CATCHING FIRE: Crimemaxxing, AI-generated newsletters and catching print
Do keep up!
Hello! There’s been so much hot news this week I nearly sent you a mid week update. Instead you’re getting a bumper portion of heat, which means it might be easier to read this letter if you hit the ‘read in app’, or ‘view in browser’ button if you got this on email.
Today we’re taking the temperature of a Gen Z mogul’s new brand, the Substackers admitting that they use AI, Denise Richards’ “restoration”, boundaries being the new social crime, the catching print trend, Taylor Frankie Paul, the future of infinite scroll, a viral Erika Kirk parody, dinergoths and much more. But first a word on a looksmaxxer who just can’t stop courting controversy…
Clavicular going to jail?
On Thursday Clavicular, the image-obsessed livestreamer, was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge. Here’s his mugshot courtesy of TMZ…
According to reporting by Taylor Lorenz his trouble with the law follows a physical fight between Clavicular’s girlfriend and the influencer Jenny Popach.
After he was taken into custody his 30-day livestreaming marathon abruptly ended and his Kick profile is now inaccessible suggesting that he’s been banned by the platform.
The arrest came after, but is not connected to, a disturbing incident where he filmed himself shooting a dead alligator.
Clavicular, real name Braden Peters, is being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission over that…
While creating drama is a business model for characters like Clavicular, he’s making a rather unhealthy habit out of brushes with the law. Last year he allegedly ran over someone with his Cybertruck, and in February he was arrested by cops in Arizona for apparently using a fake ID and being in possession of prescription drugs.
He’ll likely be mad that the arrest has disrupted his streaming marathon, but he’ll be more pressed that the assault arrest warrant apparently listed his height as 5’ 11”. Clavicular has always claimed to be 6’ 2”.
Going viral
Chappell Roan hating kids… You’re likely aware of the massive story that has swirled around Chappell Roan all week concerning the claim that she terrorised a young fan who dared to glance at her.
It kicked off last weekend when Brazilian footballer Jorginho claimed that Roan’s security team made his 11-year-old stepdaughter cry after they told her off in “an extremely aggressive manner” for walking past and looking at the Pink Pony Club singer as she ate breakfast in a fancy São Paulo hotel.
The allegation blew up immediately because Jorginho has well over four million followers and because Roan, 28, has a reputation for enforcing boundaries and has asked fans not to bother her when she’s living her private life.
But the drama grew so big that it quickly forced Roan to post a video on Instagram claiming that she hadn’t been harassed, that it was not her security who confronted the little girl and that she did not, in fact, hate children.
Her response didn’t stop her from being mercilessly mocked online though, as many ran with the idea that Roan was a real-life Miss Trunchbull.
The backlash to the backlash was also swift with some, like Jamella Jamil claiming that Roan had been the victim of a hit job because she is an outspoken queer woman. BuzzFeed also reported that the research company, GUDEA, found that around 23 per cent of posts attacking Roan were made by bots, suggesting that there was some sort of smear campaign that ramped up after Jorginho’s post.
Even the security guard at the centre of the mess coming forward to apologise and back up Roan’s version of events didn’t calm the waters.
Zooming out it seems like one of the most controversial things a person in the public eye can do these days is set parameters. We’ve seen it with Meghan and Harry, with Brooklyn Beckham going no-contact with his family, and repeatedly with Roan. The public want celebrities to conform to their ideals and, sadly for them, transgressions get viewed harshly.
Druski… who took over the internet AGAIN on Wednesday by dropping ANOTHER insanely good parody. His target this time? Conservative women, who look alarmingly like Erika Kirk.
In just two days his skit racked up over 72 million views across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok…
The new sketch comes just ten weeks since his take on flashy pastors and mega churches also went viral.
Druski is proving that his ability to mock and ridicule is unmatched, and his massively talented prosthetics and make-up team can transform him into almost anyone. Celebrities should be on their guard.
The seven dog great escape that wasn’t… If you haven’t seen the footage of seven missing dogs finding their way back home then have you even been online this week?
In the many viral videos that circulated, posters claimed that one plucky corgi led a group of stolen dogs on a 10 mile trek back to their owners. The videos of them walking as a pack on a busy road were watched hundreds of millions of times, but it transpires it was all fake news…
The dogs weren’t missing and everyone got carried away with the Disney plot line. Unlike the cute dog video, the rebuttals, which claim they were local dogs attracted to one on heat, have not gone viral, funny that.
Trends, trends and even more trends
Catching print… TikTok girlies have become obsessed with a way to assess a man’s, ahem, assets and turned it into a trend.
Known as catching print, followers of the method are eyeing up men’s bulges to determine their size after being schooled by dating coach Anwar White.
White’s tutorial went viral after they explained there are three “types” — a, b and d. They even produced a guide for visual learners…
While some have pointed out that catching print overly sexualises and degrades men, many women have proudly declared that it’s their new hobby and that it’s time to turn to tables…
Whatever your perspective, it’s hard to find fault with this commenter’s quip…
Everyone’s talking about
AI witch hunts and exposes… The hot new sport is to accuse writers of using AI in their work, and the latest to be targeted is the American author Mia Ballard who wrote the horror novel Shy Girl.
The book was pulled by publishers after a New York Times investigation found that it appeared to be AI-generated. Ballard denied the claim but did admit that she hired someone to edit a self-published version and she said that they used AI.
Ironically The Atlantic then accused the New York Times of using AI on its pages after a Twitter/X user said that a column written by Kate Gilgan, read like AI slop.
Gilgan says she did not copy and paste from AI but did “utilise” it “as a tool”. She said she sought “inspiration and guidance and correction” from the bots.
Meanwhile big name tech writers have outed themselves as AI users in an article by WIRED. Alex Heath, the founder of the Sources newsletter, says he uses AI to draft and edit his newsletters.
He explained that he dictates his ideas to an agent and after it composes the first draft he then suggests revisions. Heath claims that using the tech means he spends 30 to 40 per cent less time writing.
I do not, and have never, used AI to write highly flammable and I can’t work out whether this makes me smart or stupid. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Denise Richards’ face lift… While it would be great if we all got a little less obsessed with looksmaxxing, we collectively appear incapable of not applauding “good work”. And the latest transformation to illicit gasps is Denise Richards’ “restoration”…
