Culture Club - Why Is Everyone Mad At Taylor Swift？

00:00:00.000 child stars are healing their inner child taylor swift's recent controversies and sydney sweeney's

00:00:13.540 influencer side hustle we're maggie and jasmine and you're listening to culture club our weekly

00:00:19.000 chat about pop culture current affairs the internet and our lives

00:00:23.580 we acknowledge that the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people are the traditional custodians of this

00:00:33.860 land we are on today we'd like to pay our respects to elders past and present we'd also

00:00:40.480 like to celebrate the rich history of first nations culture and storytelling that we are

00:00:45.300 continually learning from this proudly always was and always will be aboriginal land

00:00:54.460 Happy Leo season, Jazz.

00:00:56.720 And also happy birthday to Culture Club.

00:00:58.900 We turned two over the last week.

00:01:02.040 We turned two and we totally forgot about it until like the 30th.

00:01:05.340 And I was like, oh my God, it was our two year anniversary.

00:01:07.860 So happy birthday to us and to everyone listening because we wouldn't be doing this if people

00:01:14.460 didn't listen and care.

00:01:15.800 So thanks for being here.

00:01:18.260 It's like having a birthday party and telling the guests like, happy birthday to you too.

00:01:22.020 that's literally what you said but I appreciate it um but yes it is the season of Leos I didn't

00:01:29.900 realize how many Leos I have in my life but I have so many um one of who who is not technically

00:01:36.540 in my life but parasocially yes Selena Gomez 10 30 years old have you been watching the second

00:01:43.440 season of Only Murders yet I have I think I'm about halfway through and I am really enjoying it

00:01:50.500 So, yes, I'm glad that the second season is kind of still living up to its first season hype.

00:01:57.080 Yeah, I'm a couple of episodes behind, but I'm also loving it.

00:02:00.920 But all of Selena's content from her 30th birthday was just so wholesome.

00:02:05.880 She posted a TikTok the other day that genuinely made me tear up.

00:02:10.160 She was speaking to the camera and just like thanking everyone for all of the heartfelt messages and stuff.

00:02:16.860 and she begins to tear up and she's like I wouldn't be here without you but we'll play a

00:02:22.440 bit now okay I don't really talk on TikTok so this is a bit weird I wanted to say thank you

00:02:30.580 so much to every person that wished me a happy birthday um I got to see some of your messages

00:02:38.620 I don't read a lot of comments but the few that I read were really really sweet and I just want

00:02:43.940 you to know that I don't take that for granted and um I'm 30 and um I'm so far enjoying it and

00:02:52.100 I just wanted to thank you all from the bottom of my heart um for being in my life for growing up

00:02:59.300 with me for putting up with me um thank you guys so much yeah I think she's really leaning into

00:03:08.800 this kind of wholesome earnest space which I love you know that TikTok video starts with you know

00:03:13.920 I don't normally talk on TikTok and over on Instagram to celebrate her birthday as well.

00:03:19.920 She also had this really sweet caption.

00:03:22.980 We'll read out some of it now.

00:03:25.640 Though there are so many words to say, I'll simply leave it at this.

00:03:29.520 My 20s were a journey through good, hard and beautiful moments that I will never forget.

00:03:36.040 Each of them has shaped me into the person I am today.

00:03:39.020 i am someone who is still learning but is more certain about what matters and what she wants

00:03:44.520 someone who is grateful for every single gift and every single lesson along the way

00:03:49.660 i want to try my best to take the beautiful and the painful one day at a time and let it all make

00:03:56.660 me into the very best me that i can be for myself others and you oh sorry that's a weird one

00:04:04.740 um no she's so sweet I love how earnest she is and how grateful she is

00:04:15.460 and she just feels like your best friend and that's so nice when we've grown up with these

00:04:22.020 Disney stars and child stars who are just embracing themselves and it must be so hard

00:04:29.340 to grow up in the spotlight so to see someone like living their authentic life is always very

00:04:37.400 endearing I think yeah especially with Selena as well we've seen her publicly struggle with her

00:04:44.960 lupus and bipolar disorder diagnosis and then we've also seen in recent years you know her

00:04:51.700 coming back to acting and of course she's got her music and then Rare Beauty like what an incredibly

00:04:56.900 successful beauty line as well it actually not gonna lie when I saw that it was her birthday

00:05:02.700 it freaked me out I did not realize that she's only 30 she's so young and so close to our ages

00:05:09.140 and especially growing up watching her as a teenager she felt like so much older and so

00:05:14.560 much more mature so I'm like wow that's great there's also been another child star who has been

00:05:21.760 um kind of creating these beautiful authentic videos recently and that is drew barrymore

00:05:28.540 i love her earnest content so much when she like sees the window in this house she's renovating

00:05:34.620 or she's singing and dancing in the rain i feel like we need more people like that online like

00:05:40.640 people will say it's cringe but i love seeing other people's joy so much like the world is so

00:05:48.340 dark and like there's so many awful things happening every single day but like to share

00:05:53.520 like a beautiful moment or your day or whatever it is like that's so refreshing to see online I think

00:06:01.360 yeah it's interesting to see the discourse around Drew Barry more specifically change over time so

