July 30, 2025 • 61 mins
What happens when celebrity endorsements go terribly wrong? This week, Lawrence and Meryl dive deep into Sydney Sweeney's controversial American Eagle campaign that has everyone talking for all the wrong reasons. The hosts unpack why the "great genes" messaging struck such a nerve and how the actress's dumbed-down persona might be damaging her carefully crafted image. Is this a case of tone-deaf marketing or calculated rage-baiting for viral attention?
The skies seem increasingly unfriendly as we discuss two terrifying aviation near-misses that occurred within the same week. When a Delta plane had to turn sideways to avoid a B-52 bomber and a Southwest flight dropped 500 feet in seconds to prevent a head-on collision, passengers' confidence in air travel is understandably shaken. We examine the alarming shortage of air traffic controllers and question why we're not getting more transparency about aviation safety measures from those in charge.
From micro-influencers wielding unexpected power to get chefs fired, to WNBA players demanding fair pay with their "Pay us what you owe us" t-shirts, we're witnessing a fascinating shift in how public opinion can drive real change. We also tackle Trisha Paytas naming her baby "Aquaman," Vogue featuring its first AI-generated model, NFL players getting busted for ticket scalping, and how Gwyneth Paltrow cleverly turned a scandal into marketing gold. Plus, hear about that heartwarming Destiny's Child reunion that gave fans all the nostalgic feels they needed.
Ready for more spicy takes and thoughtful analysis on the week's most talked-about moments? Listen now and join the conversation! And don't forget to check out Meryl's upcoming comedy show on August 7th at Flappers in Burbank.
Great conversations and a place where independent filmmakers can be highlighted.
Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello everyone, Welcome to this week's episode
of Thirsty Topics.
I'm Lauren Selrod.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Meryl, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, hey, hey.
I'm really good, I'm burstingat the seams with some of our
ridiculous news today.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, we definitely have a lot of interesting stuff
to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I know how are you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know what I am doing?
Great, I cannot complain.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I know I feel like I can complain, but I'm doing good
overall.
I'll still find something.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
There's always something to complain about,
right.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Exactly.
Oh, one quick personal storybefore we start.
I think this is so funny.
Do you ever watch that wingshow like hot ones where they
eat the wings?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So my birthday's coming uplater this week by the time this
comes out, it will be likealmost my birthday time.
And I opened up, by accident,my boyfriend's mail.
(01:08):
When I say by accident, I meanin quotes.
I opened up his mail and I sawthat he got me the really really
hot sauce that they try calledDa Bomb.
That's like the one thateveryone starts to.
So I'm going to try it and thenI'll report back to everyone
how intense it really is.
Okay, okay, Are.
So I'm going to try it and thenI'll report back to everyone
how intense it really is.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, okay, are you going to do the chip challenge
one of these days?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, I think I definitely will, but it needs to
be filmed At least.
If I'm going to go down, itwill be for content.
There you go.
Okay, well, with that out ofthe way.
Something that definitely alsomade me sweaty and not feel well
was, uh, sydney sweeney's newamerican eagle good jeans ad and
this is just like gone, really,like you know, past the point
(01:51):
of just making people upsetabout the advertisement.
So there's a few differentthings to this.
So pretty much she's beingslammed and same with american
eagle outfitters with the latestcampaign that um is under the
tagline syd Sweeney has greatgenes.
Now it's one of those thingsthat if people haven't seen the
ad yet, you have to go watch itand listen to it, because to me
(02:13):
one of the most infuriatingthings is just her voice, like
the way that she's talking, likethis, and you know, like I am a
Sydney Sweeney defender, I'mnot mad at her.
I think she's gorgeous, like Ithink in the past people have
(02:40):
kind of made fun of her andwe're, like you know, saying
that she're saying that,obviously her saying like she
has great genes and it's passeddown from parents and genetics
and you know the fact that she'sblonde and blue-eyed and
there's some insinuation of that, you know, and just like that
that is what equals great genesis is problematic and I just
think like they knew what theywere doing.
(03:01):
Um, so all this has sparkedlike a big conversation on the
social media At this time.
I saw that American Eagle likeswitched out a lot of her photos
and they switched it out likeright away for a person of color
.
You could tell they're they'relistening, but they're like
listening, I think, in just akind of placating way.
And then I just saw anothervideo of someone that used to
(03:23):
work for American Eagle who cameout and said, yeah, that seems
about right.
Like all they care about isjust like servicing who they
think is like the targetdemographic of you know, blonde,
blue eyed people, and that theywere just obsessed with like
competing with Abercrombie andnot really expanding their
audience.
So I guess my first question ishave you listened to this and
(03:44):
just like, what are your manythoughts about it?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
you know what I did, listen to it a little bit and
you know the way I look at it is.
It seems to be a situation andwe start to see this a lot where
advertisers and brands arestarting to use um people, even
if it's not in the best way toget that viral moment.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, almost like rage baiting or something too.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Exactly exactly, and I think you're going to see a
lot more of that, because it'san inexpensive way.
Well, obviously, the personthat you're hiring isn't
inexpensive, but it's a veryeffective way of getting a lot
of people to talk about yourbrand.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, but to me, someone like Sydney Sweeney, who
has, up until a few months ago,I think, has had a really good
reputation and men love her,women think she's cool.
I think she came out really hotin the way where she's a
mechanic and she's kind of thehot girl next door.
I think she's been doing reallywell, but lately just with the
campaigns that she's a mechanicand she's kind of the hot girl
next door, Like I think she'sbeen doing really well, but
(04:46):
lately just with the campaignsthat she's choosing, like
whoever is guiding her and herteam is definitely like tanking
her really fast.
Because this is like the firstmoment that I'm I'm finding her
unlikable Even if, like AmericanEagle is obviously the more
problematic like party here.
But just the way that she'sspeaking in the video and just
it's like she's dumbing down herown self.
It's like that's not thedirection she should be going
(05:15):
and also like as a womanwatching this ad, it doesn't
even influence me.
Of the jeans, Like the wholecopy is like these might not
even be the best jeans thatyou're wearing and this might
not even look good, and I'm likewhat kind of messaging is this?
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's a risky move, because you're kind of trying to
get people to buy your product,but then you're telling them
not to buy your product in thesame time.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It's so weird.
Exactly, if the whole thing isjust that Sydney Sweeney has
gray jeans we already know thatand we know that she's hot how
is that going to convince me togo buy something?
Like?
A brand that I feel like did doreally well is Khloe
Kardashian's brand, goodAmerican, which I'm not even a
Khloe fan as well.
But from the start, goodAmerican has shown like all body
(05:55):
types and definitely like madeit more about the woman than
about or you know, more aboutthe people buying it than about
the actual models, and I feellike that's a brand where I'm
like, okay, if I'm consideringbuying jeans, like that's
someone that I feel like I knowthey'll have sizes and you know
whatever, but this just seems sobizarre.
Um, do you think that this is atake on like genetics in
(06:18):
general, that this is a racething?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
just a light question I think that basically what
they're doing is using someonewho I don't want to use the word
desperate, but is urgentlytrying to find their way for
themselves and using that tohelp push their brand, because
really the big thing is forsuccessful companies.
(06:44):
Really successful companiesreally don't sell a product,
they sell a feeling.
You know, if you think aboutstarbucks, you know you can buy
coffee anywhere it's like hey,you know I got my grande and you
know my famous, you knowfrappes and stuff like that.
Mcdonald's, you know the happymeals for the children.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
It's really about the branding and I think right now,
um, and I get what americaneagle's trying to do, but I
don't think they really figuredout their branding yet no, I
agree, and this is such abizarre way to do it and like I
I don't think they'reinsinuating that other people
that aren't blonde and bluedon't have good genes, like
(07:28):
that's definitely taking it likea little bit far.
But I've seen creators thatdon't feel that way and I can't
imagine, you know, like it'sjust in this day and age, it's
kind of an unnecessary way topromote your blue jeans, which
you're supposed to do, and likethey don't even really look that
good in the ad.
So I feel like it's it's a failfor sure.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
When you first, when you first see the ad, you go,
you mean good jeans, and youthink about oh, they're trying
to promote their jeans.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You don't get the problem.
Exactly and I'm like, I'm happyfor Sydney's means that she has
like good genetics and shelooks great, but like nothing is
working in the ad, like it'skind of tanking her personal
brand.
She is someone I used to likeand I think it's so pretty, but
it's like she's dumbing down theway that she like taught you
know, I don't know, it's justit's not doing any favors for
(08:17):
anyone, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well, I think she got paid very well to do that ad.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So I know you know I know, but don't you feel like
also, though, public opinion isis worth so much where, like I
think, to have millions ofpeople talking about you and
kind of annoyed at you on tiktokto me is like because, like we
would be the ones that would gosee her movie in the future and
like she is someone that I would, but now it like cheapens her
brand a lot, which I feel like,for the long term, may cost her
(08:45):
more than whatever she's making.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That is very true.
That's very true.
I mean, you have a lot ofactors and actresses that will
take anything as long as theyget paid.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Ones that are very particular on what they do.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Like, for example, Denzel Washington.
There's a reason you don't seehim in certain roles.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And he took a big chance, even as a youngster
growing up in the movie industry, turning down certain roles
just because he really wanted toportray himself a certain kind
of way.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, so we're not gonna see Denzel sitting down
trying on blue jeans saying thathe has good jeans.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's not going to be an ad for like Arizona jeans or
something.
We will see an AI figure, but Idon't think we'll see him doing
that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Exactly that's coming up soon too.
Totally.
My last thing I was going tosay on this too, is that we,
like throughout this year weeven talked about other like
documentaries that came out onNetflix about like fashion and
how bad stores like BrandyGlanville is or Brandy Melville,
I don't know Whatever One ofthem is a housewife, one of them
(09:54):
is a store.
But like it seems like AmericanEagle is kind of going that way
where we're going to see adocumentary in a few years, just
like we did about Victoria'sSecret and how they were going
to see a documentary in a fewyears, just like we did about
Victoria's Secret and how theywere.
And I think this is we'velearned that some of the higher
ups at these companies are like,sometimes racist.
Sometimes they treat theirstaff very weird.
You know and that may be thecase here that we're starting to
(10:16):
see some of the.
It's like they're showing theirtrue colors.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, that's true, that's true, but I don't know.
I think that American Eagle'sprobably not done with their
story yet.
We're probably going to see adifferent storyline in a week or
two.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I know, yep, it'll be different.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yes, Talk about different.
I don't know if you've beenpaying attention to what's been
going on in the air lately.
Yes, yes, a Delta plane had todo an emergency maneuver to
avoid a collision with a B-52bomber.
(10:53):
Now, when I say an emergencymaneuver, they literally had to
turn the plane sideways.
No, no, no, no, keep fromrunning into it.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
And then same week, a southwest airline plane dropped
500 feet within seconds toavoid a head-on collision with a
former british fighter jetwhich I think was performing in
an air show okay, and so thatone was burbank that's where I
live, so that's the airport thatI fly out of, and it was going
(11:23):
to vegas, a flight that I likehave taken the past two months
I'm supposed to do.
I just texted my friend.
We're going to Vegas in October.
I just texted my friend andsaid I'm driving.
I'm sorry because also just forpeople that don't live in the
area that flight is likenotoriously it's quick, it's
only like a 40 minute to an hourflight from Burbank to Vegas.
But but it's only like a 40minute to an hour flight from
(11:44):
burbank to vegas, but but it'salways like so turbulent and the
landing is rough and it's sofunny because it's known for
like being in theory, it shouldbe such an easy flight, but by
the time people get to vegasyou're like shaking and your
blood sugar is low and it's likesometimes I'm more frazzled
from that flight.
So so having that happen,because it already is like
turbulent and a weird landing onboth ends of things, I just
(12:06):
can't even imagine and it reallyalready I'm like, I am.
I really like I need a fewmonths before I get back on a
plane.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I don't know, meryl, what do you think?
I mean, you know, every sooften things happen, but I mean,
wow, to have these happen inthe same week.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like wegot on I heard something about
and I gotta check the story,we'll probably talk about it
next week where I guess usmarshals had to take an air
pilot off of an airplane and Iliterally saw that right before
(12:35):
it was coming on, so I had toget more details about it.
But what do you think is goingon in the area now?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
um, I think just a mixture of things I this one
sounds like the pilots dideverything right.
I don't know if a trafficcontroller, like could have
alerted them before, but thisseems like military is messing
up and they're too close to theplanes, like I don't know why
they would be even coming inclose to the flight path at all.
So I just also feel like we'renot learning anything, like it
(13:03):
seems like every week somethingis happening.
It doesn't seem to be likestrengthening aviation, it just
seems to be like a free for allmore and more.
But of course I'm like a scaredconsumer, so if a pilot is
listening they may be like no,this is, these people weren't in
trouble.
