The Big Flop - The Floppies with Scott Seiss and Monét X Change | 66

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

The Flop Academy unproudly presents, The Floppies! An awards show highlighting the best — or should we say worst — meltdowns of the year. From pop culture catastrophes to business blow ups, we cover all the spectacular trainwrecks that defined 2024.Scott Seiss (Angry Retail Guy, Cocaine Bear) and Monét X Change (Ru Paul's Drag Race) join Misha to dishonor the biggest losers of the year and to reaffirm there's no such thing as ""too big to fail.""Follow The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to The Big Flop on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-big-flop/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You know what's even better than listening to the big flop? Listening to the big flop without any ads! With Wondery+, you can enjoy the floppiest of flops, completely uninterrupted. It's like having a front row seat to the world's biggest train wrecks. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts and upgrade your listening experience today. Folks, friends, distinguished guests, we're so proud and also very sorry to welcome you all to the first annual Flappies, an award show highlighting the best or should we say worst Flappes of the Year. The producers for Madame Webb are here. Hope the spiders

were worth it, Mom. That's an actual line from the movie in case you haven't seen it and it's very likely you haven't. I'm seeing lots of Boeing execs and engineers could make it. I'm guessing that means you took the train. Lady Gaga's in the house. You've had quite the disappointing year. Gaga's representing not one, but two flops. Her performance at the Olympics and her quote-unquote performance in Joker 2.

I see that Anthony Amarotti, aka the French pole vaulter, is here. You should know a few things about big flops, right, monsieur? Your failure was so massive. They say we only roast the ones we love, and don't worry, you're in good company. We've got everything from business flops to pop culture flops. So strap on your AppleVision Pros, pop open that spiced Coke you've been saving for a

special occasion, and let the shaming commence. Thanks. An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a portion of the plane blew off. down the bar. From Wondery and Atwill Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time. I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar often described as a mix of Anne Hathaway and James Franco at Don't Cross a Gay Man. And today, we will honor the most dismal, the most catastrophic, the most big-ly-est

flops of the year. On our show today, we have a comedian, classically trained opera singer, RuPaul's Drag Race winner and host of two hit podcasts, Sibling Rivalry with Bob the Drag Queen and her new solo venture, Monet Talks. You can see her on tour this January with her one-woman show, Life Be Lifin'. Welcome back to the show, Monet Exchange. Yes, thunderous applause and some booze. Absolutely. Also on our show, we have another fabulous returning guest turned in real life friend. He's a comedian and his new book, The Customer is Always Wrong, an unhinged guide to everything

that sucks about work from an angry retail guy just dropped and it's amazing. It's my pal Scott Sees. Hello. Hi. Thank you. I love talking about other people's failures because it distracts me from my own. So thank you for giving me another coping mechanism

to enjoy. And I think you should do a follow up to your book, The Barista is Always Wrong for asking me to tip. If my barista asked me to tip one more time, I'm going to lose my mind. You can write that one. That goes off brand for me, But I love that for you. So without giving you any of the nominees and categories, who are you rooting for tonight?

Carl, you asked me to remember my year. I don't know what I did last weekend. And also this year, I feel like we're at a record number of flops this year, honestly. The biggest flop of the year for me is the pole vaulter's penis flopping over the bar. That's the flop heard around the world. It doesn't fit the usual definition. Mm-hmm. For me, it's the Australian breakdancer.

Oh. The Australian breakdancer is one of the biggest flops. She literally flopped across the stage at the Olympics. So, how do we feel about award shows in general? You know, I feel like award shows have fallen down. Like, no one is, like, doing a three-way kiss like Brittany Madonna and Christina anymore. Like, even Kanye West's crazy Taylor Swift.

Like, I want more drama in my award shows, and they're just not giving. So, for that reason, I say they're a flop. Yeah, I'm planning on announcing the wrong winner to every one of these categories, just to create drama. I'm here to create drama. Thank you. Adele Dazeem's.

Yeah, Adele Dazeem. Yes, Adele Dazeem. Yeah. Today, you two are joining me for the first ever floppy awards. Over the course of five categories, I'm going to give you a rundown of the nominees. You two will pick your personal choice for the biggest flop and then we'll reveal the winner which was decided by our own Big Flop Academy.

Without further ado, let the Floppies begin. Our first category of the night is the 2024 Olympic Games. Here we go. Look at that. Held in the City of Lights, AKA the city of half-eaten croissants and fully eaten cigarettes, with 329 medal events, the 2024 Summer Games were slated to be one of the biggest ever.

Four new sports were featured, including skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, and of course, break dancing. Which leads us to our nominees. They are… Rachel Reagan Gunn leads us to our nominees. They are... Rachel Reagan Gunn. The Australian breaking competitor. After winning the women's breaking individual in Sydney, she became the first ever Australian B-girl at the Olympics.