00:06:07.900 I swear when um her first kind of videos started popping up of her being overly earnest people were

00:06:14.860 like this is so cringe like what's happening blah blah and then it just took a 180 and everyone's

00:06:21.360 like how lovely is this I love her blah blah blah blah so I'm like wow like we're so finicky with

00:06:27.860 what we approve or don't approve so yeah with both Drew Barrymore and Selena Gomez they both had

00:06:35.620 like such tough times in the limelight um that we've seen so it's really nice for us to wrap

00:06:42.580 our arms around them now and just embrace them for who they are and hope that they feel loved

00:06:48.460 and that they feel like more freedom and whatever love the celebrities 0.97

00:06:53.560 a cosmetic nurse has come under fire for her insensitive tiktok video 0.99

00:07:03.920 outlining what she would do if she was stranger things actress natalia dyer's injector how wild

00:07:10.660 was this video i saw it first on twitter um accompanied with a caption i could never be

00:07:16.760 a celebrity because if someone made a video like this about me i would get violent another tweet

00:07:23.420 read still can't believe a plastic surgeon spoke on what she'd change about someone's face without

00:07:28.960 a their consent b any indication that the person disliked those features and c putting a disclaimer 0.81

00:07:35.840 whether the person is already beautiful as they are um yeah like I understand it's a ridiculous

00:07:41.500 situation but why can I kind of like it didn't phase me too much because it almost feels like

00:07:49.180 a non-issue like first off especially in culture club we all understand that it's problematic

00:07:53.720 but I feel like we've normalized plastic surgery and cosmetic and cosmetic surgery so much which

00:08:00.380 isn't necessarily a bad thing at all but the way that this plastic surgeon was talking about the

00:08:07.120 changes she was like it was like she was talking about makeup and you know putting on makeup on

00:08:12.600 someone like oh I'll just do the lips a little would lift her brows here like so nonchalant

00:08:18.660 about it and I was like these are I don't know full-on procedures yeah and I was like that was

00:08:25.680 what was kind of weird to me her casualness about it yeah and about changing someone's face to be

00:08:32.220 like this standard of beauty when natalia is already like a stunning person and i think she

00:08:38.620 has a really interesting face it's not the instagram face which we will get into later

00:08:43.200 but this nurse posted a follow-up apology video captioned hoping to clear the air that i was not

00:08:50.880 suggesting that natalia needed any of that work it was just an example of course natalia is

00:08:56.720 absolutely stunning the way she is that's why she's so successful yeah okay not because of her

00:09:03.380 amazing acting skills her photo was simply an example i'm sorry if people took that as being

00:09:09.220 mean or rude that was not my intent at all oh my favorite form of apology yeah sorry if you're

00:09:15.940 offended yeah um i think it's really telling as well this is not just a one-off incident with

00:09:23.560 this nurse um people were just like finding her other tiktok videos one of them was like

00:09:28.800 um her having a conversation with someone and the text on screen was like

00:09:34.320 like when i when you can't concentrate on the conversation you're having with another person

00:09:39.140 because you're counting how many shots of botox they need in their forehead oh my god

00:09:45.640 that's awful yeah it is awful because natalia like we don't even need to say it it's it's beside the

00:09:52.160 point that she is so stunning and beautiful um and a good comment from a tiktok user said if natalia 1.00

00:10:01.540 dyer a white and thin and conventional woman gets scrutinized on her appearance like this 0.98

00:10:07.120 what happens to all the young impressionable poc mid-size plus size girls watching yeah very true 1.00

00:10:14.300 I think it's like a dangerous territory to get into. 1.00

00:10:17.340 And even just like the normalization of like baby Botox, like before you're 25.

00:10:21.840 And there's actually an interview on Days Magazine with the director of Save Face, which

00:10:26.720 is a UK register of accredited practitioners who provide non-surgical procedures, who said

00:10:32.540 that they thought the pandemic would put a stop to cosmetic treatments, but they say

00:10:36.700 it's actually been the opposite.

00:10:39.180 Ashton says, quote, our patient inquiries and web traffic increased over 60%.

00:10:43.480 percent it came at a time when people couldn't access other beauty treatments so insecurities

00:10:48.720 became magnified and of course the most popular are plastic surgery lip fillers and wrinkle

00:10:53.960 prevention treatments but there's been a noticeable shift in the general public's feelings towards

00:10:59.560 them which is yeah true i feel like botox wasn't spoken about as much back in the day and now i

00:11:07.520 know lots of young people who are getting it lots of friends and you know when there's barely

00:11:13.280 any wrinkles and i know it's preventative whatever but i also need to fact check this but i also

00:11:19.240 remember um hearing from a technician once who was like botox yeah like hardens your muscles at

00:11:26.180 first but then it can also weaken them so then it's like a perpetual cycle like once you get it

00:11:30.800 you notice the drop more because it's really relaxing because the botox is worn off

00:11:37.160 so you're like oh god i need more and you like kind of become like addicted to it and you need

00:11:41.720 like more to get the same results kind of thing but that's not fact checked that's just like what

00:11:46.920 I've heard yeah I mean I don't know how I feel about plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery I'm

