From an unprecedented AI hype to the fall of crypto bros and more, this year was another whirlwind for the chronically online. Posters from all over the world continued to broadcast their thoughts, and many of those thoughts ended up being audience-worthy spectacles.
Here's a snapshot of what happened this year: the good, bad and ugly of it all.
January
Ben Dreyfuss
Ben Dreyfuss, son of Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, is a notorious online poster, and nothing exemplifies that more than when he kicked off 2023 by inserting his foot directly into his mouth with a bunch of terribly tasteless and crude tweets about sleeping with overweight people.
Sharing too much information is one thing, but this is clearly another level of stupidity. Like, a really bad look and a dumb thing to publicly say, on top of all of the other countless dumb things he's previously said. So not a great start to the year year for Ben, or for nepo babies in general.
gotta hand it to ben dreyfuss, he's not one of those glory-chasing nepo babies, he just sits on here and brings shame to his family name like a proper failson
— Al Shipley (@alshipley) January 18, 2023
130 lb fat girl incredible. https://t.co/PLlBGhkF3w
— Ashley Reese (@offbeatorbit) January 18, 2023
Here's everything else that happened in January.
Jared Russo
February
Matt Walsh
You may encounter an unsavory reaction if you ask a random person on the street if they know who or what Matt Walsh is. He's a right-wing troll who says incendiary things purely to get a reaction out of people, and also happens to have starred in the online documentary "What Is A Woman?"
Walsh harps on about anti-trans rights, making him an easy target for those who oppose his political views (of which there are a very large number). Taking a look back, it looks like 2023 really did kick off with a bunch of rotten apples saying rotten things — and getting rightful backlash for it.
Go back to the 1950s
— Miranda Yaver, PhD (@mirandayaver) February 5, 2023
So what should women want after coming home from a long day of work?
— Anthony V. Clark (@anthonyvclark20) February 5, 2023
To then have to take care of your grown ass?
Here’s everything else that happened in February.
Jared Russo
March
Molly Gunn
March was a mixed bag with equal representation from celebrities — like NYC Mayor Eric Adams dropping one-liners at press conferences and Seth Rogen getting candid on a podcast — and random netizens. During these five weeks, folks made fun of celebs, discovered new nepo babies while "EEAAO" discourse reached its peak.
Amidst all the chaos, there was Molly Gunn, a writer for The Times (UK), whose essay titled "My husband used to be hot," took the cake for March's character of the month. Gunn's undeniably attractive husband, who was pictured beside her, was on the end of rather harsh criticism in the piece, and the internet immediately let Gunn know about her folly.
If this husband can see this, my DMs are respectfully open xxx https://t.co/XfOEcnE695
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) February 25, 2023
OPEN UP THAT RELATIONSHIP GURRRRL pic.twitter.com/GlgcaPb6Sh
— Nic Keaney 💀 (@NicKeaney) February 25, 2023
Here’s everything else that happened in March.
Adwait Patil
April
Charlie Carrel
From college sports to celebrity sightings, April brought a mixed bag of characters, including continued terrible takes from Silicon Valley and AI people. It was also around this time that X's (then still known as Twitter) verification tick got rejigged, which divided the online world into two clear categories.
Amid repeat offenders, like Joe Russo and Michelle Tandler, it was an unfortunate victim of the blue tick industrial complex, one Charlie Carrel, who stood out. Carrel, just some guy on the internet, was going back and forth with musician and producer Steve Albini when he noticed that Albini's engagement (likes, retweets, etc.) was far superior to his, even without Albini having a blue tick himself.
It took a few seconds for the internet to tell Carrel that the guy who was in his mentions, calling his post out, was a guy whose name is on the back of millions of CDs around the world, and that he didn't really need to pay for his "nonsensical" engagement analytics.