Let's take a look at a photo. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. She was representing moms everywhere. Yes, yes she was. I will say, it does, it do take nerve to get on the international stage and she's doing what I'm guessing to be

her interpretation of the Thriller dance. Ha ha ha ha ha. Bless. Second, we have the sun, a highly polluted river where swimming events were scheduled. Now swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923. Although Parisians spent one and a half billion dollars

to clean it up, it was still too grimy and events had to be pushed multiple times. Let's take a look at a photo. Yeah, I mean, this is what the Baltimore inner harbor looks like. So I'm used to this water. I'm from Baltimore. I would eat crabs out of this,

whatever little bacteria infested fish in there. I want some. It's just, it is just completely like dark, green, brownish mix. Did anyone get mutated from this? Did anyone grow a third arm from this? Girl, we are looking at the birth of Swamp Thing. I mean, the water is literally brown.

The water is dark brown. And I mean, I could not believe that France allowed people to get in this water and we're shocked when people were like, I don't feel well afterwards. I feel sick. This is insane. Yes, some no-Lympics Parisians organized protests around the Seine, threatening to stage a mass pooping event to show their displeasure with the Games. Oh, my God.

Third is the mascots for the Olympics, the Friges, who are anthropomorphic, old-timey, floppy red caps that symbolize liberty in France. Super accessible to all ages and demographics. Each Frige was given a personality. For example, there was a smart one and a party animal one. Not even the French liked them. According to national polls, they were seen as childish, ridiculous, incomprehensible, and boring. Let's take a look at a photo. Oh, my goodness.

I don't remember this. Did you ever see these? No. So these are the official mascots of the Paris Olympics 2024. Yeah. I thought the official mascot honestly was, remember the people talking about how the torch looked like a woman with like a bob,

like a fabulous woman. I didn't know that they also had like anthropomorphic erasers. Like these look like little red things you put on top of a pencil. And also, yeah, so there are these like red things, anthropomorphic, one is wearing a cast, I think, on their leg.

I mean, they are plushy and cute, but I want something a little more hardcore for the Olympics, not this. The mascot has a broken leg. That was the original Australian break dancer. And then Ray Gunn was a last minute all-star. And the last nominee for biggest Olympic flop, the boast with the most, the French pole vaulter.

Anthony Amarade. Anthony Amarade made Anthony Amarade made head lines when his oversized pole ruined his chances at winning a medal. Fortunately, he won a bigger package, I mean, prize, billions of adoring fans. Let's take a look at a photo. And I'm his only fan, I'll tell you that much, honey.

Wow. There he is. I mean, this is a win. This is a win. For sure. This is a win for his entire country. Oh my God. There is this woman directly in the light of his penis. This woman in the right over here, her hands over her head, she is overcome with excitement by seeing that pole flopping on that pole, honey.

That's me, that was me at home watching this. This man's penis is so famous. I remember like my parents calling me, being like, have you seen the pole vaulter's penis? And I'm like, I never talked about a pole vaulter's penis before. That's crazy. Yeah, pole vaulter's penis is bringing families together.

Bringing families together. Yeah, Paul Walters' penises bringing families together, honestly. Bringing families together. Now, in reality, Amarade failed the jump long before his crotch hit the bar. He first hits his shins, then his knees. But he's been offered $250,000 by the vice president of the pornographic website, Cam Soda, to create a webcam show. Oh. You subscribing? Oh my God.

Am I subscribing, baby? I am subscribed. I need to see this man's DMs the day after that went viral. Oh my God. So who do you think the winner is? I'm gonna to give it to Ray Gun Gun Gunna Gun Gun Gun whatever her name is from Australia. That is the biggest flop for me. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. It's also just the most rewatchable one.

Like I think I've watched the routine many, many times. I'm trying to get the steps down. I'm trying to, you know, when I go out, you know, replicate this. And the winner is... Reagan! Yes! The Flop Academy has deemed her little dance quiet floppy. Now, here it is.

Unfortunately, we can't play the music, but if you two could try to describe the moves here, let's watch. The windmill, the windmill hands. Trudging through mud on survivor, a survivor challenge. Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, going back down and like the need to the, this is, I mean, this, how were people not throwing tomatoes

and croissants at the same? This is insane. Okay yeah, oh, the head scoot with the leg twist to twist. She did a little sprinkler. Rekha, I'm good. I love her. Obsessed. Ha ha ha!

