De-Influenced with Dani + Jordan - Designer Bags & Death Threats

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

Once upon a time (or two) Dani Austin was canceled by the internet. Dani & Jordan sit down to discuss cancel culture, hate comments, rumors, the effects it had on them, and accountability.

Hey y'all, welcome back to episode number two of your favorite podcast, de-influenced. The amount of times we talked about whether we were going to say de-influenced together. Oh, we got it though. Knuckles. We are fist bumping right now. See, Danny wanted to make that a thing and I was like, I don't think we should make that a thing. Guess who won? You guys, my name is Danny Austin and this is my husband, Jordan Ramirez.

And you made it to episode number two, despite episode. number one, just glitching horribly on us. Basically what happened was y'all, y'all crashed the internet. The internet. Literally, we had too many streams, and it's just like, the system could not hold all the listens and all the downloads. And so that day one, it was glitching so hard, but. Podbean was like, no, this is unprecedented.

They're like, no, we have to get you a new server. So now we have our own server. Did you know that? Oh, I didn't know that. We actually have our own server. So no more glitching. We're super pumped. And not only that episode two is happening, but we were number two or number three on the Spotify

charts like all week below Joe Rogan King. King. That's shocking because most of the people who I feel like listen to the whole episode were like, I listened to your podcast. It took me all day. And I thought those were the funniest comments. I was dying laughing. No, you guys were awesome and so supportive. And yeah, we're happy to be here. We're a little nervy for episode two. But hey, before we get in there, tell me how you doing how are you doing you start to your podcast i'll start okay i'm good i'm so excited my brother is in town my brother land in austin he is a 34 year old male single living in

nashville tennessee and i am still pursuing my civic duty of being the matchmaker for my brother and he actually has a date tonight in dallas which is so exciting because um actually did i tell you how i found this date No. See, I'm always on the lookout. Oh, between you and your mom, I mean, you guys have probably pulled 50 dates, then we ran two seasons of a matchmaker. I mean, this guy is provided for. Us matchmakers, we always got to be on the lookout, even though we're naked, you know?

Oh. Yeah, so I was... Do tell. So I'm getting a spray tan by tan by Chrissy. Shout out, love her. Like most of the time I do my own tanning. We talked about it last episode. But sometimes I'm like, you know, I'm going to splurge.

And so I hired Chrissy. she came over, you know what I'm saying? They're butt naked. I look at her. I'm like, you know, she's pretty cute, you know? And so I'm thinking. It's a weird thought to have when you're naked, but it's cool. I get it.

I get it. I can appreciate. Yes, yes, yes. You're like thinking, yes, yes, yes, I get it. So I'm like, you know, Chrissy, like, do you have a sister? She's like, as a matter of fact, I do. And she lives in Dallas and she's single. Wow.

And you know, light bulb, ding, ding, ding. I'm like, that's so crazy. I have a brother who's 34 single coming and visiting in Dallas. next week. So long story short, they followed each other on Instagram. He slid in her DMs and tonight they're going and getting a drink. You know what this feels like? Destiny. Destiny. But you know what? We've been here a lot of times with Landon. Yeah. We all want a sister-in-law. But can I tell you something like the best thing about this girl? So I'm not totally sure, but I think that Chrissy told me she's like an esthetician, which means she does like Botox, filler,

maybe the facials. Do you know what that means? Free Botox for life. For the family. For the family. We're never aging. Man, I know how to pick him.

That's so funny. Yeah, you know, Landon, he's been real selfish, just not giving you your sister-in-law, giving his mother.

Grand babies. Grand babies. Getting Stella and Stratton cousins. I mean, we're all pulling our weight here, Landon. Yeah, we'll talk about it.

I'm sure you're going to grill him. You need to go a little bit deeper with Landon and be like, hey. Listen, listen, he's going to be on the next podcast. Literally, we're filming that or recording that tomorrow. So I'll do like a whole other Q&A. We're going to learn all about the dating scene in Nashville, why he's still single. I just want to get to know his psyche. You know, like, what's running through your mind? I do feel like the dating scene in Nashville would be hard. I don't know why. But it just seems like there's like 10 girls to one guy. Oh, no, I mean, it's probably hard for girls. Like, I think for guys, it's like, I think for

Guys, it's hard because it's probably become a very consumer culture where it's like they can't commit like failure to launch type of guys. So true. They have their pick of the litter. So it's like what's the rush. It's like, it's like when I scroll Netflix like all night and I never pick anything. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. And you know what's so sad about that is the grass is always greener. So like you're watching something and you're like, I'm watching a documentary. I could be laughing right now. I need to go switch to a comedy. Like you're never settled. There's always something more. It's a true struggle and I feel for him, you know? I think you. I think you. as a happily married.

Can you confirm it? So happy. Happily married, married woman. You are going to drop some huge wisdom bombs on your brother next week. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even know. He's probably going to get married by the time he leaves Dallas. Literally.

This girl doesn't even know what's coming. You'll have me to thank Chrissy's sister. I don't even know her name. But anyway, so we're excited about that. We're getting ready for a trip to Puerto Rico. We're going on an individual. Influencer trip with Tart. Alex Earle's coming.

What if? What if? No, so it's actually, you know, Tart just took Alex Earl and a bunch of like beauty girls to Dubai. And there was like a little bit of hate that they got from that trip because people were like, we're in a recession and you're taking all these girls to Dubai. But then I feel like overall it was like a pretty good look for Tart because Maureen is like the coolest. Yeah, she's like on TikTok herself. Well, we love Maureen. Like we're pretty close with Maureen.

she's just the most amazing woman. Like she's one of my idols. And I think through that trip, people really got to see like Marine's heart and really get to know her. So like they wanted to go in hating to be like, oh, this is it. But then they got to know her and they're like,

oh, wait, this chick is like pretty sweet. And she's so, she's awesome. And so they did that trip to Dubai and now they're taking a bunch of mommy bloggers to Puerto Rico, not only us, but they invited our entire families. Like my mom is going, Jordan's mom is going. 15 kids.

15 kids. Kids, literally, some of these bloggers going have like five, six kids. It's just, it's like you guys think the Dubai trip was interesting to watch. Wait until you see Puerto Rico with us and our children. It's going to get wild. So funny. But so we're kind of gearing up for that. But yeah, how are you doing?

I mean, I do feel like you need to address the elephant in the room, which is your forehead is looking very interesting. Yeah. So it's such a funny story. Not a long story. I just got shot in the head with a paintball. So went paintballing last week, had a really big dinner. I was very excited about in Austin for South by Southwest.

And then the night before I get shot in the head with the paintball. It is giant and it is red. I don't think we stream this on YouTube or anything. But if you looked at my forehead, it's just a big red dot bruise right in the middle of my forehead. And so Danny last night, we were debating, I was like,

is this a conversation starter at the dinner? Like should I just walk in and own it? Or should we cover it up with makeup? Then what if they think? They're like, why is this guy wearing makeup? Yeah. It was a huge debate.

