There Are No Girls on the Internet - Kehlani shuts down right wing internet grifter Christian Walker and we’re here for it. Internet joy!

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00:01:34.260 There Are No Girls on the Internet is a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative.

00:01:42.360 I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.

00:01:47.560 So today is another week where everything feels heavy and awful and just too much.

00:01:54.060 So, in response, I am trying out a new thing that we are tentatively calling 0.87

00:01:58.000 Something on the Internet That Doesn't Suck, 0.80

00:02:00.320 where I talk about something related to or on the Internet that doesn't suck 0.95

00:02:04.140 for once to distract myself from how depressing the news cycle has been.

00:02:08.880 And today, that thing is celebrating Kalani.

00:02:12.780 So this is one of those amazing times where something I love from music or culture

00:02:17.020 intersects with some larger trend happening on the Internet.

00:02:21.040 Kalani is a musician, an icon, a songwriter.

00:02:24.180 And now we can add a master of combating internet grifters to that list of accomplishments

00:02:29.440 because they went viral for shutting down right-wing internet quasi-celebrity Christian

00:02:35.380 Walker in a way that was just chef's kiss.

00:02:39.340 So let's talk about it.

00:02:41.200 So here's what went down.

00:02:43.300 Kalani was in their car at a Starbucks drive-thru in California, one that they say they go to

00:02:48.100 regularly.

00:02:49.600 Now, Kalani is a person of color and identifies as queer.

00:02:52.060 And they said that this particular Starbucks, it's decked out in pride and trans flags and happens to have a lot of young queer people of color working there.

00:03:01.040 While they're in the drive-thru, Kalani spots none other than Christian Walker in the drive-thru in his car behind them.

00:03:09.340 Now, if you don't know who Christian Walker is, honestly, consider yourself kind of lucky.

00:03:15.000 He is a Black 22-year-old, I guess we'll call him a right-wing internet personality.

00:03:22.660 He led a Gays for Trump rally back in 2020 in California.

00:03:25.880 Even though technically he's not gay, he says that he is attracted to men and he is a man, but he doesn't identify as gay, which whatever.

00:03:34.620 You can kind of think of him kind of like Candace Owens times a thousand.

00:03:39.120 He will just say whatever awful, hateful thing gets him an audience.

00:03:43.620 Being obnoxious and over the top is the entire point with him.

00:03:47.660 He also loves Starbucks.

00:03:49.180 Going to Starbucks is his thing.

00:03:51.340 If you don't know Christian Walker, you probably know his dad,

00:03:54.460 Herschel Walker, who is currently running for Senate in Georgia.

00:03:57.400 Herschel Walker himself is a real piece of work.

00:04:00.920 Like, for instance, here's what he had to say about how air quality works

00:04:04.580 to a bunch of funders just last week.

00:04:07.040 We don't control the air.

00:04:09.520 Our good air decided to float over to China.

00:04:11.880 So Christian Walker is kind of a right-wing internet influencer of sorts,

00:04:28.920 but I guess he could really more accurately be described as a right-wing grifter.

00:04:34.220 His entire shtick is going on social media,

00:04:36.840 drumming up lots of outrage about wokeness

00:04:39.700 by making super over-the-top Instagram and TikTok videos

00:04:43.680 about the latest perceived threat or grievance posed by the blue-haired radical left.

00:04:48.700 He has amassed hundreds of thousands of social media followers doing this,

00:04:52.320 and I actually bet it's pretty effective

00:04:54.220 because we already know that social media platforms love outrageous content

00:04:58.580 and definitely prioritize content that is outrageous or inflammatory or over-the-top,

00:05:04.040 which he is.

00:05:05.980 Christian Walker is also a podcaster.

00:05:07.820 His podcast is called Uncancellable.

00:05:11.260 Now, I've never actually listened to it, but here are a few of the recent episode titles just to give you a sense of what we're working with here.

00:05:18.220 An episode about the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas called, quote,

00:05:22.880 They Were Innocent, Unlike George Floyd.

00:05:26.320 One about the recent Supreme Court ruling on Roe called, Oh, Sorry, You Can't Slaughter Your Kid.

00:05:32.060 And another on Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter called, If You Oppose Elon Musk, You're a Racist.