Now, let me say, we do love people who shoot for the stars without a hint of malice, but unfortunately for Ray Gunn, she became the breakout name from these Olympics without winning a medal. The 36-year-old university lecturer Rachel Gunn always had a passion for dance, and her PhD is even in cultural politics of sports. When she was 20, her husband, a breaking coach, got her into the hobby. Now Gunn, she took it very seriously, and after years of trying to make it in the male-dominated sport, Gunn became a high ranking national B girl. And in 2023, she beat out 15 other female competitors in a qualifying event.

Okay, y'all, this is not impressive. This is Australia, literally the whitest place on earth. That's not shocking. Yeah, I was actually one of the people she beat. I was there. I couldn't keep up with Ray. It was like her, Kali Minogue, Courtney Act. Like there wasn't much competition. Okay. Now, Ray Gunn scored a zero in all three of her rounds and the backlash to her awkward performance was swift and severe. And Gunn has divided Australia's breaking community

and the global breaking community for that matter with some offering cheers and others jeers. Many accused her of rigging the qualifying event by pulling some strings through her connected husband and 50,000 people signed a petition demanding she apologize. Wow. We must say following an investigation,

Gunn was cleared of any wrongdoing. Now in lieu of an acceptance speech, here she is asking for grace. I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics. I really like to ask the press to please stop harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community. Good God, now I'm sad.

Imagine though dancing like so badly, you have to do an apology video, like you're a politician with a secret family or something. You're like, please give me grace during this time. I did not mean to cabbage patch that badly on stage. Yeah, cabbage patch. Yeah, that's my thing. I like at least pull out some of the good old 90s dance moves that we can all relate to, at least do that.

At least there will be some relatability, Ray. Yes. You know? Reagan has since tried to overcome this incident and, despite her Olympic failure, has been featured on the front cover of Stellar, a magazine in Australia, which actually just ended its print production, RIP. Ray! Oh my gosh, she's taking everything down.

She's taking magazines out. She's taking magazines out. She's taking out categories for the Olympics. Honestly, Ray is now, I'm coming around. She's an icon. She's an icon. Oh my God. Word. We bet you didn't know. Our new train's panoramic windows are ideal for contemplating whether texting them back so soon was the best decision. Get on board. Via Rail. Love the way.

Now, sports are a form of entertainment, as are films, which brings us to our next category. To introduce the nominees for the biggest Hollywood big picture flop, let's play some clips from their respective press tours. The nominees are... Madame Webb. So how does it feel to be, like, in this Marvel universe as a superhero? It was the same as 50 Shades, just with more clothes on. Argyle. He is an idealized spy, to a degree,

and you have to add that comedic element as well. Joker, Fully Aged. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is actually a musical. For me it was a lot about kind of unlearning technique. Megaflopolis, I mean Meg it's an experience that I feel will never happen again and has never happened to me before. And it was an incredibly, like... So let's dig a little bit deeper into our movie flop nominees.

First we have Madame Webb. Right off the bat, the reviews were staggering. Benjamin Lee said it was the death of the superhero genre, the burning of the superhero genre to the ground, and then the returning in the middle of the night to piss on the superhero genre's ashes. Damn. Is that a legitimate review, someone said? Yes, Benjamin Lee.

Jesus Christ. Robbie Collin called it a two-hour explosion in a boringness factory in which the forces of dullness and stupidity combine in new and infinitely perturbing ways. Holy hell. The New York Times review was just, well, you can believe this. It was just go fuck yourself.

It just. Now, Argyle was initially marketed with a mysterious unknown screenwriter who was later revealed to be the main character in the movie, since the movie is about an author who becomes a spy or something. But because of the mystery around it, Swifties swooped in with a conspiracy theory about Taylor being the writer based on ironclad evidence such as the type of cat the author in the movie has. A Scottish fold, of course.

The fan theories didn't seem to help the box office. Critics mainly focused on how stupidly long the movie is around two hours and 20 minutes. Our guy, wait, was that Henry Cavill we saw talking? Yes. To be fair, I will go watch Henry Cavill open an envelope, girl. I don't care who Henry Cavill was doing.

So all $17 they made worldwide, that was my ticket when I went to go see it. Yep. Yep. Joker, fully ado, is dark, really depressing. One reviewer said of Joker 2, Phoenix's Sour Frown, the movie's barely-there story, its unrelenting grimness, and its commitment to force eccentricity suggest that no one involved was really stoked to make it. Fans of the original Joker really hated the new film's anti-male rage message so much that one comedian who got to play a guard in the movie went on Joe Rogan to rip at a new one,

calling the movie, quote, the worst film that has ever been made. Here's the thing about, like, movies. I feel like movies come out and it's like, okay, that was fun to talk about for 25 minutes. But this is like, Joker 2 made people lose their minds for like a full month. And it started to be so bad that I thought, is it wrapping around to being good?

