Happy Thursday! 

I have made a career in part because I have kept up with online drama and what it reflects about our culture. I saw a strange and confusing saga pop up on my TikTok FYP that inspired a lot of mind-melting discourse. While the premise is pretty standard, I think it is somewhat of a case study on the current state of the internet, the drama economy, and unreality.  

Also in this newsletter, more petty NYE discourse, some political bids from chronically online celebs, and the Ashley French mom group fallout. Subscribe to the Yapper tier to read the full newsletter.

A new year means fresh drama on our feeds. Online, hungry users have been picking apart the first viral storytime of the year and the reactions have been very interesting. 

Here’s what apparently happened: A girl who goes by @pradagtali on Instagram made a now-deleted Reel sharing that she went to Miami for a New Year’s Eve girl’s trip. This premise should have been the first indication that the story would be ragebait. Those who are chronically online know that Miami trips are now synonymous with outrageous friend breakups after dozens of women have shared their experiences over the years.

So what’s the latest drama? The offending Reel, which was later shared and discussed on TikTok, featured @pradagtali explaining that she had gone to Miami with three friends. The group went to the club Vendôme for NYE and they all expected to get in for free because @pradagtali had DM’d the promoter for entry. When they got to the club, the bouncer told them that their one plus-sized friend would have to pay $300 to get in. After deliberating for two hours, the three friends who could get in asked the plus-sized friend if they could call her an Uber home so that they could enjoy the midnight ball drop at the club. The singled-out girl agreed to get in the Uber but said the friendship would be over if she did so. The video then cuts to @pradagtali and her other friends celebrating the new year inside the club.

For obvious reasons, people were outraged by this story. What kind of friend leaves their homegirl outside of the club after the staff disrespected her? Think pieces cropped up instantly, with commentary creators posting countless takes on the incident. But a different kind of reaction quickly took hold: People began insisting that the video was AI.