Thirsty Topics podcast
A weekly podcast dedicated to trending topics on social media, pop culture and entertainment. Lawrence and Meryl have healthy discussions with multiple perspectives.
Thirsty Topics podcast
Celebrity Drama, Politics, and Cultural Moments Worth Discussing for 5/19/25
We dive into an array of trending stories from the uplifting to the controversial, giving you our unfiltered take on the week's hottest headlines and cultural moments.
• American Idol crowns Jamal Roberts, a 27-year-old gym teacher from Mississippi, the first African-American winner since Ruben Studdard
• Blake Lively allegedly attempted to blackmail Taylor Swift according to Justin Baldoni's lawyer in their continuing "It Ends With Us" drama
• President Biden announces prostate cancer diagnosis that has spread to his bones, sparking conversations about privacy and medical care
• HBO Max reclaims its original name after an unpopular rebrand, highlighting the importance of brand identity
• Walmart officially announces price increases due to new tariffs, affecting everyday shoppers
• Tommy Lee and Brittany Furlan's divorce takes a bizarre turn with a catfishing scandal involving a fake rock star
• Cassie Ventura completes her testimony in the Diddy trial while pregnant and near her due date
• A man sues Whataburger for nearly $1 million over an allergic reaction to onions
• The dangerous "Chromebook challenge" trend has students deliberately damaging school equipment
• TikTok's viral "redheads are the Black people of white people" trend creates both connection and controversy
If you enjoy our show, please follow Meryl at her upcoming comedy shows at the La Jolla Comedy Store on May 28th and at the Lakes on the Loon comedy festival in Minneapolis on June 6th!
Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."
Please help support our show by following us and telling others about our show. New podcasts weekly.
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. I am Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2:And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1:Hey Meryl, how are you today?
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm great. How are you?
Speaker 1:I am doing great. It's been a whirlwind of stuff going on this week.
Speaker 2:I know I feel like the news has been exploding. Lots of things I even texted we're not including it in this one, but I texted you one about the airlines. Luckily we have so much stuff we don't even need to talk about planes just losing control and stopping, but it's been crazy.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely. I mean, uh, I literally had 14 items no way about today, so I had to like trim that down to five. For people that doesn't know this, we actually cover 10 different items, so merle does five, I do five, and lately we've had so much stuff that we can talk about that we actually have a hard time just trimming it down. This is so much information yeah, I'm always happy.
Speaker 2:Also, next time, if we each want to do 14, we can just read them and give our three thoughts. You know, like those association games, it's like the color orange, and we just say, like the three things there you go.
Speaker 1:We can do 50 stories per hour if you want to. Yes, we could. Yes, we could. Well, I am going to start off, and I'm going to start off on a very happy note. Um, don't know if you watch american idol or not, but um, a gym teacher from Mississippi his name is Jamal Roberts wins American Idol.
Speaker 2:Yay, amazing.
Speaker 1:I am so happy for him. He's 27. I believe he's married, has, I want to say, three kids. Very positive gentleman. I mean, basically, you know he's a teacher, but he's always had his dream of going after music. So even at 27 years old, which to me is young, he still wanted to go after his dream, even though he's a teacher. I mean, what are your thoughts on that, meryl?
Speaker 2:I mean I am with you, that I feel like, if any I mean any age, people should go after their dreams. But the thought of someone that's 27, that's like maybe my dream passed me by. It's like so ridiculous. I'm like, I'm 42 and I'm just like, what should my dream be? I'm very confused, but I think that's so amazing. And I bet his students are absolutely freaking out. They probably have been freaking out like each week that he was on and I also have been freaking out like each week that he was on um.
Speaker 2:And I also feel like this is a good time to win american idol because you know, it's got. It's not as popular as it once was, or maybe it is, I don't know, but like to me it's not as much in, like it's kind of been rolling for a bunch of years now. But I think it's a good time to be on it because you get the like legacy of all the other shows and you get to meet all the other um like alumni of it and all the. You know the things that it brings you. I know they do a lot of tours where all of the people come around. So I feel like you're you're being shoehorned in like a good section of people, which I think is awesome oh yeah, um, I really like the performance he did with jelly roll.
Speaker 1:That was actually pretty cool yeah, yes, I saw that.
Speaker 2:That's super cool.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Also he's going to. I think that I could see why they picked him, because his voice is so beautiful and he's able to do different styles. I think he'll be. He's not just one. So I think the industry has a good chance of marketing him. I just hope that at this point I hope his contracts that's the only thing I've heard about these shows sometimes is you kind of don't get the best contracts or you kind of sign your life away with these record deals. I hope he's able to go into it with some smart business sense.
Speaker 1:That's a great point. I know that. I saw that he wins $250,000 for his family, which people have to understand. That's really not $250,000 for his family, which people have to understand it's really not $250,000, because Uncle Sam won't get his cut first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the taxes.
Speaker 1:I'm sure the network is like oh the network takes this amount, this amount, yeah, so basically cut that in half. That's really what he's getting, which is still cool, but, like you said, he's getting a professional contract and I agree with you. I hope that he has his own attorney. Look at that contract just to make sure you know he's not getting screwed on it, because unfortunately we've seen that way too many times, you know oh, my gosh for sure.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite groups like is ridiculous, but it was the girl group fifth harmony like I love them so much. I think they're so cute and so talented. I love, love all of them individually. But they were on the X Factor and they talk a lot now about that. They were just locked into such crazy rigorous touring schedules and they weren't making a lot of money and you know like. So I hope shows like that don't gobble up their contestants.
Speaker 1:I agree, I agree. Like I said, I am so happy for him. He seems like a very very very very happy young man. You know he's very appreciative. So, kudos, I think that's a great way to start our show off today. What do you think?
Speaker 2:I do too, and now, now he gets to be friends with Kelly Clarkson, which sounds pretty fun.