Like I'm like, is this movie actually, is this movie actually good? Because it's made, it's for no one. And I just found it, I just find it hilarious that the movie's for no one, no one liked it. And it like ruined everyone's mood for a full month. I love that. I mean, I think what we can all marvel at

is Lady Gaga's ability to make any role or anything that she does seem important and fierce and beautiful. Even the way she was talking, we all know the movie was terrible, but in her little, what we just heard, I was like, you know what, maybe it wasn't that bad. She's convinced me that the movie was good again.

It's all about unlearning technique. Unlearning technique. What the... what does that mean? It's all about unlearning how to be good at something. Now, written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis features a convoluted plot, disturbingly bad dialogue, and a cast of actors desperately trying to make sense of the whole mess and failing. Coppola sold a portion of his wine business to fund it. He bought a Days In motel for $4.35 million to house the crew of the film and his extended family.

There's no way a day's in is worth $4.5 million. In this economy? He reportedly didn't know how he wanted the film to look and did little planning, wasting time and money throughout the whole production. Despite the low turnout and critical panning, plenty of viewers posted their favorite worst lines from Megalopolis online. Lines like Adam Driver's, you think a year of medical school entitles you to plow through the Emersonian riches of my mind? Or Aubrey Plaza's, your anal is hell, I, on the other hand, am oral as hell.

Ha ha ha! Clearly, Mr. Coppola has been reading my journals. Yeah, exactly. Ha ha ha! Honestly, the biggest flop about all of these is that every movie thinking it needs to be two and a half hours, three hours long. That's a real crime here.

Yeah, let's go backwards. Let me have a movie that three hours long. That's a real crime here. Yeah, let's go backwards. Let me have a movie that's 50 minutes. Let's try 50 minutes. Please, girl, take it back to the Three Ninjas, all those movies, all like 45 minutes tops, and I got everything. I got fun, excitement, drama, everything in 45 minutes,

and I was good. Three Ninjas, oh my God. Yeah, you had the gall to make a movie longer than an SVU episode. How dare you. So which movie do you think deserves the dishonor of Big Picture Flop? I mean, I think it might be Joker too, just because no one on earth enjoyed it.

I'm gonna say Madame Web, because I'm a big fan of the Marvel multiverse, of madness, whatever it's called now. on Earth enjoyed it. I'm gonna say Madame Web, because I'm a big fan of the Marvel multiverse of madness, whatever it's called now. And you know, I'm gonna go with Madame Web. All right. And the winner is Megalopolis. Oh!

It's the easiest one to put the word flop in. There you go. There you go. There you go. Now, its box office haul was $13 million, but supposedly Coppola spent at least $120 million, if not more, of his own money. That's insane. Wow.

Now, if we had a runner up, it would have been Argyle, because Argyle's box office haul was a miraculous $96 million globally, but that was after spending $200 million for some ungodly reason. Like, how many days in did they buy to make that movie? Yeah. Yeah, Henry Cavill's writer supposedly said he got an entire day's end to himself.

Wow. Have you seen that man? Girl, he needs about four of those rooms just to sleep comfortably. In a post-lockdown world, people have been dying for in-person experiences. Unfortunately, this has opened up a door for amateurs and scammers to put on terrible shows. Now, you might not have heard of all the nominees in the next category since you are not as gullible

as the people who attended. But don't worry, I'll give a short description of each so you're clued in. Our nominees for biggest experiential flop are Bluey Day At the Dirt Dog Restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bluey is of course the much beloved Disney Plus cartoon about a blue-heeler puppy, her parents and her sister.

It's one of the most watched kids cartoons of all time and the most watched TV show in the US in 2024. This unofficial Bluey Day event promised face painting, games, a fun giveaway, and a promise to meet Bluey and her friends. Over 300 eager families RSVP'd and another 2,600 noted they'd be interested on the event's Facebook page. On May 11th, parents dragged their children to this themed day at the Dirt Dog hoping to give them a good time, but oh biscuits, were they let down. Almost immediately, there was no room, but that wasn't the worst part. The costumes worn by the employees

were cheap Amazon onesies, and the fun activities promised were just random assortments of board games. But it was free and not sanctioned by Disney. So what did you folks actually expect? Here's a picture. Oh my God, is this how a CeeCee's Pizza? Not the dirt dog getting ready to sue the big flop. Look at the employee all the way to the right

in like a cheap Amazon, like spandex, baggy spandex, blue. What character is this? Is this person supposed to be bluey? That's supposed to be bluey? That's supposed to be bluey. I am screaming. This looks like a flea market or something. Like it's just a bunch of tables set up.

