Happy Monday!

What a jam-packed weekend full of news, memes and misinformation—from the Love Island finale to Lindsay Graham’s sudden death. 

The good news for you is that I’m mostly done talking about Love Island USA for the year, pending any crazy post-villa shenanigans but those likely won’t necessitate me going long. The bad news is that there is no newsletter this Thursday because I’m upstate touching grass. But don’t be too sad, today’s newsletter has a lot of good stuff.

Here’s why you should think twice about trusting AI aggregation. 

In the hours leading up to the Love Island USA finale on Sunday, some fans reported that the winners had been “leaked.” One X user received 1.7 million views on a post showing off a screenshot of a Google search for “Who won Love Island USA season 8?” in which the AI Overview listed Aniya Harvey and Carl Schmidt as the winning couple. 

In reality, Trinity Tatum and Bryce Dettloff won the $100,000, while Harvey and Schmidt were runners-up. As for the other finalists, Melanie Moreno and Sincere Rhea placed third while Kayda Bosse and Zach Georgiou ranked fourth. 

But why did Google think that Carniya won? It appeared to be a game of AI telephone, as Google’s AI Overview scraped an MSN post… which was actually a poorly understood Copilot aggregation of other blogs across the internet. 

Among the numerous articles that Copilot pulled from, one from The Gadgets Central inexplicably listed Harvey and Schmidt as the winners hours before the finale aired, which appeared to be the main source of the rumor. As for the supporting evidence, the rest of the aggregated posts simply listed the final four couples in no particular order, with Harvey and Schmidt coincidentally written first. 

Anyways, Google has it correct now that all of the reputable entertainment outlets have actually verified the winners. But take this as a lesson that “just Google it” is no longer as easy as it once was. 

Now that Love Island USA is finished for the year, we can reflect on how brands should and should not engage with viral moments from the show. 

First, we have to address all of the brands hopping on the “Dear Melanie” trend. For those of you out of the loop, season eight contestant Melanie Moreno received a lot of criticism for her decision to stick with her partner Sincere Rhea, who was caught constantly lying to her about what he was doing with other girls on the show. He was actually revealed to be such a prolific liar that it even stunned his fellow male contestants, even the ones I’ve talked about in this newsletter as being extremely disrespectful toward the women they were with. 

Seeing this, many brands—including JetBlue Vacations, Buffalo Wild Wings, Outback Steakhouse, StubHub and Regal Cinemas—offered her free stuff in exchange for her leaving Rhea. But some fans viewed this trend as uncouth, given how it essentially came in response to her being gaslit and emotionally toyed with all season. 

As Love Island USA: Aftersun cohost Tefi Pessoa emotionally put it, “Do not make her part of your marketing campaign. That is cruel.”

Meanwhile, there is one business that surprisingly came out on top following this season of Love Island USA: Saba Surf.

Yes, I’ll admit that I was dubious of how helpful Gal Tshnieder’s appearance on the show—which did not paint him in a good light—would be to his combo coffee and surf shop near Venice Beach in Los Angeles. While he was on the show, his employees had to field some of the hate he was receiving, even though they tried to mitigate the mess with anti-Gal promos (smart). 

But now that he’s leaned into his flop performance on the show—particularly with everyone’s favorite everything bagel Jen Terry—it seems like he’s flipped this PR disaster into a win. 

But it wouldn’t work if Terry didn’t play along, playfully feeding into her onscreen beef with Tshneider and even collaborating with him for an excellent photo shoot by photographer Davis Bates. For one day only, Saba Surf sold drinks playing off of Tschneider’s less-than-savory performance on Love Island, including the “Male Manipulator Matcha” and the “Venice Manchild.” They even offered “The Jen Combo,” which included the matcha and an everything bagel. 

And to top it off, the shop held an event where people could dunk Tschneider for charity, an offer that even fellow islander Kenzie Annis took up. The lesson here is very obvious, but it’s always good to make yourself the butt of the joke—rather than make one at another person’s expense. 

While everyone was waiting for proof of life from Mitch McConnell, who was hospitalized in mid-June, his fellow Republican senator Lindsey Graham died of an aortic dissection at the age of 71.

It should come as no surprise that people celebrated this news on X, given the fact that Graham has been the source of much suffering among marginalized communities. In addition to being one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, playing an integral part in initiating the war in Iran, Graham consistently voted against LGBTQ+ rights, while denying constant rumors that he was gay himself. Still, those who claim to have been escorts for him have shared some stories in the wake of his death, including trans author and actress Jesse James Rose, who claimed that the senator had “paid a twinky pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie.” 

And of course, the jokes abound, with some noting that Graham “deathmogged” McConnell, others joking about him being reincarnated as Ben Shapiro’s fifth child, and more spreading the usual horny copypasta that comes from this kind of news. 

As for McConnell, who Graham had said he’d spoken to before his own sudden demise, he shared a photo with his wife along with a health update on the same day his colleague died. McConnell, 84, said he was briefly "unconscious" and suffered a mild case of pneumonia. 

“And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet,” he added. Some are still waiting for independent confirmation, namely an in-person interview with a reputable outlet. 

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. In honor of Love Island USA ending for the year, here are some songs fitting for the show (some of which have actually been in the show). It’s a mix of that Ibiza beach club vibe and pop hits about love. 

Other things I want to share with you.