An Actress Who Was Driven To Eat Bread During The Pandemic 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 former Major Leaguer concern-trolling about a college player's home run celebration, a newspaper that couldn't recognize a clearly recognizable actor, an actress who was driven to eat bread during the pandemic, a congressman who thought the Capitol riot was just like a regular tourist visit and a celebrity whose mean tweets came back to haunt them.
Saturday
Jeff Frye
The character: Jeff Frye, former Major League second baseman, career hitter of 16 home runs.
The plot: On Saturday, Frye shared a video of Wayland Baptist University infielder Gregory Ozuna showboating after hitting a home run during the NAIA Sooner Athletic Conference baseball tournament, quipping, "This makes me sad! We haven't taught this generation how to behave on a baseball field. This is what we get."
The repercussion: Frye's hot take about sportsmanship enraged many on sports Twitter, spurring a debate about emotional displays on the field. Ultimately, many felt Frye's misgivings about Ozuna's behavior were off-base, with some pointing out the context of Ozuna's reaction, Wayland having come back from a eight-run deficit.
It should be noted that Ozuna was in fact ejected from the game for the bat flip.
Ozuna took the criticism from Frye in stride, saying he was "thankful forever" for the outpouring of support.
Monday
New York Post
The character: The New York Post, New York City tabloid and clickbait science lab.
The plot: On Monday, the Post published an article saying that Leonardo DiCaprio was "unrecognizable" in new stills released from Martin Scorsese's upcoming movie "Killers of the Flower Moon."
The repercussion: The Post's inability to recognize DiCaprio in the image spurred ridicule from much of the internet, who mocked the newspaper's sensationalized headline with meme after meme.
Dishonorable Mention
Gwyneth Paltrow
The character: Gwyneth Paltrow, Academy Award winner, chief proprietor of "bio frequency healing stickers."
The plot: On Monday, the Guardian published a story about a recent interview Paltrow had given on the SmartLess podcast where she revealed she was "driven to extremes during quarantine," as the Guardian put it. "I was drinking seven nights a week and making pasta and eating bread," Paltrow said. "I went totally off the rails." The newspaper asked its readers to weigh in with their lowest points during the pandemic.
The repercussion: The Guardian's tweet went viral and Paltrow's off-the-rails experience eating bread was roundly mocked by the internet as being the pinnacle of first-world problems. Many shared their own personal traumas from the pandemic which made the bread thing seem rather petty by comparison.
Wednesday
Andrew Clyde
The character: Andrew Clyde, Republican congressman from Georgia.
The plot: During a congressional hearing on Wednesday about events of January 6, Clyde downplayed the Capitol insurrection in which five people died, saying, "There was no insurrection and to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie. Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January 6, you'd actually think it was a normal tourist visit."
The repercussion: Clyde's comments that the storming of the Capitol on January 6 was like "a normal tourist visit" inspired disbelief and scorn from many, with political reporter Jake Sherman calling it "one of the craziest things I've heard uttered in a dozen years covering Congress."
Cheddar's J.D. Durkin later juxtaposed Clyde's comments with footage of the violent riot.
Journalists subsequently questioned Clyde about his comments, but he refused to apologize for downplaying the severity of the event.
Dishonorable Mention
Chrissy Teigen
The character: Chrissy Teigen, model, author, co-host of "Lip Sync Battle, infamous wine splurger.
The plot: The Daily Beast published an interview with former reality star Courtney Stodden who said Teigen had repeatedly trolled them on Twitter when they were a teenager. After the interview went viral, several of Teigen's old tweets attacking Stodden resurfaced.
The repercussion: The resurfacing of Teigen's tweets taunting Stodden made her a trending topic, with people calling upon the model-turned-Twitter power user to answer for her behavior.
Conservatives on Twitter called Teigen hypocritical for chastising Donald Trump's bullying while she herself had acted in a similar fashion.
After the backlash, Teigen took to Twitter to say she was "ashamed and completely embarrassed at (her) behavior."
"I have tried to connect with Courtney privately but since I publicly fueled all this, I want to also publicly apologize," she added. "I'm so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am."
"I accept her apology and forgive her," Stodden said in an Instagram post, but revealed they had never heard from Teigen or her representatives directly, and remained blocked by her on Twitter.
Read last week's edition of One Main Character, which includes a Newsmax host's pants that broke the internet and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