And it looks like there's a guy set up. What does he have on his table? Is it like trading cards? Is it like... It looks like a terrible Cranshaw swap meet version of Bingo. There you go. terrible Cranshaw swap meat version of bingo. There you go. Up next, the Bridgerton Ball in Detroit. Okay, time out. Red flag, the Bridgerton Ball in Detroit.

We are already in a horrible position. The city reminds me the most of Bridgerton. Detroit, yeah. Now Bridgerton is a haughty, sexy, bodice ripper show on Netflix. It's a huge hit. At the time of its premiere, Bridgerton became the most watched Netflix original series.

Season two amassed 193 million viewing hours in its opening weekend, the highest opening for any English language series on Netflix at the time. So no wonder an IRL Bridgerton experience might garner some interest. Except an official event wasn't created. A knockoff scheme was hatched. So Detroit-coded. In September, Detroiters were promised sophistication, grace, historical charm, an elegant dining experience, a $2,000 giveaway, and ballroom dancing. Oh my. One couple who attended had even eloped the day before hoping to kick off their marriage with opulence and class. What they got was this.

Oh, wow. Prison food. I mean, have you ever seen British food? This is definitely a step up. Yeah. That's true, sorry friends. So that's some soggy tomato flavored noodles and bony chicken wings.

Yeah, and some green beans. And there is a brown, a thing with gravy on it. I'm unclear if it is mashed potatoes or- Or a baseball. I thought the pasta was shrimp... Or a baseball. Yeah. Yeah. I thought the pasta was shrimp cocktail for a second. Like you don't even know what type of food this is. I can't even identify it.

Yeah. Well, friends, don't worry if the food wasn't up to par because they did have dancing. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh my god, it's just a pole dancer in a red bikini or red lingerie.

With everyone else in their like, in their high society garb watching this woman pole dancing in a red bikini. I mean, if she would at least put some tassels or some doilies on it, at least it will be in theme. You know what I mean? I mean, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Well, that was impossible because Tink the Fairy, as she's named, this pole dancer had been hired

only three hours before the event. I love it. Wow. Now, the dancer performed to a couple of Bridgerton tracks, but also to the song Moves Like Jagger. In case you were wondering. I was gonna say, if you told me this woman pulled a dance to Pachelbel's Canon...

(*BOTH LAUGHING*) ...or Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, I would be thoroughly impressed. Yeah. The promised dance lessons, of course, were canceled. But there was a single violin player in case someone wanted to groove to that. Tickets to the event cost almost $200. Some folks paid for the Duke and Duchess package

that was supposed to include valet service. It did not. It was just someone stole their car. Yeah, yeah. Again, Detroit-coded. Yeah. Up next. Willie's Chocolate Experience.

Oh, I remember this. Iconic. Now, we actually covered Willie's Chocolate Experience way back in March. Unlike this event, our episode is Melt-in-your-mouth Delicious. And you can listen to it and all our episodes early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.

If you missed this episode, here's a quick summary. Taking advantage of newly available AI tools, a man named Billy Cool promised an unparalleled immersive experience. Unparalleled, it certainly was. Now, fooled by the psychedelic art that Cool used to advertise the event, Scottish parents rolled up with their kids

to a warehouse in Glasgow last February and were assaulted, figuratively, with bad costumes, a convoluted script, and actors who seemed confused. Which event would you most likely attend? I am a big Willy Wonka fan. I probably would roll up to the Willy Wonka thing. I probably would have bought a flight over to Scotland. I'm like, ooh, the Willy Wonka experience. I would have been at the Bridgerton one because I love like murder mystery. There's like old

theme classic dress up parties or whatever. And then I would have been incredibly uncomfortable if I had to stand 20 feet away from a stripper doing it to Beethoven's. Yeah, mostly because you don't carry cash anymore, right? Yeah, I don't carry cash. God, this is so awkward for me. I just have coins. I brought gold coins with everything. It's pretty interesting.

You want some frankincense and myrrh to tip her with. Yeah. And the winner is Willie's Chocolate Experience. Yes. Now, even though tickets were more expensive for the Bridgerton Ball, Willie's Chocolate Experience became legendary. When pictures and videos of the ridiculous actual event were posted, folks couldn't believe how shoddy everything looked.

Actors hired for the event told the media that they received their scripts the night before in their costumes, which were also cheap knockoffs from Amazon, only a few hours before the show. Let's take a look at an iconic photo. This queen. Yup. Yup. This queen.

We're looking at the Oompa Loompa math lab right now. You know the one. You're the one. You're so right, girl. I'm like, is this Willy Wonka world or a reboot of Breaking Bad? I don't know. I don't know. Either way, she is my favorite person

I've met parasocially all year. Now, since this was an unsanctioned Wonka event, the script was full of hilarious pseudonyms. Oompa Loompas were called Winky Doodles, Wonka was called McDuff, and a brand new character called The Unknown terrified the attending children by showing them a cheap mirror. Watch out! Here she is.