Speaker 1:Here's a fun fact which I did not know until it was pointed out to me the last time an african-american has won american idol is when ruben stutter won really yes, I did not know.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, wow, I love him too and I feel like he's done a really good job of just performing and like I feel like he's laid low and just been like a musician and, you know, performed a lot, so so that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's hard to believe. I'd have to look through the latest because now I can't remember if people like Kelly Pickler. I feel like I'm getting a lot of my shows confused of who won what and everything. I think of Carrie Underwood. I don't know if she was a winner of American Idol or a different show, but some of these people turned out to be insane superstars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know she was on there. Whether she won or not, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I know. For a while I actually heard and if you're the new winner, don't listen to this but I've heard that you don't want to win first place. It's always the second place person. For a while they were calling it their first place curse or something.
Speaker 1:Let's hope he breaks that curse, yeah, I have a feeling he's going to break it.
Speaker 2:Could you imagine also If you're a teacher, if you're in school and your teacher won American Idol and then trying to concentrate?
Speaker 1:Oh, I bet that would be awesome. Something tells me that If his career goes the way I think it's going to go, he's probably not going to be doing much teaching anymore.
Speaker 2:But it's good go, he's probably not gonna be doing much teaching anymore.
Speaker 1:But well, good, because I think that um, I've always talked about this representation means so much, and when someone like their teacher or someone that looks like them, do something special, then they know they can do it too yes, and I think that was the original goal of American Idol.
Speaker 2:like picking someone like Kelly Clarkson, too, where it was like showing, okay, who in America you know, not someone living in LA or New York, that would be like an obvious choice, like who would be amongst us, that it would be a star. And it's like, okay, teachers, you know, people that are just doing everyday type of jobs. So I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it as well.
Speaker 2:Well, someone that would vote for herself as number one on American Idol would be Blake Lively. Somehow she would end up having everyone call for her and somehow something would happen. And okay, I'm just going to talk the latest, I'll go into the specifics. But basically some crazy stuff happened recently. Who knows if it's true or not. You know this is all allegedly and to me from the beginning I feel like both sides of the Blake Lively slash, justin Baldoni they've probably both done right things and both done wrong things and you know, like whatever. But what had happened was basically they Justin Baldoni's lawyer I'm going to break it down as simply as I can.
Speaker 2:Justin Baldoni's lawyer went to the judge in their court and said Blake Lively is trying to blackmail Taylor Swift and basically saying to Taylor's camp you know it's all through lawyers and everything, but basically saying if Miss Swift doesn't make a support for Blake Lively, if she doesn't post her support, then Blake is going to leak her text messages for the past 10 years.
Speaker 2:And so of course, this sounds like preposterous, but Baldoni's lawyer signed an affidavit saying like that he really talked to someone in February. That is very, very close to Taylor's camp, whether that's her lawyer or her publicist. You know we don't know who that is, but everyone was saying the fact that his lawyer signed an affidavit and like publicly was stating this is the truth, I'm signing my professionalism away, but then the courts strike that and basically was like, okay, even if that happened, this is not going to be part of the whole thing, but it's still doing like such damage because people believe that this actually happened and they think Blake is trying to leak text about Taylor's love life and maybe some very secret things about the music industry and who knows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think he's playing with fire, to be honest with you, the lawyer, actually Blake, and his lawyer. Oh yeah, because the thing about Taylor Smith smith, taylor smith is a worldwide yeah, I'm insane.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. What if taylor smith is like an alternate universe?
Speaker 1:you know, and and the thing is is that you know, when you start messing with the record company and stuff like that, you better make sure your ducks are in order yeah even though we don't talk about it enough very, very, very powerful organization okay, oh yeah, all of her swifties so you, you really don't want to make enemies, and and we haven't even talked about the swifties yet because, yeah, they'll go after them too. So I I think they're playing a very dangerous game.
Speaker 2:I really do, and I mean, I mean it's also. I mean, there's so many things. I guess one of the first ones, too, is that if Blake really did this to one of her longtime friends, like Taylor is the godmother of her children her own children and I feel like one of the most interesting things about Blake Lively was her friendship to Taylor Swift, so I just can't see her being like that bonkers that she'd be able to do that to her. But I I wonder if, like the lawyers, did that without her knowing, which would be crazy too.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe maybe it was also her lawyers, um, I don't know, but nothing surprises me at this point with this whole case yeah, I think it's just going in a crazy direction I know, and and the thing with media is that we're seeing there's some stories later on that we'll get into too that have kind of remnants of this, but, like, once something hits the news, people are going to believe that. So, even if this didn't happen or if it happened differently, all most people are seeing was like Blake tried to blackmail Taylor. You know so it may be that that's not the case, but I feel like each time you're losing, like more and more people.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely. And you know the thing is, once courts are involved, things go crazy. Yeah, oh, start going crazy. All kinds of things come off the woodwork and to me, if you're a friend, you're a friend to the end, even if you guys fall out, you still don't tell any secrets or anything that happens. Yeah, that's just like this unwritten rule. You, you just don't do that.
Speaker 2:Exactly and honestly, if Blake or someone was to leak Taylor's text, there's a portion of us that I'd be like cool, she's talking about a guy or she's talking bad about Katy Perry. Who cares? That still makes Blake look bad. You're taking yourself down even more than you think.
Speaker 1:And also, too, you have to understand, if I'm a friend, I'm going to be watching that person very closely and I may kind of keep them at arm's length.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what a lot of people say that she's like who would want to trust that or text with them, you know? And so chances are that in those texts I have to imagine that, like Blake probably said, some not so great things too, Because most of the time when you're talking with your friends on text, it's like haha, it's a joint experience, not just one person.
Speaker 1:Let's face it there are things you're going to say to a friend that you won't say in front of a camera.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Even though a lot of people are saying it's about relationships or maybe she had a baby and lost it and it's like the public will just condemn Blake for that. Maybe there'll be some interest in what Taylor said, but for the most part they'll be protective of her, I think.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I totally agree.
