Keep scrolling for the fake 1980s horror film taking over TikTok.
Bobbi Althoff removes viral Drake interview amid rumoured rift
Bobbi Althoff is seemingly at odds with Drake after their interview helped catapult the new podcaster to mainstream fame.
Bobbi is a 25-year-old TikTok creator and mother-of-two who amassed millions of followers for her sarcastic humour and realistic videos about parenting.
Though she’s transitioned out of parenting content, Bobbi became notorious on TikTok for calling her children “Richard” and “Concrete” to avoid using their real names online.
On June 1st, Bobbi launched ‘The Really Good Podcast’ where she interviews a new celebrity guest in each episode.
Her third episode put her podcast on the map when she interviewed Drake. The interview went viral for their awkward chemistry and Bobbi’s deadpan delivery.
The episode also led many to wonder if Bobbi is a podcast industry plant, considering the caliber of her guests.
Earlier this week, Bobbi removed most of the content from her interview with Drake on her TikTok and YouTube accounts.
To add to the confusion, Bobbi was seen at Drake’s “It’s All A Blur Tour” the night before removing the content, suggesting that the two had developed a relationship since he appeared on the podcast.
Some fans speculate that something may have happened between Drake and Bobbi at the concert. Other fans hesitate to believe that Bobbi would delete her most viewed podcast episode because of interpersonal drama, claiming this could all be for publicity.
In a new episode of the BFFs Podcast, Dave Portnoy said he DM’d Bobbi to ask her if she cheated on her husband with Drake. She responded to Dave saying “that is not true.” However, someone on the BFFs team edited this clip for social media to make it sound like Bobbi potentially said she had.
After this clickbait clip began blowing up, Bobbi addressed it on her Instagram story. She shared the DM conversation with Dave and wrote, “I did not want to do this podcast in the first place, and now so much negativity is coming from it. I’m going to leave it alone after this but this is the uncensored DM between Dave and I.”
For many fans, the biggest takeaway from this whole saga is Bobbi’s admission that she “did not want to do this podcast in the first place.” The statement creating even more confusion about Bobbi’s industry plant status.
Read the full story via Centennial World.
Colleen Ballinger accuser exposed for allegedly lying about his experience for fame
YouTube commentary creator Swoop dropped a 4-hour video exposing the lies of one of Colleen Ballinger’s biggest accusers, Johnny Silvestri.
Over the past two months, Swoop has published three lengthy documentaries on the Colleen Ballinger allegations. The third, released today, was meant to explore the alleged inappropriate relationship between Colleen’s ex-husband Joshua Evans and her fan Johnny Silvestri. Her video changed course when Johnny’s story didn’t add up upon investigation.
Johnny has been one of Colleen’s most vocal accusers. He gained notoriety for claiming that Colleen would message nude photos of YouTuber Trisha Paytas to fans as a way to mock Trisha's body size. He also claimed Colleen sent him explicit screenshots from Trisha’s OnlyFans.
Trisha addressed these claims in an emotional video and subsequently cut ties with Colleen.
In addition to these accusations, Johnny claimed that Colleen’s ex-husband Joshua Evans was a “predator” who fostered an inappropriate relationship with Johnny while he was married to Colleen.
After investigating these claims for her docu-series, which included sitting down for a 6-hour interview with Johnny and a 7-hour interview with Joshua, Swoop concluded that Johnny had doctored some of his message history with Joshua to manipulate the narrative.
During her interview with Johnny, Swoop also got him to admit that he, too, was sending explicit content of Trisha to Colleen.
Based on Swoop’s findings, it seems Johnny saw an opportunity to center himself in Colleen’s downfall by painting himself as a victim like Adam McIntyre. Unfortunately, this will only make it harder for the real victims to be believed.
Swoop’s next instalment of this docu-series will feature her interview with Joshua Evans.
Watch Swoop’s full investigation via YouTube.
TikTok singer Rodger Cleye accused of preying on 19-year-old fan
Rodger Cleye has been accused of predatory behaviour towards a teenage aspiring singer.
Rodger is a 56-year-old creator who amassed over 3 million followers singing covers of popular songs on TikTok live. Rodger went viral in 2022 when users turned him into a POV meme— using his singing bits to indicate they were unbothered, blissfully ignorant, or purposefully delusional about stressful situations.
This meme solidified Rodger’s reputation on TikTok as a wholesome grandfather figure and his young fanbase grew.
Over the past week, however, TikTok’s perception of Rodger has shifted after aspiring singer Olivia McCraw spoke out against the creator for fostering an inappropriate relationship with her.
Rodger and Olivia collaborated on TikTok live last week where they sang together in a hotel room. The setting and their physical closeness during the live concerned some viewers, who later discovered that Olivia had only just graduated high school in 2022.
Rodger took to Instagram in a now-deleted post to address these concerns, writing that users should be “ashamed” of themselves for questioning his relationship with Olivia. He also claimed that Olivia is 21 years old and insinuated that she graduated high school at an older age.