00:11:54.040 kind of I like that I'm like from a feminist point of view I'm just like that's always open

00:11:59.140 to discussion and I yeah I honestly just don't have my mind made up but you're so right about

00:12:05.260 the rise of surgery in general there was you know over the pandemic or over the first couple of

00:12:12.120 years of it the zoom boom people were talking about because people are spending so much time

00:12:16.840 looking at themselves through a screen also people you know bringing in photos of themselves

00:12:22.620 with filters on from like snapchat or instagram tiktok and being like i want to look like that

00:12:27.680 it all leads to um you know what we've we've heard of instagram face um that was coined by

00:12:34.160 Gia Tolentino uh I think it's just continuing to be like a staple in our culture so I saw this

00:12:42.540 great TikTok I can't find it at all but it talked about um you know from this Natalia Dyer example

00:12:49.100 how celebrities are looking more and more similar um to one another so they first compared like

00:12:55.300 golden age Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe um and the plastic surgery style or trends that

00:13:02.740 around then a few decades um previous and then now you know they showed kylie jenner kim kardashian

00:13:10.560 bella had did and how this beauty trend of surgery purposely is making people look so similar like

00:13:17.020 that snatch look you know seeing the side by side comparison photos it was really quite eerie i would

00:13:23.460 say interestingly in that same tiktok video as well as a few news articles floating around

00:13:29.780 the said cosmetic nurse that we've been talking about who posted that initial video

00:13:35.200 there's before and after photos of her own face before she's had surgery and really yeah

00:13:42.500 interestingly she had quite a similar face shape to Natalia and I think it's not a defense mechanism

00:13:49.820 or like an insecurity but it's but it's quite obvious when you look at her before photo it's 0.65

00:13:55.060 It's, like, coming from a place of, oh, this is what I did to myself

00:13:59.560 to improve myself.

00:14:01.960 Wow.

00:14:02.420 So her face was more kind of, like, square shape or something.

00:14:05.340 Yeah.

00:14:06.620 It's quite sad that, like, she's kind of fixed, you know,

00:14:10.560 made her face look how she wants.

00:14:13.400 But that insecurity is so deep that she's projecting it onto other people.

00:14:17.360 last week yahoo live published an interview with jojo siwa where she talked about being a new

00:14:28.920 member of the lgbtqia plus community we covered it when this first happened she came out was it

00:14:36.420 through twitter because she was wearing a t-shirt that said i'm gay that was gifted to her by her

00:14:42.160 cousin in this interview she said how honored she was to be thought of as gen z's quote gay icon

00:14:49.040 but controversy has arisen because jojo spoke out about not liking the label lesbian jojo said i

00:14:56.860 don't like the word itself it's just like a lot but i mean at the end of the day that's what i am

00:15:01.660 it's like the word moist it's just like uh this has garnered quite a lot of commentary

00:15:07.740 one twitter user wrote bestie please you have a big platform amongst younger people please don't

00:15:13.320 say that another said i'm so tired of influential wlw calling the word lesbian dirty yeah and that

00:15:21.280 last one was um in reference to the musician girl in red saying that lesbian is her least favorite

00:15:27.700 word in a 2020 interview with the south china morning post and just a few days after that

00:15:34.740 interview you know was causing a lot of headlines Jojo posted a follow-up TikTok video will actually

00:15:42.180 play it in its entirety now okay I've been going through my comments and I just want to make

00:15:47.080 something super clear I never said that lesbian was a dirty word and I never ever would say that 0.98

00:15:54.040 it's a dirty word because it is not it is not a bad word it is not a slur and it is especially

00:16:00.260 not a word that I am ashamed of saying or ashamed of identifying as by any means now if you look at

00:16:07.280 the comment that this is commented under if that makes sense it says I'm sorry that people are

00:16:12.380 trying to cancel you for not liking the sound of a word and that's exactly it I don't hate the word

00:16:21.300 lesbian I just whenever somebody talks to me about my sexuality I just say that I'm gay

00:16:28.240 not the word that flows off the tongue for me if that makes sense yeah so I think you know we have

00:16:34.840 to remember she's 19 years old I think she kind of handled the situation with maturity I still

00:16:41.660 don't vibe with the excuse that she just doesn't like the sound of the word but you know I definitely

00:16:48.480 respect that she just wants to be called gay because that resonates with her yeah I want her

00:16:54.520 to identify as she does but the thing about the sound and comparing it to moist is a bit random

00:17:01.260 yeah I think like a lot of queer people growing up those kind of feelings are probably dealt with

00:17:09.760 like privately or internally or you'd say that to your friends like oh I just don't like the word

00:17:14.840 when you're like in your first year of uni and that would never be make like make headlines but

00:17:19.660 like she has to go through this kind of coming out process as like this huge

00:17:24.420 child star with millions of people following her.

00:17:27.040 So of course like everything she says is going to get like turned into a

00:17:29.860 headline and spoken about like we are now.