We ended up covering it up. No one noticed as far as I know. Because my skills as a makeup artist are just impeccable. I, yes, never worn makeup makeup makeup. But I was like, wow, you guys do this every day? This fixes everything. I know. He was like, are you serious?

Like, what do they actually look like? Like, this is not even fair. It's so true. But yeah, I don't think that anyone could notice. Tell me about the dinner because, oh my gosh, y'all. I've never seen Jordan. I know. I was fan-boying.

I've never seen him nerd out at such an extent. Yes. And he was so, like, excited about this dinner. And it was like, I was, I was very excited, too. But he was, like, real pumps, very nervous. Tell us, tell him about the dinner. So the dinner was, like, hosted by Knight Ventures. So Knight is, like, if you guys know Mr. Beast, he's, like, a big YouTuber.

His manager owns Knight Management. And then they created Knight Ventures anyway. They hosted this dinner with, like, a bunch of consumer CEOs, like, a bunch of, like, growth hackers. a bunch of like venture capitalists. And these are all people that I follow on Twitter. And so it's kind of like, usually when we go to events, like the old event, everyone's like, oh my,

it's like all females, it's like Danny. And it's like Danny's crew. And this was like Danny coming with me to like meet my crew. And so I was like, it was like me walking into a room of my favorite influencers. And I was like, I was like, Danny, go, go introduce me. I was like. I'm like, they look very normal, babe.

I'm like, I just go up like, hey Nick, my husband's obsessed with you. I don't know exactly what you do, but. It was so funny after the dinner. I was like, hey, Nick, I read your news letter. I was like, oh, stupid. Why did I say that? It was so funny.

After the dinner, Jordan called one of his friends. And his friend was like, oh, yeah, that's so great. I'm so happy. It went so well. How did Danny do? And Jordan goes, man, she did great. She wore this, like, really cool white, roughly top. I was like, that's all you have to say about how I was.

I was just your side piece. Anyway, so we got back to Dallas this morning. It was a quick 24-hour trip. where we were kind of, I'm not going to lie, we were kind of sleepy this morning. We woke up super early, flew back, and we came right into these chairs. Right into the chairs feeling different

than I did yesterday about this episode. Why? Just a little bit more nervous, I would say overall. Are you feeling the same? I'm feeling better now. I'm like, you know, I've already been canceled. Like, what's the worst that can happen? You know?

And it's like, you're only canceled if you allow yourself to be canceled. Wouldn't you say? I would say so. This episode is, is, we're going to get deep. Like just a little disclaimer. We probably will talk about some mental health. I don't know how deep we'll go there, but just a little disclaimer.

And then I don't know. Let's just pray that we don't get canceled from our cancellation podcast. It's like by the time we release this episode, there's like eight New York Times headlines being like, Danny Austin, worst person in the universe. First person.

Here's why. Ever. Ten reasons. Danny Austin. It sucks. Ten reasons to hate Danny Austin. Oh, man. Are we going to jump right in?

Let's jump in. I mean, you know, cancel culture is interesting. I think the main debate with cancel culture is like, is there a good way to do it? Like, why do we all do this to each other? And like, is it healthy? Is it healthy to hold people accountable in that way? Like by just totally destroying their lives and just shaming them beyond belief? I don't know.

There's probably some pros and cons, but. Well, let me ask you this. when was the first time that you can remember you got internet hate? Oh internet hate. Oh my gosh. I think. Yeah, not fourth grade, Mrs. Gables' class. Yeah. You know what's funny is when I started on YouTube, like about 10 years ago, it's been 10 years. The internet was actually a lot nicer back then. They weren't so like herd mentality. It was very like much like people didn't hide so much behind these fake accounts. Like people said what they thought more so to your face essentially, you know, but online. Nowadays, I feel like it's so different. My first time experiencing online hate, oh, this one still gets to me. I know it.

You know? It's powerful. You know, like, the hate, before I actually go in, like, you know how there's kind of like an ecosystem with my haters? Yes. Yeah, you like, you know, like, it's like a community within the community.

No, not, yes, sure, but like what I'm saying is like, I'm nothing without them and they're nothing without me. Like, if, if I don't give them something to hate, what do they have to talk about? Absolutely. They're nothing without me.

But then I become stronger when they talk crap about me. So it's like we kind of feed each other. It's like a symbiotic relationship. You know, we feed off of one another. And it's like, it's like, yeah, like I kind of, as much as they hurt, like I appreciate them because I become stronger. Yeah. You know what that reminds me of?

Do you remember when we were at the Stanley event in Park City and we met that owner of the tabloids? She runs like all these tabloids. Oh, yes. Yes. She works with like, okay magazine. Star magazine. Star magazine. And I walked up to her and I said, hey, listen, I just need to know.

I was like, so do you have really bad relationships with the celebrities? And she goes, do you know who gives me the pictures? Oh, yeah. That's like Chris Jenner. Like Chris is sending the pictures. And I was like, wow. So you guys are just like all working together just to make us outraged. And she was like, exactly.

It's an ecosystem. It's an ecosystem. We all feed one another and like what is real and what is not. maybe I'm putting things out there just for the hate. Oh my. That takes a really tough person. I know. That's not me.

Yeah. It's not Danny, I will say. That's not me. There are people who like profit off of outrage marketing. That is not us. I was like, we are not strong enough to do that.

I just like give me a compliment. Like tell me I'm nice. Tell me I'm pretty. Okay. First time you got internet hate. First time I got internet hate was, um, so I was in college when I started my YouTube channel.

and I didn't really tell a lot of people because it was so strange. Like just, this was a time before self-use. Yeah, it was very, very new. So, you know, if you posted a selfie online, like you were conceded, you were into yourself, it was very strange. So I remember I did a St. Patrick's Day makeup tutorial

because also at the time, my audience was a lot younger. So I wasn't creating content for, like, people my age. I was creating content for, like, high schoolers, middle schoolers, okay? So I do this, like, crazy, you know, eye makeup tutorial, and it gets picked up by BuzzFeed, and one day my Snapchat is just blowing up. And one of the other sororities at Texas would play my videos before their chapter meetings and make fun of them.

And so literally I was getting all these snaps chats from, I won't say the sorority name. Do it. No. They're all taking video of like literally the whole chapter, hundreds of girls sitting there, like, laughing at my videos. And I was like so devastated because. I mean, it was so embarrassing, but like, then they also started to, you know, we go out like on 6th Street, you know, and they would come up to me and kind of,

what's the word, like, they would, like, mock you. mock me. They'd be like, oh, Danny, like, I saw your YouTube channel, like, loved the makeup tutorial. And for like five seconds, you're like, really? Yeah. But then you're just kind of like, are they being nice to me or they not? And then, like, long story short, found out they were all kind of just like mocking me, making fun of me.