Speaker 2:This is crazy, though. Yeah, it keeps on getting more and more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and unfortunately I don't think that this is over with it either. No, Well, a little bit of sad news here, and I'm going to preface this with. Anyone who's watched our show knows that we don't really dive too deep into politics, and that's done purposely. Sometimes we'll skirt around the edges because there's something important we need to talk about. But regardless of whether you're Republican, independent Democratic, it doesn't matter. But thoughts and prayers go out to Joe Biden and his family. He has just basically let everyone know the world that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and it has spread to his bones. So right now the family is trying to look at options as far as what they're going to do with treatment. The thing is that once it's in the bones, they can't cure it, they can't get rid of it. But basically what they're saying is, because of the type of cancer it is and I guess you know everything that's going on with it it could be managed, but no one likes to be diagnosed with the C word there.
Speaker 2:No, that's so scary and like as if he already didn't have enough going on the past couple of years, and I'm sure a lot of the stress hasn't helped, or you know who knows if he had it.
Speaker 2:I saw an article, too, that he in 2000, in 2022, he said something like that's why, and myself, why others and myself have cancer, but, but what he was referring to at the time, I think it was he had skin cancer, and so a lot of people are saying, oh, he knew back in 2022, but I don't think that was that. I think it was referring to a skin cancer that he had. But, yeah, that's so sad and I hope. I hope it's the kind of thing. I mean, you never know. I hear stories all the time of people that, like, were given short sentences and then it's like nine years later and they're still able to live a somewhat manageable life, and you know, you never know. So, if anything, though, this would be the type of person that would get, like, the best care that they have or, you know, all the doctors and all the treatments hopefully would be at his fingertips?
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely. And you know the other thing too I hear people talking about well, how could he not know? And he just found out.
Speaker 1:On Friday is stage four, and you know one thing is is that you got to be careful when you start making all kinds of accusations oh, yeah, yeah and you know the other thing too, and as I was watching different programs and stuff, kind of, you know, following the news, I did not know that once a man gets like 70 or above, they don't necessarily recommend you doing the prostate like they do when you're younger, which is Really yeah, I mean you should still get it, but it's not really pushed hard by the doctors, which is really shocking to hear.
Speaker 2:I wonder why.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean, obviously, prostate cancer is one of the leading cancers for me, but I think that people need to stop trying to guess. Well, how did he know this? Why did he know that?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, yeah, we don't need to. It's like no one needs to know that much personal details about it. And even if he knows very recently and tells people, or if he knows for a while and is just regrouping and then tells people like that is the most personal thing, oh yeah and you know the thing is is that no matter how how much they put on a smile in front of that camera, you know that's devastating news oh yeah, devastating, yeah, and remembering that he's still a person, a human, with like a wife and kids, and I, I would imagine something like this.
Speaker 2:You probably need to tell people pretty quickly because, like all the people that know at like the hospital and your staff and you, I think you'd want, you'd want to be on top of it rather than having it leaked. Um, you know, because I feel like that's the kind of thing that if it starts to get around like washington dc and then out and around, then you want to and you want to be the people to manage it.
Speaker 1:And the thing is that I think, on one hand, they might have wanted to keep this to themselves Because of who he is. It's better to be ahead of the story than behind it.
Speaker 2:Yes, and maybe people will stop being so mean about him too, because he gets a lot of just you know things and you know that at some point it was going to get leaked out.
Speaker 1:So I think it was good for them to get ahead of the story before it got got leaked out somewhere else. So totally.
Speaker 2:I'm the same way where, like Democrat or Republican, if someone is ill or someone finds out something bad, like I don't want, unless if they're mostly a good person which I think he is, like you know unless they're a terrible, terrible human being, then like. I still wish the best for them.
Speaker 1:So yeah, definitely so, yes, Like I said, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Biden family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, and hopefully, like we said, we might be years and years that he's able to have like a good life.
Speaker 1:So that's true.
Speaker 2:That's true. Ok, I love this, this one. I don't know why I'm so personally invested, but it makes me very happy where, uh, it feels like all is right again, at least on hbo max, because the streaming service formerly known as max will once once again be called hbo max, which I never stopped calling it like I. I just shortened it to hbo and, like to me, it's been hbo the whole time. I refuse to get into the mac stuff. Uh, warner brothers discovery announced wednesday that it will soon put the hbo back in the name.
Speaker 2:Two years and much criticism after dropping it. Uh, blah, blah. So, pretty much they did see like a um, a drop in, in, like numbers and everything. I think people were just so confused of, like, you know, we love this app and we love everything, but we don't understand why you don't don't break something. That's not you know or whatever the saying is. You guys know what the saying is, but I'm so happy about this and I think it said the May 2023 rebrand to max was widely panned, with critics confused by both the separation from HBO and a glitchy tech rollout. So, you know, fans did not like this and yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:Okay, my thoughts are this, though, cause I don't know why, I am like some people don't care. I am a very like a attached girl to this type of stuff where, like Dunkin' Donuts is the one that bothered me, where, like now, it's just Dunkin' and it really like pains me every time I remember. And the same thing with Twitter and X, like I just refuse to. It will always be Twitter to me. So I feel like some of the rebrands we've had lately have been for the worse and people just need to stop messing with stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know, the thing is is that once you have a popular brand, you'll be surprised at what the fans will really pay attention to I remember this show called Ghost that came on Showtime.
Speaker 1:Then it turned into Power Book or whatever. The opening theme was a great theme, everybody loved it. They wanted to refresh it. They changed it. The fans were ballistic, they hated it. It was like great theme, everybody loved it, but they wanted to refresh it. They changed it and the fans were ballistic. They hated it To the point where they were on social media and all this. It was just nuts. To the point where they changed it back to the original song.
Speaker 2:And that's like yeah, I've worked for companies before that have put in years of getting their logo recognized and then it was kind of some out of touch executives that wanted to change the logo, and it's like why are you why?
Speaker 2:are you messing with this just to like feel like you need to do something, or you know you like, so I feel like they need to stop doing that. I remember another one too like weight watchers just became ww and it's like why, like you've had decades of people recognizing this brand name and now you're changing it. I think it's honestly a lot of times out of touch people in the company that are doing this, or shareholders or stockholders.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of times and the intent is there, it's a good intent, but the thing is, a lot of times real successful companies they don't really sell a product, they sell a brand. Yeah, think about it when a person buys a Rolex, they're not buying a Rolex, because they need to tell time.
