The Man Who Asked His Followers If Continuously Waking His Wife Up With Alarms Was Unfair, 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 state-run social media account with ill-advised use of emojis, a movie reviewer with an anti-Shrek take that nobody asked for, a US Senate candidate who appointed himself the fashion police, a conservative publication with a "BREAKING EXCLUSIVE" on AOC's parking and a man's terrible tweets about continuously waking up his wife.
Monday
Israel's Twitter Account
The character: Israel's social media account.
The plot: On Monday, on the heels of airstrikes in Gaza which killed upwards of 200 people, Israel's official Twitter account tweeted out 12 tweets containing 3,168 rocket emojis.
"Just to give you all some perspective, these are the total amount of rockets shot at Israeli civilians," the account explained. "Each one of these rockets is meant to kill. #IsraelUnderAttack."
The repercussion: Israel's tweetstorm of rocket emojis was panned as being in extremely poor taste, with netizens saying regardless of your stance on the conflict, the thread was terrible from a public relations standpoint.
Others countered Israel's rocket emojis with people emojis.
Tuesday
Scott Tobias
The character: Scott Tobias, movie reviewer for The Guardian, esteemed British newspaper with unfortunate movie takes.
The plot: On Tuesday, The Guardian celebrated the 20th anniversary of "Shrek" by posting a scathing retrospective review by Tobias, who called the movie "unfunny and overrated."
"Shrek is a terrible movie," Tobias wrote. "It's not funny. It looks awful. It would influence many unfunny, awful-looking computer-animated comedies that copied its formula of glib self-reference and sickly sweet sentimentality."
The repercussion: Fans of the green CGI ogre blasted The Guardian's decision to publish Tobias's hit piece, with some suggesting Shrek villain Lord Farquaad was the actual person behind the negative review.
But the coup de grΓ’ce of responses came from the band that helped put the movie on the map.
Tobias defended himself from the pro-Shrek mob, saying he didn't seek out hateclicks, he just was being honest.
Dishonorable Mention
JD Vance
The character: J.D. Vance, author of "Hillbilly Elegy," prospective frontrunner for Ohio's United States Senate seat.
The plot: On Tuesday, Vance tweeted that he saw a group of women rowers on the Potomac entirely masked. "Just totally insane," he quipped.
The repercussion: Vance was ratioed to the nth degree for criticizing the rowers, with people calling out the pundit for his "creepy" concern-trolling.
Vance hit back at the criticism after being buried in an avalanche of snarky quote tweets, saying he never called the girls "insane."
Wednesday
Brent Scher
The character: Brent Scher, executive editor of the conservative news outlet Washington Free Beacon.
The plot: On Wednesday, Scher tweeted a story about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "illegally" parking her Tesla outside her apartment building, adding "BREAKING EXCLUSIVE" for emphasis.
The repercussion: Scher's so-called bombshell report about AOC's alleged bad parking was widely ridiculed on Twitter, with people mocking the Free Beacon for making a mountain out of a molehill.
Ocasio-Cortez ignored the story, with her attention focused squarely on the situation in the Middle East.
Thursday
Johnny Fallon AKA Alarm Guy
The character: Johnny Fallon, Irish strategy director, unconventional sleeper/wife torturer.
The plot: On Thursday, Fallon asked his followers on Twitter if it was unfair for him to force his wife to endure a marathon of alarms as part of his daily morning routine.
The repercussion: Fallon's query drew widespread outrage from Twitter, with people describing his actions towards his wife as "psychotic" and tantamount to torture, and some only half-joking that his behavior is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Fallon took the drubbing he endured by the internet in stride, saying he might have to sleep in the spare room as a result of becoming a trending topic.
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which includes a Congressman who compared Capitol rioters to "tourists," Gwyneth Paltrow's controversial quarantine admission and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