00:17:33.560 She kind of has more weight on her shoulders, I guess, 0.91

00:17:36.360 to be like a good role model,

00:17:38.360 but she's still learning and maybe she'll feel differently in the future and

00:17:43.280 like cringe at, you know, what she said now, like we all do,

00:17:46.960 but we all didn't have to you know have our thoughts published on yahoo life

00:17:51.460 yeah exactly and i feel like that's the main consensus of the internet they're not

00:17:57.700 necessarily blaming her because it does feel like internalized homophobia um but should she be more

00:18:06.340 careful with her word choices when it's being publicized like perhaps like yes um but that's

00:18:13.460 is kind of it like that's how i feel too last week we spoke about celebrities carbon emissions

00:18:24.840 from their private jets and while we criticize kylie jenner drake and mark walberg this latest

00:18:31.140 revelation this week is personal according to yard a sustainability marketing agency that prides

00:18:37.140 itself on cutting-edge data and analysis, Taylor Swift has used her private jet 170 times between

00:18:43.860 January 1 and July 29. So yes, we are back on our science maths bullshit here. Yard found that 0.92

00:18:51.860 Taylor's total flight emissions for the year total 8,240 tonnes, which is 1,185 times more

00:19:02.240 than the average person's total annual emissions in total,

00:19:05.940 not just flight emissions, which is big numbers, big numbers.

00:19:11.900 Yeah, the internet has kind of taken that research and run with it.

00:19:16.740 There have been some very funny memes, lots of criticism on TikTok of Taylor,

00:19:22.120 lots of disappointed fans, which is definitely understandable.

00:19:26.160 And I think, yeah, we do put Taylor on a very different pedestal

00:19:29.340 to other celebrities just because she is like one of us like we've grown up with her etc

00:19:35.680 um however for all of the other swifties out there a representative for taylor has come out

00:19:43.800 and said to tmz that quote taylor's jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals

00:19:49.460 to attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect how do we feel about this

00:19:57.060 I mean like yeah that probably has to be true that she's loaning it out to other people because

00:20:02.240 she's not touring this year how is she writing up such massive numbers but it's also like

00:20:07.820 is that does that lay you off the hook completely why do people need to fly out on private jets

00:20:16.080 anyway like if she's loaning a jet that means and if she owns the jet I guess it comes down to 0.54

00:20:24.460 whether she owns the physical jet or not because like if she owns you know if you own a car

00:20:28.940 because if she does and then people are renting that jet and she's making money off that jet

00:20:34.560 in my in my opinion that's just as bad because like you know it's getting used nearly every day

00:20:41.040 you're earning money off that use when she's already a kajillionaire you're still kind of

00:20:46.700 like complicit in this like whole private jet emissions scandal controversy I guess

00:20:52.220 but if it's like a just a jet that she uses that's like in her name and she doesn't know

00:20:59.080 where the jet's going what what it's doing who's on it then i think that's different

00:21:02.960 i mean even if there's no money involved i still think she's got like an onus or responsibility

00:21:08.500 if people are just borrowing it off her um it's interesting to see this kind of come out

00:21:15.260 this week obviously this flight time and emissions has been in the news because of Kylie Jenner

00:21:22.600 but Taylor Swift is copying quite a lot of criticism for many a reason let's get into 1.00

00:21:31.600 them right now as well as the flight situation Taylor has also garnered some criticism for her 0.92

00:21:37.600 involvement in Where the Crawdads Sing which is a new movie adaptation starring Daisy Edgar Jones

00:21:44.140 and it's been adapted from a book by delia owens taylor created carolina which is the lead song

00:21:51.560 off the soundtrack neither jazz or i have watched or read this um but we'll give a quick plot rundown

00:21:59.180 where the crawdads sing okay let's just call call it crawdads from here on out because that

00:22:05.500 is a tongue twister um so crawdads is about kaya a reclusive girl living in north carolina

00:22:12.800 who raises herself in almost complete isolation and, you know, loves animals and loves nature

00:22:20.840 as opposed to people. She's supposed to be really gentle. She's had a history of domestic abuse by

00:22:30.380 her father and the community around her is very judgmental. So when a local football player is

00:22:37.980 murdered kaya is immediately suspected of committing the crime so delia has many similarities

00:22:46.180 to the protagonist kaya delia also grew up in georgia and her and her husband mark are

00:22:51.520 conservationists who enjoy the company of animals but it goes deeper than that because as it turns

00:22:57.060 out delia and mark are both wanted for questioning in connection to the murder of an unidentified

00:23:02.500 victim. So in 1996 Delia and her husband were the subject of an ABC documentary Deadly Game

00:23:10.040 the Mark and Delia Owen story and it was about trying to save elephants from poachers in Zambia

00:23:16.180 but during filming an alleged poachers murder was actually captured on film. If you want to learn

00:23:23.180 more there's an Atlantic article that goes into much more detail but Zambian officials never

00:23:29.600 press charges for the murder but they do want to question Delia as quote a possible witness

00:23:35.000 co-conspirator an accessory to felony crimes so according to people Chris Everson who's one of

00:23:42.320 the cameramen who worked on the documentary he claims that Mark Owen's adult son from a previous

00:23:48.500 marriage Christopher is responsible for the murder but back in 2010 Delia denied the accusation

00:23:57.340 claiming it was sensational so again mainly Swifties are the ones who are actually bringing