That's hard. I know, like, it was hard, but I also feel like, truly, I feel like this is, like, one of those things that kind of, like, was just always instilled in me. I was like, if I'm making people, if I'm, like, making people uncomfortable with this and it's, like, weird, then there's probably something to it. Right. You know, like, if I'm not fitting with the crowd, like, there's probably, I'm going against the grain and, like, maybe it could turn into something. And if it doesn't, this is going to be really embarrassing. But, like, I'm just going to see what happens, you know? And so, I don't know, there was almost, like I said, it was like an ecosystem where I was like, okay,

They don't like it, but that doesn't mean it's like the end of everything. That means maybe I'm doing something right. Like, I don't know. Don't you think that's a little bit different than cancel culture today? Because cancel culture, it's like, it's like it all happens on the internet. It's like real life and the internet are so separated. Like you could walk outside and think like, oh my gosh, I'm out of this Twitter bubble. This is not real life.

But that for you was like real life. That's like, that's very much more personal than what it seems like you experienced day. I think that's why it still hurts so much. Yeah, that's why it's like the number one story we start with. I still remember it like 10 years later. I'm still like that one time. But no, I mean like, yeah, the online hate, I will say, although it's aggressive, it's such a small percentage.

It's always like one to two percent. If you can just like shift your mindset and focus on the good, I know we were talking about this earlier, but what I get the most online hate for is mom shaming. Like the mommas are the ones that are probably the most aggressive. They're harsh. I would say like there's three. categories of like hate circles. Yeah.

In no particular order. Bachelor Nation. Oh, they're vicious. Man, they are vicious. Vicious. Bravo people. So like we're out people who follow like Bravo people. And then I would say moms,

which is so disappointing because that's just like a community that seems like it should be more supportive than it is. But they are just like, they're the ones like creating like sock accounts like anonymous accounts and like they probably live down the street and they're like, I saw her walking her dog and she didn't even have a leash. Can you believe it? Can you believe it?

Take snap a photo, post it on the Facebook group. Yeah. No, it usually is the moms. And I think the mom shame is probably what hurts the most because moms are so, yeah, moms are probably so like, I mean, not insecure, but we're always questioning if we're doing things right and we're learning so much like as it happens. And so it can be kind of tough whenever moms come in and like, you know. So hate is one thing.

But like here's the question for this episode. Sure. Have you ever actually been canceled? And I know the answer. I'm just probing the question. Should we go there already? I think just jump into it. It's kind of like the anxiety's already high.

Like let's just rip off the band-aid and jump into it. Yeah, I'm going to try not to like ramble too much with this story. But, you know, the first time I'm canceled, 2018, I probably had about 200,000 followers on Instagram. Yeah. And I had launched a boutique called Keeley D. And this was just kind of a venture that I wanted to grow. outside of influencing. I've always kind of been an entrepreneur and I was really excited about it.

So I went to the Dallas Market Center in Dallas and found, I went to a showroom there and just thought, okay, I'm going to start out with like accessories, like, you know, handbags and and headbands and some jewelry and that sort of thing. So I found these bags that are really liked there, totally legal. Okay, it's like at the Dallas Market Center. Maybe like explain the market center for someone who doesn't know. Okay, sure. So if, you ever shop at like a boutique right um or northstrom like a big retailer um these buyers from those boutiques or those retailers will go to markets all over the country and essentially the one in Dallas they have them in Vegas L.A. New York the one in Dallas they've one in Atlanta it's essentially like

a big mall and you walk in there my dad has a showroom there so my dad's had a showroom there for like 30 years and you'll find like the free people showroom you'll find the ralph Lauren polo showroom and buyers go into each of these showrooms and pick the clothes that they're going to and they order them in mass amounts and they sell them you know at their retailer or at their boutique. So it's kind of like the front end. It's more like B to B before they take it B to C. So I found these handbags that have these studs on them and I probably chose I don't know maybe eight or nine different styles. No, I think it was less. I think it was like four or five. Was it four or five? I can't even really remember because you named one after your dog. Yeah. You had two dogs.

There was a hazel and love. So true. And so I launched these handbags and they just like blew it out of the water. So they were super affordable, really good quality. And so we were like, wow, this is great. We're so excited. We had just gotten an offer to basically shoot like a commercial in Los Angeles for Southwest Airlines. So we're riding high.

We're like, man, you just launched this boutique. Your audience loved it. I think that's really important to note. important to note is like your audience was like yes like this is so cool like thank you when are you restock in the bags they're so cute thanks for having like you know such good price points and so you know we're in los angeles we're eating at earth cafe and all of a sudden my phone just starts to blow up you know like you know blow up to the point where it's like you're hearing from someone you haven't heard from since high school yes in like i'm like something is really wrong they're like

are you okay? Like I'm so sorry. So people are like, are you, yeah, are you okay? I'm so sorry. Like, let me know if you need anything. Like they are just like really sending me some sympathy. And I'm like, what is going on? Like I still don't understand. Well, Jordan logs on and we see that we have been basically like canceled or publicly shamed by this huge account at the time called, should I say what it is? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, it was called Diaprata. And, um, they're still around. This account is kind of infamous or notorious for, you know, going after designers that steal from other designers. Yeah. And it's essentially like, you know, let's just say, Dior stole this design from Prada or, you know, they're just, it's a, they're very high fashion.

Yes. Community. And community that I was not really knowledgeable about. I didn't really grow up, like, around, like, anything high fashion, like, the most. high fashion thing I probably had growing up was like a pair of Torrey birch flats you know and and that was like a really big deal to me my life was more spent like taking these really cool looks and trying to find like the dupe at you know Walmart or marshals or tj max like i just that was kind of like more my thing and so um so anyway diaprata had shouted me out after they shouted out like or canceled like kim carashian

like they're talking the post before that right before you was kim cardashian and And then it was like Kim Kardashian. And then at the time, it was like Danny Austin, 200,000 followers. So we can I like my, my sort of perspective on this was I was trying to understand it really fast because our phone is blowing up. Your DMs are blowing up. You have a very like divided audience. Some are like, what is going on?

Others are like you were featured on this count. So like we're catching up. We have no Wi-Fi at this like coffee shop. So it was a very frantic moment. You know, your heart kind of sinks into your stomach. And so very clearly initially it was like, okay, Danny is representing, you know, we weren't, you weren't a mom at the time, but like moms who are looking for affordable fashion. Okay. So there was that segment of the market. And then they, Diet Prada was clearly representing like a designer. It was a big debate between like dupes and high fashion basically.

Exactly. And so, yeah. And I will say like I learned a lot from from that conversation. But so Diaprata had posted about us basically the narrative that they shared about. me, which was actually inaccurate, was that I essentially was having, like, I designed all of these bags and I copied all these bags from Valentino because my bags also had studs on them. But, you know, we had, we didn't have any Valentino logos. Studs are literally everywhere. So now, like, looking at the bag. I didn't design the bags. You got them from a market center that several other boutiques around the country had used. So we, again, catching up, we're just like, what?

is going on. Yeah, but, and you know, a lot of these, these, this, this, this manufacturer had been sold at like Nordstrom, boutiques, Francescas. So I wasn't the only one selling them. It was just like, I was only one that was like an influencer selling them, you know. So, yeah, it was, it was pretty brutal, just the attack that we got all at once because this post, I can't remember how many, like, how much engagement it received, but it, like, popped off.

