Happy Monday! 

It appears we are in a hot girl emergency, as there have been two hot girl controversies circulating online in recent weeks. Is this the end of the “hot girl(s) ___” trend as we know it? While Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” is forever, these other brands biting off of its success are in more tenuous positions. More on that below. 

I’m off to watch the second episode of Love Island USA’s Casa Amor week in theaters tonight. I will report back with the vibes on Thursday. 🫡

As we’ve moved through the decade, hot girlisms have become ubiquitous in culture, thanks to Megan Thee Stallion’s introduction of “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019. Since then, “hot girls” have permeated every part of culture—from music to literature to fitness to health to food. 

But now, the hot girl community is undergoing a bit of a rift. That’s because not one, but two trademark controversies have caused a stir online, sparking debate over who has ownership over being a hot girl. 

It all started when Allie Mitrovich, who owns a small business by the name of Allie Rose Co. announced that she secured the trademark for the phrase “Hot Girls Read.”

“Hot Girls Read™ is officially ours,” she wrote in the caption of a now-deleted Instagram post on June 3. “3ish years ago after I started reading more consistently and finally started to love to read, I put HGR on some bookmarks and crews and the rest is freaking history!!!”

The issue is that the phrase is pretty commonplace online, especially among the very passionate BookTok and Bookstagram communities. Unlike “Hot Girl Summer,” “Hot Girls Read” isn’t really associated with one person in particular. So when Mitrovich announced she had secured the trademark—and later posted a request to other bookish businesses with “Hot Girls Read” merch to “please remove those listings from ur site as soon as possible with love !!!!”—people were not happy.

After the bookish internet applied a ton of pressure, Mitrovich announced that she surrendered her trademark.

“It does take time for that to go through so it’s not going to show up automatically,” she explained in a June 8 post. “But the paperwork has already been filed. But more importantly, I want to say I’m so sorry to every small business that I harmed in doing this. The decision was made more as a business strategy decision than a human being decision, and I take full accountability for that.”

And after the dust settled on the “Hot Girls Read” debacle, another hot girl trademarking spat hit the timeline—although it wasn’t the first time this business owner has gotten into a high-profile dispute over her trademark. 

Mia Lind, the founder of the walking-oriented multi-platform community Hot Girl Walk®, has gotten into hot water for going after a small DMV-based fitness influencer for trying to host a free “Hot Girl Walk” event for her community.

“Legally I’m not  supposed to say this is a hot girl walk,” Dini Khiangte, the fitness influencer, shared in her recap video of the event, which she ended up calling a “High Temperature Women Walk.”

In her video, Khiangte shared that she didn’t know the phrase was trademarked and she had only found out after receiving a copyright infringement notice from her ticketing platform. And although her video wasn’t particularly negative or critical against Lind, who she doesn’t name, that didn’t stop the apparent Hot Girl Walk® founder from hitting back at Khiangte.

“This is so shady for no reason lol I actually coined the phrase Hot Girl Walk® and filed for a trademark shortly after posting my first video and I host events all around the world for free for women,” Lind wrote in a now-deleted comment. “Rather than reaching out to us to maybe collab or do research before infringing on my brand, you post this video which is not in fact giving ‘women supporting women.’"

Obviously, viewers did not view Lind as a woman supporting women after this incident. Instead, they felt like she was attacking other women trying to help their communities get active. 

I think the best summary of the outrage directed about both “Hot Girls Read” and “Hot Girl Walk” is from this TikTok comment under Khiangte’s video: “Capitalism is so corny because why are we trademarking TikTok trends.”

Because while Lind has done a lot of work to build a brand around the Hot Girl Walk® since registering the trademark in 2023, many people don’t associate the act with her, although she is credited as the originator in many news outlets. Similar to the “Hot Girls Read” issue though, online users feel the phrase has grown to be commonplace, beyond any single person. 

And while you don’t have to be synonymous with a phrase to secure a trademark, it certainly helps your case when trying to defend it. Considering that hot girl literature and fitness have been popular for years—even beyond the origins of “Hot Girl Summer”—many felt outraged that one person could own the concepts. And it’s clear from this fiasco that in trying to expand and defend one’s business, entrepreneurs have to consider whether trademarking a popular phrase like this would alienate rather than draw in customers. After all, common sayings are typically refused trademark registration because it would hurt competition otherwise. 

It was even difficult for Megan Thee Stallion, who has become synonymous with “Hot Girl Summer,” to trademark the phrase. It took over two years for her to secure the trademark for music, live performances, and merchandise. Meanwhile, her application to secure the phrase for cosmetics and fragrances has been refused. 

Ultimately, anyone can be a hot girl. That is, after all, the spirit of the term, according to the woman who popularized it. 

“It’s just basically about women — and men — just being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up your friends, doing you, not giving a damn about what nobody got to say about it,” Meg told The Root in 2019. “You definitely have to be a person that can be the life of the party, and, y’know, just a bad bitch.”

And if the online response is any indication, it kind of goes against the hot girl mentality to try to tear down other creators who want to be hot girls too. Obviously, trademark law is complex and necessary for many small businesses to protect themselves. But when the community you’re trying to reach is highly critical of your actions, it’s worth listening to their feedback.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. Here’s a few tracks to remind you how a real hot girl conducts herself!

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.