00:24:03.920 up a lot of this controversy and bringing up all this problematic stuff associated with the film

00:24:10.460 another point that they bring up is that the book and the film have racist undertones or

00:24:17.240 racist themes that are in the content and you can actually see this in some of Delia and Mark's

00:24:25.740 own like published work because they have been doing stuff for a while so for instance on the

00:24:32.120 website of the owens foundation africa is referred to as the dark continent and the pair expressed a

00:24:40.760 desire to live in an eden-like africa quote free of the complications created by the presence of

00:24:46.680 humans and in secrets of the savannah they both issued a strong call for human population control

00:24:54.680 in africa god that's so awful yeah oh yuck okay but i have something else another bone to pick

00:25:03.560 why do you think taylor swift is the one who's the main person i would say under fire for her 0.57

00:25:11.040 involvement in the film for instance i haven't seen anything against daisy edgar jones literally

00:25:17.200 yeah i've seen so much like on tiktok about taylor swift being involved in this but nothing

00:25:22.700 directed to daisy edgar jones apart from people criticizing that like it's so unrealistic what

00:25:29.360 daisy's character kaya looks like in the movie they're like making fun of her like blow drying

00:25:34.020 her hair while she's like in the marsh or like doing her makeup routine which is very funny 1.00

00:25:37.720 but i think that taylor is getting more criticism because of her white feminist past like she's 1.00

00:25:43.260 already been criticized like remember like the taylor swift squad days and like i don't know 1.00

00:25:48.780 she kind of always responds to worldly events after the fact rather than getting ahead and like 0.98

00:25:57.900 actually being like a person who stands up for you know women's rights or whatever it is it's 0.84

00:26:04.060 kind of always like a month or two after the fact that she's kind of yeah like um makes a stand and

00:26:11.760 kind of says her response to stuff I don't know if that's like a defense mechanism I can't imagine

00:26:16.880 like the pressure of having to like put your personal opinion out there all the time I mean

00:26:20.820 well we literally have a podcast doing just that but obviously on the world stage it'll be very

00:26:25.700 different so I think that's why Taylor is getting the most slack for this where the core dad sings 0.63

00:26:30.880 stuff yeah and she has used that white feminism label to her own advantage for sure she sold

00:26:37.920 albums and tours off of that some of the other controversies that her fans have spoken up about

00:26:45.220 recently is that Taylor didn't speak up about Roe v. Wade until it was too late. Some fans are also

00:26:55.600 upset about her role in this new film by David O. Russell called Amsterdam following claims made

00:27:03.780 by other actors about the director's like borderline abusive behavior on set and then

00:27:11.320 really randomly um Taylor also thanked Dwayne Johnson for supporting her quote ethically

00:27:18.240 sourced versions of her music and that kind of poor choice in words really really was like the

00:27:25.160 final nail in the coffin yes it might be a small thing but I think one thing that's quite sad to

00:27:31.040 watch um is all the disappointed Swifties who have really stood by her side and I'm seeing these like

00:27:37.600 tweets and TikToks that are like any other Swifties just feeling a little bit confused and complicated

00:27:42.660 you know obviously she means so much to me her music's done so much but now I just don't know

00:27:47.800 where to sit with all this stuff coming out like it's actually really sad it's not like angry trolls

00:27:53.500 you know that are disappointed it's like her her fans but I think this is also like a good reminder

00:27:58.940 of like people aren't perfect right like no one is like a saint and we all have like mixed ethic

00:28:08.140 like you know like what you say about you try to buy ethically sourced fashion but then

00:28:13.240 you eat at McDonald's or like you know things like that I'm not like trying to compare

00:28:17.600 I'm not like trying to say like what Taylor's doing is right or her involvement in this movie

00:28:23.320 is good but it's like in terms of like a parasocial celebrity relationship yeah it seems

00:28:28.740 like sometimes we can like when I heard the news I was disappointed but I wasn't like oh my god how 0.87

00:28:32.380 could she do this because it's like she's a rich white celebrity like she flies in a private jet 0.63

00:28:37.700 so yeah I think maybe like also detaching a little bit from uh celebrities could help that 0.90

00:28:42.500 and I think it's not a bad thing for fans to keep their like celebrities in check or expect better

00:28:49.840 of them um yes we could kind of be like live your own life do whatever obviously like words of

00:28:57.980 somebody on tiktok aren't that influential but i don't think it's like a terrible thing like i'm

00:29:03.300 glad people are speaking up about this especially with things like crawdad's film um i don't think

00:29:10.920 i would have heard much about all the controversy surrounding it yes this has been like an ongoing

00:29:16.500 situation for over a decade now about the suspected murder thingamajig um but because i think of

00:29:26.480 taylor's involvement in the film it's become um way more widely known there have been a lot of

00:29:33.600 funny twitter memes as well as i mentioned at the start one particularly funny one is

00:29:39.840 streaming taylor swift to help her pay for her jet fuel

00:29:42.860 everyone's favorite girl next door sydney sweeney has made headlines this week after an interview 0.98

00:29:54.840 with the Hollywood Reporter. Sydney said, I want to have a family. I've always wanted to be a young

00:30:00.740 mom and I'm worried about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children

00:30:04.760 and looks at them in a different light. But Sydney said that dream might not be possible

00:30:09.500 on her current earnings. Quote, I'm worried that if I don't work, there is no money and no support

00:30:15.100 for kids I would have. If I wanted to take a six month break, I don't have income to cover that.

