The Daily Zeitgeist - Why Can't We Trend Together by Trendy Thomas 6/6: Steve Bannon, Ikea, Roblox, Will Smith, Academy Awards, Biden D-Day

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

In this edition of Why Can't We Trend Together by Trendy Thomas, Jack and Miles discuss Steve Bannon going to jail, Ikea paying people to 'work' in its virtual Roblox store, Will Smith getting slapped in 'Bad Boys 4', the Academy finally recognizing stunt people, Biden observing D-Day in France and much more! WATCH: Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together (Countdown, 1986)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti and I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this episode of Why Can't We Trend Together? By Trendy Thomas. Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why. There it is. I'm Jack. That is Miles.

We are currently kind of into this video of a performance of the song that Hotline Bling samples called Why Can't We Live Together by Jamie Thomas. 1986 live performance. We'll just put in the footnotes, man. Just watch this. It's one of the best. My keyboard isn't plugged in and I'm on drugs live performance. So much on drugs. On so much drugs.

It's really infectious. Or not. I don't want to cast aspersions. He could just be a freak. No, no, no, no, no, no. He's high as a kite. High in the only, in only a way that people in the late 70s were like that high publicly you know

yeah yeah yeah if anyone has any details on that please let us know where we can get those drugs um he's yeah he's flying but it's a good it's i it's surprisingly close to hotline bling um because when hotline bling

first came out people were, this is the same as that dram song. This is the same as... No, it is straight up this Timmy Thomas song. It's the laziest kind of sampling. When people are just like, yeah, that part, I'm just going to put some drums on it.

It's fine. Not to say that that's not a great way of sampling, but it doesn't take much imagination. There was no mystery mystery there was no imagination um anyways uh highly recommend it and maybe we'll play it for you in one of our forthcoming video episodes keep an eye out for that yeah yeah slowly we're in the lab we're in the lab in the lab uh well miles uh steve bannon it's not always that i'm happy to see his name trending but today's one of those days yeah he's going to jail big man in the big house and you know this is what happened so it's not because like well is it for like the coup and like all this other stuff no he is basically going to jail because he was convicted of

contempt of Congress after he did not comply with a subpoena from the January 6th committee. And he was like, yeah, asshole, try and force it. And then he was convicted and he's like, I'm gonna appeal. And the appeals court's like, no, sorry, asshole. So now he must

go to jail to report to jail for his four-month sentence uh by july 1st yeah shame that he won't be not only had he not faced consequence like all of his behavior in line with this specific conviction is just the behavior of somebody who has been so free of consequence for their whole life they can't even like really conceive of the idea of facing consequences right they're just like congress like you're gonna go to jail man like you gotta come and like just at every turn just was like yeah okay yeah sure sure dickhead a fourth polo shirt on and give you the double barrel fingers. Fuck you. And it's funny, like, part of me is like

I hate celebrating people going to jail because fuck prisons. I think we can make an exception. But with this, like, we're just so used to these fucking freaks like you're saying, just being like, I don't give a fuck about the law. And you're like, why the fuck do we then? And then you're like, okay, glad.

So there are, I guess, a four month sentence. uh but you know like he'll probably come out stronger than ever yeah be interesting to see how jail affects him and trump's not going to jail right like we can all agree like that september or uh not september 11th uh july 11th which i believe is only 6.88 weeks from September 11th, is going to be disappointing, right? Now I need to look at what 6.8 weeks was either side of September 11th, 2001. I feel like this may be opening up some sacred geometry. Crack the code.

It's a reference to a paragraph about pumpkin pie M&M's. I don't know. Not everybody listens to every episode. Okay, I'll read it again. I didn't say you needed to do that. Well, the pre-seasonal launch of milk chocolate pumpkin pie M&M's is a strategic move that taps into Mars. I can't, dude. I'm going to be saying this

in the old folks' home when no one comes to visit me anymore. This is the one thing I'll have on loop coming out of my mouth. What did mean what did it all mean oh he's he's urinating into his plants again hey man that's we're actually going to be required to do that by the time we're in old folks probably had to recycle the the moistures and then you drink drink out of the bottom and uh the the plant will have mostly cleaned it out oh like water world yeah exactly doesn't he drink his piss in water world he does he has like a big funnely machine full of like yeah yeah piss processor and what's it's galore uh yeah clean thing about he's got plenty

um all right ikea is uh there's a new way to make money, folks. And... Yeah, what? I'm still having trouble. This is... IKEA has created a Roblox video game. Our game inside of Roblox. I'm there. I understand that. And then... But it pays people to work? $16 an hour

to virtual workers who have to be 18 or older. And your duties include organizing products and Ikea showrooms and serving endless amounts of meatballs at the Swedish food market. So I think it's just like they have actual work that needs to be done in the Roblox. So like, it feels like a paid moderator account,

but just in a video game where things need to be done. I just don't know. What are they? How? How is their digital labor being done? This just feels funny, right? Where they're like, hey, you work at Ikea, but you're not moving shit around for them in a realistic way that affects their business. I don't know.