It popped off. And people really couldn't wait to, like, come out. send me death threats, tell me to go kill myself, telling me that like I am the reason for global warming and like all these like, you know, just really intense things. And it was like a lot all at once. I didn't really know how to handle it. And then to, uh, yeah. Yeah. So I was, the, yeah, so I was also in Los Angeles filming for Southwest Airlines, which I was really excited about. So my dad's worked at Southwest for like 30 years. Like, it's like a family thing for us to always fly Southwest.

And so like we were like, oh, this is perfect. We were pumped. So that's why we were in LA. And then we got the call from someone on the marketing team at Southwest saying, hey, Danny, like, we're going to send you home. Like they had this whole production planned. Oh, that's horrible. And they were like, you know, this is just, you're too controversial right now.

And we need to send you home and we're going to cancel the shoot. So I'm like stuck in this hotel room and like thinking that my career is over. this is also at a time when like this is all kind of all we had Jordan had just quit his corporate job we were working on like kind of the blog and Instagram together and we had it really diversified so it felt a lot bigger now like back then now something like that happened we have so much kind of going on like behind the scenes outside of influencing that I wouldn't like freak out as much but there was a lot of pressure and so it was like it was just brutal just everything kind of you know falling apart all at once. I remember you laying in that hotel room, you cried for 24 hours straight.

And like as your husband at the time, like we were decently like newly married. I just remember feeling so helpless in that moment of like what do we do? You know, or like what can I do to like ease the pain like the psychological torment that you're going through? And you know, you want to fight back and you want to say this. But you know, I think it's interesting to touch on just kind of like, I think that the system of cancel culture that I refer to has like been used, you know, over and over again at this point, but we were kind of like, again, like weird pioneers of it. And the system is like, you know,

an account like Diapirot posts this narrative, okay? And then their comments pop off. And then it's shared to our audience. And then people from their audience are then DMing our audience. And so it starts like with them and then it kind of culminates on social media. Then it's reshared on social media. Then, you know, I think what a lot of people don't understand.

And I think they understand it more now than they did in 2018. But the mainststriended, media like jumps on this because it's great clickbait. So a lot of these journalists are incentivized to basically garner clicks. So it's a very newsworthy story to say this small influencer is ripping off Valentino and to create this narrative that this is the problem with the world, the environment, like child labor, like this is the symbol for it. And so the mainstream media jumps on. And so 24 hours later, we have no ability to tell your side of the story. No, I mean,

people didn't want to hear it either. They didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to hear it. People truly believe that I designed these bags. They probably still do to this day. Totally. And there was no opportunity because like just people were so quick to just shut me down. And the conversations that started happening on other media outlets or other platforms,

they did not take into like account any of the facts. Right. They just took what Diet Prada said and like ran with it. And like that still something that kind of frustrates me to this day. But I do want to say something that like, even in this moment like going through all of this, I don't want to say that I was like completely not in the wrong. Like like I still think that even a lot of people that are canceled like there there is something inherently like maybe ethically that you did wrong or that you're learning from. And so for me I'm like, okay, I understand like the designer community more.

Like I understand that I should have done a little bit more research about every single piece and and how these designs look so similar to Valentino. Like I want to take accountability for that and be like, okay, I'll never make. that mistake again, but it felt like at the time there was no opportunity to learn. It was like, you're done. You're done. You're done. Go bye. You know, no, we, we learned a ton. I mean, we, you know, I think that we've grown divy in such a pure and like, honest way because of kind of like some of the lessons that we learned there. But the, the problem was just that it wasn't factually accurate. And so I think people know that now. Like, so that I think the trust rate of the media is like, you know, only like 26% of

people like actually trust the media. But it's because they've done this over and over and over again where they've taken sensationalism and not reported actual facts or given a voice to the people on the other receiving side of the story. And now it's kind of just a pattern. But yeah, here's my question for you is do you think, like, who do you think was actually attacking you in that from diet prod? It was like a lot of oddly like anonymous accounts, right? A lot of, yes, a lot of anonymity. There was a lot of people that like I couldn't figure out who they were. Right. You know, and I feel like that's a big thing too is kind of people start hiding behind these fake accounts and they feel like they can say whatever they want.

Do you think the fake accounts are real people? Zoran is convinced the fake accounts are not real. I think that this is like pretty much published fact at this point, but like the Saudi government has like warehouses full of people who have like five accounts each. Like I think even our government has like a program where they can like create like social media accounts and like have five personas for each person. And I'm not saying for us like I don't think we're important enough to like the government to come down on us.

But like this is for sure happening where anonymity is like. being used to create this like social proof that isn't actually real right it's it's wild and i've felt that before like just this like huge attack and then clicking on their profile and actually trying to follow up and see these people i'm like this person has like one follower and like one photo it did it did feel like that um so yeah i mean it it was like pretty hard to go through just because it was kind of one of the first times and we didn't know how to handle it um so yeah do you remember like how that affected our brand deals or our partnerships and how he dealt with that. I think on that one, I mean, we obviously lost Southwest. And that was like really hard because I know.

We didn't lose them because then we ended up working with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. And they, I do want to say they were so awesome. Like they were so sweet. They felt for us. They thought it was so silly. But I get it. They were like, it's just too controversial. We don't want to deal with it. Like, let's just stay away from the conversation. And I think that's what a lot of people, like, don't understand on our side of the coin is that a lot of these brands, are, I want to say, what does they call, virtue signaling. They're pressured into saying something. People call it virtue signaling, but I really don't think people understand how much pressure

is created, like for brands and influencers when this one to two percent of the demographic swarms your DM, swarms your channels, says, hey, don't buy this brand because they worked with Danny Austin, don't pride this because they did this. It's not, I want to say it's not real, but it's really kind of not real. So do you remember in 2020 what, what happened to Billy? Briefly. So in 2020, I mean, 2020 was just like a rough year. There was a lot of social pressure to do exactly what people wanted you to do.

And it kind of felt like there was like no winning, right? Oh, 2020 was the hardest year to be. It was a hard year. And alive. For a lot of people, I think there are a lot of people on social, a lot of brands, just really everyone. And I don't think it was just influencers. And I remember Billy Razor just all throughout 2020,

people started commenting publicly on their posts saying, you know, this influencer does just say Nicole from Texas, you know, or tweeted this one tweet in 2011. Can you believe that? And then Billy would respond. I'm just making that example up. I can't remember exactly. No, but it really just to like repaint the picture.

It was a witch hunt in 2020. Like let's find the one thing. And then Billy would respond and say, thank you for letting us know. we have discontinued a partnership with Nicole from Texas. Say that publicly. Without ever actually looking at the facts, did that actually happen?