You know, it always seems lessserious than it is, but having
all these close calls is justterrifying.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Oh yeah, I think it's highlighting and it's been
going on, it's been buildingover the years.
We have a nationwide shortageon air traffic controllers.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And the scary thing is it may be coming to a head
because you know I'm thankfulnothing happened.
They avoided these, but youknow this many in this short
time frame it's got to beconcerning for people who fly.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I know, I know it used to be like you would hear
about airplane things once everycouple months, but it's it's
like every week we're hearingabout something.
Thank goodness they're they'reno, like not a fatal one but I
feel like we didn't even reallyhear what actually happened in
the Washington one, when thereactually were fatalities, like
you know.
We know that it was thehelicopter, but it's like these
things happen and we never hearwhat's going to happen, like how
(14:12):
that's going to help makethings even more safe or not.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, the thing I look at
too is because I know for factthe incident with the Delta
plane having to do the maneuverto miss hitting that B-52 bomber
.
It was reported that the B-52bomber did not get any kind of
indication from air trafficcontroller that there was
(14:37):
another one on that same path.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So I mean thank God that they were alert and they
saw and avoided it.
You know, yeah, I meanpersonally.
You know, if I'm riding in aplane, you know I'm relaxed, I'm
always driving sideways.
No, yeah, that's going to keepme awake the whole flight, you
know.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Me too, I would just wherever I was flying to, I
would just live there forever,like now.
I would live in Vegas for therest of my life, but I would
truly have to like crawl homeand I just think I mean I'm
already freaking out wheneverwe're up in the air, almost
anxious that this stuff canhappen.
So it's like I imagine there'slike someone on the flight
(15:21):
that's like me that has flightanxiety, and this I mean, even
if you don't have flight anxiety, but there's people that are
already nervous up in the air,like already, and then for that
to happen is just crazy.
And, like you know, I hate tomake things a political issue,
but I do feel like we need someanswers, even if it's not from
like Trump or the president oranything, just from whoever.
I don't even know if there'slike a head of FAA We've learned
(15:44):
that that has been greatly cut.
As you said, there's less andless and there's a shortage.
That person should be almostdoing press conferences weekly.
I feel like that's a huge thingfor us to know.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Absolutely, because what's going to end up happening
is a lot of people are going tobe.
You know what, unless I reallyhave to, I'll drive.
I'll just make a little extratime to get there yeah you know,
let's face it.
I mean, that's scared the hellout of someone you know,
especially like if you're you'reflying and you drop 500 feet in
a matter of seconds.
I mean, yeah, you're daylight,no, way.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I, I watch when we're on the plane.
Sometimes I watch the elevationand so I'm like I couldn't take
it if it went like 14, 000000,30, like I wonder if if the
machines like clock thatinstantly or if it took a second
or two.
But yeah, it's too much.
I.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Don't know what about ?
What about you, Merrill?
Is that gonna?
You know, unfortunately foryour job, you know you have to
do fly.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, I fly a lot you , for you, you know um, like, I
mean, it's hard to say, I thinkI think if I situations like
going to vegas, if I can drive,I probably will, but it probably
won't stop me from like thelonger flights you know, like
flying cross country or anything.
But next time I really am gonnahave to get some like sedatives
because it's just too scary.
(17:01):
And also I always think aboutthe fact that the pilots are so
well trained and they're so good, but to have to quickly like
make a turn when you're in that,when that many people's lives
are in your hands and you havesuch a big machine that you're
flying, it's just like my hatsare definitely off to the pilots
, because I mean, that's liketwo instances within a week that
they saved like a million or somany lives, you know, oh,
(17:22):
that's like two instances withina week that they saved like a
million or so many lives, youknow.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Oh, absolutely, and you know, the thing is is that
you know to have them happenwithin the same week.
And then, like I said, theincident that I'm going to find
out about and I'll talk about itnext week about, you know, a
pilot being arrested by the USMarshal on an airplane- yeah.
You know, it's kind of gettinga little bit out of control, you
know.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yep, it's crazy.
But yeah, I did text my friendand I'm like October, I'm
driving.
I don't care if I have a rentat U-Haul and for people that
are like driving is scarier, youhave more of a chance of an
accident.
I'm like I don't care.
There's just something aboutdriving that you just feel
better, you're not in a metal.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, you know what it is when you drive you feel
like you have control.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, even though, like I understand,
driving is scary and there's somany weirdos on the road, but
but it's less.
Yeah, it's just less scary.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's true.
That's true, or better yet,just make sure you have a few
cocktails before you get on theplane and relax you Right.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, yeah, next time .
I never am someone that is, butI feel like the way things are
going.
Definitely I'll have to looktoo, because for a while, I was
part of a reddit group that'slike fear of flying, and they
were actually.
If anyone's afraid of like,this group is so sweet because
you can post like when you'reflying and these strangers will
be like I'm watching your flight, you know you're almost landed
(18:42):
and it's so cute.
These people are all like verycute.
And then it's a good group tohave when things go wrong,
because then sometimes pilotswill pop in and be like OK, this
is why you shouldn't be afraid,instead of freaking people out.
I feel like the group isactually really comforting, but
now it's like every day there'ssomething, and so I feel like
it's not very calming to thenervous flyers.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh yeah, I mean real quickly.
I remember years ago me and mywife went to Jamaica.
On the way back, you know, itwas a thunderstorm, it was bad
weather, so the flight wasdelayed.
But then we took off and was onthe way back kind of rough, but
no big deal you know and thenall of a sudden the plane kind
(19:27):
of dropped a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Oh my gosh no.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
The whole cabin was silent at that point, and I
don't know if he was the captainor the co-pilot, but he was
coming back to use the restroomand, I kid you not, he looked me
dead in the face and I guess hesaw the terror in my eyes.
So he got done, done, you know,using the restroom, he went
back and then he made um anannouncement saying um, just let
(19:54):
you know, we're experiencing alot of bad weather.
It's going to take us a fewextra minutes.
We're going to go around allthis turbulence and everything
and um, this way, making abetter flight for you guys and
um, just add a few minutes tothe, to the, but everything will
be fine like that.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Oh, that's nice.
He's probably like these peopleare freaking out and to them
it's probably no big deal, buttrying to like a military
aircraft coming at you lastminute is crazy.
Yeah, there's no way.
Every time when I'm on a planeand they make an announcement
every time, I rip my headphonesoff and I'm listening intently.
I'm like what.
I don't know how people cansleep on planes.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
But you know the one thing I will say and I will give
them credit when they did dothose maneuvers, the pilot got
on right away and said one ofthem I don't know, maybe he was
a little too honest this is whenthey had to do that.
Drop 500 feet in seconds, saidyou know, just want to let you
(20:51):
know everything's fine.
We had to do an emergencymaneuver to keep from having a
head on collision with anotherairplane.
I don't know if I would be thathonest?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
oh no, I would be like I would jump out of the
plane at that moment.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I don't know if I'd be that honest, because at that
point you know you're looking atthe person next to you like
what the?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
fuck, yeah, he may.
I bet he was like upset and madthough too, because if you're
like I'd be so mad Like you know, I bet he's still like a human
too.
So I feel like he's probablylike shaking with anger because
he's probably doing everythingright.
Then, all of a sudden, thisother big situation is happening
.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
That's true.
Thank God that they payattention.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Exactly.
Well, one place that I will bedriving to instead of flying is
San Francisco.
Even though it's like anine-hour drive, it's okay.
But it was recently.
A restaurant in San Franciscois recently in the news because
a micro influencer went to dinethere and ended up TikToking her
(21:51):
experience with about how notnice they were, which in turn,
the chef got fired from it.
So pretty much it all startedwhen micro influencer let's see
what her name is Carla Makadeposted a TikTok detailing her
visit to Kiss Cafe.
That's K-I-S Cafe.
She said she was left shakingafter being invited to collab
(22:12):
with the Bay Area Wine Bar.
According to her, she expectedto receive a free meal for her
and her husband in exchange forposting a video about the
restaurant on her channel, whichat the time had 15,000
followers.
After arriving at therestaurant, the award winning
chef questioned why she had beeninvited and she could pretty
much she could hear him.
(22:33):
I watched her talk and so shecould hear him talking to other
people about like why is thisgirl dining here?
You know she has like nofollowers.
It must be a mistake why she'shere.
And then he came over and wasreally rude to her and basically
, basically in real time waslike looking at her videos and
saying, like you're not really amatch for this, you know your
content isn't that good.
And so she she seemed like avery gentle, nice person, so she
(22:56):
got really shook it up.
And then she went online and,just, you know, detailed her
experience.
Then the real drama happenedwhen she didn't say this
person's name, but then thedaughter.
She said that the chef told hermy daughter has 600,000
followers and my daughter's likea real influencer.
And then this man's daughtercommented on her page and said,
(23:17):
like I'm sorry, I take noaccountability for my dad, you
know, we're going to make thingsright.
And then that obviously showedeveryone who it was about and
just everything broke loose.
And so the chef got let go, um,okay, well, I have a few
thoughts on this.
First is that because sometimes,like for some of my projects, I
am in this situation where,like, not for me personally, but
(23:38):
for other brands that I workfor like I will go places and
get comps, a free meal, um, tolike, you know, instagram it or
whatever and I feel like ifsomeone was being rude, I would
definitely, I'd probably be alittle bit rude back to them,
but I wouldn't like I wouldprobably just leave and say,
okay, you know, but I don't knowif I would drag them on social
media just because how big itcan get, where I'm sure now this
(24:00):
person's getting like deaththreats and the fact that he's
fired from his job and like Idon't know.
I feel like that that's a littlebit too far.
Like I understand her wantingto share the experience, but it
just got so out of hand that Ithink there's somewhere in the
middle of like telling yourstory and then now also like
ruining this man's life.
It's serious, but it's not likethat serious to me.
(24:21):
Um, he sounds really rude, butI this to me doesn't seem like
the penalty of him like losinghis job and having people like
hate him or, you know, threatenhim just seems a little bit far.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You know, I guess I could look at it as a different
way If it was just the fact ofmaybe she had bad service.
The food wasn't good, that'sone thing.
But can you find your way to berude and then basically
disrespect her, even if youdidn't do it to her face, but
she can hear you talking about.
You know, you know has nofollowers.
(24:57):
Why is it here?
Stuff like that you know youdon't do stuff like that because
I'm going to tell you the righttype of content will take
someone that has very few to nofollowers and make them an
overnight viral sensation.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I know that's.
The funny thing is that he'smaking fun of her not having any
reach and then it's like, oh,now you're going to see the
reach.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Exactly, exactly and you know the thing is too is
that will destroy theirrestaurant, so hence why he got
fired.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, I think you're definitely.
If you're a restaurant owner,you are more than okay to
question why you're giving freemeals.
And I think this is differentbecause she's not just an
influencer, she's a food contentcreator and I feel like there
is a difference between that.
She's not just a bratty persongoing in expecting a meal
because she's well-known.
This is a person that createscontent about food that other
(25:48):
people go and look and I feellike for me, like I get heavily
influenced by food contentcreators if I'm searching where
to go, like in LA or whatever.
So she's doing like theadvertising for him.
You know, I think if someone'sgoing in saying, do you know who
I am and you know they're afashion influencer and their
content has nothing to do withfood, that's okay to not be rude
but to at least maybe not givethem a free meal.
(26:09):
This is someone who makes foodcontent.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think they're important.
But what I would love to seeand I haven't seen it yet is
food influencers that go inunannounced, check out the food,
check out the service as aregular person, because if they
know you're coming yeah yeah,the worst restaurant give you
the best service.
Totally know who you are.
(26:37):
Of course that you're going toget really great service.
The food's going to be greatexactly yeah, a really good
assessment to me no, and exactlyno.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
In fact, like for the , for the publication that I
work for one of the couple ofthem that I do, I don't say
anything, like I'm more giving anice review than I am giving a
critique.
And so there was one restaurantthat even their service was
almost too much and it wasactually annoying.
And so in my review I tried tosay they're very attentive to
(27:07):
the point of being my meanestthing was almost kind of nice
still, but it was like if I wasjust a critic I probably would
have said that it's too muchservice, like I don't need
someone to come around every 30seconds, and it was like mildly
irritating.
But because they're trading me,it's almost like you feel
beholden to only say nice things, and you know so you me.
(27:29):
It's almost like you feelbeholden to only say nice things
.
You're right, if I went thereundercover and they were that
annoying, I probably would havenicely said it.
Luckily, I haven't encounteredanything like this.
Every single restaurant thatI've been to the people have
been so, so, so nice and almosttoo nice to the point where I
feel bad.
Same thing.
I hope they're giving this muchattention and good treatment to
people that are just coming inas like regular patrons, you
(27:51):
know.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
That's true.
That's true.
I mean, we can't dismiss thepower of the word of mouth and
social media.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, exactly.
But my last thing is just thatI think people take it too far.
And if this was just my dadthat was being rude.