00:30:19.860 I don't have someone supporting me. I don't have anyone I can turn to to pay my bills or call for

00:30:24.740 help sydney also added they don't pay actors like they used to and with streamers you no longer get

00:30:31.020 residuals so that would be like if you are on a rerun of a show um on free to air say like friends

00:30:38.320 like every time that's aired on tv you get a certain amount of money um but you don't get

00:30:43.840 that with streaming basically yeah and she also kind of went more behind the scenes about payment

00:30:49.180 in the movie industry she was saying that like established stars will get paid and then went on

00:30:56.000 to kind of show us how she divvies up her earnings so for instance she gives five percent to her

00:31:02.440 lawyer ten percent to her agents three percent or something like that to her business manager

00:31:07.980 and she pays her publicist every month and she discloses that's more than her mortgage

00:31:14.140 sydney also explained that because of this she has no choice but to take up brand deals so one

00:31:20.500 we've recently seen of course is cotton on body brand deal which i was so shocked that an american

00:31:25.840 is kind of the face of this australian retailer like that started in geelong so random but i

00:31:31.080 also am such a sucker for the her branding okay but wait did you see that tiktok video which was

00:31:36.600 kind of going around that path it was like it was so random seeing sydney sweeney be the face of 0.66

00:31:41.420 condom body but then the more i thought about it like she is an australian girl like she was in

00:31:46.760 your geography class like her dad does own david jones like it was so funny i was like yes i see 1.00

00:31:52.640 this she was house sports captain yes oh my god she definitely does give off australian vibes but

00:31:58.140 is that because her name's sydney we're like yes yeah yeah she's also worked on campaigns with 0.71

00:32:03.800 mu mu and laneige also a brand we love so sydney said quote if i just acted i wouldn't be able to

00:32:10.580 afford my life in LA. I take deals because I have to. And she says that she doesn't want people to

00:32:16.640 feel bad for her, but rather to be aware of the realities of the business. She even noted that

00:32:21.700 she can't afford to purchase a gate to keep the paparazzi and fans out. Quote, I couldn't believe

00:32:26.060 I was even able to buy a house. I want to be able to stay there. End quote. So what got me about this

00:32:31.820 was it seems very much like, um, lifestyle creep in my opinion, because in 2021, she bought a house

00:32:40.340 in LA for 4.3 million Australian dollars. She has an estimated net worth of 4 million American

00:32:48.800 dollars and reportedly earned $350,000 for season two of Euphoria. And that was reported by Life

00:32:56.920 and Style magazine. And world celebs claimed the star took home 25 grand per episode for season one

00:33:03.800 of Euphoria. So she is earning money. Like I understand publicist costs money, like PR costs 0.68

00:33:08.820 money etc etc but then bestie why did you buy a 4.3 million dollar house why don't you just buy

00:33:14.340 a 500,000 you know I don't know what situation is like in LA but like a what even a 1 million

00:33:19.280 dollar house you'd have three million dollars left over like why did she buy a mansion it's

00:33:23.860 like a stunning mansion as well we'll link in the show notes it's like was built in the 20s it's

00:33:29.120 like huge huge backyard big bedrooms big bathrooms like why did she buy that house if she's then like

00:33:36.120 oh I can't afford to take time off or like how I don't know how I'm gonna have kids yeah um and

00:33:44.700 yeah just to backtrack as well so you referred to lifestyle creep previously which is the phenomenon

00:33:50.360 of seeing like when your pay increases or when you have more money your spending increases as well

00:33:56.920 um and it's right I mean it's hard because you're you're so right about that like she's obviously

00:34:01.360 got money but now she's in this different like caliber of celeb and she has to or she feels 0.99

00:34:09.160 potentially like she has to keep up with that um you can't just she's not a regular old gal anymore 0.99

00:34:15.320 she is I would say like a globally known um and love celebrity so it's hard to kind of

00:34:23.240 I don't know I I was I was less skeptical about all this I was like oh this sucks because in the

00:34:31.100 interview she also discloses that she like came from a hard financial background quote we lived

00:34:37.560 in one room my mom and i shared a bed and my dad and little brother shared a couch uh she said

00:34:43.340 referring to when her family ended up living in a motel um and then she also kind of linked that to

00:34:49.640 her like parents marriage breakdown as well yeah what's very sad about this interview she says she

00:34:55.980 tried to mend it through earning money and they were kind of like in LA for her career and she

00:35:02.800 said I thought that if I made money I'd be able to buy my parents house back and then I'd be able

00:35:06.840 to put my parents back together but when I turned 18 I only had $800 to my name my parents went back

00:35:12.860 together and there was nothing I could do to help also I think it is refreshing to hear stars talk

00:35:19.880 about money in this way and break down the costs and also because she's not a nepotism baby it's

00:35:25.600 like showing the realities of the industry when you're not a nepotism baby like so much of