Speaker 2:Right, they're trying to show their own, yeah.
Speaker 1:They're buying a Rolex to say hey look, I have money. Yeah, totally, they're like I spent $100,000 on this, exactly own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're buying a rolex to say, hey look, I have money. Yeah, totally like. I spent a hundred thousand on this exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:And it's the same thing like when people the starbucks thing you know starbucks coffee, you know it's okay, it's starbucks, yeah, but people like the starbucks experience you know, so that's really what they're buying is the experience. So really that's the part about branding.
Speaker 2:Once you get that portion done, you've hit the mark and you really don't want to mess with it at that point I know it makes me wonder about focus groups, though, because for something like duncan, I feel like if you asked 50 people which one you like better, like most norm, most everyday people would say duncan, donuts, donuts, cause it's just like, even if you're getting coffee there, if you're getting an egg sandwich and not donuts, it's just the name like just evokes way more comfortability and nostalgia and everything. So I feel like I w I would wonder how many focus groups they're doing, cause same thing with HBO max. I feel like most people would say no, we like HBO, you know.
Speaker 1:That's true, that's very true, and you know that's true, that's very true, and you know you definitely have to make sure you listen to the people that's paying your salary so yeah, damn it, let us run these marketing talk about running marketing stuff and I knew this was going to come up. Um, I know a lot of Americans shop at Walmart. Walmart has just officially announced that their prices will be raised because of President Trump's tariffs, and they said President Trump's tariffs by name.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they didn't hit you or anything like that. I mean they point blank said it and so I know they're getting a little bit of flack from the white house and stuff like this about them saying this, but it's reality. Yeah, I think the big thing is, merrill, is I? I know a lot of stuff comes out of China. I think people are going to be shocked at how much stuff comes out of China.
Speaker 2:I know. So that's what I wonder. With something like the things at Walmart, is it all separately, like every item there is coming from a different place? You know, like the sneakers are coming from a different place in China than like maybe, and stuff. So is it? Do you think? Is it all going up by a certain percentage, like together at Walmart, or like each thing is like this one's raised by 17 cents, this one's raised by like 15 cents it's gonna be, depending on where it comes from.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, you know a majority, I don't know and I saw something that 80% and I was shocked to see this 80% of all toys sold in the United States come out of China. Wow, that's a huge, you know. Yeah, so the thing is is that when you take a look at that, and then also too, a lot of agriculture comes out of China and Singapore and a lot of other different places too. Now, they may not have heavy tariffs as much as China does, but to a certain degree, everything's going up.
Speaker 1:It's not a matter of if it's going to go up. It's going to be a matter of how much is it going?
Speaker 2:up. Yeah, and I feel like a lot of okay, this is going to get me in trouble, but just stay with me. People, this is my view that sometimes I feel like people all types of different people shop at Walmart, but I feel like a lot of Walmart shoppers may have voted for Trump, you know like that's not good or bad. We're just going to say how I feel, but I think that might be a store.
Speaker 1:You're trying to pick that hate mail up. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:No, and this is my view. So hate me, hate me, and this isn't even hate things. I'm not saying anything bad or mean. I'm saying that this may be a store, that sometimes people that may have voted for Trump, they vote for all different things too. I'm not saying anything concrete. I'm saying that this may be a store. I don't know if a lot of his fan base is like I'm trying to think of a store where they're not at Ben and Jerry's or something I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you feel what I'm picking up. I'm sorry everyone if you're mad at me, but just know that I love you.
Speaker 1:But you know, the real crazy thing about it is and I think you hit on a great point that no one's pointing out is that even if you're a diehard Trump fan, you're going to feel the pain, just like everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly and I can see the people now like I shop at Walmart with my family because I can afford it. You don't know who I voted for, yes, I understand that, I totally understand that, but no matter what, just as a whole, that's annoying for all of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know it's not getting as much coverage in the media, but you kind of hit on a great point. There's a lot of voters who voted for Trump that are voicing their disapproval with their local officials, and it's happening all over the country. So I think at some point that's probably going to get a little bit more airplay than it's getting right now, but that is a thing. There's a lot of people that are really upset.
Speaker 2:Yep, and they have a right to be too, so yeah, I'm with it. I feel like my number one Walmart purchase is paper towels and toilet paper, so I hope it'll be interesting, because they are already so expensive now. Isn't it crazy that we live in a time where toilet paper and paper towels are this expensive?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. The karma thing to this is that walmart was one of trump's biggest supporters yeah, I remember that, and now they're like yeah isn't it funny how that happens, huh I know, I know, I'm sorry, he can't know. Crazy um okay.
Speaker 2:This next one is absolutely insane okay, I'm gonna break it down very easy because he can't know, crazy. Okay, this next one is absolutely insane. Okay, I'm going to break it down very easy because it seems to confuse some people. Okay, do you know who Tommy Lee is of Motley Crue? Yes, yes, okay, cool. So Tommy Lee, he's married to a woman named Brittany Furlan and she's like she was a Vine star. She's an internet personality. She's really funny and cute. I, like her went out was it was because that Tommy was having a hard time with alcohol, which you know. He's in Motley Crue for years and years. He's been known to like dabble in that rock star life.
Speaker 2:And so at first people were like, oh, that's so sad that you know he's having time with alcohol, that's really sad, they're getting a divorce. Then out comes the news that that might not actually be the case. And what happened? Okay, so strap in, because what actually happened was that, allegedly, britney was talking to another guy on Snapchat, this guy, ronnie Radke, who, like he's the lead singer of the band Falling in Reverse, and so you know she was chatting with this guy and like they were, you know, going back and forth. But then the plot twist she finds out that that guy was actually just a catfish and not a real. It was someone impersonating Ronnie. So I hope everyone understands, because a lot of people are confused online.