Oh, God! by showing them a cheap mirror. Watch out, here she is. Oh God. What? What? They just, not just making, adding characters. You don't remember Michael Myers in Willy Wonka. You don't remember Willy Wonka.

They got the woman from Barbarian. The woman in the basement from Barbarian. Yeah, if Mike Myers and Dr. Doom had a child, there it would be at Wonka World, I guess. Now, thankfully, in the script, the unknown could be defeated with a simple vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately, that vacuum cleaner was not provided during the show, and the actors had to improvise.

Instead of the lush psychedelic sets the parents and kids expected, the gray warehouse was sparsely decorated with random stuff like a paper rainbow, small plastic animals, plastic mushrooms, and stripey tarps forming a crappy maze. The experience was so terrible, the police were called. Wait, how did they defeat the unknown? Is the unknown still out there? Menacing Europe? The unknown has killed eight people so far across the European continent.

While 2024 was a great year for a lot of pop culture icons, some of them with hit movies or chart-topping records, some folks didn't have the year they might have been hoping for. The nominees for Biggest Pop Culture pop culture flop are JoJo Siwa. An alum of Dance Moms spent her teen years cultivating a clean, quirky image perfect for kids YouTube and Nickelodeon. But in 2024, she became old enough to drink, so it was time for a rebrand. Her new look included a confusing blend of black mesh bodysuits, a faux hawk, and makeup reminiscent of the rock band KISS.

With the new look came a new album and a huge ego. Siwa publicly claimed she was inventing a genre of music, gay pop, which, no, she wasn't. Bless Miss Siwa. Honestly, but the TikToks she gave us were great. And I mean, JoJo Siwa is every queer person going through something, girl. You just throw a little black eyeliner on it. Hey, you start drinking a little bit and you get angry. There she goes. There she goes. Katy Perry also debuted a new album this year, which didn't do so hot. Oh, Visha. Oh, no.

A video for the single Woman's World confused the crap out of people. for the single Woman's World confused the crap out of people. The video starts with Perry dressed as Rosie the Riveter, drinking whiskey and peeing in a urinal, before she takes off her jacket and reveals she's wearing an American flag bikini. She then gets hit with an anvil, grows gas-powered bionic legs, and struts around an apocalyptic city. It ends with her flying away in a helicopter, holding a stolen symbol for the female gender. Perry insisted it's satire. Nobody could discern the message. What exactly was she parodying?

And the internet didn't buy the explanation. Y'all just didn't get it. You don't get it. If you didn't get it, you're stupid. Oh, Katie. And I had such high hopes. I've been waiting for Katie to come back. Give us another Dark Horse of California Girls, but yet we got a woman's floppy world.

Women are so strong. Okay. Jennifer Lopez has had a tough couple of years. Now she's probably still raking it in, but her reputation, fame, and fairy tale marriage have started falling to pieces. In February, she released a self-funded multimedia project called This Is Me, now a love story, that included a movie and an album dedicated to her success and the love of her life, Ben Affleck. There was also an accompanying documentary called The Greatest Love Never Told. Well, the documentary reportedly painted her as an egoist and the tour for

her album was cancelled. The movie, which has a Metacritic score of 61, had critics divided. The AV Club called it a genuinely moving, absurdist autobiography, while The Guardian said, it's not the act of raw honesty it thinks it is. Whatever your feelings about it, everyone can agree it's a non-stop trip through J. Lo's subconscious. Literally. It opens with a Puerto Rican myth about star-crossed lovers told via a flower and a hummingbird. This part transitions into a surrealist motorbike accident that opens up J.Lo's heart, which is an engine made of gears and of factory workers.

And then there's a dance number? Don't worry. There's a great justification for the weirdness because these scenes are all revealed to be a dream told to Fat Joe, J.Lo's fictional therapist. And that's just the first few minutes. Okay, so this all happens in this movie? Mm-hmm.

Jesus Christ. And then the next scene, the unknown pops out from under the bed. And Macduff tries to suck him into a vacuum cleaner or whatever the fuck. Just playing the film Geely on repeat. Oh my God, Geely. I forgot about that one.

Was it a flop too when it came out? Probably. Huge. I think so. It's retroactively nominated for this year too, somehow. It was that massive. And that was her and Ben Affleck's and that as well, right?

That was the birth of Bennifer. Bennifer. Bennifer. Well, you know what? She ain't flopping, because she kept that mother tucking ring. So she is $7.5 million richer from an engagement, which is more than I can say. Right, she canceled the tour.