I mean People take it too farand if this was just my dad that
was being rude, I mean hedefinitely deserves to have some
bad karma and like people smearhis name.
I understand that, but I justknow how the Internet is and I
really think people may likephysically threaten him or his
(28:20):
restaurant.
I just think that's scarynowadays because people,
unhinged people take it likefive steps too far, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That is so true.
That is so is so true.
That is so, so true.
Talking about going far.
Don't know if you're a fan ofthis or maybe not a fan of this,
but during the wnba all-stargame, the players wore a
unifying t-shirt that read payus what you owe us, whoa.
(28:49):
It was a black shirt, whitelettering, large letters, and
basically what they were doingwas just trying to make a
statement.
You know, talking about thedisparity as far as what they
make, because right now, let'sface it, wnba players don't make
any real money.
I mean, yeah, caitlyn clark,she makes, uh, I want to say, 75
(29:09):
000 a year.
Oh my gosh, she's considered avery high player yeah and you
know the thing is, w nba,players make their money.
If they're really good, um,they really know they make their
money on endorsements.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's not the actual game itself and then do you
think that, like for caitlynclark's endorsements, like if
she works with nike or something, does that be?
Does the basketball team alwaysget a or, like the league, do
they get a cut of what she makes, or do you think she's you're a
free agent when it comes tothat, like oh, you're free oh
really I wonder to like do thenon-caitlyn cl Clarks?
(29:47):
everyone gets paid kind ofdifferent, like like, if she's
getting paid that much, areother people getting paid like
thirty thousand dollars orsomething.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I want to say they said the average pay is around
maybe forty to fifty thousand ohmy gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Compared to basketball, like to the men's
league.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Oh, men's put it like this the person riding the
bench that never touches thebasketball makes way more than
75,000.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Oh my gosh and see I feel like.
I feel like somewhere in themiddle is like normal.
I don't feel like they shouldbe like I don't know, like
millions and millions andmillions of dollars.
It seems just too much for me,but like I feel like everyone
should get a salary of $200,000and call it a day.
I'm a socialist when it comesto this type of stuff, where I'm
like every player.
If you make it into any sort ofbasketball league, you get
(30:37):
$150,000 and that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, I mean when WNBA first started.
Okay, you can make an argumentthat hey, it's a new league,
they're not making a lot ofmoney, so they can't really
afford to pay.
Well, now, look at today.
You know I've probably watchedmore wmba games within the last
year more than really ever.
You know because I reallydidn't watch it and a lot of
(31:01):
people watch it.
But now not only are morepeople watching it, you have new
teams that's going to be cominginto the league over the next
two to three years.
Also, you have stadiums thatare selling out now.
So they're making money.
And I agree.
I mean, will it get to thepoint of the men's salaries?
I don't think so.
(31:22):
You know I think it shouldstart going at least up in the
right direction.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Because I think that's $75,000, $50,000 for what
they do and, if you think aboutit, that's why a lot of those
players play overseas, becausethey make money.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yep, and I'm all in favor.
Like we just saw it work forthe Dallas Cowboys cheerleader
this season on making the teamwhere, like they all banded
together then they got like aridiculous pay increase.
I forget what it was, but Imean they went from like having
to have 9,000 jobs to now beingpaid.
I think.
I think for them it's like100,000 or 150,000, which is a
great, like I think that'samazing for, like those young
(32:03):
women who are who should be paidand who shouldn't have to do
five different jobs like duringthe season off season.
Um, so I think that's so cool,especially that they're banding
together, and I think I I lovethat.
I think that that's nice tohave that support oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And you know, like you mentioned the dallas cowboy
cheerleaders, you know theyweren't even making minimum wage
at one point and that's justcrazy.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And even like I watched watched a TV show and
one of the main women were likewhat's so interesting about all
of you is how many jobs you have.
I'm like that's the amount ofstress that they put on their
bodies and time and schedule andit's like I don't know how they
didn't have a nervous breakdown.
I think they're working fromlike five in the morning to 10
at night and how do you expectpeople to sleep properly and eat
(32:45):
nicely?
That's just too much for evenyoung, busy people to do.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
That's true.
Do you think that the pressurethat the players are putting out
in the public are going to makethe owners in the league do
something with the pay?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, I definitely do , I do, do you?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
You know what I do.
How much is probably thebiggest question.
Right I don't know, we'll see.
But yeah, they definitely needto do something about that yep
see, I feel that way aboutbaseball too.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I talk about this a lot with my baseball loving
boyfriend.
Is that like I?
I just think some players getpaid like so, so so much, I
understand they bring in revenueand I get that, but it just
seems like crazy to me, me thatone baseball player makes $90
million or something.
I just think it could be spreadaround different places.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
For the baseball players that are out there.
Please don't get mad at me whenI say this, but it is amazing
how much these baseball playersmake.
I know Absolutely make, I knowAbsolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I know, yeah, and I still think they should be
balling.
I think that's amazing.
I don't want to cap anyone, butI'm just like eight million is
enough, it's just enough.
Maybe that's the case foreveryone, for everything, but it
just gets to be a littleridiculous.
And maybe I don't value sportsas much as the average person
(34:10):
does, or whatever, and I thinkit's it's amazing, it's a great
pastime and it's entertainment.
But then it gets to the wholesituation.
Then that brings up a biggerconversation of, like singers
and you know, like justentertainers in general, and who
gets paid.
What I still feel, liketeachers and firefighters, and I
think there's more importantprofessions and like, I think
there's more importantprofessions.
I think it's cool that peopleplay baseball, but I think
(34:31):
there's more important things.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So, Meryl, you don't think $80 a year is too much
money?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
No, unless they want to start paying all stand-up
comedians that much, In whichcase I think it's perfect.
I'm ready for it.
I think maybe me and my otherstand-up friends should wear
t-shirts like that to the showswhere we get paid in chicken
wings like a pay us what you oweus.
There you go.
It'll be like eight dollars Ilove it.
Yep.
Well, someone that does getpaid a lot of money as well is,
(34:59):
uh, entertainer, trisha paytas,and she was just in the news
recently because she, you know,she's known for her in the news
recently because she, you know,she's known for her weird baby
names.
I think she has one kid namedmalibu barbie and another one
named elvis um, and now she justhad her new baby, aquaman,
named aquaman moses payton,hackman, hackman um, and she,
(35:23):
she kind of hinted at this a fewmonths ago when she was saying
she said, oh, oh, I gave it awayalready.
There was like a picture of amovie poster and you could see
my son's name and people werethinking, okay, maybe it's like
Neptune or, you know, poseidonor something, and then it ended
up being Aquaman.
She said that she really cameclose to naming him Water Snake
(35:46):
and I just had it was a.
Really interesting.
I saw a woman's TikTok aboutbeing named.
She was named Mickey, afterMinnie, mickey Mouse, and I feel
like her middle name was likevegetable or something and she
just had, like parents that kindof named her a wackadoodle name
and she was saying this is whatmy life experience has been
like, like graduating collegeand having people constantly
(36:06):
make fun of me for my name, oryou know, like graduating
college and having peopleconstantly make fun of me for my
name, or you know, her siblingshad changed their names and so
I just think it's of course,name everyone you want to and
they won't have a normal life.
But, like, this is a real humanbeing.
It's not like just a pretend,it's not like a gerbil or
something.
You know, there's a personthat's now going to have like
the name Aquaman and it just itseems a little silly.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Well, you, know, here's the thing, and I agree
with you, you can name yourchild anything you want, but I
think the biggest thing is,unless they're staying in the
sports world or theentertainment world of some kind
Aquaman on a resume, you know,going for an office job.
I know, granted they shouldn'tbe doing this, but it might not
(36:50):
help you too much.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I know, granted, they shouldn't be doing this, but it
might not help you too much.
I know, and I feel like theother two names, like malibu
barbie, like that's that's weird, but like passable enough to be
like, okay, that's, you canexist in the world and all this,
but aquaman, unless you havenicknames like aq or something,
I don't know, that's just.
It just seems like and I liketrisha payne, that's like I
don't mind her at all, I thinkshe's like funny and cool and
stuff, but that just seems likeyou're setting up a child who
(37:13):
like, deep down inside, it'slike do you really think a
person wants to be named that?
You know she's smart enough.
I feel like she wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Well, the problem is is that a lot of times when they
name kids, they kind of thinkabout themselves more than the
child.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I know, it just seems like someone, something like
that'm all for if you wanted toget something and name it
Aquaman, like that's A perfectname for like a dachshund or
something, like a fish or youknow a reptile or something.
But it just I mean, we'll seemaybe.
Maybe the kid will grow up andit will like fit him perfectly,
that's true, and then whatpeople name their kids is like
(37:46):
totally their business.
I just think I hope it doesn'tset up a lot of people like
influenced in naming their kidsjust like ridiculously silly
stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Who knows, maybe some people start naming their kid
Peter Griffin.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Exactly, lois Griffin .
I like that wouldn't be theworst name.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's true, that's true.
Well, talking about a feel goodmoment here.
Well, talking about a feel-goodmoment here.
We're going back to airplanesagain.
A Georgia grandmother of seven.
Her name is Nicole Pruitt.
She took down an unrulypassenger trying to get into a
cockpit on a Delta flight.
She's also an Army veteran.
(38:28):
Wow, kudos to her.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Wow, I love that.
Um did they say, was the personlike trying to just take?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
over the plane.
Well, from what they say, itseems like this person had was
having a mental breakdown.
Um, but um, I don't know shewas taken off.
Obviously they you know shetook her down, restrained her
until a plane landed.
Of course, authorities took herout.
She's being charged.
I don't know.
(38:59):
I love the fact that she tookit down.
Now the one thing I did not like, and maybe it's just me being a
little overly sensitive here,but Delta Airlines came out with
a statement thanking the pilotsfor staying cool, the crew
thanking the passengers forholding, you know, helping take
(39:20):
control of this person.
But it wasn't the passengers,it was this one person.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, I feel like she should get free flights and
like recognize as a hero, Ithink, at least acknowledge her
by name.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, and maybe I'm being overly sensitive here and
like recognize as a hero, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
at least acknowledge her by name, because she was a
hero.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And maybe I'm being overly sensitive here, but no, I
think you're right.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
She risked herself and she, like she, saved
everyone.
She saved that woman.
Who knows what that personwould have done?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah, and basically what she said was she kind of
thanked her military trainingthat had her be able to do what
she did instantly and nothesitate.
So that's.
The only thing that made me alittle bit disappointed is I
think they should have gave hera kudos, Even though she's
getting it all over the news andsocial media.
Delta Airlines should have atleast acknowledged her.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Absolutely.
Yeah, they should have likegiven her some type of honor.
I think, absolutely Given herlike the greatest Delta upgrade.
Absolutely, I think that everyflight should have.
I know there are some airmarshals a lot of times that
like incognito on the flight or,you know, we won't recognize
the police people on the flight,but like I think every flight
should come with at least likeone or two security people.
(40:25):
I just think there's there'stoo much at stake nowadays for
them not to, and I think like Idon, I don't know about them
having a gun, but like having ataser, having some type of
weapon that you can like takesomeone out if you need to, just
because of like how it's gone.
You know, having a gun might betoo risky, because then if
someone gets control of that,that's really scary, but like
having some type of availablething to hurt someone else,
(40:48):
that's might be about to dosomething crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That's true, I mean, I agree with you.
It would be nice if there wasalways at least one air marshal
on the plane at all times.
I understand the logistics ofbudget.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah, so many people.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
I get it, but it would be nice to have one on
there.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I know, see, and that's what like in my perfect
world.
When they're like, is there adoctor on the plane?
It's like the doctor shouldraise their hand and the
military person like I feel likethe first class row should just
be like all helpers.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And then that would be like a new profession where
it's like, oh, I'm like studyingto be an, an airplane military
person, like I think they shouldredo that hey, that sounds like
a new show right, exactly.
well, I'm gonna go back tosomething that I feel like maybe
(41:42):
American Eagle wishes thatinstead of a Sydney Sweeney,
they did an AI model, becausethings could have gone even
better for them.
But recently, in the Augustprint edition of Vogue, a guest
advertisement featured aflawless blonde model showing
off a maxi dress and a floralplaysuit, and then, in a small
print in the corner, the adreveals that she was created
using AI.
(42:02):
Vogue said that the AI modelwas not an editorial decision.
It was the first time an AIgenerated person has been
featured in the magazine.
Now obviously people freaked outat this and just said like this
is the beginning of the end.
You know pretty much like thisis if they're going to take over
models and then they're alsogoing to show us this
unrealistic to the max.
(42:23):
You know beauty, they alreadyairbrushed people to the gods
where it's like it looks like AIanyway, but now it's like
you're putting people out of ajob.
They said they created a bunchof draft models and then they
pretty much create the likenessof a person from scanning a
bunch of different people.
