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A Breakdancing Dad Trashing His Daughter Online, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'

Darcy Jimenez
Darcy Jimenez
A Breakdancing Dad Trashing His Daughter Online, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Including responses to the news that the NYPD has a dedicated dance troupe.
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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, we've got the NYPD's dance team, a woman with a Netflix drama-worthy marriage story, another hot take about millennials and Gen Zers and a breakdancing father who's not beating the deadbeat dad allegations.



Sunday

NBC4 Washington

The character: NBC4 Washington, local TV station, financial experts, millennial and Gen Z's harshest critics

The plot: An NBC news report about millennial and Gen Z spending sparked backlash recently, after it was shared on X by NBC's Washington area TV station NBC4. The report is about the purchasing power of millennial and Gen Zers, and how many of them are still living frugally despite their net worth growing — possibly because their money is wrapped up in investments, and their paychecks are going on pricey everyday spending.

In an excerpt posted on X, the report lumped together both grocery and vacation spending as "short-term purchases," and it caught people's attention.

An explanatory community note was attached to the post shortly after, but the damage was already done. The note suggested NBC was misleading readers by using paycheck in the headline, but gave more weight to the fact that millennial and Gen Z's investment gains weren't keeping up with inflation, narrowing the scope of the issue.


The repercussion: A few posters, for whom it's probably the first time seeing bait like this, were genuinely appalled at the framing — while others rightfully made fun of it immediately.


Adwait Patil


Sunday

The NYPD's dance crew

The character: The NYPD Dance Team, dance squad who can also detain you

The plot: Everyone is now learning that the New York Police Department (NYPD) has a dance team that has apparently existed since 2022.

The team isn't an official part of the department, but that didn't stop the plenty of reactions dunking on the dancing itself.


The repercussion: As much as we complain on the internet about cops shaking their groove thing, at least nobody is getting seriously injured when they're preoccupied with dance steps.


Grant Brunner




Saturday

Reesa Teesa

The character: Reesa Teesa, "Who TF Did I Marry?!?" woman, expert storyteller

The plot: An Atlanta woman named Reesa Teesa has gone viral for her wild, 50-part account of her marriage to an alleged scam artist during the COVID pandemic.


@reesamteesa Who TF Did I Marry- Introduction #reesateesa #fyp #series ♬ original sound - ReesaTeesa

In a series of videos posted to her TikTok account, Reesa tells the dramatic story of how she met and married her now ex-husband, whom she calls "Legion," — before the relationship was unraveled by countless lies and shady behavior on Legion's part. If you're not up for listening to every video on Reesa's TikTok, there's a pretty good summary of the whole ordeal here.


The repercussion: "Who TF Did I Marry?!?" is storytelling at its finest; twists, turns and mystery, all culminating in a final, emotional post in which Reesa reflects on the experience. Over the four days, the saga was shared online, people were completely hooked and Reesa cemented herself as an all-time internet Hall of Famer.

@thejournalingcoach #reesateesa #series #fyp #loveandmarriage #pov #storytimes ♬ original sound - Ashley
@champbailie @ReesaTeesa Who TF did I marry? series about how she married a pathological liar is crazy. #whotfdidimarry #storytime ♬ original sound - Champbailie
Post by @googletrends
View on Threads

Darcy Jimenez


Sunday

Ben Hart

The character: Ben Hart, alleged absent father, breakdancer, Bitcoin fan

The plot: Last week, TikTok user @madihart_soccer went viral after sharing a story about her dad, whom she says abandoned their family to pursue a breakdancing career.

Days later, the dad in question took to X, dressed in a Bitcoin shirt, to deny his daughter's accusations — and show off his breakdancing skills. It's all pretty bizarre and uncomfortable to watch.

Madi shared another TikTok responding to her dad's post, in which she calls him "delusional" and insists that he was very much an absent father — and he then uploaded a very lengthy video in response to that — but we're going to focus on the first of Breakdancing Dad's very weird and embarrassing posts.


The repercussion: People on the internet obviously do not know every detail about this family, the parents' divorce and what kind of father Ben Hart is. However, it's clear from Madi's videos that his leaving the family had an impact on at least one of his children — and to come on to the internet to trash your daughter and dismiss her hurt in such an insensitive way is, frankly, pathetic.

(Also, it turns out Ben Hart is a right-wing grifter who denies America's racist history and records videos of himself criticizing “woke ideology” with his friends. Might be something to take into consideration if you're trying to work out whose side you're on here.)


Darcy Jimenez



Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which included silly AI praise, a cringey pro-Musk tweet, a bad take on salaries and a financial journalist falling for a very far-fetched scam.


Corrections were made on Feb. 23, 2024: An earlier version of this article misstated that the NYPD's dance funds were part of its budget, they are not.

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