I didn't want to work anyway. That's fine, I'll stay home. I'll relax. There you go. Yeah, what she would have made in a tour, she made it in an engagement. So. Yeah, it's an engagement.

So who's your top pick for pop culture flop? Katy Perry. Katy Perry is the ultimate flop for me this year. And I love my girl, Katy, but girl, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. Yeah, I don't wanna say JoJo because I know, Misha, that's your dream guest on this podcast. But I think I'll say, I'll go with Katy Perry too, because it was like the expectations

are higher for Katy Perry, I think. Yeah. And the winner is JLo. Oh! Besides the career dip, it also seems like the Afflecks aren't gonna make it work after all. The couple that brought us, G. Lee, hit a rocky period this year. By the way, if you wanna hear our episode on G. Lee, or any of our other episodes for that matter,

you can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. You know, I'm sensing... I'm sensing some shadiness going on in the voting. Because most of these just end up being plugs for other episodes of this podcast. Is this rigged? I'm gonna need to go to the accountants of the Floppies, bring them out on stage right now. I need to talk to them.

Now, speaking of things whose time has passed, we'd now like to pay tribute to those big flop alumni who perished this year. Benifer is no more, wasn't exactly a shock. There have been signs of trouble for months. People Magazine reports that Jennifer Lopez wanted to work things out, but Ben Affleck did not. OJ Simpson, the former football star who was accused of killing his ex-wife

and her boyfriend has died. He was once at the top of the charts, one of the biggest names in music. But when Justin Timberlake was pulled over on Sunday night, the cop who arrested him for DWI had no idea who he was. I should definitely let you know that JT isn't dead, but his dignity certainly is. I like that there was one real death in there. So few things usually affect us more than business failures, since the poor decisions

of a wayward CEO or board of directors can endanger us all. Yay! Our nominees for biggest business flop of 2024 are. Coca-Cola Spiced. In an attempt to woo Gen Z consumers, Coke launched a bold new beverage in February of this year. With a hint of raspberry and just enough heat to make you wonder if you spilled some soap in your drink, Coca-Cola Spice was developed in just seven weeks.

Wow. Did you try it? No, I didn't in just seven weeks. Wow. Did you try it? No, I didn't even heard about it. Exactly. Coca-Cola Spice? Yeah, I literally haven't heard about it at all. Yeah, like a spicy Coca-Cola? Mm-hmm.

I guess, well, we're talking about it now, so it clearly didn't do very well. It was only out for seven weeks, too. It's at least come off the shelves. I mean, perhaps they should have let Coca-Cola Spiced cook a little bit longer because the consensus was, meh, just wasn't spicy enough. In September, Coca-Cola Spiced was pulled from the market. Fortunately, unlike with New Coke, there were no riots, just disinterest.

Was it supposed to be spicy? Was it supposed to be hot? Was it supposed to be hot? Or was it like cinnamon spice? A little bit of heat. Oh, heat. It was supposed to be a hot coke. I love a hot coke. Yeah.

Ha ha ha. Apple Vision Pro. In February, the long-awaited VR AR headset finally hit stores. This would be Apple's first major product release since the Apple Watch nine years earlier. For the minuscule price of $3,500 plus tax, you could finally live your minority-report fantasy swiping at the air like a maniac in your Feng Shui home office or your first class airplane seat. Sales have been lackluster and Apple has cut shipments of the product.

But some tech writers think it's still too early to call if the Pro will be a flop. After all, it's always possible that businesses will adopt the technology for unnecessarily immersive PowerPoint presentations. Yeah, that's why I wanna be surrounded with my job and a presentation. I wanna be looking at schematics and statistics all around my head. I don't wanna go to work.

You can be next to your KPIs. You can literally be inside of our to-dos, of our weekly to-do's. When I worked at a call center years ago, they gave a holiday gift and they gave two VR headsets to everyone, not one, two. What? And they were like, they were the disastrous one

where it was like, it was essentially just like a cardboard box that you put your phone into and then you could have your phone just two inches from your face. Like it was like, oh, we got a stigmatism for our Christmas present this year. That's great. I have two things to throw away now.

Our next nominee is Boeing. Oh. In January, a California bound Boeing 737 Max 9 left Portland, Oregon. Takeoff seemed normal, but six minutes later, a door plug blew out. The plane decompressed, oxygen masks dropped down, and panic erupted. Thankfully, the seat next to the gaping hole was empty, but a teen boy sitting nearby almost got blown out of the aircraft. His mother held onto him and only his shirt flew out into the abyss.