I just think that's scary.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I think that it's a little bit on the risky side for
Vogue to do that.
Understanding what Vogue is allabout, using too many AI models
to me, I think they're going todiminish their brand because
most people are going to go.
Because what do you look atVogue for?
You know, obviously, fashion,all this.
You look at the, the people inin the magazine, and if they're
(43:09):
artificially created to me,you're taken away from it.
I know yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
You lose interest.
I feel like it feels like I get.
I do seriously get like lessinterested in stuff when I know
it's AI.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Oh yeah, definitely.
I mean, I think what they maybe doing is testing the waters
on it.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
I think this is where AI may not be the best thing
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yep, I also think that I wonder how this will
affect I think we talked aboutthis last time too, with like
advertisements and just money ingeneral.
Like I imagine it's so muchcheaper for them because they
don't have to pay for a photoshoot and, like you know, they
could just create it that wayinstead of hiring a model or
like paying a day rate oranything.
(43:51):
Yeah, but you know, the crazything about emerald is, with the
amount of professional and evennon-professional models out
there, to me in the fashionworld there should be zero room
for ai yeah, yep, yep, I agree,and I I think it's also
important too, because now theseworking models, like if they
(44:12):
come in and they'll scan theirlikeness and then they'll get
paid like one time, but thenthey'll be able to be used over
and over and over, and that'sjust a different thing too,
because now, instead of working,they're just having like one
job the whole year.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I know that when they had thestrike, the actor strike, that
was the real big sticking pointis ai.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
yeah, so I'm not really sure how it works under
sag, but you know that's aslippery slope when you start
playing with ai I know, I know,and people have a right to be
annoyed, I think, and it's justyeah, it takes the fun out of it
.
Pretty soon, I bet they'll belike real people magazines and
AI magazines.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
That is so true.
I hope this doesn't become atrend, though.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Well, talking about a trend, over 100 NFL players and
two dozen team officials in theNFL were fined for scalping
tickets to the last Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Now all players in the NFL and I didn't know this
until recently can get twotickets to the Super Bowl.
They can purchase two ticketsto the Super Bowl at face value.
Now they are allowed if theywant to sell their tickets to
someone at face value.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
But what they were doing was selling these tickets
at a scalper's rate of up toanywhere from maybe $7,000 maybe
, or more, per ticket, and theNFL was very angry about this.
So what they're doing isthey're fining them I want to
say maybe two or three times theprice of the ticket, and then a
(45:58):
few other things as well too.
Or if they don't take the deal,then they're going to look at
suspension for the upcoming newseason.
Now they haven't identified anyplayers or any organizations,
but my thing is everyone's goingto take this deal because we're
going to know who you are ifyou get suspended at the
(46:18):
beginning of the season.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Yeah, yeah.
So how do you think they foundout that they were selling them,
and for how much?
Speaker 1 (46:26):
You know, that's a great question because I mean,
we're talking, like you know,about 100 players.
So I'm thinking and I could bewrong I'm thinking that maybe
someone got angry and complainedabout it oh uh, it could have
been leaked by you know whoeverwas buying the tickets.
Or nine times out of ten it wasprobably a third party buying
(46:48):
them and reselling them on themarket and somebody just dropped
the box.
I doubt very seriously thatthis is the first time they did
this.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Exactly, yeah, for sure.
And when they said like you canbuy two tickets at face value,
do you think that's just off thenormal, like Super Bowl site or
like off of the team?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I think the team gets a certain amount of tickets.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
And, like I said, I didn't know this, but all the
payers can get two tickets forSuper Bowl, and then, of course,
your bigger, higher-paid peopleprobably could get more tickets
.
But the thing that bothers meis you're talking about these
men that make millions ofdollars.
I know these men that makemillions of dollars, I know, and
(47:36):
if you're really gonna payhundreds of millions of dollars
do you really need to to maketickets, or am I looking at this
the wrong way?
Speaker 2 (47:41):
no, no, I mean like I would.
If you think about like thetravis kelsey's or whoever you
would think that they'd theywould just buy two and then gift
them to people.
Or like it'd be so cool to tellto, like I'm sure there's
someone in their life that wouldlove two free tickets and I
feel like if I was a famousfootball player it'd be so much
more fun to do that and be likeoh, it's on me, you know, like
I'm gonna take my aunt and uncleor something yeah, I agree, I
(48:03):
think.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I personally think it just boils down to just greed.
There's yeah, it's just greedyeah, that's so weird.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
it's so weird if you're a football player too and
you get these two tickets, thatthe first thing you would do is
sell them, because I just thinkit would be so fun to give
someone in your life them.
Or even if you didn't sell themat face value, you could just
like gift them to someone.
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Oh yeah, definitely.
And let's face it, you know,Super Bowl tickets at face value
are easy to get rid of versusbuying it on the secondary
market because, oh my god, theprices of those tickets were
outrageous really.
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I'veheard tickets go as high as ten
thousand dollars.
(48:44):
A piece whoa like I'm notpaying ten thousand to see
anyone no I mean ten thousand.
That that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
This is the stupidest question ever.
But like you can't buy a ticket, like they're not on sale
before we know who's playing,right, like do they determine,
like, who's in the Super Bowlfirst and then you can buy the
tickets?
Right, and I understand this isa stupid, funny question.
But it's not like you can't buytickets to the Super Bowl years
ahead and then you're okay, no,no, no, because we don't even
(49:16):
know where it is or what's goingto happen yet.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Exactly, exactly Like I said.
I was actually pretty shockedto hear about this.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
But you know, again, it's that greed thing.
I know they learn their lessonand they don't do this anymore.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Exactly.
I had to fight the urge a lotwhen I worked in like radio and
concert venues because we wouldget like free tickets all the
time.
And of course there was like alittle devil in my head that was
like list these on Craigslist.
But I didn't, just because whenyou value what you have, it's
like okay, I could do that andmake like I mean, they're not
Super Bowl prices.
I probably could have made like$60 or something you know.
(49:56):
But then it's like what's itworth?
Speaker 1 (49:58):
And that's just like.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
It's kind of like what's the cost of that overall?
Speaker 1 (50:02):
That's true, that's very, very true.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
But I wouldn't do that.
I would give them to someone.
Well, someone that has a thingor two about scalping is Beyonce
, because from what I've heardtoo, I've had, I had friends
that accidentally this is truebought nine tickets to her show.
And then they had one of myfriends and they were freaking
out and he was like, yeah, wemade like a $10,000 mistake and
(50:27):
then they had to.
Then they tried to sell themand theyonce tickets weren't
selling that well, like theyweren't reselling, so I think
they ended up losing like threethousand dollars or something.
It was the last tour that likewasn't selling that well.
They bought nine ticketsbecause they didn't communicate.
They all thought that, likeeveryone thought the other
person was in charge of pickingup like three tickets, and so it
(50:47):
ended up being a disaster.
But anyway, what they shouldhave been excited for was that
she reunited with Destiny'sChild at the final Cowboy Carter
show, which I think is so cute.
Destiny's Child reunited for thefirst time in seven years for
the grand finale of Beyonce'sCowboy Carter tour in Vegas.
The trio surprised fans with amedley of some of their best
(51:08):
love songs, including Lose myBreath and Bootylicious.
Of course, the other two womenare kelly roland and michelle
williams and I just think that'sso cute and so so wonderful.
There's like really cute photosand videos of them, um, and I
just think if you're a destiny'schild fan and this happens in
vegas, I just think that's likethe best treat and I think it's
(51:28):
so cool that the three of themhave remained friendly or at
least professionally friendly.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Oh yeah, and I tip my hat off to Beyoncé for allowing
them to share in the spotlightof the tour because, let's face
it, even though they're doingpretty well, they're not doing
nearly as well as Beyoncé.
So I thank Beyoncé for bringingthem up and, you know, giving
them their flowers too.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Exactly, and I think, too, this is a good
representation of like when agirl band or a boy brand,
originally, when they do what itdoes go well, like what it can
look like, cause I feel like alot of the other ones, like
Fifth Harmony or One Directionor you know, they all seem to
have falling out, and I thinkthis is an example of like, when
what happens when people justcontinue to like each other, or
(52:16):
at least like are open toeveryone succeeding.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
I agree.
Now I'm hoping that thatcatches and you know more.
More singers and performers dothe same thing.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, and Vogue, are you listening?
I'm trying to think about whoelse, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
That is so true.
That is so true.
Well, my last one for the dayis interesting because just when
you thought you've heardeverything about the Kiss Cam
situation, the companyAstronomer hires Gwyneth Paltrow
(52:56):
to capitalize on the Kiss Camscandal.
So, to be honest with you, noone really heard of this company
before Kiss Cam.
I never heard of them either.
Actually, they hired MaximumEffort, which is a marketing
firm owned by Ryan Reynolds, ohGod, to basically just kind of
(53:21):
put Gwyneth Paltrow out there asthe temporary spokesperson,
which I thought was kind ofweird that she put temporary
spokesman.
Just put spokesperson and youknow it ends when it ends but
that was exactly Just put likehired for money.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Like I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I thought this was so
funny.
I did think that this was likea very funny move and very like
cheeky and daring.
I mean, the fact that she wasobviously married for a really
long time to Chris Martin ofColdplay makes it like I wonder
how that conversation went down,if Gwyneth told him or asked
him or like what he thoughtabout it.
(54:01):
You know like just the ties andthe connections there, and I
also wonder how much money shedid for it and her also knowing
that this would probably havesome backlash.
Like it's to me it didn't havea ton of backlash as much as I
thought, but like Gwynethprobably knowing that some
people would be like, oh God,you know, you're going to like
stick up for this company afterthey did a bad thing, like I
(54:22):
mean, she kind of like didn'tcare about it and just went full
force and it's like she doesn'tneed the money.
I'm sure Like she's beyond rich.
But um, I'm not gonna lie, Ithink that I think that's like
very funny and clever and I'mnot I'm not offended by it, I
think it's.
I think when it was like toogood for that.
I just think it's like Kind ofridiculous.
But um, in terms of like howyou're gonna get out of this, I
(54:45):
think I think it's funny.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean I kind of agree.
What a lot of people are sayingis this is actually marketing
genius.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:54):
In a bad situation and flipping it and turning it
into a great situation where,you know, besides putting
Gwyneth Paltrow down therebecause of this KISCAM situation
, a lot more people are gettingto know who this company is and
what they do.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
Sorry, oh no, no.
I was going to say that they'reprobably going to end up
getting, you know, somepotential business out of there
that they probably wouldn't havegotten because of all this
publicity.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Yeah, definitely, and exactly what you said, and like
also just remembering thatthere's other people that work
hard at this company and itshouldn't all be ruined because
their CEOo and their hr personare crazy, you know.
So I think, if anything liketheir marketing team and their
other people have a right tolike, promote their work and be
funny too.
(55:43):
And um, from what I've heard,people did not like the ceo and
I've heard I've heard lots ofthings just from different like
articles saying that they he was, was not a very well liked guy.
So maybe they're also justsaying, okay, this happened.
How can we salvage what's leftof it and have like a little bit
of fun at everyone's expense?
And I just thought that wasridiculous.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
I know, when it first happened.
About a day or two later, theCEO resigned, and then now, with
this new marketing effort thatthey're doing, I found out that
the head of HR is no longerthere either.
Oh, wow, wow.
So, yeah, I hope this was wellworth it, because their world
(56:27):
was literally turned upside down.
Speaker 2 (56:30):
Exactly, and getting someone like Gwyneth Paltrow,
who usually is kind of more onthe prim and proper side and she
definitely has a sense of humor, but having someone like her,
who's very unexpected andrelated to the whole Coldplay
situation, is just very clever.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Oh yeah, definitely, and I think a lot of companies
are going to learn from this,saying that, hey, when bad
things happen and you get badpublicity, turn it around, use
something to flip it, you know,instead of looking at doom and
gloom.
You know, you know, turn sourapples into orange.
Speaker 2 (57:03):
Uh exactly, except don't hire sydney sweeney
because we didn't.
That would that would have beenthe worst of just her being
like hey, cheating is bad.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
Yeah, so yeah, that was a surprise, that was a
surprise, but that's okay though.
That was good.
Yep, Talk about good Meryl,what do you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (57:27):
Yay, well, I'm very excited.
August 7th I have a show at aplace called Flappers in Burbank
and that is it's like historythemed.
So one of my really goodfriends, dawn, has a podcast
called Hilf.
It's called History, I'd LikeTo.
And then the F word, which Iwon't say, but it's all about
like quote, unquote, like sexypeople in history and everything
(57:48):
.
So she has a live podcast thatshe's doing at August 7th and
then I'm one of her like openingcomedians, so I'll be doing a
few minutes on historicalfigures and making it funny.
So if anyone is a historyperson and you live in Los
Angeles August 7th, check it out.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
Nice, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (58:06):
It's really cool.
She does like she.