Maybe you have to... Maybe it helps bring people to the IKEA Roblox game. There's somebody who's there doing reliable work that you can interact with. I don't know. It allows, quote, player employees to immerse themselves in the working world of IKEA. Applying for this job includes answering questions like, if you were pixelated IKEA furniture, what would you be? I think it's just like a fun way to, because I don't think everybody can now get a gig working at digital IKEA, because if that was the case, I know a lot of people who would probably just do that. that like 16 an hour i can be fully butt naked smoking weed and i eat digital meatballs fine

fine sure sure but maybe this is like the testing ground for our future matrix battery world where they're like yeah man suit up for your digital shift we need your human calories to power our machine world yeah i'll take your job though so there's a already a popular game 3008 3008 uh which is a horror survival game set in an infinite ikea um and ikea has a history of taking legal action against indie horror action games that are set in ikea like stores but aren't actually associated with them so yeah i think i mean a more fun video game is like i don't know if it takes place in the only thing i associate with ikea is swedish meatballs and couples fighting and arguing yeah i feel like uh is there no movie that takes place in ikea like it feels like it should be there was remember there were like people who are illegally shooting like a show inside of an ikea this is like 10

years ago i feel like why is there not like a good big budget like zombie movie or rom-com or action movie like die hard in an ikea yes please oh you're saying like as the venue yeah there oh 2009 it was called dude yeah it was a channel 101 show it was called ikea heights and did it like presuppose did it did it like create a fictional universe where like different people lived in different sections of an ikea yeah like it was like a soap opera wow but i think they were just using the sets basically the built out things as sets oh wow and it was just shot in an ikea this dude man then like randall like randall park was in it matt bronger past guests i could see an ikea set movie in like basically every genre.

Oh, like an Ikea? It's that malleable? Like a post-apocalyptic movie where the world that we've built for ourselves indoors is just one big Ikea. You sleep in the one bedroom set up and then get out of bed and you're in the middle of an Ikea with a bunch of other bedroom set ups.

Then also, yeah, it could be easily a comedy. Easily a rom-com where you're in the middle of an ikea with like a bunch of other bedroom setups then also yeah it could be easily a comedy easily a rom-com where you're like trapped in an ikea trying to i don't know wait everyone's trapped in an ikea i just felt like as a venue no no i just mean like in the broad existential sense for the comedy for the rom-com you know in the way that the reason that couples actually fight in ikea's because yeah is this the rest of my life like turns consumerism into like an overwhelming uh existential experience um yeah well look just just fucking make just open up like a fucking drive-thru for meatballs yeah that would really help out i think that's honestly the only move

ikea has to play after this after obviously just giving people fast furniture but create a window drive-thru section just for the meatballs because i will eat them they need help come on ikea listen to us uh let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades.

Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high-control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out

in your career, you have a lot of questions, like how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job

and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry,

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them. Why is that? I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on.

From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically Black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained?

This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network

is sponsored by Diet Coke. And we're back. We're back. And as I said during the break, we got the story where Will Smith gets slapped in Big Boys 4. Misspoke. I've been a dad for way too long. Instead in Big Boys 4. Misspoke. I've been a dad for way too long.

Instead of Bad Boys 4. Big Boys 4. Big Boys, Big Boys. What you gonna do? This is so weird. They're leaking so much weird shit like incrementally about this because I feel like no one I loved the first one and then it was just diminishing returns after that.

And then this time I saw a thing where Lionel Messi was in an ad for it. That was just sort of like, what the fuck? That's just not funny. There are so many weird sports tie-ins for movies around this time of year. I remember, was it two years ago when Nope came out? And there were all these Steph Curry oh yeah tie-ins with nope yeah wait why is why is steph curry playing basketball inside the house from nope right you know right no this one was like messy was like their neighbor yeah he's like he's saying like

yeah yeah yeah and you're like okay and then the last thing i saw was just like a clip a behind the scenes clip of this camera rig that will smith was using to create like these pov shots like for when he was like drawing his weapon and it would just like be like pov of him holding the gun then pov back looking at him and like he was able to he was operating the camera with it i was like oh that's an interesting filmmaking thing but there's just like so much being like bad boys bad boys bad boys that i'm like okay we get it like now what he gets yeah so now you know what the great the great piece of uh viral marketing they came up with is putting something uh that is going to be headline generating inside the movie. In this case, there is a scene in which