00:05:39.520 Also, I should just say all of the titles to the podcast episodes are in all caps, which I'm not totally sure why I'm including that information.

00:05:46.820 It just feels kind of relevant to note.

00:05:48.920 Like even his podcast titles are just constantly yelling grievances at the listener.

00:05:53.500 so this is someone who makes money makes a living off of really engineering stunts to have a big

00:06:00.860 outrageous reaction to to get tons of clicks and engagement on social media listeners to his

00:06:05.720 podcast boost his platform rinse wash repeat it's actually a pretty good scam i bet and he's the

00:06:11.480 kind of right-wing scammer that i feel like we're seeing more and more of these days people who just

00:06:16.220 live to exploit and inflame tensions and existing divisions for their own personal gain it doesn't

00:06:21.820 matter if it makes us more divided or more angry or less trusting. If it gets him eyeballs and

00:06:27.520 clicks and listeners, he'll do it. People like Christian Walker make money doing this. This is

00:06:32.760 their job. They're able to spin the attention and notoriety and engagement they get into building

00:06:38.640 bigger and more lucrative platforms. And it's clear that this kind of tactic really relies

00:06:43.720 on attention. Like that's how scammers like Christian have been able to gamify social media 0.72

00:06:48.220 platforms, just by doing the most and doing whatever it takes to make a huge big scene

00:06:52.860 to get lots of attention.

00:06:54.380 That is, until Kalani saw Christian Walker getting ready to do his thing in the Starbucks

00:07:00.160 drive-thru and foiled his plans.

00:07:06.160 Let's take a quick break.

00:07:12.160 The new Red Bull Dragonberry and Tropicberry Energizers, now at McDonald's.

00:07:18.220 Made with freeze-dried fruit and an electric burst of flavor.

00:07:23.100 The all-new Red Bull Energizers, now at McDonald's.

00:07:27.520 This product may not be right for you.

00:07:28.880 High in caffeine. Details at mcdonalds.ca.

00:07:30.600 And participate in Canadian restaurants, excluding Quebec.

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00:07:57.620 Call 844-844-iHeart to get started.

00:08:00.760 That's 844-844-iHeart.

00:08:03.260 When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months.

00:08:09.080 I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

00:08:15.600 I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files.

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00:08:27.400 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. 0.98

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00:10:08.740 And we're back.

00:10:11.820 Okay, so Kalani says they noticed Christian Walker behind them at the drive-thru about to take a video of the Starbucks barista on his phone.

00:10:19.920 Kalani noted that this particular Starbucks was still all decked out in pride flags and trans flags for pride last month. 0.99

00:10:25.860 i see behind me that kid christian walker visibly losing his shit in the car via my two mirrors 0.95

00:10:33.180 screen i'm not screen recording but doing this on his screen to zoom in and film the starbucks 0.96

00:10:39.120 workers and film all the flags that are in the starbucks windows this starbucks is covered in 0.99

00:10:44.900 gay flags trans flags like american remixed gay flags i see him losing his shit the whole time 0.99

00:10:51.720 mind you it's going slow as shit because there's so many people in the line he proceeds to get to 0.99

00:10:55.660 the little order box thing and is clearly harassing whoever's behind the order box thing and like 0.97

00:11:00.240 going back to his phone like and I'm like oh I feel like this man is gonna fucking come up to

00:11:04.820 the window and harass all these workers now I go to this Starbucks often and I also know and can 0.83

00:11:10.800 visibly see that everybody that works there is like of color and a lot of them can't assume these 0.51

00:11:16.900 things but seem queer to me notably Christian Walker himself celebrated Pride Month by posting

00:11:24.160 a picture of himself giving the finger to some pride flags that he encountered out in public on

00:11:28.680 Instagram with the caption, stop expecting people to respect you if you shut down traffic to walk

00:11:33.900 around the streets barely clothed. Now, Kalani says that they are familiar with Christian Walker's

00:11:38.880 whole thing and saw him getting ready to take this video of a barista and all the pride flags.