Speaker 2:Basically, brittany was like cheating on her husband, but then found out that she was getting catfished and like it was a Snapchat account of someone that's not Ronnie. So the real Ronnie, the real, actual Ronnie, came on Facebook and was making all these stories and posting all these things about like here's the proof it wasn't me. I'm going to get a lawyer. Supposedly he's like, because a lot of people didn't believe him at first. They're like we know it's you, you know, we know it's you, you know, we know.
Speaker 2:And then all these people said, oh my god, I have this pretend ronnie in my dms and, like, my girlfriend got hit by this pretend ronnie, and so it became this giant thing and it makes britney look pretty damn embarrassing and foolish, you know, I mean because not she and she did cop to the fact that, like, no matter at the end of the day she was messaging a different man, whether that man was real or not, you know she was talking to somebody else. We don't know the ins and outs of their marriage. So you know, it's not a good thing to do ever. But we also, like it sounds like it was pretty bad. So I don't know what was happening. But this guy, ronnie, on his actual, real, human Instagram is posting like nonstop, he's spilling tea, he's making videos. It's like it's crazy. And so it is like this my weekend.
Speaker 1:You don't want to you just love to get a story where I was like refreshing to see if anyone else was saying anything.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah, isn't that crazy that she, she was like and she didn't cheat.
Speaker 2:But I mean, she was definitely, you know, up in there, like you know, flirting emotionally, whatever, with someone else, but that person turned out to be not the real guy yeah, and you know, the interesting thing is that if a guy did that like a husband did, oh my god, let me get this exactly, exactly and to me like it's even someone said it best where they're like so you're mad that the guy you were cheating on your husband with isn't real and I'm like that's really at the end of the day, you know, and I still stand corrected because there's still time in this case where, like next week, we may find out that it really was him and it wasn't a catfish.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean like I won't be surprised if anything happens, but right now the evidence seems pretty damning that it like wasn't him. He's been showing receipts and proof of and the person the Snapchat pretend person doesn't talk like the way he does. He was like messaging a million different women. You know, I just think in 2025, it's crazy to like get catfished and to not want to facetime the person or just like ask for proof after a few weeks?
Speaker 1:oh, absolutely, I mean, you know, we talked about it before a few times on a couple of episodes where you know these love scams are still going on. You know somebody online. You never meet a face-to-face, you know, you don't even do a FaceTime, but you're sending them money. I don't understand that. I really don't.
Speaker 2:I know Me neither, and the part that gets me as well is and I don't think, I don't know. I would hope that Brittany seems like a nice enough person that she wouldn't do this, but if, like, she wanted to get ahead of the story and she told People magazine or whatever that the issue was because of Tommy's drinking, that's horrible to do to someone. Maybe that's happening. But someone said that they thought that maybe she sold her story first to try to make herself not get in trouble, and if so, that's terrible. I hate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. I mean that is crazy and, like I said, people do crazy stuff for crazy reasons. Sometimes, you know, sometimes people, celebrities do stuff where they know it's going to bring their name up. It's because, you know, some people have this crazy idea that any press is good press.
Speaker 2:I don't mean either. This is like britney was someone who I thought of. I don't think a lot about her, but I thought pretty highly of her, like she's funny I have some people that know her that do comedy shows with her and like she just seemed pretty likable. But now I think a lot of us are like what the heck is going on? You know, and even just to learn that she was messaging someone else, she even at one point messaged the real him and said like um, um, I'm outside. And she had driven to his house, thinking that she was about to meet up. And the real human is like why is this person outside of my house? So it's just, it's like it's weird and it's a little alarming that someone in this day and age could go that long with getting like scammed by a Snapchat.
Speaker 1:That is so true, that is so so true. Scammed by a snapchat? That is so true, that is so so true. But I'm gonna say, if you think you're talking to a person again, if they don't want to facetime, you yeah that shit. And you know what some people may say. Well, what, if they don't have an iphone, they can't do facetime. Okay, there's zoom, there's all kinds of yeah, way that you can see each other.
Speaker 2:Totally, yeah, and this person's Snapchat videos were like snippets of other stuff that he had posted in the past and it was just like so obvious. It was very, very strange that someone especially like she's an online personality. This isn't someone that goes on Instagram like once every six months or you know, she makes her living with this. So very weird.
Speaker 1:That is extremely weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I guess that 15 minutes of fame is important to some people, huh.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah. Or just like having an escape from your relationship, which it's like okay, if it's so bad, then like please get divorced immediately and then you can start talking to catfishes.
Speaker 1:True, Very true, Talk about escaping relationships. Next subject is we're going to talk about Cassie Ventura just finished testifying in the Diddy trial. So Cassie testified. I want to say it was four days, I believe it was Tuesday through Friday, and you know the judge wanted Friday to be her last day of testifying because she is pregnant and she's literally expecting, I believe. Oh my gosh, that's so stressful. Yes, so the judge purposely said you know all questioning for her has to end by the end of the week because he's afraid that she may end up having a baby there oh my gosh so I could just imagine how stressful that had to be, reliving what you went through, having to, you know, play video of freak offs going on.
Speaker 1:Video of freak-offs going on. Yep, and from what I heard, she can see it, the jury can see it and the judge, but I think the spectators in the stands, you know, in the audience there or whatever, they couldn't see it. Oh, somewhat, protect her, you know some protect the people there, but I don't know, I mean she was a star witness. So protect the people there, but I don't know, I mean she was a star witness. So all the witnesses coming up after this are basically going to be supporting what she says and what happened to her and how it ties into the sex trafficking. I don't know. I mean, obviously it's kind of hard to really say if it's going good or bad, because you know there's no cameras in there, but what do you exactly?
Speaker 2:um, well, I saw, like I think they were talking about some of her texts that they were showing, and her texts were like I love freak offs and it's like, like, and she said so many times it's like, okay, maybe she was just in a mood that day, and it's like she is like freak offs are the best thing I've ever been. You know, like.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, oh my god, but I think she was 19 and it's like she probably was under the spell of what diddy was promising her and we you know people that have been, we've all been in relationships not to this extent, but where it's like, once you're out of that haze, you're kind of like what, you know, who was I? Type of thing. Um, I just feel like this is probably especially if she is about to give birth, like it's probably best that she focuses on that and comes back. But I don't know, this is just.