She does a live podcast, butshe she'll pick one subject in
history and then cover it.
I feel like I'm learningsomething that's almost like
going to school in a fun way.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
That's a fun school there.
Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yep, yep, so that'll be good.
Speaker 1 (58:22):
Well, everyone, thank you for watching and also for
listening.
We had a lot of fun, a lot offun.
Speaker 2 (58:28):
We did.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
Thank you to support us.
And then also too, as a sidenote, uh, on elrottvnetworkcom
we have that movie that I toldyou about this on there, we have
the new podcast on there, andthen I'm also going to be
talking with other independentfilmmakers and we're going to
have some shorts on there andthen some other projects coming
(58:50):
very, very soon.
So, definitely come over andcheck us out if you have an
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Well, everyone, enjoy the rest of your day.
I am Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
And I'm Meryl Clemo Bye.
Hello everyone, Welcome to this week's episode
of Thirsty Topics.
I'm Lauren Selrod.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Meryl, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, hey, hey.
I'm really good, I'm burstingat the seams with some of our
ridiculous news today.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, we definitely have a lot of interesting stuff
to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I know how are you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know what I am doing?
Great, I cannot complain.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I know I feel like I can complain, but I'm doing good
overall.
I'll still find something.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
There's always something to complain about,
right.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Exactly.
Oh, one quick personal storybefore we start.
I think this is so funny.
Do you ever watch that wingshow like hot ones where they
eat the wings?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So my birthday's coming uplater this week by the time this
comes out, it will be likealmost my birthday time.
And I opened up, by accident,my boyfriend's mail.
(01:08):
When I say by accident, I meanin quotes.
I opened up his mail and I sawthat he got me the really really
hot sauce that they try calledDa Bomb.
That's like the one thateveryone starts to.
So I'm going to try it and thenI'll report back to everyone
how intense it really is.
Okay, okay, Are.
So I'm going to try it and thenI'll report back to everyone
how intense it really is.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, okay, are you going to do the chip challenge
one of these days?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, I think I definitely will, but it needs to
be filmed At least.
If I'm going to go down, itwill be for content.
There you go.
Okay, well, with that out ofthe way.
Something that definitely alsomade me sweaty and not feel well
was, uh, sydney sweeney's newamerican eagle good jeans ad and
this is just like gone, really,like you know, past the point
(01:51):
of just making people upsetabout the advertisement.
So there's a few differentthings to this.
So pretty much she's beingslammed and same with american
eagle outfitters with the latestcampaign that um is under the
tagline syd Sweeney has greatgenes.
Now it's one of those thingsthat if people haven't seen the
ad yet, you have to go watch itand listen to it, because to me
(02:13):
one of the most infuriatingthings is just her voice, like
the way that she's talking, likethis, and you know, like I am a
Sydney Sweeney defender, I'mnot mad at her.
I think she's gorgeous, like Ithink in the past people have
(02:40):
kind of made fun of her andwe're, like you know, saying
that she're saying that,obviously her saying like she
has great genes and it's passeddown from parents and genetics
and you know the fact that she'sblonde and blue-eyed and
there's some insinuation of that, you know, and just like that
that is what equals great genesis is problematic and I just
think like they knew what theywere doing.
(03:01):
Um, so all this has sparkedlike a big conversation on the
social media At this time.
I saw that American Eagle likeswitched out a lot of her photos
and they switched it out likeright away for a person of color
.
You could tell they're they'relistening, but they're like
listening, I think, in just akind of placating way.
And then I just saw anothervideo of someone that used to
(03:23):
work for American Eagle who cameout and said, yeah, that seems
about right.
Like all they care about isjust like servicing who they
think is like the targetdemographic of you know, blonde,
blue eyed people, and that theywere just obsessed with like
competing with Abercrombie andnot really expanding their
audience.
So I guess my first question ishave you listened to this and
(03:44):
just like, what are your manythoughts about it?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
you know what I did, listen to it a little bit and
you know the way I look at it is.
It seems to be a situation andwe start to see this a lot where
advertisers and brands arestarting to use um people, even
if it's not in the best way toget that viral moment.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, almost like rage baiting or something too.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Exactly exactly, and I think you're going to see a
lot more of that, because it'san inexpensive way.
Well, obviously, the personthat you're hiring isn't
inexpensive, but it's a veryeffective way of getting a lot
of people to talk about yourbrand.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, but to me, someone like Sydney Sweeney, who
has, up until a few months ago,I think, has had a really good
reputation and men love her,women think she's cool.
I think she came out really hotin the way where she's a
mechanic and she's kind of thehot girl next door.
I think she's been doing reallywell, but lately just with the
campaigns that she's a mechanicand she's kind of the hot girl
next door, Like I think she'sbeen doing really well, but
(04:46):
lately just with the campaignsthat she's choosing, like
whoever is guiding her and herteam is definitely like tanking
her really fast.
Because this is like the firstmoment that I'm I'm finding her
unlikable Even if, like AmericanEagle is obviously the more
problematic like party here.
But just the way that she'sspeaking in the video and just
it's like she's dumbing down herown self.
It's like that's not thedirection she should be going
(05:15):
and also like as a womanwatching this ad, it doesn't
even influence me.
Of the jeans, Like the wholecopy is like these might not
even be the best jeans thatyou're wearing and this might
not even look good, and I'm likewhat kind of messaging is this?
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's a risky move, because you're kind of trying to
get people to buy your product,but then you're telling them
not to buy your product in thesame time.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It's so weird.
Exactly, if the whole thing isjust that Sydney Sweeney has
gray jeans we already know thatand we know that she's hot how
is that going to convince me togo buy something?
Like?
A brand that I feel like did doreally well is Khloe
Kardashian's brand, goodAmerican, which I'm not even a
Khloe fan as well.
But from the start, goodAmerican has shown like all body
(05:55):
types and definitely like madeit more about the woman than
about or you know, more aboutthe people buying it than about
the actual models, and I feellike that's a brand where I'm
like, okay, if I'm consideringbuying jeans, like that's
someone that I feel like I knowthey'll have sizes and you know
whatever, but this just seems sobizarre.
Um, do you think that this is atake on like genetics in
(06:18):
general, that this is a racething?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
just a light question I think that basically what
they're doing is using someonewho I don't want to use the word
desperate, but is urgentlytrying to find their way for
themselves and using that tohelp push their brand, because
really the big thing is forsuccessful companies.
(06:44):
Really successful companiesreally don't sell a product,
they sell a feeling.
You know, if you think aboutstarbucks, you know you can buy
coffee anywhere it's like hey,you know I got my grande and you
know my famous, you knowfrappes and stuff like that.
Mcdonald's, you know the happymeals for the children.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
It's really about the branding and I think right now,
um, and I get what americaneagle's trying to do, but I
don't think they really figuredout their branding yet no, I
agree, and this is such abizarre way to do it and like I
I don't think they'reinsinuating that other people
that aren't blonde and bluedon't have good genes, like
(07:28):
that's definitely taking it likea little bit far.
But I've seen creators thatdon't feel that way and I can't
imagine, you know, like it'sjust in this day and age, it's
kind of an unnecessary way topromote your blue jeans, which
you're supposed to do, and likethey don't even really look that
good in the ad.
So I feel like it's it's a failfor sure.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
When you first, when you first see the ad, you go,
you mean good jeans, and youthink about oh, they're trying
to promote their jeans.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You don't get the problem.
Exactly and I'm like, I'm happyfor Sydney's means that she has
like good genetics and shelooks great, but like nothing is
working in the ad, like it'skind of tanking her personal
brand.
She is someone I used to likeand I think it's so pretty, but
it's like she's dumbing down theway that she like taught you
know, I don't know, it's justit's not doing any favors for
(08:17):
anyone, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well, I think she got paid very well to do that ad.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So I know you know I know, but don't you feel like
also, though, public opinion isis worth so much where, like I
think, to have millions ofpeople talking about you and
kind of annoyed at you on tiktokto me is like because, like we
would be the ones that would gosee her movie in the future and
like she is someone that I would, but now it like cheapens her
brand a lot, which I feel like,for the long term, may cost her
(08:45):
more than whatever she's making.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That is very true.
That's very true.
I mean, you have a lot ofactors and actresses that will
take anything as long as theyget paid.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Ones that are very particular on what they do.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Like, for example, Denzel Washington.
There's a reason you don't seehim in certain roles.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And he took a big chance, even as a youngster
growing up in the movie industry, turning down certain roles
just because he really wanted toportray himself a certain kind
of way.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, so we're not gonna see Denzel sitting down
trying on blue jeans saying thathe has good jeans.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's not going to be an ad for like Arizona jeans or
something.
We will see an AI figure, but Idon't think we'll see him doing
that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Exactly that's coming up soon too.
Totally.
My last thing I was going tosay on this too, is that we,
like throughout this year weeven talked about other like
documentaries that came out onNetflix about like fashion and
how bad stores like BrandyGlanville is or Brandy Melville,
I don't know Whatever One ofthem is a housewife, one of them
(09:54):
is a store.
But like it seems like AmericanEagle is kind of going that way
where we're going to see adocumentary in a few years, just
like we did about Victoria'sSecret and how they were going
to see a documentary in a fewyears, just like we did about
Victoria's Secret and how theywere.
And I think this is we'velearned that some of the higher
ups at these companies are like,sometimes racist.
Sometimes they treat theirstaff very weird.
You know and that may be thecase here that we're starting to
(10:16):
see some of the.
It's like they're showing theirtrue colors.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, that's true, that's true, but I don't know.
I think that American Eagle'sprobably not done with their
story yet.
We're probably going to see adifferent storyline in a week or
two.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I know, yep, it'll be different.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yes, Talk about different.
I don't know if you've beenpaying attention to what's been
going on in the air lately.
Yes, yes, a Delta plane had todo an emergency maneuver to
avoid a collision with a B-52bomber.
(10:53):
Now, when I say an emergencymaneuver, they literally had to
turn the plane sideways.
No, no, no, no, keep fromrunning into it.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
And then same week, a southwest airline plane dropped
500 feet within seconds toavoid a head-on collision with a
former british fighter jetwhich I think was performing in
an air show okay, and so thatone was burbank that's where I
live, so that's the airport thatI fly out of, and it was going
(11:23):
to vegas, a flight that I likehave taken the past two months
I'm supposed to do.
I just texted my friend.
We're going to Vegas in October.
I just texted my friend andsaid I'm driving.
I'm sorry because also just forpeople that don't live in the
area that flight is likenotoriously it's quick, it's
only like a 40 minute to an hourflight from Burbank to Vegas.
But but it's only like a 40minute to an hour flight from
(11:44):
burbank to vegas, but but it'salways like so turbulent and the
landing is rough and it's sofunny because it's known for
like being in theory, it shouldbe such an easy flight, but by
the time people get to vegasyou're like shaking and your
blood sugar is low and it's likesometimes I'm more frazzled
from that flight.
So so having that happen,because it already is like
turbulent and a weird landing onboth ends of things, I just
(12:06):
can't even imagine and it reallyalready I'm like, I am.
I really like I need a fewmonths before I get back on a
plane.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I don't know, meryl, what do you think?
I mean, you know, every sooften things happen, but I mean,
wow, to have these happen inthe same week.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like wegot on I heard something about
and I gotta check the story,we'll probably talk about it
next week where I guess usmarshals had to take an air
pilot off of an airplane and Iliterally saw that right before
(12:35):
it was coming on, so I had toget more details about it.
But what do you think is goingon in the area now?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
um, I think just a mixture of things I this one
sounds like the pilots dideverything right.
I don't know if a trafficcontroller, like could have
alerted them before, but thisseems like military is messing
up and they're too close to theplanes, like I don't know why
they would be even coming inclose to the flight path at all.
So I just also feel like we'renot learning anything, like it
(13:03):
seems like every week somethingis happening.
It doesn't seem to be likestrengthening aviation, it just
seems to be like a free for allmore and more.
But of course I'm like a scaredconsumer, so if a pilot is
listening they may be like no,this is, these people weren't in
trouble.
You know, it always seems lessserious than it is, but having
all these close calls is justterrifying.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Oh yeah, I think it's highlighting and it's been
going on, it's been buildingover the years.
We have a nationwide shortageon air traffic controllers.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And the scary thing is it may be coming to a head
because you know I'm thankfulnothing happened.
They avoided these, but youknow this many in this short
time frame it's got to beconcerning for people who fly.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I know, I know it used to be like you would hear
about airplane things once everycouple months, but it's it's
like every week we're hearingabout something.
Thank goodness they're they'reno, like not a fatal one but I
feel like we didn't even reallyhear what actually happened in
the Washington one, when thereactually were fatalities, like
you know.
We know that it was thehelicopter, but it's like these
things happen and we never hearwhat's going to happen, like how
(14:12):
that's going to help makethings even more safe or not.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, the thing I look at
too is because I know for factthe incident with the Delta
plane having to do the maneuverto miss hitting that B-52 bomber
.