Like what context? They didn't have time to even do any of that research. They were just pressured to say, okay, that's what we're doing. Like we're ending the partnership, move on. And it got really tricky because it kind of felt like a lot of these brands were just kind of like leaving us in the dust

and not sticking up for us and not actually looking into like what truly happened. There's a saying. This is so like, I don't know, there's a saying by Winston Churchill and it says everyone feeds the alligator thinking the alligator is going to eat them last. And the alligator always eat you. The alligator will always eat you. And I feel like that was an example of Billy saying, okay, okay, cancel them, but like don't,

don't cancel us. Cancel them. Don't cancel us. And it's like at the end of the day, it comes for all of us. And I think that that's in 2023 what we're realizing. And that's why people are rising up against it is because. because like it's wait, wait, there's no winning in this. Like everyone's going to lose and it's going to come for you

and it's going to come from for like this mom who's just living in superbia. It's going to come for everyone if like we don't actually start to dissect how information is traveling down this like value chain. Don't you feel like that started to happen because of how sensitive people became? Like it felt like even comedians couldn't make jokes anymore because like everyone was so sensitive to everything.

I don't, I really do think it's like a one to two percent of people that are sensitive, but they are always going to be the loudest. Like most people on the internet are just lurkers. Like they're going to be like, oh, Danny posted that. Most people are like, don't even interact. Yeah, you get DMs all the time that are like, I never DM people, but like I DM'd you this. And so I just think it's like a very loud one to two percent. But it's, it's becoming, like people are realizing this. You know a key thing that you said, though, it was that people were pressuring them to say something in this moment. In this moment. People want, you know, you to say something when they want you to say it. And I think that that's also what's so tough

is like there leaves no no room for learning. And so a lot of times it's like people are like, how do you feel about this? Or this just came out. How do you feel about this? I'm like, I actually don't know. Like I'm learning just like you are and I'm scared to say something in this moment because I don't know how I'm going to end up feeling after I truly educate myself about what's going on and understand it. And so there's no room for me to take a step back and say, I don't know yet. And I think that that's something that always is kind of, and frustrating for me because I like I just feel like I'm going to lose. Yeah.

Well, you said something on the plane when we were talking about this episode a little bit. You said, I'm so scared to say something sometimes because I feel like the person I am now is people who are going to assume I'm always going to be that. Meaning like my views aren't allowed to evolve. I'm not given room to change my viewpoints and to hear both sides. It's like if you're not in this box within this moment, you're wrong. Right. And so it just, it dissuades people and discourages people.

from evolving whatsoever. And I think that that's like why cancel culture is bad. Cancel culture? Okay, episodes over. Okay, bye-bye. Not good. I think a lot of this is like us talking about cancel culture as like it's a bad thing. Like we didn't learn anything from it.

I think it's important to acknowledge like no, we wouldn't be where we're at without, I would say accountability from the internet. You know, in fact, I think we welcome it. We have a team around us that we are constantly saying, hey, guys, we're not going to be perfect every day. Like we really need you to speak into us and say, hey, like, this is where you're messing up or like, hey, this is where you're not taking the responsibility of the platform seriously. So just kind of like clarifying that like we're not saying that we're perfect in all these situations. And this is also not an opportunity for like the world's smallest violent and

to act like the victim in these situations where it's like, no, like truly we have learned from it. But I do feel like on the flip side, people don't understand like how much it really does affect your mental health. Right, right. Okay. But for real, I feel like this, it's time to mix it up. This podcast is getting kind of depressing. Let's pick it up a little bit. Let's pick it up. I would say that producer Jenny is here.

Jenny, say hi. Hello. She is going to read us some questions. The most hot takes, hot questions on the market of what is cancel culture? These are actually questions, DMs that we got through our Q&A about cancel culture. We're here to be a valuable resource and we want to answer your. questions about what it means to be canceled. Like I said. Okay. Y'all can for sure hear me and I'm like, yeah, I hear the people so yes. Okay. Okay. Okay, question number one is what are your thoughts on

accountability culture versus cancel culture? They're so different. It's like so different. It's so different. So I would cancel culture is when you just want to destroy someone. They messed up. You're going to take all the receipts, you're going to do everything in your power to publicly shame them so that they have no life ever again. You just want them canceled and you want them gone forever. And I think accountability culture is let's, you know, let's hold this person accountable. Let's help them learn. Let's still screenshot things, you know, take it seriously.

But let's give them some advice about how to become better. For example, a great example for me is the grape story. So, you know, we get some some, some, some, feedback from mothers with lots of opinions. And I was cutting grapes for Stella. And I didn't know the right way to cut grapes. And my entire life, we just ate grapes whole, you know? My mom never cut the grapes a special particular way. It's astounding that you're alive right now. Seriously. And so then, you know, I'm cutting grapes for Stella. Everybody starts standing me, Danny, you can't cut the grapes like that. That is very dangerous because, you know, a child can choke on the grape.

Like, duh, why didn't that go through my mind? I honestly don't even think about it. I was like, you guys, thank you so much for this advice. This is so helpful. Now, the difference between that and cancel culture in cancel culture is someone would have screenshoted me cutting those grapes, posted it all over the internet, all over these Facebook groups, talking smack about how horrible I am, and I'm influencing all these moms to cut grapes the wrong way and da-da-da-da-da. And so there is a difference.

There's a way to approach someone and tell them that they're doing something wrong, but also have like a positive, positive hope for them moving forward. Yeah, I think what's also confusing about cancel culture is it's kind of a sliding scale of morality too. It's like, it's like what like someone can do one action, another person can do the action. One person gets canceled, the other person doesn't. It's just confusing. And you know what's confusing too is like none of us are perfect.

I know. So it's like when you cancel someone, then you better be on your best behavior for the rest of your life. Because you can't like cancel someone and be a hippie. hypocrite and then you know oh we were talking about this morning what is your most hypocritical pet peeve oh i know you asked me this morning i didn't know i know something that i do what i sometimes use like the end stall in the bathroom and like i am one of my biggest pet peeves is when i have a child with me and someone's in like the big stall at the end of the bathroom i'm like i have a child And you're sitting in there alone and you take up all the space.

But then whenever I see the big stall, I take the big stall. Oh my gosh, you big hypocrites. I know. You better not be canceling anyone out there. I know. I better not say that because then somebody's going to take a video of me going in the big stall. But no, I go in the big stall and I try to pee as fast as possible. Okay, good to know.

Question number two. Okay, question number two. Have you ever considered quitting due to hate or being canceled? Oh, my gosh, a million times. Oh, for me. I'm just a supporting actor. but yes. How can you quit if it's my channel?

Well, I know. I just, as a supporting actor, I've considered just saying, hey, I'm, I'm no longer a part of this. I know some husbands that are like, peace. Like, I don't want to be in the content. Yeah. I don't blame them. So, yes, I have considered quitting typically when I'm postpartum and I get hate because I'm in a really dark place typically when I'm postpartum and I'm very weak and vulnerable.