Speaker 2:I don't have the most faith that we're going to hear like the truth from a lot of witnesses. You don't think so. I don't know. It just seems like either people are going to get pressured or nothing will happen, or I don't know. I just I'll have to believe it to see it. But it just seems like a lot of the hollywood people I feel like are going to be too scared to speak up or if they do, they'll like find they'll poke holes in their story yeah, and you know, the interesting thing is, um and we don't know, this or not, is, are any of those celebrities going to be called to the stand?
Speaker 2:we don't know that yet I know I I just feel like we've been through this before with the Harvey Weinstein and Epstein, and it's like all these people are named and then things happen and then nothing really seems to actually happen. The one person ends up getting in trouble, but then it's not really like I don't know, the offshoot doesn't happen as much.
Speaker 1:It seems like the prosecution and this is just my interpretation is they want to go after Diddy, but they may, like in the Harvey Weinstein cases, they're going to be a little bit sensitive about who some of these people are. That someone involved? They may not have done anything illegal, but in that perception like oh my gosh, so-and-so was doing freak-outs too, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, someone involved. They may not have done anything illegal, right, and that perception like oh my gosh, so-and-so was doing freak-outs too, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, that's true, exactly. This is why, going back to the Blake Lively and Taylor Swift thing too, it's like please do not text anything that you don't want.
Speaker 1:I feel like between this and the Tommy Lee story it's like the whole thing is today, like just stay off your text messages. Oh yeah, and you know, the thing is, I don't know if those people doing the freak offs knew that they were being taped, because supposedly did he taped all the time yeah, no, exactly, and I think a lot of celebrities may have gone to his parties because they always said that the freak offs happened way later.
Speaker 2:We would have maybe been at 7 pm to 9 pm, where it's like, okay, this party is like it might be weird, but I go home by 9 pm and then if you're named in it, you may not have been part of the crazy stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean, it's like this open joke where people will go to daily parties and they'll be like, all right, it's about that time yeah, wasn't it like denzel or something?
Speaker 2:I heard that there was like one celebrity that was like everyone leave now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it's like it's sad. It's sad that we're saying this, but it was like this open thing that no one knew. But everyone knew, right, maybe?
Speaker 2:maybe people just knew. Okay, people get weird afterwards. Like you know, there's drugs, there's girls, there's whatever. I don't know if who knows to what extent. But like Hollywood is weird and I hate to say it, but it's like people get warped or you just kind of turn a blind eye and it's just you know it's not right, so I don't know I mean.
Speaker 1:The crazy thing is there have been actors and actresses at these parties. Um, they have been people of faith at those parties. Yeah, I'm not gonna mention any names, but if you google it you can probably figure them out.
Speaker 2:And again it doesn't look anything wrong, but the optics don't look good yeah, lots of politicians at the, maybe some royal members of the party.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you know it goes back to you know you got to be careful who you hang around, yeah exactly, and in this day and age too, just know, I think maybe more and more people are like, ok, is this going to turn out in a few years to be a thing, you know? Because I think maybe at that time people were just like it's happening. You know, right now we didn't really think about like the world of cancellation so much.
Speaker 1:That is so true. I know one thing I am glad that when I was young there was no such thing as the internet, so Me too.
Speaker 2:We had like, right when I was in college, we would have Facebook, but like people were. It was so funny because I was listening to some comedy thing about saying how you would like, for one night you'd upload like 37 photos of Facebook of just like you by a pool table and it's true, like a whole one night would just be a whole album of photos. But but luckily there's never anything like incriminating, it's just a bunch of kids standing around, you know.
Speaker 1:I don't know. In fact, I remember when the internet first came out. You remember the annoying sound.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the dial-up. I love that. I kind of wish we still had that.
Speaker 1:You have mail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see, I honestly love that. I feel like I would go back to that tomorrow if I could.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would. I feel like I could have stopped easily at MySpace, aol and a handheld BlackBerry phone or something. I would be happier with a Nokia or whatever. That would be my technology pinnacle. I'd stop right there.
Speaker 2:Well, someone else that may be in the court is this man, demery Demery Ardell Wilson, who is suing Whataburger for nearly $1 million. I thought this was so crazy. He suffered an allergic reaction after staff at a Whataburger location gave him a meal that included onions. He filed a petition seeking monetary relief of over $250,000, but less than $1 million according to the lawsuit seen by multiple outlets and Whataburger denied the allegations in a separate court document, which demanded strict proof of Wilson's assertions. Per USA Today, where I first read about it. So he had an allergic reaction after eating a fast food meal containing onions. He said that he requested that he doesn't have onions.
Speaker 2:I don't know. To me this is like I understand that sucks, but it's also. This is the price you pay when you kind of eat fast food. Like I understand that, like I don't know if you're a fast food chain, you're also not. You're moving so fast and like things might be contaminated with other things and I just think like to expect absolute perfection is a little bit silly to me. So yeah, I mean people that are like very allergic to dairy and gluten and all these things like that. It sucks to say, but I'm like eating at a fast food place just may not be like you don't want, you might not want to tempt it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of questions there, like one did he really tell him no onions? That's the first thing I know. And then the second thing about it too is, even if they don't put onions on the burger, there's onions there in the building, exactly. So, like you said, there's cross-contamination going. In fact, some of the packages that you you get will have on there tree nuts are made in the same facility as this product. They would put that to let you know. So I don't know. It's kind of an iffy thing there.
Speaker 2:It really is no, I know. It sounds a little bit like a payday is trying to happen and I also like if, if you get sick that I don't know, I would write to corporate and maybe they'd give you like a $300 gift card or something. Getting $250,000 or maybe more because of this sounds like I don't know, a little bit ridiculous. Did you suffer that much damage? Or like you need to buy a house now because you had onions once you know it's a little crazy.