00:35:31.400 hollywood is just like you know child stars of like famous parents etc and this is someone who

00:35:37.140 like genuinely didn't come from money and now she's like dealing in real time with what happens

00:35:44.800 when you have this massive lifestyle change and like you're suddenly earning thousands and thousands

00:35:48.920 of dollars and like financial education like if you don't have the education of like well you

00:35:53.860 shouldn't buy a four million dollar house if your net worth is four million dollars um things like

00:35:58.460 that i think that's important but i also feel it's a bit tone deaf to be complaining about

00:36:04.440 salary during a recession and pandemic like saying she can't afford to take six months off like

00:36:09.760 yeah same with most of the population like that's not that it's not like oh my god i can't take six

00:36:16.600 months off like most of the population can't do that um so i don't know i'm in two minds about it

00:36:23.540 but i'm more on the fence of like i think it is refreshing to hear a really wealthy and famous

00:36:28.320 celebrity talk about money i think as well um what this really shows is that like capitalism

00:36:35.100 really just doesn't work for anybody then right this is someone at the top of their game

00:36:40.460 such a rising star in hollywood obviously still earning like a lot of money from what we've seen

00:36:46.880 but still has to or still feels the need to work multiple jobs doesn't feel secure like that is

00:36:54.220 such a systemic issue like isn't it a bit like well if well if Sydney can't survive off one job

00:37:02.220 like how can the rest of us I feel like it's quite daunting and overwhelming hearing this

00:37:06.960 I'm obviously glad that she talked about it but it's like wow it's all really messed up

00:37:12.580 like even people who are super super famous still have to obviously like still have to worry about

00:37:18.040 money um and go through potential like financial hardship or financial trauma um yeah it's like

00:37:26.420 the system isn't working that you can't just work one one job i also think this is an example of

00:37:32.580 headlines and media twisting words because a lot of it has been very sensationalized like

00:37:37.660 what caught my attention i was like oh my god why is she complaining because like headlines from the

00:37:43.540 new york post slash news.com.au say euphoria star sydney sweeney barely earns enough to survive

00:37:49.980 but she didn't say that she was just kind of breaking down the realities of being an emerging

00:37:54.280 star the fact that she pays her publicist more than her mortgage um she never said she like

00:38:00.020 is starving um so i feel like that's also been a bit sensationalist so yeah i think this is a

00:38:08.940 very interesting and different celebrity story than what we normally see i don't remember many

00:38:14.980 examples of other celebrities explaining lifestyle creep or feeling overwhelmed by money it's always

00:38:21.640 just like yeah i'm earning a fuck ton of money here's what i bought kind of thing and we also

00:38:27.700 have to remember like she's not this poor currently like single mom from a low socioeconomic 1.00

00:38:34.820 background who has to work night jobs and night shifts um in hospitality she is doing 0.91

00:38:42.440 high editorial campaign shoots you know it's not it's not the same

00:38:47.540 maggie what have you been watching reading listening to experiencing this week that you

00:38:58.880 wanted to share experiencing is a good word here because yesterday i did see a musical that i would

00:39:04.820 love to recommend to all of you it is called six um and it was so much fun so six the musical

00:39:13.380 is about the six wives of Henry VIII. I didn't know too much about the musical before going

00:39:20.100 in. The poster and like the promotional material around it sees like six really badass women in 1.00

00:39:27.740 like sparkly fun outfits. But basically all I knew was, oh, it's like this historical story

00:39:35.320 that's reimagined as a modern day rock concert incredible um but six and musical wasn't cited

00:39:43.640 here it's pretty big globally it's won two tony awards um and i loved watching this on stage like

00:39:51.340 i said it's really fun um it's female-led and it's also really smart it mixes historical

00:39:58.540 storytelling with comedy and sass I just found it I'm gonna stop using the word fun but that's

00:40:06.420 literally the feeling that you went it felt like you were at a concert number one it was also

00:40:10.620 empowering it was a bit interactive the saddest part was that it was only like 75 minutes no

00:40:17.200 interval so it I wish it was longer because it was great and it is like the vibe of fangirls

00:40:24.140 musical which we've talked about extensively on this podcast and it really just makes me so excited

00:40:30.060 for this new era of musical theater that's more experimental that's um really spearheaded by

00:40:37.860 women and it sees like our experiences all the way we talk on stage um it's more inclusive i would

00:40:44.760 say and it was really cute the audience there was some like super fans like behind us who like knew

00:40:49.380 all the words and just really got into it so i would highly recommend this musical in melbourne

00:40:55.240 it's um playing till about the end of august and it's heading up to a few other places as well

00:41:01.000 love that i saw them perform at like the queen's jubilee it was like my grandma was watching on tv

00:41:10.160 and they performed like a snippet um with all these other musicals and i had no idea what it

00:41:15.680 was about and I was like are they meant to be Henry VIII's wives I was like there's something

00:41:20.580 going on there um I but I found from just the ads the songs are really catchy yes and annoying

00:41:27.780 like I've just from the ads I've gotten the song stuck in my head but maybe when you see it in

00:41:33.620 context it's like less annoying yeah yeah and this was the first time I heard the music okay