00:11:43.780 So they decided to warn the staff to let them know that, hey, this is a person who is a known

00:11:48.280 provocateur who engineers little stunts for social media. They also called him an asshole. 1.00

00:11:54.160 so i get to the window and i'm like yo just letting y'all know the guy behind me that's 0.98

00:11:58.260 that like republican trump supporter kid who is has a habit of like harassing you know this 0.94

00:12:05.340 community even though he's a part of it don't fucking that blows my mind i'm like watch out 0.97

00:12:10.120 because he's coming up here with his fucking his his phone ready to record they're like yeah i know 1.00

00:12:15.020 that kid i'm like yeah like he's a fucking asshole like because i've just watched him be an asshole 1.00

00:12:20.560 for the last 10 minutes, right? 1.00

00:12:22.980 So Christian must have heard this exchange

00:12:25.120 because he got out of his car

00:12:26.960 while still filming on his phone

00:12:28.520 and had this verbal interaction with Kalani.

00:12:32.600 Ma'am, ma'am, you don't need to tell baristas 0.99

00:12:36.220 that I'm an asshole because I have an opinion. 1.00

00:12:39.300 Get your drink and go away. 1.00

00:12:42.620 I can have an opinion like everybody else.

00:12:45.720 Why are you entitled to an opinion and not me? 1.00

00:12:48.120 You want to tell baristas I'm an asshole? 1.00

00:12:50.000 Well, guess what? You're the asshole. You are an asshole. Get your drink and go. 1.00

00:12:56.800 Okay, so this is what I love about how all this went down.

00:13:00.400 Kalani says that they happened to be in the middle of a phone therapy session when this all started.

00:13:04.720 And the session was all about the dangers of taking your anger out on other people.

00:13:08.980 They had kind of an aha moment where they realized that they had ruined Christian Walker's plans to get some outrageous video at the expense of the Starbucks staffers.

00:13:16.980 And that he was probably looking to film a big, outrageous blowout with them instead.

00:13:22.740 And I'm just having this aha moment with my therapist.

00:13:25.300 And I'm going, I know what you want to do.

00:13:27.800 You want to get a reaction out of me so that you can go viral and then you can pose this

00:13:32.060 as some kind of take on people with my political stance or assumed political stance and people

00:13:38.120 from my community, people like me, et cetera, et cetera.

00:13:41.300 So Kalani did not take the bait.

00:13:43.280 They denied Christian the ability to have this big blow up that he needs to get attention and engagement on social media for his whole thing to work.

00:13:50.860 And dude was pissed. 0.88

00:13:53.440 And I think Kalani also just shares a really great workable template for how we should be dealing with Internet grifters like Christian Walker.

00:14:01.660 When we don't give them the big reaction that they want, all the attention that they want, all the engagement that they want, it takes away their power.

00:14:09.020 And now for the cherry on top.

00:14:11.520 Christian tweeted out a video of his altercation with Kalani, calling them, quote, a mediocre singer that everyone has forgotten about.

00:14:19.600 But, you know who never forgets? The internet.

00:14:23.240 And Twitter user Nakisha RG had the receipts, because in 2016, Christian Walker wasn't saying that Kalani was a mediocre singer.

00:14:31.600 In fact, he tweeted, I love Kalani so much.

00:14:37.440 So I guess he's no longer a fan then?

00:14:41.520 So in these dark times, I am really clinging to any little thing I can get to bring myself

00:14:48.720 a little bit of joy, a little bit of a laugh, a little bit of spark when it feels like everything

00:14:53.320 is on fire.

00:14:54.840 And I really want to celebrate these little internet joys together.

00:14:58.960 So listeners, what is bringing you joy online?

00:15:01.740 I don't care how small or how petty or how silly it is.

00:15:05.320 I want to hear about it.

00:15:06.580 I want to make episodes about it.

00:15:08.120 Please get in touch with me.

00:15:09.720 Let's find ways to cling to joy together in a dark world.

00:15:14.120 Let's bring the light to fight the darkness.

00:15:16.800 Thanks so much for listening.

00:15:18.180 Have a great week.

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00:15:38.340 There Are No Girls on the Internet was created by me, Bridget Todd.

00:15:41.060 It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative.

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00:15:45.540 Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer.

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00:16:14.040 Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.

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00:16:38.760 I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive

00:16:45.420 what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files.

00:16:51.120 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled,

00:16:56.840 and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

00:17:02.420 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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There Are No Girls on the Internet - July 15, 2022

Kehlani shuts down right wing internet grifter Christian Walker and we’re here for it. Internet joy!

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