There Are No Girls on the Internet - Elon doubles down on antisemitism; Grindr forces LGBTQ staff back to the office; Your car knows your sex life; Something is rotten at Rotten Tomatoes – NEWS ROUNDUP

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Are you still on Twitter? Over on the Patreon we’re having a conversation about the decision to stay on the platform or leave: https://www.Patreon.com/tangoti     US law firm alters diversity fellowship criteria after lawsuit: https://news.yahoo.com/us-law-firm-alters-diversity-231155108.html    Good company! Indeed Will Give Trans Employees $10,000 to Relocate for Gender-Affirming Care: https://www.them.us/story/indeed-trans-employees-relocation   If You’ve Got a New Car, It’s a Data Privacy Nightmare: https://gizmodo.com/mozilla-new-cars-data-privacy-report-1850805416   Elon is being antisemitic on main, while Linda is tweeting about how much she likes sports! https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/elon-musk-again-undermines-x-ceo-linda-yaccarino-reinforcing-why-advertisers-cant-trust-her   Airbnb is over in NYC: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/06/new-york-city-airbnb-short-stay-booking-rental-rules-laws-impact   Grindr’s Return-to-Office Ultimatum Has Gutted a Uniquely Queer Space in Tech: https://www.wired.com/story/grindrs-return-to-office-ultimatum-gutted-a-uniquely-queer-space-in-tech/   The Decomposition of Rotten Tomatoes: The most overrated metric in movies is erratic, reductive, and easily hacked — and yet has Hollywood in its grip: https://www.vulture.com/article/rotten-tomatoes-movie-rating.htmlSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than adds supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. Learn how podcasting can help your

business. Call 844-844-I-Hart. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramo sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tav Ramos. I'm Tom Boca. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise

if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. There are No Girls on the Internet as a production of IHeart Radio

and Unbossed Creative. I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Gros. girls on the internet. I am here with my fantastic producer Joey. Joey, how are you? How was your holiday? Hi, Bridget. I'm doing good. My holiday was nice. It's nice to have, you know, a couple days over. Yeah, did you do anything fun? Um, what did I do this weekend? Yeah, actually, I did a drag performance for the first time. Oh my God! Yeah, I, it's like I'd been wanting to do for a bit. And then my friend, I had like a birthday party over the weekend. It was like, I want to

my friends to do drag performances. So I was like, all right, sure. Why not? Yeah, it was super fun. I totally, totally want to do that again. So made my drag debut. Oh, my God. I hope to many more. Also, happy birthday. Oh, no. It was my friend's birthday. Oh, friends birthday. Okay. Well, happy birthday to your friend. Well, let's get into some of these new stories that folks might have missed on the internet this week. So first of all, we have to start with a little bit of an update, which is an update on our enemy of the pod professional litigate. That's right, Edward Blum, the one man wrecking ball against diversity. This week on the podcast, I did a deep dive on the show Stuff Mom Never Told You into

Edward Blum's legal challenge that he is bringing against the black venture capital firm, Fearless Fund, for giving out grants and money and support for black women entrepreneurs. After Blum successfully brought a legal challenge that gutted the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action. Well, Blum is also challenging diversity fellowship programs for people of color, LGBTQ folks, and people with disabilities at law firms. And it looks like that challenge might have been somewhat successful, at least with one law firm, because the law firm, Morrison and Forrester has removed language specifying that their fellowship is only open to black, Hispanic, Native American, or LGBTQ applicants, according to a flyer from the program's website. Now, the flyer has been altered to say that applicants need to, quote, bring a diverse perspective to the firm as a result of your adaptability, cultural fluency, resilience, and life experiences. So, luckily, it doesn't sound like they are completely abandoning the diversity part of their fellowship program outright, but that they're probably changing the wording, probably because they're hoping to avoid a big legal challenge or legal battle with Blum and just want to be able to focus on like doing their work. The Fellowship is called the Keith Wetmore-1L Fellowship for Excellence, Diversity, and Inclusion,

and it supported law students from historically underrepresented groups in the legal industry. It was also a recruitment tool to help diversify law firms, which folks probably know are notoriously not very diverse. The fellowship consists of a paid summer associate position, which in law firms can often lead to a full-time job that pay in the six figures after graduation. And a $50,000 stipend. So way to go, Edward Blum. I hope the fact that this law firm had to amend their fellowship program is to your liking. I hope it makes you feel good. I hope you will leave these people alone.