It was reported that the B-52bomber did not get any kind of
indication from air trafficcontroller that there was
(14:37):
another one on that same path.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So I mean thank God that they were alert and they
saw and avoided it.
You know, yeah, I meanpersonally.
You know, if I'm riding in aplane, you know I'm relaxed, I'm
always driving sideways.
No, yeah, that's going to keepme awake the whole flight, you
know.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Me too, I would just wherever I was flying to, I
would just live there forever,like now.
I would live in Vegas for therest of my life, but I would
truly have to like crawl homeand I just think I mean I'm
already freaking out wheneverwe're up in the air, almost
anxious that this stuff canhappen.
So it's like I imagine there'slike someone on the flight
(15:21):
that's like me that has flightanxiety, and this I mean, even
if you don't have flight anxiety, but there's people that are
already nervous up in the air,like already, and then for that
to happen is just crazy.
And, like you know, I hate tomake things a political issue,
but I do feel like we need someanswers, even if it's not from
like Trump or the president oranything, just from whoever.
I don't even know if there'slike a head of FAA We've learned
(15:44):
that that has been greatly cut.
As you said, there's less andless and there's a shortage.
That person should be almostdoing press conferences weekly.
I feel like that's a huge thingfor us to know.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Absolutely, because what's going to end up happening
is a lot of people are going tobe.
You know what, unless I reallyhave to, I'll drive.
I'll just make a little extratime to get there yeah you know,
let's face it.
I mean, that's scared the hellout of someone you know,
especially like if you're you'reflying and you drop 500 feet in
a matter of seconds.
I mean, yeah, you're daylight,no, way.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I, I watch when we're on the plane.
Sometimes I watch the elevationand so I'm like I couldn't take
it if it went like 14, 000000,30, like I wonder if if the
machines like clock thatinstantly or if it took a second
or two.
But yeah, it's too much.
I.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Don't know what about ?
What about you, Merrill?
Is that gonna?
You know, unfortunately foryour job, you know you have to
do fly.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, I fly a lot you , for you, you know um, like, I
mean, it's hard to say, I thinkI think if I situations like
going to vegas, if I can drive,I probably will, but it probably
won't stop me from like thelonger flights you know, like
flying cross country or anything.
But next time I really am gonnahave to get some like sedatives
because it's just too scary.
(17:01):
And also I always think aboutthe fact that the pilots are so
well trained and they're so good, but to have to quickly like
make a turn when you're in that,when that many people's lives
are in your hands and you havesuch a big machine that you're
flying, it's just like my hatsare definitely off to the pilots
, because I mean, that's liketwo instances within a week that
they saved like a million or somany lives, you know, oh,
(17:22):
that's like two instances withina week that they saved like a
million or so many lives, youknow.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Oh, absolutely, and you know, the thing is is that
you know to have them happenwithin the same week.
And then, like I said, theincident that I'm going to find
out about and I'll talk about itnext week about, you know, a
pilot being arrested by the USMarshal on an airplane- yeah.
You know, it's kind of gettinga little bit out of control, you
know.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yep, it's crazy.
But yeah, I did text my friendand I'm like October, I'm
driving.
I don't care if I have a rentat U-Haul and for people that
are like driving is scarier, youhave more of a chance of an
accident.
I'm like I don't care.
There's just something aboutdriving that you just feel
better, you're not in a metal.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, you know what it is when you drive you feel
like you have control.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, even though, like I understand,
driving is scary and there's somany weirdos on the road, but
but it's less.
Yeah, it's just less scary.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's true.
That's true, or better yet,just make sure you have a few
cocktails before you get on theplane and relax you Right.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, yeah, next time .
I never am someone that is, butI feel like the way things are
going.
Definitely I'll have to looktoo, because for a while, I was
part of a reddit group that'slike fear of flying, and they
were actually.
If anyone's afraid of like,this group is so sweet because
you can post like when you'reflying and these strangers will
be like I'm watching your flight, you know you're almost landed
(18:42):
and it's so cute.
These people are all like verycute.
And then it's a good group tohave when things go wrong,
because then sometimes pilotswill pop in and be like OK, this
is why you shouldn't be afraid,instead of freaking people out.
I feel like the group isactually really comforting, but
now it's like every day there'ssomething, and so I feel like
it's not very calming to thenervous flyers.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh yeah, I mean real quickly.
I remember years ago me and mywife went to Jamaica.
On the way back, you know, itwas a thunderstorm, it was bad
weather, so the flight wasdelayed.
But then we took off and was onthe way back kind of rough, but
no big deal you know and thenall of a sudden the plane kind
(19:27):
of dropped a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Oh my gosh no.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
The whole cabin was silent at that point, and I
don't know if he was the captainor the co-pilot, but he was
coming back to use the restroomand, I kid you not, he looked me
dead in the face and I guess hesaw the terror in my eyes.
So he got done, done, you know,using the restroom, he went
back and then he made um anannouncement saying um, just let
(19:54):
you know, we're experiencing alot of bad weather.
It's going to take us a fewextra minutes.
We're going to go around allthis turbulence and everything
and um, this way, making abetter flight for you guys and
um, just add a few minutes tothe, to the, but everything will
be fine like that.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Oh, that's nice.
He's probably like these peopleare freaking out and to them
it's probably no big deal, buttrying to like a military
aircraft coming at you lastminute is crazy.
Yeah, there's no way.
Every time when I'm on a planeand they make an announcement
every time, I rip my headphonesoff and I'm listening intently.
I'm like what.
I don't know how people cansleep on planes.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
But you know the one thing I will say and I will give
them credit when they did dothose maneuvers, the pilot got
on right away and said one ofthem I don't know, maybe he was
a little too honest this is whenthey had to do that.
Drop 500 feet in seconds, saidyou know, just want to let you
(20:51):
know everything's fine.
We had to do an emergencymaneuver to keep from having a
head on collision with anotherairplane.
I don't know if I would be thathonest?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
oh no, I would be like I would jump out of the
plane at that moment.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I don't know if I'd be that honest, because at that
point you know you're looking atthe person next to you like
what the?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
fuck, yeah, he may.
I bet he was like upset and madthough too, because if you're
like I'd be so mad Like you know, I bet he's still like a human
too.
So I feel like he's probablylike shaking with anger because
he's probably doing everythingright.
Then, all of a sudden, thisother big situation is happening
.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
That's true.
Thank God that they payattention.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Exactly.
Well, one place that I will bedriving to instead of flying is
San Francisco.
Even though it's like anine-hour drive, it's okay.
But it was recently.
A restaurant in San Franciscois recently in the news because
a micro influencer went to dinethere and ended up TikToking her
(21:51):
experience with about how notnice they were, which in turn,
the chef got fired from it.
So pretty much it all startedwhen micro influencer let's see
what her name is Carla Makadeposted a TikTok detailing her
visit to Kiss Cafe.
That's K-I-S Cafe.
She said she was left shakingafter being invited to collab
(22:12):
with the Bay Area Wine Bar.
According to her, she expectedto receive a free meal for her
and her husband in exchange forposting a video about the
restaurant on her channel, whichat the time had 15,000
followers.
After arriving at therestaurant, the award winning
chef questioned why she had beeninvited and she could pretty
much she could hear him.
(22:33):
I watched her talk and so shecould hear him talking to other
people about like why is thisgirl dining here?
You know she has like nofollowers.
It must be a mistake why she'shere.
And then he came over and wasreally rude to her and basically
, basically in real time waslike looking at her videos and
saying, like you're not really amatch for this, you know your
content isn't that good.
And so she she seemed like avery gentle, nice person, so she
(22:56):
got really shook it up.
And then she went online and,just, you know, detailed her
experience.
Then the real drama happenedwhen she didn't say this
person's name, but then thedaughter.
She said that the chef told hermy daughter has 600,000
followers and my daughter's likea real influencer.
And then this man's daughtercommented on her page and said,
(23:17):
like I'm sorry, I take noaccountability for my dad, you
know, we're going to make thingsright.
And then that obviously showedeveryone who it was about and
just everything broke loose.
And so the chef got let go, um,okay, well, I have a few
thoughts on this.
First is that because sometimes,like for some of my projects, I
am in this situation where,like, not for me personally, but
(23:38):
for other brands that I workfor like I will go places and
get comps, a free meal, um, tolike, you know, instagram it or
whatever and I feel like ifsomeone was being rude, I would
definitely, I'd probably be alittle bit rude back to them,
but I wouldn't like I wouldprobably just leave and say,
okay, you know, but I don't knowif I would drag them on social
media just because how big itcan get, where I'm sure now this
(24:00):
person's getting like deaththreats and the fact that he's
fired from his job and like Idon't know.
I feel like that that's a littlebit too far.
Like I understand her wantingto share the experience, but it
just got so out of hand that Ithink there's somewhere in the
middle of like telling yourstory and then now also like
ruining this man's life.
It's serious, but it's not likethat serious to me.
(24:21):
Um, he sounds really rude, butI this to me doesn't seem like
the penalty of him like losinghis job and having people like
hate him or, you know, threatenhim just seems a little bit far.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You know, I guess I could look at it as a different
way If it was just the fact ofmaybe she had bad service.
The food wasn't good, that'sone thing.
But can you find your way to berude and then basically
disrespect her, even if youdidn't do it to her face, but
she can hear you talking about.
You know, you know has nofollowers.
(24:57):
Why is it here?
Stuff like that you know youdon't do stuff like that because
I'm going to tell you the righttype of content will take
someone that has very few to nofollowers and make them an
overnight viral sensation.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I know that's.
The funny thing is that he'smaking fun of her not having any
reach and then it's like, oh,now you're going to see the
reach.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Exactly, exactly and you know the thing is too is
that will destroy theirrestaurant, so hence why he got
fired.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, I think you're definitely.
If you're a restaurant owner,you are more than okay to
question why you're giving freemeals.
And I think this is differentbecause she's not just an
influencer, she's a food contentcreator and I feel like there
is a difference between that.
She's not just a bratty persongoing in expecting a meal
because she's well-known.
This is a person that createscontent about food that other
(25:48):
people go and look and I feellike for me, like I get heavily
influenced by food contentcreators if I'm searching where
to go, like in LA or whatever.
So she's doing like theadvertising for him.
You know, I think if someone'sgoing in saying, do you know who
I am and you know they're afashion influencer and their
content has nothing to do withfood, that's okay to not be rude
but to at least maybe not givethem a free meal.
(26:09):
This is someone who makes foodcontent.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think they're important.
But what I would love to seeand I haven't seen it yet is
food influencers that go inunannounced, check out the food,
check out the service as aregular person, because if they
know you're coming yeah yeah,the worst restaurant give you
the best service.
Totally know who you are.
(26:37):
Of course that you're going toget really great service.
The food's going to be greatexactly yeah, a really good
assessment to me no, and exactlyno.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
In fact, like for the , for the publication that I
work for one of the couple ofthem that I do, I don't say
anything, like I'm more giving anice review than I am giving a
critique.
And so there was one restaurantthat even their service was
almost too much and it wasactually annoying.
And so in my review I tried tosay they're very attentive to
(27:07):
the point of being my meanestthing was almost kind of nice
still, but it was like if I wasjust a critic I probably would
have said that it's too muchservice, like I don't need
someone to come around every 30seconds, and it was like mildly
irritating.
But because they're trading me,it's almost like you feel
beholden to only say nice things, and you know so you me.
(27:29):
It's almost like you feelbeholden to only say nice things
.
You're right, if I went thereundercover and they were that
annoying, I probably would havenicely said it.
Luckily, I haven't encounteredanything like this.
Every single restaurant thatI've been to the people have
been so, so, so nice and almosttoo nice to the point where I
feel bad.
Same thing.
I hope they're giving this muchattention and good treatment to
people that are just coming inas like regular patrons, you
(27:51):
know.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
That's true.
That's true.
I mean, we can't dismiss thepower of the word of mouth and
social media.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, exactly.
But my last thing is just thatI think people take it too far.
And if this was just my dadthat was being rude.
I mean People take it too farand if this was just my dad that
was being rude, I mean hedefinitely deserves to have some
bad karma and like people smearhis name.
I understand that, but I justknow how the Internet is and I
really think people may likephysically threaten him or his
(28:20):
restaurant.
I just think that's scarynowadays because people,
unhinged people take it likefive steps too far, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That is so true.
That is so is so true.
That is so, so true.
Talking about going far.
Don't know if you're a fan ofthis or maybe not a fan of this,
but during the wnba all-stargame, the players wore a
unifying t-shirt that read payus what you owe us, whoa.
(28:49):
It was a black shirt, whitelettering, large letters, and
basically what they were doingwas just trying to make a
statement.
You know, talking about thedisparity as far as what they
make, because right now, let'sface it, wnba players don't make
any real money.