Why would people naturally want to hear from the guy who worked on records by Nirvana, Pixes, PJ Harvey, Breeders, Hum, Failure, Helmet, and, most importantly, Bush's Razorblade suitcase, and not me, the guy with $8? https://t.co/tMZwU5YFNR
— luke (@lukeoneil47) April 25, 2023
how is the popular musician Steve Albini getting more engagement than me, someone who paid for twitter and is bad at posting https://t.co/fy9A7WrL7P
— god emperor jt (@jt_butthead) April 25, 2023
Here's everything else that happened in April.
Adwait Patil
May
Richard Dreyfuss
Years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took some heat online about just how white the Oscars were. As such, they implemented some eligibility rules for the best picture category, starting in 2024. You'll never guess how that went down among the people who have historically benefited from the biases of the Academy.
Richard Dreyfuss is a wealthy white septuagenarian who got very, very mad about the changes. Even worse, he was upset that people don't think blackface is socially acceptable anymore. Blackface, of course, is a long-running tool used by ruling elites to enforce racist stereotypes, but Dreyfuss doesn't care about any of that.
I don’t think Richard Dreyfuss should be canceled but I think anybody who says stuff like that should be *required* to play Othello now. Like, rent a hall! Show us what we’re missing and why it’s not weird that you want to do it
— PAPPADEMAS (@PAPPADEMAS) May 7, 2023
Richard Dreyfuss: I am an artist, this is an art form.
— Elias Cepeda (@EliasCepeda) May 7, 2023
His art (2010's 'Piranha'): https://t.co/iKah40VzQq pic.twitter.com/bPfVb1jlgn
Here's everything else that happened in May.
Grant Brunner
June
Texas Family Project
The middle of the year was unfortunately littered with the worst takes of the AI boom, including from techies dipping their toes into the then-nascent world of generative and AI art. Alongside Nate Silver, who tweeted about accepting a hypothetical free Titanic ride ticket, there were also a few run-of-the-mill Tesla fanboys, bagel gatekeepers, generic internet trolls — like H. Pearl Davis — and twitchy academics who made the cut.
But June was also special because it was when "cracker barrel has fallen" was first codified. While the DEI wars continue to intensify and show no signs of slowing down in 2024, it was conservative non-profit The Teas Family Project's denouncement of Cracker Barrel, saying they "caved to the mob," for — checks notes — celebrating during pride month that reigned supreme in the middle of the year.
Me: “I gotta stop participating in the ridiculousness of modern discourse.”
— Hank Green. (@hankgreen) June 9, 2023
Me two hours later: “Do you think they’d let me get a ‘Cracker Barrel has Fallen’ tattoo between chemo treatments?”
Today:
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) June 9, 2023
-Pat Robertson has died
-Supreme Court has upheld voting rights for Black voters in Alabama
-Trump is indicted in Miami
-Cracker Barrel has fallen
Here's everything else that happened in June.
July
Bob Iger
By mid-July, Hollywood writers had been on strike for months, and the actors were just about to begin their action. Disney's Bob Iger, noted for being powerful and wealthy, said he didn't think the strikes were "realistic," and vastly overplayed his hand.
As we found out, the public was broadly on the side of the creatives during the entirety of the strikes, and quotes like this from someone who gets paid millions of dollars only made the executive class seem even further out of touch.
Bobby, if we we want to talk about not being realistic... https://t.co/smrEZgQURs pic.twitter.com/cxNkWKD9ua
— The Girl With the Garfield Tattoo (@shelbyboring) July 13, 2023
Bob Iger giving an interview: https://t.co/lprThcdAQP pic.twitter.com/0EYkjeBFDE
— J.W. Hendricks (@JW_Hendricks) July 13, 2023
Here’s everything else that happened in July.
Grant Brunner
August
Ro Khanna
Ro Khanna, a US Representative from California, is always spouting takes. Mostly, they're not remarkable enough to even make fun of, but this one in particular caught fire because of how wildly he misunderstands Vivek Ramaswamy's run for the GOP presidential nomination.