Olivia also addressed questions about their collaboration. In a TikTok video posted one day after their live, Olivia asked fans to “stop spreading rumors” that she is dating Rodger and called their live a “fun experience.”
On August 14th, Olivia returned with a follow-up video. This time, she spoke out against Rodger and his alleged inappropriate behaviour towards her.
Olivia started by confirming she is, in fact, 19 years old and said that she posted the video defending her collaboration with Rodger “to stop the excessive comments being made.”
She explained that she randomly joined one of Rodger’s TikTok lives. He took notice of Olivia and started messaging her. Rodger asked if he could visit her almost immediately after they began messaging. They agreed to film a TikTok live singing together to help Olivia’s career.
Olivia said that Rodger flew to her hometown and they went to Texas Roadhouse.
“In the midst of conversation, he made me aware that he had a vasectomy,” she said.
Olivia claimed that back at his hotel room (where they planned to film the TikTok live), Rodger went to the bathroom with the door open. She also noticed that Rodger had allegedly put a photo of Olivia as his phone background.
Olivia said that Rodger was rubbing her back during their TikTok live and tried to kiss her afterward. The 19-year-old kissed him back because she was “alone and I felt obligated.”
Olivia told Rodger that she could not handle the comments and felt uncomfortable collaborating again. She claimed that Rodger started guilting her, saying she had “abandoned” him.
“He continued to pursue me,” she said. “Some mornings, I would wake up with 45 messages. A video of him singing in the bathtub.”
After her rejection, Rodger started posting nasty comments about Olivia on social media, calling her “extremely manipulative and attention seeking.”
In response to Rodger’s claims, Olivia posted screenshots of their alleged messages that show Rodger pursuing her. Many of these messages appeared to go unanswered by Olivia.
Read the full story via Centennial World.
TikTok has skyrocketed movies and TV shows like Outer Banks and Bridgerton to viral fame. And over the past few days, a 1980s horror movie called Zepotha seems to be all anyone can talk about. The catch? It’s not a real movie.
The hashtag #zepotha has amassed 60 million views and counting, with users taking to the app to create Zepotha lore, making videos about their favourite plot points and characters.
The most popular points of discussion have been the “forest scene”, as well as users comparing random creators to characters from the film. Someone even created a “What Zepotha character [are you]” randomised TikTok filter.
The trend seems to originate from @emilyjeffri on TikTok. On August 12th, they posted a video inventing the 80s horror film, calling on TikTok users to follow their lead.
“OK so new bit idea: what if we created a fake 80s horror movie called ‘Zepotha‘ and started commenting ‘omg u look exactly like that one girl from Zepotha‘ or ‘wait, u look exactly like __ from Zepotha‘ on every thirst trap we see,” they write. “Together, we will witness new lore develop, main characters will emerge etc. & we can convince thousands of people that this weirdly titled horror film actually exists.”
It appears that Emily created the TikTok to promote their upcoming album, Soundtrack For an 80’s Horror Movie, set to be released on August 25th.
While most users have jumped on board, others note that this ‘bit’ has been done before— likening Zepotha to Goncharov, a 1973 mafia film created by Tumblr users. The imagined movie went viral last year, with Martin Scorsese listed as the director and Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Cybill Shepherd as cast members.
See the Zepotha lore play out via TikTok.
Introducing NoSpace: The Gen Z app poised as the next Myspace
The next Myspace is coming. And this time, it’s targeting Gen Z users who were too young to experience the original.
NoSpace is a social networking platform positioned as “Myspace 2.0.”
It seems the app was initially called Who You Really Are and rebranded to Nospace in the recent weeks.
According to the app’s promotional material, NoSpace aims to “make social media fun again” by helping people “find who [they’re] most compatible with from all around the world” so they can build “hyper-personalised connections.”
User profiles take heavy inspiration from Myspace’s design of the late-2000s—including a “top 8 friends” and a section where users can update their status to include what they’re watching, reading, and listening to, as well as where they are currently located “IRL”.
Several videos posted to the brand’s TikTok account ask users if they “miss” the early Myspace or Tumblr eras “when life seemed so much easier.” Other videos reference being “too young” for Myspace when it was popular and promise to give Gen Z the same positive social media experience on NoSpace.
While NoSpace is yet to launch, users can join a waitlist via the app’s website and will receive a text when they’re let in.
This waitlist, which apparently has over 99,000 sign-ups, has been live since at least June 2023.
The app is set to be released this month.
Join the NoSpace waitlist here.
How social media destroyed the tween experience (with Taylor Lorenz)
This week’s infinite scroll discusses how social media has influenced how pre-teens perform age, co-hosted by internet culture expert and columnist for The Washington Post, Taylor Lorenz. As tweens, teens, and adults interact on social media platforms together and the digital space becomes increasingly difficult to moderate, tween-specific content seems to have fallen through the cracks. From young girls incorporating anti-aging products in their skin-care routines to sharing revealing pictures of themselves online, the lack of "age-appropriate" content has seemingly led to many young people wanting to appear older than they are. And while this isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon, social media has intensified the desire to grow up quickly.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.