I mean, yeah, caitlyn clark,she makes, uh, I want to say, 75
(29:09):
000 a year.
Oh my gosh, she's considered avery high player yeah and you
know the thing is, w nba,players make their money.
If they're really good, um,they really know they make their
money on endorsements.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's not the actual game itself and then do you
think that, like for caitlynclark's endorsements, like if
she works with nike or something, does that be?
Does the basketball team alwaysget a or, like the league, do
they get a cut of what she makes, or do you think she's you're a
free agent when it comes tothat, like oh, you're free oh
really I wonder to like do thenon-caitlyn cl Clarks?
(29:47):
everyone gets paid kind ofdifferent, like like, if she's
getting paid that much, areother people getting paid like
thirty thousand dollars orsomething.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I want to say they said the average pay is around
maybe forty to fifty thousand ohmy gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Compared to basketball, like to the men's
league.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Oh, men's put it like this the person riding the
bench that never touches thebasketball makes way more than
75,000.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Oh my gosh and see I feel like.
I feel like somewhere in themiddle is like normal.
I don't feel like they shouldbe like I don't know, like
millions and millions andmillions of dollars.
It seems just too much for me,but like I feel like everyone
should get a salary of $200,000and call it a day.
I'm a socialist when it comesto this type of stuff, where I'm
like every player.
If you make it into any sort ofbasketball league, you get
(30:37):
$150,000 and that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, I mean when WNBA first started.
Okay, you can make an argumentthat hey, it's a new league,
they're not making a lot ofmoney, so they can't really
afford to pay.
Well, now, look at today.
You know I've probably watchedmore wmba games within the last
year more than really ever.
You know because I reallydidn't watch it and a lot of
(31:01):
people watch it.
But now not only are morepeople watching it, you have new
teams that's going to be cominginto the league over the next
two to three years.
Also, you have stadiums thatare selling out now.
So they're making money.
And I agree.
I mean, will it get to thepoint of the men's salaries?
I don't think so.
(31:22):
You know I think it shouldstart going at least up in the
right direction.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Because I think that's $75,000, $50,000 for what
they do and, if you think aboutit, that's why a lot of those
players play overseas, becausethey make money.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yep, and I'm all in favor.
Like we just saw it work forthe Dallas Cowboys cheerleader
this season on making the teamwhere, like they all banded
together then they got like aridiculous pay increase.
I forget what it was, but Imean they went from like having
to have 9,000 jobs to now beingpaid.
I think.
I think for them it's like100,000 or 150,000, which is a
great, like I think that'samazing for, like those young
(32:03):
women who are who should be paidand who shouldn't have to do
five different jobs like duringthe season off season.
Um, so I think that's so cool,especially that they're banding
together, and I think I I lovethat.
I think that that's nice tohave that support oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And you know, like you mentioned the dallas cowboy
cheerleaders, you know theyweren't even making minimum wage
at one point and that's justcrazy.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And even like I watched watched a TV show and
one of the main women were likewhat's so interesting about all
of you is how many jobs you have.
I'm like that's the amount ofstress that they put on their
bodies and time and schedule andit's like I don't know how they
didn't have a nervous breakdown.
I think they're working fromlike five in the morning to 10
at night and how do you expectpeople to sleep properly and eat
(32:45):
nicely?
That's just too much for evenyoung, busy people to do.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
That's true.
Do you think that the pressurethat the players are putting out
in the public are going to makethe owners in the league do
something with the pay?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, I definitely do , I do, do you?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
You know what I do.
How much is probably thebiggest question.
Right I don't know, we'll see.
But yeah, they definitely needto do something about that yep
see, I feel that way aboutbaseball too.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I talk about this a lot with my baseball loving
boyfriend.
Is that like I?
I just think some players getpaid like so, so so much, I
understand they bring in revenueand I get that, but it just
seems like crazy to me, me thatone baseball player makes $90
million or something.
I just think it could be spreadaround different places.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
For the baseball players that are out there.
Please don't get mad at me whenI say this, but it is amazing
how much these baseball playersmake.
I know Absolutely make, I knowAbsolutely insane.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I know, yeah, and I still think they should be
balling.
I think that's amazing.
I don't want to cap anyone, butI'm just like eight million is
enough, it's just enough.
Maybe that's the case foreveryone, for everything, but it
just gets to be a littleridiculous.
And maybe I don't value sportsas much as the average person
(34:10):
does, or whatever, and I thinkit's it's amazing, it's a great
pastime and it's entertainment.
But then it gets to the wholesituation.
Then that brings up a biggerconversation of, like singers
and you know, like justentertainers in general, and who
gets paid.
What I still feel, liketeachers and firefighters, and I
think there's more importantprofessions and like, I think
there's more importantprofessions.
I think it's cool that peopleplay baseball, but I think
(34:31):
there's more important things.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So, Meryl, you don't think $80 a year is too much
money?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
No, unless they want to start paying all stand-up
comedians that much, In whichcase I think it's perfect.
I'm ready for it.
I think maybe me and my otherstand-up friends should wear
t-shirts like that to the showswhere we get paid in chicken
wings like a pay us what you oweus.
There you go.
It'll be like eight dollars Ilove it.
Yep.
Well, someone that does getpaid a lot of money as well is,
(34:59):
uh, entertainer, trisha paytas,and she was just in the news
recently because she, you know,she's known for her in the news
recently because she, you know,she's known for her weird baby
names.
I think she has one kid namedmalibu barbie and another one
named elvis um, and now she justhad her new baby, aquaman,
named aquaman moses payton,hackman, hackman um, and she,
(35:23):
she kind of hinted at this a fewmonths ago when she was saying
she said, oh, oh, I gave it awayalready.
There was like a picture of amovie poster and you could see
my son's name and people werethinking, okay, maybe it's like
Neptune or, you know, poseidonor something, and then it ended
up being Aquaman.
She said that she really cameclose to naming him Water Snake
(35:46):
and I just had it was a.
Really interesting.
I saw a woman's TikTok aboutbeing named.
She was named Mickey, afterMinnie, mickey Mouse, and I feel
like her middle name was likevegetable or something and she
just had, like parents that kindof named her a wackadoodle name
and she was saying this is whatmy life experience has been
like, like graduating collegeand having people constantly
(36:06):
make fun of me for my name, oryou know, like graduating
college and having peopleconstantly make fun of me for my
name, or you know, her siblingshad changed their names and so
I just think it's of course,name everyone you want to and
they won't have a normal life.
But, like, this is a real humanbeing.
It's not like just a pretend,it's not like a gerbil or
something.
You know, there's a personthat's now going to have like
the name Aquaman and it just itseems a little silly.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Well, you, know, here's the thing, and I agree
with you, you can name yourchild anything you want, but I
think the biggest thing is,unless they're staying in the
sports world or theentertainment world of some kind
Aquaman on a resume, you know,going for an office job.
I know, granted they shouldn'tbe doing this, but it might not
(36:50):
help you too much.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I know, granted, they shouldn't be doing this, but it
might not help you too much.
I know, and I feel like theother two names, like malibu
barbie, like that's that's weird, but like passable enough to be
like, okay, that's, you canexist in the world and all this,
but aquaman, unless you havenicknames like aq or something,
I don't know, that's just.
It just seems like and I liketrisha payne, that's like I
don't mind her at all, I thinkshe's like funny and cool and
stuff, but that just seems likeyou're setting up a child who
(37:13):
like, deep down inside, it'slike do you really think a
person wants to be named that?
You know she's smart enough.
I feel like she wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Well, the problem is is that a lot of times when they
name kids, they kind of thinkabout themselves more than the
child.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I know, it just seems like someone, something like
that'm all for if you wanted toget something and name it
Aquaman, like that's A perfectname for like a dachshund or
something, like a fish or youknow a reptile or something.
But it just I mean, we'll seemaybe.
Maybe the kid will grow up andit will like fit him perfectly,
that's true, and then whatpeople name their kids is like
(37:46):
totally their business.
I just think I hope it doesn'tset up a lot of people like
influenced in naming their kidsjust like ridiculously silly
stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Who knows, maybe some people start naming their kid
Peter Griffin.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Exactly, lois Griffin .
I like that wouldn't be theworst name.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's true, that's true.
Well, talking about a feel goodmoment here.
Well, talking about a feel-goodmoment here.
We're going back to airplanesagain.
A Georgia grandmother of seven.
Her name is Nicole Pruitt.
She took down an unrulypassenger trying to get into a
cockpit on a Delta flight.
She's also an Army veteran.
(38:28):
Wow, kudos to her.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Wow, I love that.
Um did they say, was the personlike trying to just take?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
over the plane.
Well, from what they say, itseems like this person had was
having a mental breakdown.
Um, but um, I don't know shewas taken off.
Obviously they you know shetook her down, restrained her
until a plane landed.
Of course, authorities took herout.
She's being charged.
I don't know.
(38:59):
I love the fact that she tookit down.
Now the one thing I did not like, and maybe it's just me being a
little overly sensitive here,but Delta Airlines came out with
a statement thanking the pilotsfor staying cool, the crew
thanking the passengers forholding, you know, helping take
(39:20):
control of this person.
But it wasn't the passengers,it was this one person.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, I feel like she should get free flights and
like recognize as a hero, Ithink, at least acknowledge her
by name.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, and maybe I'm being overly sensitive here and
like recognize as a hero, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
at least acknowledge her by name, because she was a
hero.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And maybe I'm being overly sensitive here, but no, I
think you're right.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
She risked herself and she, like she, saved
everyone.
She saved that woman.
Who knows what that personwould have done?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah, and basically what she said was she kind of
thanked her military trainingthat had her be able to do what
she did instantly and nothesitate.
So that's.
The only thing that made me alittle bit disappointed is I
think they should have gave hera kudos, Even though she's
getting it all over the news andsocial media.
Delta Airlines should have atleast acknowledged her.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Absolutely.
Yeah, they should have likegiven her some type of honor.
I think, absolutely Given herlike the greatest Delta upgrade.
Absolutely, I think that everyflight should have.
I know there are some airmarshals a lot of times that
like incognito on the flight or,you know, we won't recognize
the police people on the flight,but like I think every flight
should come with at least likeone or two security people.
(40:25):
I just think there's there'stoo much at stake nowadays for
them not to, and I think like Idon, I don't know about them
having a gun, but like having ataser, having some type of
weapon that you can like takesomeone out if you need to, just
because of like how it's gone.
You know, having a gun might betoo risky, because then if
someone gets control of that,that's really scary, but like
having some type of availablething to hurt someone else,
(40:48):
that's might be about to dosomething crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That's true, I mean, I agree with you.
It would be nice if there wasalways at least one air marshal
on the plane at all times.
I understand the logistics ofbudget.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah, so many people.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
I get it, but it would be nice to have one on
there.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I know, see, and that's what like in my perfect
world.
When they're like, is there adoctor on the plane?
It's like the doctor shouldraise their hand and the
military person like I feel likethe first class row should just
be like all helpers.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And then that would be like a new profession where
it's like, oh, I'm like studyingto be an, an airplane military
person, like I think they shouldredo that hey, that sounds like
a new show right, exactly.
well, I'm gonna go back tosomething that I feel like maybe
(41:42):
American Eagle wishes thatinstead of a Sydney Sweeney,
they did an AI model, becausethings could have gone even
better for them.
But recently, in the Augustprint edition of Vogue, a guest
advertisement featured aflawless blonde model showing
off a maxi dress and a floralplaysuit, and then, in a small
print in the corner, the adreveals that she was created
using AI.
(42:02):
Vogue said that the AI modelwas not an editorial decision.
It was the first time an AIgenerated person has been
featured in the magazine.
Now obviously people freaked outat this and just said like this
is the beginning of the end.
You know pretty much like thisis if they're going to take over
models and then they're alsogoing to show us this
unrealistic to the max.
(42:23):
You know beauty, they alreadyairbrushed people to the gods
where it's like it looks like AIanyway, but now it's like
you're putting people out of ajob.
They said they created a bunchof draft models and then they
pretty much create the likenessof a person from scanning a
bunch of different people.
I just think that's scary.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I think that it's a little bit on the risky side for
Vogue to do that.
Understanding what Vogue is allabout, using too many AI models
to me, I think they're going todiminish their brand because
most people are going to go.
Because what do you look atVogue for?
You know, obviously, fashion,all this.
You look at the, the people inin the magazine, and if they're
(43:09):
artificially created to me,you're taken away from it.
I know yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
You lose interest.
I feel like it feels like I get.
I do seriously get like lessinterested in stuff when I know
it's AI.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Oh yeah, definitely.
I mean, I think what they maybe doing is testing the waters
on it.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
I think this is where AI may not be the best thing
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yep, I also think that I wonder how this will
affect I think we talked aboutthis last time too, with like
advertisements and just money ingeneral.