Khanna seems to think that because Ramaswamy isn't white, he is still somehow fulfilling the dream of a multiracial democracy. The internet wasn't about to let that kind of naive observation fly.
https://t.co/s1jXgqtkmG pic.twitter.com/9SZvZwxRTm
— TheOmniZaddy 🌹🔰🏗 (@TheOmniZaddy) August 24, 2023
Ro, you idiot, you absolute buffoon, Ramaswamy is explicitly running against the idea of a multiracial democracy https://t.co/89FJlRutnQ
— knife-wielding hemophiliac (@NickTagliaferro) August 24, 2023
Here's everything else that happened in August.
Grant Brunner
September
David Brooks
As summer ended, it was mostly athletes, academics and grifters who took the stage — and one special character, who definitely ticked one of the those three aforementioned categories, stood out. The New York Times's David Brooks, no stranger to food bants, returned to the arena with a take that he thought could marry his two loves: traveling and the economy.
After posting a photo of an airport meal and its misleading price, Brooks's post had a clarifying community note added by a user — and the establishment itself also didn't shy away from taking the opportunity to set the record straight and name and shame him.
people aren't talking enough about the fact that he took absolutely everything off the burger except the patty and (perhaps) cheese like a little baby https://t.co/VBIEDLWDzX
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) September 21, 2023
(bar bill: $66. food bill: $12. tip: $0 N Y Times expense account) https://t.co/ZcmHOKuPIi
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) September 21, 2023
Here's everything else that happened in September.
Adwait Patil
October
Gwyneth Paltrow
Yes, it's October by now, but we're still not done with the "nepo baby" discourse. This is largely because nepo babies keep talking about it — instead of just keeping quiet and enjoying the success of being born rich — and insist on attempting to defend themselves or lash out at those who dare point out how they achieved their fame.
One such figure is Gwyneth Paltrow, who waded very unnecessarily into the debate and drew a more than unconvincing comparison between herself and doctors who share their profession with their parents. When people working in hospitals start earning millions of dollars, Gwyneth, maybe you'll have a slither of a point.
I picture her in a parking lot somewhere just kinda saying this to no one in particular https://t.co/HHk1FVe5vX
— caitie delaney (@caitiedelaney) October 18, 2023
No reasonable person rips on kids who want to do what their parents and grandparents do.
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) October 18, 2023
They will, however, rightfully mock those who are successful at jobs where access is a huge component and fail to acknowledge that they cleared that hurdle through no hard work of their own https://t.co/FpmcKEo7wm
Here's everything else that happened in October.
Darcy Jimenez
November
Joe Russo
In November, MCU director Joe Russo posted something that went down badly with pretty much everyone. Stitching with a TikTok featuring Martin Scorsese and his dog Oscar, Russo joked that his dog is called "Box Office" — implying that he has accomplished more with his superhero movies than one of the greatest directors of our time. Some people were angry, some were cringed out and some had no problem pointing out the obvious fact that Russo simply can't hold a candle to Scorsese.
That Joe Russo video is genuinely one of the most desperately undignified things I've ever seen
— The Raleigh and the Ivy (@PetreRaleigh) October 29, 2023
Joe Russo Martin Scorsese https://t.co/ncv8iqd636 pic.twitter.com/cYbZUipQD3
— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) October 29, 2023
Here's everything else that happened in November.
Darcy Jimenez
December
DINKs
In case you missed it, yet another economic trend-related term dropped this year, and it's "DINK" — meaning "dual income, no kids." In December, a couple of DINKs shared a TikTok in which they listed the benefits of a child-free life — such as going out to eat often and buying whatever they like — and it sparked a hell of a lot of discussion online.
A concerning number of people were irrationally angry at the couple's decision not to have kids (or, more likely, were deeply envious of their seemingly carefree and financially stable life), and it resulted in some pretty unhinged responses. Who cares if someone else chooses not to reproduce, weirdos? Mind ya business.
Imagine a 2000 year bloodline ending because someone wanted more snacks from Costco.
— Anthony CHAD-DAD Knobbe (@anthonysramblin) December 4, 2023
a lot of super insane reactions to this video which i assume this couple made for fun on a walk together https://t.co/f0ardHhuCM
— kelbin (@pissboymcgee) December 5, 2023
Darcy Jimenez
Here's everything else that's happened in December so far.