories with you guys.
Trevor
Liar.
Arasha
Hey guys. All of these stories were fake.
Shane
I wrote all of these stories.
Trevor
Every story was
Shane
false, not true. Lies. Thank you both for being here.
Trevor
You're welcome.
Shane
And thank you for. And thank you for listening and watching this. Let us know what other themes and subreddits you'd like to see on this show. We'll see you next Saturday. And that's the truth.
Arasha
Bye.
Shane
Or not. We're sticking around for more stories another hour. Can you imagine?
Narrator/Advertiser
Lie.
Shane
Lie.
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Date: February 28, 2026
Host: Shane Topp
Guests: Trevor, Arasha
Theme: Lies — exploring all flavors of dishonesty through Reddit stories and the chaos they cause.
Shane and his Smosh cast couch, featuring Trevor and Arasha, explore the winding, riotously uncomfortable roads of lies told on Reddit. This episode's stories range from harmless fibs to jaw-dropping fabrications, prompting the crew to share personal reactions, cultural perspectives, and plenty of playful banter. The conversations zero in on themes like honesty in relationships, the cultural weight of food-related fibs, karmic consequences of “white lies,” and the ever-blurring lines between truth and fiction on the internet.
[01:36–03:12]
[03:08–17:20]
Timestamp: [03:08–17:20]
[18:19–24:17]
[25:22–46:23]
[46:23–51:54]
[52:32–62:33]
[64:13–76:16]
This episode playfully and thoughtfully dissects the many facets of lying—white lies, creative embellishments, pathological whoppers—with Smosh’s signature humor and self-awareness. The roundtable explores when dishonesty is forgivable, how it erodes (or sometimes saves) relationships, and the cultural, digital, and psychological forces shaping how, why, and what we fabricate. Whether you crave “cringe,” heartfelt reflection, or the schadenfreude of Reddit drama, this episode is a thorough, side-splitting exploration of why the lies never really end.