Like I imagine it's so muchcheaper for them because they
don't have to pay for a photoshoot and, like you know, they
could just create it that wayinstead of hiring a model or
like paying a day rate oranything.
(43:51):
Yeah, but you know, the crazything about emerald is, with the
amount of professional and evennon-professional models out
there, to me in the fashionworld there should be zero room
for ai yeah, yep, yep, I agree,and I I think it's also
important too, because now theseworking models, like if they
(44:12):
come in and they'll scan theirlikeness and then they'll get
paid like one time, but thenthey'll be able to be used over
and over and over, and that'sjust a different thing too,
because now, instead of working,they're just having like one
job the whole year.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I know that when they had thestrike, the actor strike, that
was the real big sticking pointis ai.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
yeah, so I'm not really sure how it works under
sag, but you know that's aslippery slope when you start
playing with ai I know, I know,and people have a right to be
annoyed, I think, and it's justyeah, it takes the fun out of it
.
Pretty soon, I bet they'll belike real people magazines and
AI magazines.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
That is so true.
I hope this doesn't become atrend, though.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Well, talking about a trend, over 100 NFL players and
two dozen team officials in theNFL were fined for scalping
tickets to the last Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Now all players in the NFL and I didn't know this
until recently can get twotickets to the Super Bowl.
They can purchase two ticketsto the Super Bowl at face value.
Now they are allowed if theywant to sell their tickets to
someone at face value.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
But what they were doing was selling these tickets
at a scalper's rate of up toanywhere from maybe $7,000 maybe
, or more, per ticket, and theNFL was very angry about this.
So what they're doing isthey're fining them I want to
say maybe two or three times theprice of the ticket, and then a
(45:58):
few other things as well too.
Or if they don't take the deal,then they're going to look at
suspension for the upcoming newseason.
Now they haven't identified anyplayers or any organizations,
but my thing is everyone's goingto take this deal because we're
going to know who you are ifyou get suspended at the
(46:18):
beginning of the season.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Yeah, yeah.
So how do you think they foundout that they were selling them,
and for how much?
Speaker 1 (46:26):
You know, that's a great question because I mean,
we're talking, like you know,about 100 players.
So I'm thinking and I could bewrong I'm thinking that maybe
someone got angry and complainedabout it oh uh, it could have
been leaked by you know whoeverwas buying the tickets.
Or nine times out of ten it wasprobably a third party buying
(46:48):
them and reselling them on themarket and somebody just dropped
the box.
I doubt very seriously thatthis is the first time they did
this.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Exactly, yeah, for sure.
And when they said like you canbuy two tickets at face value,
do you think that's just off thenormal, like Super Bowl site or
like off of the team?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I think the team gets a certain amount of tickets.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
And, like I said, I didn't know this, but all the
payers can get two tickets forSuper Bowl, and then, of course,
your bigger, higher-paid peopleprobably could get more tickets
.
But the thing that bothers meis you're talking about these
men that make millions ofdollars.
I know these men that makemillions of dollars, I know, and
(47:36):
if you're really gonna payhundreds of millions of dollars
do you really need to to maketickets, or am I looking at this
the wrong way?
Speaker 2 (47:41):
no, no, I mean like I would.
If you think about like thetravis kelsey's or whoever you
would think that they'd theywould just buy two and then gift
them to people.
Or like it'd be so cool to tellto, like I'm sure there's
someone in their life that wouldlove two free tickets and I
feel like if I was a famousfootball player it'd be so much
more fun to do that and be likeoh, it's on me, you know, like
I'm gonna take my aunt and uncleor something yeah, I agree, I
(48:03):
think.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I personally think it just boils down to just greed.
There's yeah, it's just greedyeah, that's so weird.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
it's so weird if you're a football player too and
you get these two tickets, thatthe first thing you would do is
sell them, because I just thinkit would be so fun to give
someone in your life them.
Or even if you didn't sell themat face value, you could just
like gift them to someone.
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Oh yeah, definitely.
And let's face it, you know,Super Bowl tickets at face value
are easy to get rid of versusbuying it on the secondary
market because, oh my god, theprices of those tickets were
outrageous really.
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I'veheard tickets go as high as ten
thousand dollars.
(48:44):
A piece whoa like I'm notpaying ten thousand to see
anyone no I mean ten thousand.
That that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
This is the stupidest question ever.
But like you can't buy a ticket, like they're not on sale
before we know who's playing,right, like do they determine,
like, who's in the Super Bowlfirst and then you can buy the
tickets?
Right, and I understand this isa stupid, funny question.
But it's not like you can't buytickets to the Super Bowl years
ahead and then you're okay, no,no, no, because we don't even
(49:16):
know where it is or what's goingto happen yet.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Exactly, exactly Like I said.
I was actually pretty shockedto hear about this.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
But you know, again, it's that greed thing.
I know they learn their lessonand they don't do this anymore.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Exactly.
I had to fight the urge a lotwhen I worked in like radio and
concert venues because we wouldget like free tickets all the
time.
And of course there was like alittle devil in my head that was
like list these on Craigslist.
But I didn't, just because whenyou value what you have, it's
like okay, I could do that andmake like I mean, they're not
Super Bowl prices.
I probably could have made like$60 or something you know.
(49:56):
But then it's like what's itworth?
Speaker 1 (49:58):
And that's just like.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
It's kind of like what's the cost of that overall?
Speaker 1 (50:02):
That's true, that's very, very true.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
But I wouldn't do that.
I would give them to someone.
Well, someone that has a thingor two about scalping is Beyonce
, because from what I've heardtoo, I've had, I had friends
that accidentally this is truebought nine tickets to her show.
And then they had one of myfriends and they were freaking
out and he was like, yeah, wemade like a $10,000 mistake and
(50:27):
then they had to.
Then they tried to sell themand theyonce tickets weren't
selling that well, like theyweren't reselling, so I think
they ended up losing like threethousand dollars or something.
It was the last tour that likewasn't selling that well.
They bought nine ticketsbecause they didn't communicate.
They all thought that, likeeveryone thought the other
person was in charge of pickingup like three tickets, and so it
(50:47):
ended up being a disaster.
But anyway, what they shouldhave been excited for was that
she reunited with Destiny'sChild at the final Cowboy Carter
show, which I think is so cute.
Destiny's Child reunited for thefirst time in seven years for
the grand finale of Beyonce'sCowboy Carter tour in Vegas.
The trio surprised fans with amedley of some of their best
(51:08):
love songs, including Lose myBreath and Bootylicious.
Of course, the other two womenare kelly roland and michelle
williams and I just think that'sso cute and so so wonderful.
There's like really cute photosand videos of them, um, and I
just think if you're a destiny'schild fan and this happens in
vegas, I just think that's likethe best treat and I think it's
(51:28):
so cool that the three of themhave remained friendly or at
least professionally friendly.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Oh yeah, and I tip my hat off to Beyoncé for allowing
them to share in the spotlightof the tour because, let's face
it, even though they're doingpretty well, they're not doing
nearly as well as Beyoncé.
So I thank Beyoncé for bringingthem up and, you know, giving
them their flowers too.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Exactly, and I think, too, this is a good
representation of like when agirl band or a boy brand,
originally, when they do what itdoes go well, like what it can
look like, cause I feel like alot of the other ones, like
Fifth Harmony or One Directionor you know, they all seem to
have falling out, and I thinkthis is an example of like, when
what happens when people justcontinue to like each other, or
(52:16):
at least like are open toeveryone succeeding.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
I agree.
Now I'm hoping that thatcatches and you know more.
More singers and performers dothe same thing.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, and Vogue, are you listening?
I'm trying to think about whoelse, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
That is so true.
That is so true.
Well, my last one for the dayis interesting because just when
you thought you've heardeverything about the Kiss Cam
situation, the companyAstronomer hires Gwyneth Paltrow
(52:56):
to capitalize on the Kiss Camscandal.
So, to be honest with you, noone really heard of this company
before Kiss Cam.
I never heard of them either.
Actually, they hired MaximumEffort, which is a marketing
firm owned by Ryan Reynolds, ohGod, to basically just kind of
(53:21):
put Gwyneth Paltrow out there asthe temporary spokesperson,
which I thought was kind ofweird that she put temporary
spokesman.
Just put spokesperson and youknow it ends when it ends but
that was exactly Just put likehired for money.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Like I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I thought this was so
funny.
I did think that this was likea very funny move and very like
cheeky and daring.
I mean, the fact that she wasobviously married for a really
long time to Chris Martin ofColdplay makes it like I wonder
how that conversation went down,if Gwyneth told him or asked
him or like what he thoughtabout it.
(54:01):
You know like just the ties andthe connections there, and I
also wonder how much money shedid for it and her also knowing
that this would probably havesome backlash.
Like it's to me it didn't havea ton of backlash as much as I
thought, but like Gwynethprobably knowing that some
people would be like, oh God,you know, you're going to like
stick up for this company afterthey did a bad thing, like I
(54:22):
mean, she kind of like didn'tcare about it and just went full
force and it's like she doesn'tneed the money.
I'm sure Like she's beyond rich.
But um, I'm not gonna lie, Ithink that I think that's like
very funny and clever and I'mnot I'm not offended by it, I
think it's.
I think when it was like toogood for that.
I just think it's like Kind ofridiculous.
But um, in terms of like howyou're gonna get out of this, I
(54:45):
think I think it's funny.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean I kind of agree.
What a lot of people are sayingis this is actually marketing
genius.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:54):
In a bad situation and flipping it and turning it
into a great situation where,you know, besides putting
Gwyneth Paltrow down therebecause of this KISCAM situation
, a lot more people are gettingto know who this company is and
what they do.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
Sorry, oh no, no.
I was going to say that they'reprobably going to end up
getting, you know, somepotential business out of there
that they probably wouldn't havegotten because of all this
publicity.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Yeah, definitely, and exactly what you said, and like
also just remembering thatthere's other people that work
hard at this company and itshouldn't all be ruined because
their CEOo and their hr personare crazy, you know.
So I think, if anything liketheir marketing team and their
other people have a right tolike, promote their work and be
funny too.
(55:43):
And um, from what I've heard,people did not like the ceo and
I've heard I've heard lots ofthings just from different like
articles saying that they he was, was not a very well liked guy.
So maybe they're also justsaying, okay, this happened.
How can we salvage what's leftof it and have like a little bit
of fun at everyone's expense?
And I just thought that wasridiculous.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
I know, when it first happened.
About a day or two later, theCEO resigned, and then now, with
this new marketing effort thatthey're doing, I found out that
the head of HR is no longerthere either.
Oh, wow, wow.
So, yeah, I hope this was wellworth it, because their world
(56:27):
was literally turned upside down.
Speaker 2 (56:30):
Exactly, and getting someone like Gwyneth Paltrow,
who usually is kind of more onthe prim and proper side and she
definitely has a sense of humor, but having someone like her,
who's very unexpected andrelated to the whole Coldplay
situation, is just very clever.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Oh yeah, definitely, and I think a lot of companies
are going to learn from this,saying that, hey, when bad
things happen and you get badpublicity, turn it around, use
something to flip it, you know,instead of looking at doom and
gloom.
You know, you know, turn sourapples into orange.
Speaker 2 (57:03):
Uh exactly, except don't hire sydney sweeney
because we didn't.
That would that would have beenthe worst of just her being
like hey, cheating is bad.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
Yeah, so yeah, that was a surprise, that was a
surprise, but that's okay though.
That was good.
Yep, Talk about good Meryl,what do you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (57:27):
Yay, well, I'm very excited.
August 7th I have a show at aplace called Flappers in Burbank
and that is it's like historythemed.
So one of my really goodfriends, dawn, has a podcast
called Hilf.
It's called History, I'd LikeTo.
And then the F word, which Iwon't say, but it's all about
like quote, unquote, like sexypeople in history and everything
(57:48):
.
So she has a live podcast thatshe's doing at August 7th and
then I'm one of her like openingcomedians, so I'll be doing a
few minutes on historicalfigures and making it funny.
So if anyone is a historyperson and you live in Los
Angeles August 7th, check it out.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
Nice, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (58:06):
It's really cool.
She does like she.
She does a live podcast, butshe she'll pick one subject in
history and then cover it.
I feel like I'm learningsomething that's almost like
going to school in a fun way.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
That's a fun school there.
Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yep, yep, so that'll be good.
Speaker 1 (58:22):
Well, everyone, thank you for watching and also for
listening.
We had a lot of fun, a lot offun.
Speaker 2 (58:28):
We did.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
Thank you to support us.
And then also too, as a sidenote, uh, on elrottvnetworkcom
we have that movie that I toldyou about this on there, we have
the new podcast on there, andthen I'm also going to be
talking with other independentfilmmakers and we're going to
have some shorts on there andthen some other projects coming
(58:50):
very, very soon.
So, definitely come over andcheck us out if you have an
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Well, everyone, enjoy the rest of your day.
I am Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
And I'm Meryl Clemo Bye.
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