00:41:38.320 so that was fun that was fun seeing it on stage how much were tickets roughly oh they were pretty

00:41:43.520 expensive I would say for like a short musical I think um we paid one ticket like 75 and the

00:41:49.180 other ticket was like 100 so about that 85 dollar mark and piggybacking off your recommendation as

00:41:56.460 well when I was going over to Hobart a few months ago I listened to a podcast the short history of

00:42:02.400 which I've recommended before but it was the short history of Henry VIII and it goes for an hour and

00:42:07.840 it's like so fascinating about all his wives and how he treated them and just like how awful their

00:42:13.960 lives were basically but it's really interesting if you want more um history on henry the eighth

00:42:19.340 himself but yeah i'm going to see hairspray the musical in like a week or two so on a musical

00:42:25.340 grind i love me a musical love a musical honestly and it's time for your recommendation of the week

00:42:34.220 what have you listened to read or watched that you've loved i am recommending this memoir by

00:42:40.340 food writer and my friend jess ho so it is called raised by wolves and it is jess's debut book

00:42:46.980 and it's a gut-punching look at the melbourne food scene jess's own family history and what

00:42:53.160 it's like being an asian woman in a male-dominated space so i'm going to read you the blurb so you

00:42:58.260 can get a better idea it says growing up confronting racism in the outer suburbs of

00:43:03.020 Melbourne, Ho's family's traditional Cantonese cooking was both a comfort and a source of shame.

00:43:08.340 As the Australian restaurant scene boomed, they embarked on a career in food writing at a time

00:43:13.280 when the once embarrassing foods of immigrant childhoods were quickly becoming commodified 0.97

00:43:18.080 trends. In their new memoir, Raised by Wolves, Ho weaves a coming-of-age story into an exploration

00:43:23.580 of the industry they love, revealing the truth, both ugly and inspiring, behind Australia's fine

00:43:29.540 dining obsession obviously I'm biased because I know them so at the end of their book they

00:43:36.400 reference a wine bar that they owned and I worked in their cafe next to the wine bar so we got to

00:43:41.340 know each other quite well um but aside from that it is such a an easy read I read it in two sittings

00:43:49.480 and you do get such an interesting perspective on the Melbourne food scene in particular especially

00:43:56.640 because we're quite known for it in the city and you kind of see over the course of I think it's

00:44:02.480 about 10 to 15 years how it evolved and how it changed like pre-social media post-social media

00:44:08.060 but then you also have this personal deeply personal story of Jess's family life and like

00:44:14.440 the reckoning of being an Asian person in Australia it criticizes Australian food culture

00:44:20.780 and how Jess themselves got caught up in it so Jess was actually kind enough to record some of

00:44:26.440 their own words. So here they are. I knew from the remedial Mandarin that I half understood

00:44:32.280 that our waiter wasn't related to the family who owned the restaurant. I knew she was one

00:44:37.160 of the thousands of kids whose parents spent their life savings to send her to Melbourne

00:44:40.800 to study law, engineering, or whatever. And she was completely separated from her support

00:44:46.060 network. I knew she was underpaid, and this was the only job she could get because of

00:44:50.540 her name, work history, and language skills. I watched her being spoken to like she had

00:44:55.300 a learning disability, even though she understood fluent English. The importance of a glass of wine

00:45:00.400 and a plate of dumplings was being stressed to her in a tone I was all too familiar with. 0.99

00:45:05.820 She nodded submissively because it was the role she was paid to play and walked away. This was

00:45:11.740 the cost of her parents' hope and her education. There had been occasions where people would speak

00:45:18.000 to me in the same manner, assuming by looking at me that I didn't speak English. I'd been asked if

00:45:23.620 the restaurant name was inspired by my name and how long I had lived in the country.

00:45:29.080 I was spoken at in half mime, half shout, and I knew that I would never grow out of it.

00:45:35.380 The industry teaches us that French cooking and French wines are superior, how to set

00:45:40.060 a European-style table, the differences between a la carte and prefix, but it overlooks the

00:45:45.440 skill involved in tempering spices, nixtamalising corn, fermenting cabbages, or folding soup-filled

00:45:51.840 dumplings. We are brainwashed into thinking that a shoe-infused whiskey will win a global cocktail

00:45:57.680 competition, and restaurants that can't afford a wine program don't deserve our respect. We have

00:46:03.820 all fallen for the same lie, and we have all made ourselves intolerable. I watched these well-honed

00:46:09.860 palettes celebrating the ability to drink their expensive wines with cheap Chinese food, as if

00:46:15.340 they'd just tricked the owners who simply didn't know any better. I realized I didn't want to climb

00:46:21.020 the ladder anymore. The top looked like a tone deaf place to be. I am definitely going to borrow

00:46:27.060 that off you. I'm itching to read that. So thank you for recommending that. And thank you Jess for

00:46:32.560 reading some of your words for us. So that is all we have time for today, but we hope you enjoyed

00:46:39.480 this episode and you can find us on Instagram at culture club pod. Otherwise we will chat with you

00:46:48.680 next week. Bye. Bye.

Culture Club - August 02, 2022

Why Is Everyone Mad At Taylor Swift？

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