Speaker 1:And here's the crazy thing about it if you know that they because typically anytime you buy a burger or cheeseburger, nine times out of ten has onions on there- yeah you know, it would have took a few seconds to just open the burger up and see if there's onions on there I know, I know or it might just be an overly simplistic, I don't know exactly.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I think so too and I definitely think, like food allergies are totally a real thing, but it sucks. It totally sucks. But you just have to avoid like places where you're not in control. Like I have a friend that's very allergic to peanut oil and him and I just can't do for the most part, he just like doesn't go to a lot of Asian restaurants and that's just like a no cause. He's not going to be like let me put it in their hands to see if we could do that. So that totally sucks, that you're excluded from a lot of options, but it just is what it is. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Talk about options. I can't even believe this is a thing. But there's a new challenge out there. Don't know what idiot came up with this challenge. What they're doing is it's the Chromebook challenge. Yay.
Speaker 2:No, not yet. I do have a Chromebook, but I hope it's not to like. Throw your Chromebook on the floor.
Speaker 1:You might as well, oh no, but what these idiots and I'm not mincing my words, these idiots decided to, whoever came up with this decided hey, I'm going to take something and push it into the port, you know, I think into the power port or maybe one of the other ports on the side. Okay, and cause it to catch fire. What Somebody thought this was a great idea.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:And Kids are doing it all over the place. What?
Speaker 2:How many people have all this money to like get? I'm still holding onto my Chromebook from like 2011.
Speaker 1:You know the crazy thing, meryl, is a lot of schools do their curriculum on Chromebooks. Now you know they very rarely use books now in school. It's pretty much everything on Chrome and nine times out of 10, that Chromebook that you're catching on fire. You know your parents are paying for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Not only that, you put yourself at harm and you can harm someone else trying to do a Facebook or YouTube challenge or whatever challenge it is. I think it's all over TikTok, I believe it is, but I don't know. What do you think it is with kids wanting to do these stupid challenges? I mean?
Speaker 2:if you're one of these kids and I don't want to see you posting any like eat the rich content, or like don't waste food, or that you can't be upset about anything or be like a crybaby about anything um, I think that's ridiculous. I feel like there's so many people that would love to get a laptop and, and especially I mean the Chromebooks are so sweet, they're one of my favorites, I mean it could be any computer.
Speaker 2:But to me that's such a great thing and there's so many people wanting for a computer that for someone just to set something on fire is really stupid. And it's also not impressive. For like a three minute three seconds of watching a computer go on fire, it doesn't really move the needle of how cool you are or anything.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean, if you need that much attention, there's something going on inside of you. Exactly. That's stupid. That's almost as bad as do you remember the crate challenge, the which one Crate challenge, where they stacked up crates and they would run up the crate and then back down the crate?
Speaker 2:See, like what are the ages? I wonder, because these are also the people that are upset about that are making fun of millennials, but maybe it is millennials also. Sometimes I talk some smack about Apple products. I'm like, if you want to break a computer, just get just like, buy an Apple and it will break on its own, so they get so hot anyway. Anyway, I feel like a lot of my friends apples have just basically like caught on fire just trying to edit something. Really, yeah, the ones I've, some of my friends, like the ones they have, have gotten like so, so, so hot like the bottoms of it. I'm not I'm not an apple fan. Everyone I know that has an apple is always like having to fix them and stuff. I have this janky little Chromebook that I've had for years and it's like I love it.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I will not be participating in that challenge. I will be loving my baby Chrome.
Speaker 1:I'm just shocked that not only someone was dumb enough to do it, but how much of a viral sensation this stupid thing is that thing is stupid. That's really surprising.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, speaking of trends, I'm so excited to get your honest take on this somewhat layered, somewhat nuanced thing that has sweeping TikTok Okay. So basically, I don't know if you've seen this, but a lot of people are saying that redheads are now the quote black people of white people, according to TikTok. Now, I can already tell by your eyes that you might not love this, so I wanted to get your take because, as like an annoying white woman, I had my first thoughts about this and then I wanted to be sensitive to how everyone may feel about it. So what started as one woman's hot take has taken over everyone's algorithm, sparking solidarity across a newfound community. Basically, a TikTok creator posted a now viral video declaring everyone who's ginger has red hair, those are black people. All gingers are black people. If they have red hair, they are black. The clip quickly took off on TikTok, opening the viral floodgates to a creation of confused community.
Speaker 2:Now, the thing that I emotionally liked about this at first is seeing a lot of redheads that I feel like have been made fun of in the past feel like they're very excited. I think it's also a general feeling that a lot of people are like oh my God, I'm suddenly cooler and, like you know, I'm sure there's many, many, many layers to this, but I think like a lot, I got emotional when I saw some redheads being like on TikTok, crying, be like this has been the best week ever. I feel so accepted. And then people are commenting under, like black men and women are commenting under, saying like welcome. You know just the power of people being connected. But then I kind of got to the next layer and I saw a lot of black people not being very enthused about it and saying you know, this is taking away from a lot of stuff and just generally feeling that this was very kind of silly and frivolous.
Speaker 1:Um, so I wanted to get your thoughts on it well, I guess for me personally, I think it's a silly statement. But there are, and I guess it depends on the generation You're looking at. Younger generation will probably look at this as being Silly. Ha ha ha, whatever. Older generation's not so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They're gonna look at it as so basically you're saying they're the Black people. White people mean that also they're the subhumans. That's how some of us will take that.