Will Smith is having a panic attack and Martin Lawrence has to slap him several times to shake him out of it. And I do deeply apologize for if that spoiled one of the set pieces of

Bad Boys 4 for people. And then, but what happens uh probably if i had to guess he gets snapped out of it um like does the thing i mean the only way having a panic attack and then get like brutally murdered by the drug cartel that there's just such a weird thing like it for it to be like this sort of like meta culture joke like does it does will smith during this panic attack say something about martin lawrence's wife so we don't know we have this setup you know i mean possible to know that miles um the it's just such a stupid wait i don't like why tease that out it's a pop exorcism miles it's a pop exorcism that's what some critics are calling it

oh command the ones who are paid to like it uh other people are calling it a lame meta joke a tasteless nod to the slap meant to rehab smith's image people are really mad about the slap still i've noticed yeah you know i didn't i wasn't expecting that not you weren't expecting the slap i just i can't i don't want to see things like that on stage like that i don't know yeah granted it was like a weird moment but whatever man sure a tasteless nod to the slap how dare you cheapen that moment when he walked on stage and slapped so it Which is funny too because on the internet I felt like a lot of black people were like, I mean,

you know, it's the same shit about his wife. That was kind of the vibe. There was so much pearl clutching happening from like, that's so shameful. So you're like, okay, I see the racism part creeping in. Right. It was just funny because most people

were like yo he's been saying shit about jada for so long that you could kind of see like a timeline of where it comes to that obviously no one's saying like yeah advocate for putting hands on people constantly out of nowhere just on a on a dime but it was sort of one of those things i mean dude was talking shit about his wife i don't know yeah shit like that happens call it a tasteless reference to the slap is weird slap is like is a tasteless like tabloid moment so what what the fuck are you even talking about yeah clearly they don't care if they're saying they don't give a shit uh the movie is getting like about the same reviews as previous bit boys uh the three bad boys three which was the the top grossing film for the year 2020 um because it was the last movie to come out before the pandemic shut everything down

feels weird for a bad boys movie to come out in the early part of the year like bad boys has always felt like a summer movie thing it was uh i think they had extremely low expectation i think was what why they did that they were like and they knew about the pandemic and they had some sense what you know not everybody obviously knew what christopher nolan they didn't tell about it because he had tenet about to come out he was like uh yeah yeah i mean because yeah i mean because like when i think about bad boys too i was so hyped because that was the summer i graduated high school and like bad boys too yeah yeah yeah i was like oh fuck yeah bro bad boys too the world is fucking smiling on me i can't wait to graduate college in 2007 everything will be okay yeah that's the that's funny that every bad boys movie like heralds some uh plague upon us like bad boys 2 is the global financial collapse bad boys 3 is uh covet 19 we'll we'll see what we got coming to us second trump presidency another

global pandemic i don't know we don't know there was that story about no the like a person in mexico dying of bird flu which everyone was like yeah that was something that i recently asked my wife about uh she's not an epidemi epidemiologist she's a medical doctor though stop asking about this hearing stuff that like it's not going to be a hundred years until the next global pandemic this last break that we had

between 1911 and COVID-19 it might be a lot sooner because of climate change she's like yeah yeah yeah no of course I was like what where's your bedside manner a lot sooner because of climate change she's like yeah yeah no of course i was like what uh wait what where's your bedside manner don't fucking be don't give me home with the fucking truth and i do leave her reviews about her bedside manner all the time and uh she's leaving me so uh

but yeah it sounds that sounds very scary to me the world health organization was like the risk of like human transmission is pretty low. That's what they're still saying. At the moment. Human transmission. Anyways, stay safe out there, folks. The reviews look about the same. We'll see if Bad Boys 4

is the movie that gets the box office out of its dull drum will you go see it no will you watch it on the airplane yeah yeah yeah that's what i think that's where i think this one nets out at at least for me but i get it that that scene in

bad boys 2 where they're throwing things off of the car carrier is uh and isn't there like bodies in they're throwing dead bodies like it's a car chase where they're yeah yeah yeah yeah like cars and then thrown dead bodies uh is one of the wildest things like it's it's not a high point in the history of cinema but it is a point things that make you go things that you can never your brain can't forget yeah i get it let's see the academy might finally uh listen to us and add

a stunt category to the oscars this is something we've been saying you know they need to something we specifically have been clamoring for again you're welcome you're welcome the world so they already just added a uh casting category which i think is fun right like casting is there's a movie podcast like talk about and this is who they were initially going to cast and then they either because of like circumstance or just good decision making like right went with who they went with and it like changes fucking everything. That's cool. I like the idea of being able to appreciate casting more.