I hope you will let them just do their jobs. And we will keep y'all updated on how these cases progress. It's so messed up and it's so like obviously messed up that it's, I don't even know, like, what to say at this point. Well, I often feel like I think that you might feel now where I don't even know what to say. I think that Blum is someone who will not run. rest until a very small subsection of people, him and people who look like him or making all the decisions for everyone are the ones who are getting everything. I think that's what his, I think that's what he wants.

And so when I hear about the challenges that he is taking on, it's hard for me to even really know what to say. And in the episode of Stuff Mom never told you that I did this week, something that really comes up for me after doing all that, that research into Blum and his motivation. and the people that he's suing are that these are people who are really have work to do, right? Like, they are trying to write societal wrongs. They are trying to make landscapes more equitable. And that is real work.

And so I can understand why this legal firm is just like, you know, if tweaking our website language is going to maybe make this guy go away, let's do it. But they shouldn't have to do that. They should be able to focus on what it is that they are trying to accomplish. with their work. And so, yeah, I, Blum remains an enemy of the show. We will keep folks posted on his next moves. Hopefully, they won't include continuing to go after marginalized people and the institutions that support us. I think that's interesting. I feel like, I remember for a while there are all these stories that were coming out about, like, people that would, like, fake being Native American. for like some scholarship or like there were a couple like really big cases of like people that were like claiming to be like transracial or something like I don't know it's it's interesting

that this is happening after I feel like we had a big conversation about there was a big sort of media frenzy around that um I don't know it's just like it's the same sort of attacking all of these programs from like different angles which I yeah this whole thing is so weird it's so weird well I'm such a weird guy if folks are interested in more about him, his background, his motivation. Check out this week's episode with me on stuff I'm never told you, because it is a doozy. So speaking of supporting or not supporting marginalized people, we got to talk about what's going on at Grindr. Folks probably know there have been a flurry of big companies making remote workers come back to the office like Google.

And ironically, Zoom. You know, Zoom makes the tech that we all use to work remotely, but apparently won't let their staff work remotely using the tech that they build. I don't know. It's kind of a weird stitch. But employees who work at the dating app Grindr are being forced to come back to work in person. And now staff is saying that that mandate, that policy, has really dealt a blow to Grindr's unique queer-friendly workplace culture, which employees say was a rarity in tech. This is all from Wired, which did a really great deep dive into what's going on. Since many of Grinders' employees are LGBTQ, in-person work policies means having to give up access to support systems and support networks and sometimes medical care networks that you've established

during a time where folks are seeing waves of anti-LGBQ violence and threats across the country. Wire talked to one trans employee that they call Robin, who said that the mandate forced a choice between a job they loved and a support system that includes trusted doctors who provide their transgender Medical Care, Robin ultimately chose to leave the company, but said that initially coming to work at Grindr was, quote, a blast of fresh air compared to other jobs in the tech industry. I felt normal. I didn't feel like one queer person or the most noticeable queer person at a company. It was what I was always looking for, and now that is gone. Robin is actually not alone, because none of the eight openly trans employees who worked at Grindr

chose to relocate. And the trans staffer that they spoke to said that it's really indicative of the cuts and how they are impacting more marginalized staff the most. Robin says, demanding that LGBTQ plus people move for their job in this political environment conflicts with so much of Grindr's mission that it's close to its users, that it's part of the community. This all started last month when Grindr abruptly gave its all remote staff two weeks to pledge to work from an office two days a week starting in October or lose their jobs come August 31st. 82 out of the 178 employees, that's 46% of the staff, were let go after rejecting that mandate, according to the Grindr Union, which went public two weeks before the ultimatum. The policy would have forced many of them to

relocate to L.A., Chicago, or San Francisco. Now, this is all happening against the backdrop of Grindr's recent unionization. The Communications Workers of America, which now represents employees of Grindr filed two unfair labor practice charges with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board against Grindr, accusing the company of unlawfully suppressing discussion of working conditions and company chats, and through an agreement that terminated employees were offered in exchange for severance pay. Now, Grindr does say that this abrupt back-to-office plan has nothing to do with the recent unionization. That is just a huge coincidence, according to Grindr's higher-ups. However, the staff says that the cuts disproportionately impoverhters, and pay.

union supporters. Nine out of the 11 union organizing committee members were forced out. Staff is also worried about how this will ultimately impact the site. Obviously, for dating apps and hookup apps, privacy concerns are heightened. Like, privacy is important on any app or any platform, but especially an app where you're meeting people, you're having intimate conversations, photos are being exchanged, you're meeting up, that kind of thing. The Exodus has raised concerns among the remaining staff about Grinders' functionality as an app, recalling Elon Musk's employee project Twitter and the ensuing glitchy chaos. So this really does seem to be part of a larger pattern playing out within tech companies.

