A Failed 'Today' Show Host Bullies A Tennis Star For Some Reason, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Every day somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
This week's characters include a guy who took too much acid and went on a Twitter tirade about his mom giving him $100,000, a disgraced former cable news anchor who curiously decided to pick a fight with a tennis champion, a CNN anchor who thought Jeff Bezos' space publicity stunt could bring America together and a guy who correctly said he shouldn't have tweeted.
Friday
Qiaochu Yuan
The character: Qiaochu Yuan, a rich kid who inadvertently came up with the best anti-drug viral ad campaign ever.
The plot: Last week, Yuan, who goes by the Twitter handle "Magnificent Adult Baby," wrote an epic 35-part tweetstorm about how he resented his mother for spoiling him, explaining that he decided to take a "medium dose of acid" and write a stream-of-consciousness rant about his feelings about money.
"Let's start here: last august my mom gave me $100,000 for my birthday. i resented her for this and also suppressed the resentment," Yuan wrote. He later drew a comparison of himself to Harry Potter and also revealed his parents paid for his entire MIT $175,000 college tuition out of pocket. "I never talked about this with anyone, really."
The repercussion: Yuan's series of impassioned tweets about how his mom spoiled him rotten with thousands of dollars captured the imagination of the internet, with Twitter users equally swept up in schadenfreude and aghast by his lysergic Twitter saga.
Yuan later defended his Twitter thread, saying that scores of people, in fact, thanked him, and that others revealed they were in a similar situation.
Monday
Megyn Kelly
The character: Megyn Kelly, failed "Today" show host, preeminent Black Santa Claus adversary.
The plot: Earlier this year, tennis champion Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 for not fulfilling media interview requirements, later withdrawing from the French Open to tend to her mental health. On Monday, Kelly quote-tweeted conservative sports commentator Clay Travis's criticism of Osaka's decision to refuse press conferences by bringing up her appearance on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, adding, "Let's not forget the cover of (& interview in) Vogue Japan and Time Mag!"
Osaka shot back at Kelly, saying "Seeing as you're a journalist I would've assumed you would take the time to research what the lead times are for magazines, if you did that you would've found out I shot all of my covers last year. Instead, your first reaction is to hop on here and spew negativity, do better Megan. (sic)" She later deleted her tweet.
Osaka also blocked Kelly, which drew outrage from the fallen Fox News anchorwoman.
The repercussion: Kelly's public spat with Osaka did not endear her to the internet as many people applauded the tennis champion for blocking the former Fox News anchor.
Following the furor, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit editor M.J. Day told Kelly to actually do her job as a journalist and fact-check, instead of "jumping all over [Osaka] for attention."
Later in the week, Osaka lit the Olympic Torch, which delighted the internet following the curious saga.
Tuesday
Jim Sciutto
The character: Jim Sciutto, CNN's chief national security correspondent and co-anchor of CNN Newsroom, optimistic guy.
The plot: Following Jeff Bezos' highly publicized "space" flight this week, Sciutto earnestly quipped "could two successful private space launches in 9 days be something all Americans rally around together?"
The repercussion: Sciutto's hot take that Bezos's publicity stunt would bring Americans together did not go over well on Twitter. His tweet was swiftly ratioed and earned dozens of quote-tweets criticizing the world's richest man for avoiding paying his workers fair wages and his share of taxes.
Wednesday
Ian Haworth
The character: Ian Haworth, editor for the Daily Wire, guy who shouldn't have said this.
The plot: On Wednesday, Haworth weighed in on the coronavirus vaccination moral dilemma by quipping, "I shouldn't have to say this: If you choose not to get vaccinated and then catch COVID-19, it's not your fault AND it doesn't make your original decision wrong."
The repercussion: Haworth found his tweet ratioed to the nth degree, with the Twitterverse making his tweet into a snarky copypasta of sorts with scores of people pointing out the logical inconsistency of his "argument."
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which includes a woman's curious claim that teens didn't have zits in the '80s and '90s and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