Granted, they're not going to be like, and look at who we almost went with on this. That would have fucking sucked. Will Smith was going to be Neo in the Matrix. They can't do that at the Oscars. The casting one is cool in theory, but I feel like

in execution, it's not going to be that fun of an addition to the Oscars. The casting one is cool in theory, but I feel like in execution it's not going to be that fun of an addition to the Academy Awards. However, stunts, where you get to see them do the stunts and show you what went into the stunts and think about the art

and physics that goes into this shit. If we're giving awards for effects, if we're giving awards for effects, if we're giving awards for costumes, we should be giving it for like, this is such a part of the filmmaking process that to not to ignore that. It really does seem a bit odd. Like anytime you're like,

holy shit in a movie, it's not because like, it's like we have to honor the moments where people go holy shit and how those came together especially like with stunts but i think effect is also like one that we should be because they don't have like a category for best like visual like effect do they like best yeah special effect visual effects yeah they do yeah yeah yeah all right are you okay nah not at all yeah godzilla minus not really man i believe won it this year this last year okay yeah yeah yeah i haven't watched the academy awards since the slap uh it made me so upset i get it i get it i

get it yeah um but yeah like i think what was you like it's like when mary poppins like won it that's how long i've had that shit visual effects yeah okay i don't believe you anyways uh this is like me with the artificial flavors shit yeah i'm like i don't know man are you sure about that? I'm like, yes. It's right there. It's right there. And finally, Joe Biden went over to observe D-Day in France, and Russia was not present, because even though they were a big part, some may say the big part of winning World War II.

That's according to historians on the subject. Experts on the subject say that maybe it was the contribution of Russia that ultimately won World War II. I live in America, and it all happened on D-Day. When you said Biden went to go observe D-Day in France, I just thought of him as being this nepo person who was able to dodge the drafts. Like, Daddy, I want to see the men land on the beach. Observe that looked like it hurt we all sat in dirigibles with our binoculars with our binoculars on yes some real sporting fighting going on over there um no and then uh biden like dunked on russia during his speech suggesting parallels between the invasion in Ukraine and World War II, which, I don't know,

teasing World War III may not have been the best tone for observing World War II. Yeah, not right now. Not when there's a lot of nuclear bluster happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also weird to hear someone rant about illegal aggressions in the world with absolutely no mention of Gaza. Yeah, seriously.

But, you know, this is a campaign stop, and in addition to his speech, he dropped a new commercial on D-Day featuring interviews with veterans crapping on Trump for being a draft dodger. Oh, genius, Team Biden.

Genius, that's right. Of all the thing like so trump has like called soldiers who died in wars like you know just like shit shit on them shit on their families like made like i wouldn't have gotten captured yeah yeah like he's done so much bad shit with regards to the military that going with like draft dodger just feels like we're mad like and granted he you know got out of the draft purely due to his wealth and privilege but it was vietnam yeah exactly you're like haven't we stopped vilifying vietnam draft dodgers right right right it is a weird take but also just like weirder in the larger context because veterans are always used as this like political cudgel yeah where but neither party gives a fuck about them they just think it's this

thing you have like especially since 9-11 like evoking the troops and shit feels like oh man it feels good to do now do we give a fuck about the condition like these people are in when we've used them in our wars of empire and resources no so like it's weird to be like do you like you politically these people aren't even respected and just used as like a prop so then to like use it to attack another person it's like but none none of y'all give a fuck about it so who's this supposed to move and the veterans that support trump they don't give a fuck that he was disrespecting like gold star families and all that kind of shit so it's just like okay man yeah you spent a lot of money talking to some like older dudes who are talking about the war right yeah

is this like a savvy political move i honestly don't think so but god is ass i say yeah look me i say god is trying to be the goat of losing elections i guess so sure let's try it out let's try it out let's try it out and like no maybe like do something about veteran care too as president that would be cool hey what about that oh man you know donald trump he didn't have to suffer like you did in a meaningless war yeah huh what do you think now about him it's like i don't know i think that war was meaningless i'm kind of pissed off that i had to be part of it yeah okay no no more more on him being like a shithead uh maybe you could use like old tiny grizzled phrases sorry colonel do you mind saying this line uh i'm not really

comfortable just just read it just to see how it sounds okay donald trump is a damn shithead according to me perfect thank you we're gonna thank you so much and thank you for your service all right those are some of the things that are trending on this thursday afternoon we are back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get your vaccines. Get your flu shots.

Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church.

Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports.

Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pardenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.