And on top of that, just getting, you know, some of the mom shaming that I've received. There's been times when I'm like, I don't think that I can handle this. It was just a little too much. I wouldn't say I thought about quitting long term, but just maybe taking like a month or two off. Yeah. But when I'm outside of the postpartum, I'm good. I'm pretty like, I'm resilient. Yep, yep.

That's me. That's me. Never going to quit. Can't get rid of me. Okay, question number three. Okay, next question. When you have been canceled, what does the recovery process look like after the fact? This is funny.

Do you want to answer? Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of tears. It's honestly a lot of prayer, I would say, like, to be real about it. Like, it's a lot of prayer, and it's a lot of kind of like soul searching and, you know, recalibration of like, here's, like, what other people are saying about me and here's what God says about me. And it's like a lot of, I would say it's like a lot of healing. And then, you know, there's kind of this roller coaster. We do it every time. Every single time.

It's like, you kind of like get to that good place and you're like, you're like, you're like, you know what, like, F this. Like, we're gonna, we're gonna stand up to this. We're cockroaches, like, we got this. Like, F the haters, we're gonna like, you know, we're resilient. And then like, an hour later. You see like one comment. You're like, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm wrong. Yeah, no. But no, I agree. I remember this one time. I was actually pregnant with Stella and we were living at our other house. And I can't remember what we got hate for, but I was in a really bad place. I was also pregnant, so, you know, super hormonal.

And I remember I had been in bed, like, all day. Like, I couldn't get out of bed. And the hate just, like, kept coming in. I remember specifically that the hate was coming in from people that we didn't even really know, you know. And I remember calling Shauna and being like, Shauna, like, I can't, I can't do this. Like, I just, I literally can't. And so she came over and we, like, got down on our knees and just prayed and prayed and prayed. and that's typically what it is.

It's just like, it gets to a point where you're like, God, like I can't handle this feeling. Yeah. It's too much. It's like people aren't meant to be worshipped and people aren't meant to be, like, hated that much, you know? Like, we can't handle that. And so typically it involves me just calling my friends,

talking to people that, like, really know me. Because I think whenever you get hate, it's almost like you start to believe the lies. people feed you and you're like, oh my gosh, am I a liar? Am I this? Am I that? And it's, it's hard because if that's what everybody thinks of you, you start to believe that of yourself. And it's just, it's like, what's the point? You know? And it can get, it can just be every time, every time you've come back or we've come back, I feel like it's been, it's been a recalibration of like, hey, this is the purpose of like why we're here.

Like it's not about us. It's about like what we believe the platform can do. Like, good it can do. And so when we recalibrate around that, we get a little bit stronger, but yeah. And then it involves like just like pizza nights. Yeah. Pizza nights for a couple of nights. Yeah. Okay. Question number four. Okay. Next question. Do you ever respond to hate comments? Danny. Danny. Keely Daniel Austin. What? Do you? Caught you a couple times. Like, oh. The funny thing is, I have like, I have like, seven people logged into my Instagram, mainly just because if something goes wrong, like, I need someone to help me upload or whatever. And, but I, I reply to a lot of DMs, but not a lot of mean

DMs, but just, you know, sometimes when you're just on one and you just like, yeah, you go into these moods, they're really funny and they come out of just left field for all of us. I know, I'm like, it's very rare, but sometimes it's like right when I get into bed and I'm checking DMs, I'm like, excuse me? Yeah. Like, excuse me? No way. Like, who do you think you are?

No, no. One in particular that I, I responded to not too long ago was I was posting about like the SVB situation. Oh, Silicon Valley Bank. Yeah. And one of Stella's here at toy stores camp, they posted on their Instagram. They did like a huge 40% off sale. Well, just in case everyone doesn't know.

So a bank collapsed and it like held a lot of tech entrepreneurs and like, you know, like entrepreneurs and startups cash. And when it collapsed, you know, there was a fear that all of these businesses were going to lose the cash that was in the bank because they didn't have the cash on hand to, you know, basically make deposits or whatever. Exactly. So camp went 40% off and we're begging people to use this promo code, bank run. And I posted about it and I was like, you guys, this is one of Stella's favorite toy stores.

Please support them. if you want to buy these toys, they're all 40% off. And I got this DM from someone that was like, Danny, you're a total idiot, literally, first line. Oh, verbatim? Verbatim. You're a total idiot. You trying to profit off of like a business that is failing is sickening.

They put out the marketing. I'm like, dude, I don't get a dime from this. Like, I'm just trying to help them. And everything I posted was screenshotable, you know. I held my integrity and I was like, hey, I don't know what you're referring to. Like, I'm not making a dime off of this. And we kind of went back and forth like for a while. Yeah, she was telling me that I really, she was like, she said that she was in like a dark place,

first of all. So she apologized at first. Oh, wow. That's powerful. Yeah. So then we kind of went back and forth and she was like, but you should make a disclaimer and say that you don't make any percentage from that link. And I'm like, well, when you click the link, it doesn't go through.

award style it goes straight to camp like i don't think i need to make a disclaimer i didn't do anything wrong so we went back and forth about that so but camp put out the marketing message like what why isn't she mad at camp at that point she thought it was like an affiliate link uh i mean but like whenever it's an affiliate link it'll go through award style so you'll see whenever it's an affiliate link where did you guys end the conversation i don't know honestly i wasn't in the best mood but um and i don't think she was either So that was that. Any other juicy stories? I think for the most part, when you challenge the facts, like especially over DMs.

Yeah, but when you challenge the facts over DMs, like it's almost like they send you something that they don't think you're ever going to see. And then when you respond as a human being, they're like, oh, hi. I'm sorry. There's a pretty quick apologies usually, right? So when I get really mean messages, and I'm not saying like snark. I mean, like they're just mean. These people are just kind of like there to hurt you. Typically I will respond and say, hey, do you mind unfollowing me?

I can tell that like this, like our relationship isn't, is just going to be negative. Like, would you please unfollow me? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And if not, like, you know, got to. Oh, yeah. And then if there's a pattern of some type of like hate or you can just tell that they kind of have it out for you,

that's whenever I block. But I typically like wait for that pattern to happen. Now they have, Instagram has this really great. feature called restrict where you can restrict someone so you don't unfollow them so they don't know that they're restricted at all but they just they comment and they think that they commented but no one can see it yeah it's like the best thing that instagram has come out with i think okay question number five question number five how does it affect your mental health long term to receive hate online i don't know i have so many problems you know

verdict's still out on this one, ask us in 10 years. Yes, it's funny because since I've been doing this so long, like I don't know any other way. As far as mental health goes, I think you and I would both agree that there was quite a bit of PTSD. Yes, clinical PTSD for sure. Well, I mean, really, like panic attacks. And, you know, in particular, one of those examples was when we were selected for Forbes top creator list,

which was a really exciting thing. Actually, we got that email, and I couldn't believe it. We all thought that it was fake. We didn't believe that we actually made top creators. And it was really cool to have such a prominent organization recognized the fact that what we do is a career and that not only it's a career, but we're actually pretty good at it. And that was something that we really were excited to celebrate. But they told us in the email, you know, you need to fly out to Los Angeles.