I know that this came up on one of our previous newscasts, but Ben Collins at NBC calls this CEO contagion, where there's this vibe of tech CEOs like cleaning house, firing everybody, laying everybody off, without real meaningful regard for how it will impact the platforms that they run and could ultimately make those platforms worse. Yeah, and like obviously, like this case is particularly sensitive since so much of the employees there are like LGBTQ plus identifying. Honestly, I'm surprised not all of them. But yeah, like I feel like this is part of a pat. I don't know. Like my job, they're starting to like open up the offices again and encourage people like come back into the office.

And I technically the office I work for is in a different state than I live in. So, like, I'm crossing my fingers hoping they're not going to, like, mandate that anytime soon. But it is so weird. It's been three years where we've been working remotely and things have been going pretty smoothly. It's definitely, yeah, like you said at the end there, like, it is this whole, like, CEO contagion about not really sure what the, I mean, I guess the motivation is to get people to, like, whatever. I don't know. I don't understand this whole push all of a sudden. And it just seems like it's going to end with a lot of chaos.

But yeah, also, yeah, Grindr with the privacy thing, that's scary. That's, I mean, that's a hookup app. Like, that is it especially, like, any dating app I'd be worried, but, like, Grindr especially. It's not the kind of app where I would feel comfortable showing up if they arbitrarily and haphazardly gutted the privacy and security staff. And it sounds like that's what, according to this wired piece, that's what some of the staff are worried about that. If they just make these massive cuts to the workforce in mass, like it's going to be that much harder to ensure a safe and secure platform. And when you're dealing with a hookup app,

your people on that app really need to be able to feel like they're on a safe and secure platform. Oh, yeah. I feel like this is just like a good example of like rainbow capitalism, still capitalism. Rainbow CEOs are still CEOs. They're still going to put their own interests first. and yeah, that's just, that's, that's messed up. I don't know a ton about Grindr, like, as an organization. I know, like, a couple years back, there was some sort of, like, discussion about, like,

how trans people's experiences on the app were and stuff like that. So, again, it's like the, if, you know, what they're, like, the eight openly trans employees, like, decided not to relocate. I mean, how is that going to affect the app, like, not having any trans people on the team of your, or maybe losing all the trans people on your team. That just, it doesn't seem like it's going to end well. Yeah, that's such a good point. And the trans employee that Wired spoke to, I mean, I don't know what's going on at Grindr,

but it does sound like if one demographic is just like no longer represented at your workforce, management really has to ask how equitable was, were these layoffs, how equitable was this rollout? if it completely got rid of an entire subsection of your workforce in that way. Like, it just seems to me like obviously something is going on there. I think that the staffer that they talked to who said that it is impact, these cuts are impacting the more marginalized staff more. It seems obvious that that's the case.

And so I'm curious how it's going to work out. But I feel for staff who, like, if in the piece they talk about how this was rolled out very abruptly and how for the last few months, staff who worked remotely were like, are we going to have to come back to the office? And management was like, no, you'll be fine. No, we have no plans to make that change. And then coincidentally, after the unionization was successful, now this is like abruptly rolled out. And so, yeah, it just seems like a situation where management is really going out their way to roll out this policy in the most abrupt, chaotic way possible, possibly in retaliation for unionization, question mark, I don't know, but, you know, that timing does seem awful coincidental

to me. Let's take a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk, to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. There's the worst singer in the group?

The worst? Yeah. Me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The group. The yard birds, right? That's the name.

The Harvard yard, but they're open to change. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open. Since you guys are middle aged. One erection. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Human be me.

I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only IHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business. Think IHeard.

Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-844-I-Hart to get started. That's 844-Eyheart. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin. Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got to. at the bar like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. So I do want to balance the scales a little bit. You know, we talk a lot about corporations doing the wrong thing when it comes to supporting marginalized staff. So it is nice to be able to report on a company doing something kind of good, going in the opposite direction. Indeed, the online job search company is offering $10,000 to trans employees or immediate family members if they need to move to escape laws restricting trans health care. So them reports that they've actually been doing this policy since July after employees expressed concern over anti-LGBQ Plus legislation in Texas and Florida, but they're only now making this policy public.