Speaker 2:Really Okay, and that's good for me to consider, because I feel like all I saw at first was almost like okay, because they're cool and they aren't. They're like like. I almost took it a different way where they're like, they're cool, I don't know, but it's also probably on some level like some level of like in unconscious racism, or even even the cool part, or like they can dance well, or some some stereotype that is like ultimately hurtful to people. Um, the part that I liked is just the general connection of like a man showed his little redhead daughter getting ready for school and then I saw a lot of black women commenting like you have fun, baby, you know, like we love you and stuff, and that's the part that I like the connection of. And I feel like people not not one, everyone could feel a certain way about it. Someone could love it, someone could hate it. You know that's. The other thing is no one needs there, doesn't need to be like a blanket feeling about this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I guess a great example of this would be and unfortunately this happens sometimes within the Black community where someone would say, ooh, you know, you sound white, oh yeah, and some people you know outside of our community would be like, well, why is that so offensive? Well, basically it's saying that if a Black person has great grammar, they don't stutter, they're very articulate with their words, then they sound white, white like black. People can't be this type of person, oh my goodness. So sometimes you know there's different layers.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I guess this is where the communication and talking is. And sometimes, when you understand why it's offensive to some people, you look at it a different way, totally, and you can't see it through their eyes Exactly. People you you look at it a different way, totally see it through their eyes, exactly.
Speaker 2:In your eyes it may not be something that you're being offensive to, but then when someone explains it to you, you go oh, now I get it absolutely, absolutely, yeah, and I'm, I'm, yeah, definitely that's good to know, that's good to know, like that's it's good to talk about, because I think I think a lot of these things were just made innocently of like redheads just being like like.
Speaker 2:I really started crying because I saw a bunch of redhead and it might sound ridiculous, but I think maybe a lot of redhead people might have have endured like being made fun of or you know this or that, and I think they just like seeing them feel like they have wrong or right. They felt like they were finally part of like a fun, awesome community. But I think a lot of people some people were like yeah, like welcome, you know. And some people were like not so fast, this is, this has layers. So I think it's it's good to acknowledge that like people feel differently about it and to me, if it brings, if people feel joyous about it, there's no need to like we don't have to deflate them, but's also we have to acknowledge that people might be not so happy.
Speaker 1:I think it boils down to just conversations. You know, it's amazing. When people sit down and start talking, you'll be amazed at how much that you have in common than not in common.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Regardless of your politics or anything else, most people have more common than they don't and they don't realize it until they have that conversation.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yep, totally, and I think like, yeah, I just I love seeing all different types of people and everything commenting like on each other, and I think that's one thing I love about Tik TOK is like I think sometimes it's like it's so nice because I think, like the media and politics tried to divide us so much, and I just I love when, like, any type of people come together, so like that is a power that I like.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree and, like I said, I think we're in a point right now where more conversation is definitely something that's needed, because, you know, we've been going through, as a country, a lot of craziness. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to end anytime soon, and the only way we're going to get through it whether we like it or not, we're all in this together exactly a lot of people too.
Speaker 2:I really was like in bed crying and I'm like I had to explain to my boyfriend like I'm crying about redheads and people are commenting on that. He's like you're crying about redheads and black people Don't even ask me. But then someone even said God, redheads, have you been ignored for so long? It's just ridiculous. Everyone be nice to each other, I feel like, is the moral of the story.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what? We've got a couple of minutes. Do you have any story you want to sneak in?
Speaker 2:Ooh, oh yeah, I have a quick one. I saw this. I thought it was very like whatever they were saying. Another viral TikTok video A millennial woman made a bold prediction that Gen Z is going to be the last generation that has tattoos. So basically they were saying Gen Alpha and everyone younger than them. They're going to look up and be like, oh God, tattoos are cringy, tattoos are kind of, you know, embarrassing or whatever. And so it just started a conversation about like maybe tattoos will be expensive or like represent capitalism or whatever. I don't. I don't think this is going to be true. I feel like just the way that we've seen, like skinny jeans and stuff from the 90s. I feel like tattoos are always going to be around at some level, but I think gone are the days where we're going to have like a like divine across your arm or like kind of cringy tattoos. I think people will be more discerning about what they get, and maybe that also goes for like getting your eyebrows pierced and getting your tongue pierced, you know yeah, I mean like me.
Speaker 1:Personally, I would never get a tattoo because I'm I'm dark-skinned, so if I got a tattoo, you probably couldn't even see it.
Speaker 2:So it'd be just a waste of money for me I know, if anything I bet in the future they'll like, they'll create tattoos. They already have it now, where it's like you can, it's like invisible ink for a day. You know, they'll probably get really creative with the technology. I don't know if it will be someone a tattoo artist, it might be more of like a robot doing it and you're able to peel it off after like eight days or whatever.
Speaker 1:But um yeah, nice, well, I got a really quick one too. Yeah, and actually I'm gonna do a fun one. This gentleman his name is corian evans. Um, this young man is a hero, and I mean that literally. He basically saw, I guess, some teenagers that drove accidentally into a body of water, so he jumped in and he saved three teenagers. And also there was a police officer that went in too to help them and he was struggling. He helped pull him out as well.
Speaker 2:Whoa. I love that. See, he's someone that deserves like $250,000, not someone that ate onions Like I. Feel like that person should make the money that, like baseball players and everything, make.
Speaker 1:That is true, that is true.
Speaker 2:That's so cute.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yes, I have a lot of other stuff, but I'm like you know what? Let me pick a nice.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that. I wonder if any of your stuff will be available. Hopefully it will stand the test of time For next week.
Speaker 1:Most of these probably will, but something tells me we'll have even more news. There you go. Talk about news. What do you have coming up, meryl?
Speaker 2:Yay, I have a show May 28th At the La Jolla Comedy Store. So if you're in the San Diego-ish area, I will be part of a wonderful, wonderful show at the Comedy Store. And yeah, that's, excuse me, my next exciting one. Oh, and then, randomly, I'm going to be in Minneapolis at a show. It's a comedy festival called Lakes on the Loon or Lons on the Lake, which is really fun in Minneapolis. And then that's June 6th.
Speaker 1:Nice. Well, everyone, make sure you guys go out and support Meryl, if you're in the air. You can stop by and see her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would so love that you can tell me your thoughts on Redheads and Walmart.
Speaker 1:This has been a very, very fun episode.
Speaker 2:It has.
Speaker 1:Everyone, thank you for watching. We really appreciate your support. Please continue to support us. I am Lawrence Elrod, and I'm Meryl Clemo. Have a great day everyone. Bye.