We're going to be doing an interview. We're going to do a photo shoot, a video shoot. everything very positive, you know. So I hired a stylist. I was postpartum. So it was like one of our first trips, you know, away from the babies and flew out to L.A. and just had like a great experience on set doing the photo shoot. We got hair and makeup done.

And we were having a great experience. And then they asked us to go upstairs to do a video interview. And because I kind of had like the YouTube background and because I'm on stories, I wasn't too nervous about it. And I asked them the questions they were going to be asking me, and they said, you know, anything about your past, you know, how you got to where you are, any advice for other creators, just very, like, general questions. When we got up there, you know, the reporter definitely had some pretty challenging questions. Questions of things that, like, I just don't like to address any more questions about my cancellation, questions about, you know, different reasons why I get hate, different things about my children, the way that I parent. and conversations that I just frankly, like, haven't had with my followers so much. And so the first time I have those conversations, I would have preferred for it to bend on like a

platform like this. Right. Or something like where I was sharing with my audience first. But they really caught me off guard and it kind of triggered a panic attack. And so we, you know, we finished the interview and we had, you know, happy faces on. We were like, yeah, everything's fine. And then we got to the car. And, you know, I mean, you know.

I cried for six hours. I was like, I'm done. Forbes is going to release this article about da-da-da-da. And like looking back, it's the funniest thing because we recorded the interview. And when we got home, I told my mom, I'm like, it was so bad. It's like it was a horrible interview. I played the interview for her that we had recorded. She's like, Danny, it was great.

You killed it. But it was just this PTSD from bringing up some of these conversations that I thought, oh my gosh, everything is crumbling. It's like all those feelings kind of like reignited again. Yeah, that was like, that's why I call it like clinical PTSD because it was like a very firm trigger, you know, like the questions that you got. And then, man, I'll just never forget that. Like we left that interview.

And if you, like, if people were watching on stories, it just went dark. And everyone was like, wait, what happened? What happened? And I was like, well. They're like, Danny always leaves us these cliffhangers. I'm like, no, Danny's crying in the back of a SUV. Our team sat in that hotel or that, that office building lobby, trying to get Wi-Fi, like trying to communicate, like trying to download videos and be like,

was it good, was it bad? And we just were convinced. We actually tried to get out of it because we were so scared. Yep, we tried to get in touch. You're right with the editor. We tried to get a Forbes. And Forbes was like, why? Like you did great. Yes. And they, I'm now looking back, I'm like, we looked like a bunch of dumdums. Yeah. You know, like why would we have wanted to, but it was, it all went so well. Yeah, Forbes is an organization was, incredibly great looking back. It was just our PTSD and unfamiliarity with like being in like the mainstream media environment that we were like, oh no, we're so naive coming into this. Like we're going to get destroyed. Yes, exactly. Like I just felt like we were a couple Texans going to Los

Angeles being in Hollywood. And we just thought that they were going to just like just use us. Right. Use us and abuse us. But they didn't at all. In fact, Forbes is amazing. And like we kind of feel like we're a part of their family now. But I think another thing that played into that is the fact that we don't take like interviews typically. We typically turn down all podcasts. I'd been asked to go on some of my favorite podcasts and said no, just because I wasn't, you know, used to having these types of conversations online. And so it's kind of ironic that we launched our own podcast because we used to turn down every single one of them. But here we are. Well, I think that, yeah, I mean, long-term effects, back to the question, it's like there's serious trust issues that I think have been built up.

We have serious trust issues. But that's why this. This podcast is powerful. It's like, hey, like, we're going to put ourselves out there. It's like freedom. I have another way that it's affected I just, I just thought of. Let's talk about it. Something that, like, I've heard from people that typically start working for us. Usually with the Danny Austin team, when they first come in, you and I have extreme wall built.

Yes. Where we are so guarded. Like, we can't trust anyone. They're, like, in our homes. And we, like, just treat them very much like an employee at first. Professional. Professional. Like we don't ask them, how was your weekend or, oh, like, that's great that you're, you know, your favorite thing to do on the weekend is do that.

You know, we just kind of keep it very professional because I think that we are always kind of scared to let people in. But typically, like, once they're around, then they're like, they're like brother, sister. We tell them, family. We tell them everything. But it's that initial hiring and that initial time period where they're like, do they even like me? You know, there is. I've realized. Yeah.

No, I've heard that story like multiple. times it kind of is like the warming up period yeah yeah we're like can we trust you yeah but yeah this question you know both look at it you're ready okay next question what is your best advice to anyone getting hate online or honestly even hate in person okay now we both yeah sing the rise up song this all rise up yeah sing all rise like the day day yeah I was gonna say rise like the rain I was like rain I was like rain doesn't rise I would say getting hate online, sometimes there's a little validity to it. And so you can actually learn a little bit from your haters, especially whenever it's like constructive criticism. You don't want to be too sensitive to any type of like negativity because

sometimes they're actually trying to like help you out. Yeah, you don't want to create an echo chamber for yourself. Like like, oh, I can't believe that they. Yeah. I mean, you want accountability to some degree. You do learn a lot from it. Yeah. But as far as hate, I think it's just like, more about setting boundaries. You have to realize that that's never going to stop. You can't change the haters, but you can change yourself, you know? And setting boundaries, like,

there's a lot of different settings on Instagram that you can set, like, keywords. Like, I remember when Diet Prada attacked us, I set keywords for, like, Valentino, Valentino, Die, hate, anorexic, like those words, like you can't leave comments with those words. on my profile. So there's a lot of ways that you can protect yourself just with like

Instagram settings. But yeah, I think it's important to really find your value in like in your faith, in your friends, in your family, people that really know you. We spent a lot of, especially before we had kids, I think we spent a lot of energy trying to kind of course correct some of the hate that we were getting. Like we spent a lot of time like like, like reviewing the hate and being like, oh, like is this valid? And then I think once we had kids, like we didn't. give it as much energy because we just didn't have the time or the resources to give it to it. And so we kind of just had to be very quickly like, is this true? Yes or no? No. Okay, move on. Right. And so I would say the one thing I don't regret is how much energy we gave it in the past,

like before we had kids. I don't know if you feel like that. Well, I think one thing that we did that's actually been very helpful in our marriage is do you remember part of our vows? We vowed to never look at our hate. Yep. No. We vowed that. because I think when we were dating, when we were engaged, the hate, like, I used to read a lot of it. And it affected our relationships so much. And we've actually, like, I mean, you probably know a lot of, like, bloggers in your industry who read their own hate, and it's like, it will drive you crazy. It'll literally divide your brain into two.