Miraculously, nobody died because the pilots, although likely shaken, were able to make a successful emergency landing. Then, more Boeing-related accidents cropped up, including a March Texas to Florida flight where the plane's engine randomly started shooting flames. That same month, another Boeing plane got a flat tire while a different plane had its tire fall off completely. The US Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded most of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 planes for a while, then cleared them for flight only if they'd halt production of the planes until they fixed their quality

control issues. The FAA found tons of failures in Boeing QC. All of these failures just reminded folks of the two Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia. And also, that death of a Boeing whistleblower in 2017, which, to be clear, Boeing was not implicated in. Well, what was his mother holding onto that just a shirt flew off? Like, was she... Like a cat? Or was she just holding the back of his neck and like the shirt like. Well this is where the son basically had to admit like, I'm wearing Tearaway clothes.

I didn't know. I didn't want you to find out like this, but my entire outfit got sucked off. Is he a working magician? Was he gonna do like a quick change act? Quick change act? Yes, he was going to America's Got Talent. He was gonna perform.

Clearly, it was like, what? That's crazy. Do you think when the plane got a flat tire, the pilot called their dad to ask how to fix it? Like, I'm number two for takeoff. I need help right now. He starts crying. I'm number two for takeoff. I need help right now.

He starts crying. Our final nominee is Red Lobster. The seafood chain filed for bankruptcy in May. At the time, it had been between one and $10 billion in debt. Now, partly to blame was COVID. Not enough folks felt like risking their lives for Cheddar Bay biscuits. Another weirder issue was Red Lobster's $20 ultimate endless shrimp promotion, which was meant to increase foot traffic, but ended up bleeding the company of $11 million.

Apparently, folks were starving for a good deal. ended up bleeding the company of $11 million. Apparently folks were starving for a good deal. I mean, this is why you do not say endless anything. Like, girl, listen, this is for my people. Black people, we love Red Lops, okay? And if you tell me I'm gonna get endless something, oh, I'm gonna challenge you. I'm bringing an oil drum.

I'm gonna fill up the drum with shrimp. Please, I'm gonna challenge you. I'm bringing an oil drum. I'm gonna fill up the drum with shrimp. Please, I'm taking all that home. I'm coming with a Ziploc freezer bag. I love the business decision of like, what if we just gave our products away for free? Oh, that's bad? Oh no, oh no, oh no.

Like, what? So who's the winner in your opinion? Well, Boeing is like a... Anytime you have a story where you got a whistleblower, that's a huge flop. It's like, okay, something horrible is going on here. Yeah, I would say Boeing too, except they have all these weird rules in aviation, like, about losing, suing and stuff. I don't think we can even get our real retribution.

So, I feel like Red Lobster may have lost the most, and they are probably the biggest flop on paper, but in my mind, it's Boeing. And the winner is Boeing. OK. There we go. Even though nobody's got seriously hurt on the Alaska flight, the overwhelming amount

of accidents points to a deeper issue. And folks are voting with their wallets on this one. And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the People's Choice Award. We polled our listeners to ask them, the real experts, who will go down in history as the biggest flop of the year. The nominees are... Boeing's Airborne Disasters, Willie's Chocolate Experience, Megaflopolis, and Reagan, the Australian breakdancer.

-♪ -♪ Okay, without further ado, your choice for the biggest flop of the year is... Boeing! Yes. But yet we're all still going to keep on flying. And yeah, we a places to be. If I'm on a plane and it's like, this is a Boeing,

I go, all right, well, I just hope this one works. I don't know, I'm just gonna sit here and drink my Coca-Cola spice that they're serving on the plane. Well, thank you so much to our amazing return guests, Monet X Change and Scott Seas for joining us here on the first ever Floppy Awards. And of course, thanks to all of you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review. Next week,

we'll be bringing you an encore of one of our favorite episodes from the year, but we'll be back with a new episode in two weeks when we'll dive into the wild world of online... journalism? It's the lies and scandals of Carlos Watson and Aussie Media. Bye! Bye, y'all! Bye! [♪ MUSIC PLAYING FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES OUT, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC FADES out, MUSIC F If you like the big flop, you can listen early and ad free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. The Big Flop is a production of Wondery and At Will Media, hosted by Misha Brown, produced by Sequoia Thomas, Harry Huggins, and Tina Turner, written by Anna Rubinova and Luke Burns, engineered by Zach Rapone. With support from Andrew Holzberger. Managing producer is Molly Getman.

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Dave Easton, and Marshall Louie for Wondering. The following is a message from Canada Action. Across the country, Canadians are feeling the effects of a slowing economy. Canadian energy is key to getting our nation back on track. So why did the federal environment minister proudly announce that Canada is the only country in the world to propose an oil and gas production emissions cap? No one else is doing this because it's a bad idea. We need to work together to ensure Canada is open for business. We can't afford more barriers to job-creating natural resource investment.

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