And if we're ever getting hate and sometimes, like, I'm too weak, then Jordan will get on my Instagram and, like, read some of my comments or read some of my DMs for me. Typically, I'm the one in there. but just there's some days where I just can't handle it and then there's some days that Jordan can't handle it and I'm like it's okay because sometimes they can be kind of mean to you too what do they always say about you?

Tell them to shut up, tell them to get out of your content, we want to see Danny but then you have people who are like I love Jordan so it's like what do you want? When I asked people about the podcast I ask people to give us advice

in half of the comments no actually, sorry, that is so, I'm so exaggerating. I read one comment that was like, less Jordan and then the next one was like, more Jordan. I love Jordan. It's just like, what do you people? What from us? Well, see, now I'm not triggered because you said half at first. Is it half or what? I can leave. You know what? I'm out of here. No, I'm sorry. It really was not half. I just accidentally said that. It was just funny because they were like juxtaposed next to each other. Yeah. But see, let me just tell you about the effects of cancel culture. It's like, I will not stop thinking about her saying half for the next three weeks. Yeah, he's like, well, they all hate me. So why am I here anyway? I'm like, Jordan, that was one. person.

One person. True. I don't know what advice would you have for in hate person. For hate in person. Oh, sorry. In hate person. Hate in person. I don't know.

I think I gave it my all. Is there another question? This is why you don't do a podcast, straight off a plane. No sleep. I think I gave it my all. And we're done. Jordan just gets up and leaves. It was so, like, sweet the way you said it.

Okay, so let's pick up it like, okay, so there's no more questions. Are so let's read the news article. Oh, do you want me to read that article? Let me tell you something. You as the news reporter is like going back to high school. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. We're missing a story.

Oh. You got canceled in high school. Oh, I did. I've been canceled so many times. She was reading the morning announcement. She was the president. I wasn't reading it. I was in class.

No, no, no, but you used to read the morning announcements. And then you were no longer allowed to do that. Yeah, well, kind of. I'll tell you the story. So I was a junior in high school. And like, basically I had this just crazy high school experience. You know, it's like the typical girl with the braces, super loser, like not cool, gets her braces off.

grows her hair out, gets, becomes best friend with like the hottest girl in school. And then I start dating the quarterback, you know. It's just like the most stereotypical high school story. So I run for class president. I'm class president and I'm out for New Year's Eve and I get an MIC, which is like a minor in consumption. Long story short. Yeah.

Like, so, so bad. Like I'm still punishing myself for it. But tell the real story. You took like one sip alcohol. Yeah, but like it doesn't matter. That's what we're talking about. It's like when you're canceled, you cancel. When you get M.C, you got MIS.

Nobody cares about the facts. You know what I mean? So anyway, long story short, we're all sitting in class. And they announced on the morning announcements, Danny Austin has been demoted from class president. We will have a re-election on Tuesday. And I'm just sitting there. That's horrible.

Yeah. That's a public shaming for the high school to do. I wonder why they did it like that. Yeah, I don't know. It was pretty brutal. It was pretty brutal. I'm not going to lie. It's funny because I was only grounded for like two weeks, but I grounded myself for like two or three months. I dyed my hair dark red.

Do you know that? Oh, actually. And I took up baking. I really did. I, I, and like my parents were like, okay, like you're good now. Like we forgive you. Like you've been punished. And I'm like, no.

I don't deserve to leave the house. I was so upset with myself. Yeah. Anyway, newscaster Danny's back. Read us our new story for the website. Today we're going to talk about TikTok. TikTok. So this story is called, it's titled, TikTok, TikTok, as Biden sets deadline for ban of social media.

I think you read it wrong. I think it's TikTok, TikTok, TikTok. You go, TikTok, TikTok? I'm like, TikTok, like, TikTok. Like TikTok. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay.

So I think I did it right. Okay. Okay. So TikTok, TikTok. As Biden says deadline for. ban of social media app, here's what we know. It's not that funny. I'm sorry, we're coming off this plane and I think our delirium is like sitting in for sure. Okay. So why is the government concerned about TikTok? The Biden administration and lawmakers in both parties have expressed concern that the

Chinese Communist Party could gather information about American customers through TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bite Dance, or that it could be used to spread misinformation. The White House is pushed to remove TikTok from government-issued devices is part of a broader efforts to secure American digital infrastructure, security and privacy, according to a memo release Monday. The guidance fulfills requirements of the No TikTok on Government Devices Act passed by the Senate in December. So basically they're trying to figure out if we should have TikTok or not on our phones, not just, you know, the government, but like actual like us. What do you think? I kind of want it to go away, if I'm being honest. I just,

I just don't really want to deal with it. I know. If I'm being completely honest. I think like selfishly we wanted to go away. Selfishly we wanted to go away. I think because as creators we just, there's so many different, well actually there's not so many different platforms,

but it's just another platform to keep up with. And there's just no time. There's not enough time in the day. Yeah. Can I tell you what I really think is going on behind the story though? Yes. I kind of alluded to it earlier. Are you sure I can say it on this podcast?

I mean, we've already been canceled. What can you do? Okay, I actually think that that is META and Mark Zuckerberg lobbying for TikTok to be destroyed. I think they hired really powerful lobbying firms that went to the government and they're like, we need to get rid of this competitor because META and Mark Zuckerberg want to and they're making it about national security. Yeah, but like don't you admit that it is kind of dangerous? I mean, I think it's very addictive. Not dangerous in the sense of like, I mean, yes, of course it's addictive.

I'm saying like national security wise. Like China really will have all this access to everything. They could brainwash us all at once. To what though? See like our content, like what they feed us. They could brainwash us, turn us against each other like we already are. Did you hear that the like in China they're actually giving like their kids the version of TikTok that's like a kale salad? And they're giving our kids the version that's like a heroin.

Exactly my point. It's like Steve Jobs didn't let his phone or his kids have phones. because he knows he knows he knows it's messed up so I mean don't you think it's actually kind of dangerous I don't know I do and it's like cool that'd just be like less one less thing to keep up with okay so we're we're pro cancellation on TikTok you can publish that for selfish reason now our TikTok is just going to like totally take yeah everyone's going to be like she doesn't even care she doesn't even care about this you want to go away she's that's her for the time abuse.

That is so true. Oh man, this is just spiraling. Well, this has been a great episode. I'm really excited about Landon being here. You know, Landon has really good opinions on all these things. He does. So we're going to talk about dating on this next episode and then with Landon. And then we're going to film another episode with him about the matchmaker.

I'm so excited. About our first days on YouTube together about us growing up. We have some stories. Yeah. It's going to be really fun. You guys, thanks for watching. If you guys want to leave us a review, you are welcome to. Just make sure you leave it in a compliment sandwich.

We are on Spotify. We are on Apple. And we film new or we will post our new episodes every Wednesday. We love you guys and we'll talk to you later. Bye.