The relocation monies are being treated as a stipend, and indeed, it's also covering any taxes on that money, which is pretty important. Indeed, it's already provided that support to at least one worker, a senior content creator who moved from Texas to Colorado not long after Indeed announced the initiative. As soon as I found out that I was getting the money, it was very much like a weight had been lifted, the employee told Bloomberg. Them reports that Indeed is not alone. This is actually a slow trend of companies offering this kind of support to staff. Financial Software Company, Intuit offers relocation money and even the Air Force announced that they would help trans service members and their families relocate if they are stationed in states with discriminatory laws. Obviously, as you were saying earlier, Joey, like, I don't like the idea of like, oh, now trans folks can like join the military industrial complex too. Right, right. But, you know, it is what it is.

You got to take what you can get. And I guess I feel like, I don't know, it is a bummer that we live in a reality where this kind of policy is necessary, but that is the reality that we live in. And even though I obviously think this is great, everybody deserves to live in a place where they can have access to whatever medical care they need. And everybody deserves to live places where policies are not hostile to their very existence. And so I am really happy that people have access to this relocation support. But it shouldn't be a luxury just for people who have like good office jobs. It should really be for everybody. That should be the bottom, bare minimum that people can expect.

Right. I think that's the one thing that kind of concerns me about this, because I remember seeing this article that are an article about it and being, it was the same thing. I was like, wow, that's really cool. I don't know, maybe I'm just like a skeptic when I was sort of like, this seems, I feel like, A, are they going to actually do this? Or are they just saying they are? So it's good to hear that I guess they've done it at one case now. But I feel like what the people that I'm more worried about is like, like, who is this open to? Because again, like if you're working like a service job in like Texas or Florida where you're not making a lot of money or

living paycheck to paycheck. I mean, you're probably going to be the one in the most danger of living under these policies and how they're going to affect you. Like, is that covered in it? Which is not to say again, like obviously I had my little office, not office job because I don't have an office right now. It's important that everybody gets that kind of respect and help. But yeah, it's It's, I don't know. I am cautiously optimistic about this. I think it's a, it's good to see that like a company is doing something at least. Yeah, your concern is definitely well founded.

I want to say it was Netflix. I'll have to look it up. But so when Netflix rolled out this very generous unlimited parental leave program, they got so much compressed, lots of applause. However, they had one big problem because that program was only for full-time staff. It did not include part-time staff. It did not include folks who were. working in their DVD distribution centers.

So this was back when Netflix still had those DVDs and the sleeves they would send out. And so, yeah, I'm with you, Joey. Whenever I see policies like this, I hope that it's just not for like, oh, for our office workers, as people like to say on the internet, people who have the email jobs, quote unquote, but I hope it's truly for everybody who works there, not just a certain subsection of people who get access to this. I like the email jobs because I feel like I've been having a hard time to French. Like who again, back to the other story like I don't work in an office.

I actually visited the I Heart office for the first time. The one in Atlanta? Yeah, no, the one in New York. Okay. I haven't met with the Atlanta one yet. But I was like that this is the first time since I was like interning that I've been inside of an office. But yeah, it's again, yeah, I, I, good. indeed. I'm glad to hear this. I hope they

follow through with it. I guess, you know, we keep an eyes on the story, see what happens. Yeah. Yeah. The Air Force thing too. I'm a little I don't know. It's whenever the military comes up, it's so complicated because there is a whole history of like there's a lot of trans people who have been in the military or are in the military just kind of. And again, like, because I remember when this all this happen with, like, the Trump administration banning trans people for doing the military. There was a discussion about, like, access to, like, benefits and stuff.

And all that's important. That being said, I'm not willing to, I don't know. I'm always going to sort of take a step back. I think when it comes to military stuff, it doesn't, yeah, I don't know. I don't know where this is going. Joey Pat hates the troops. No, just kidding. So important question for you, do you drive a car?

You live in New York. You probably don't. But do you? I mean, I don't. I have my driver's license. I have driven. I drove my family's car when I was home. But yeah, currently do not own a car.

Don't really have a reason to. Well, that's actually a good news for you because if you drive a newer car, I have some bad news, which is that your car is probably spying on you. In addition to collecting data about you, like normal car data, like whether you do drive too fast or if you wear your seatbelt or whatever, your car might actually know who you have sex with. This is according to a new report from Mozilla. Just full quick disclosure, I do host Mozilla's podcast, IRL about AI and ethics. I just wanted to say that. So Mozilla's Privacy Not Included project found that every major car brand fails to adhere to the most basic privacy and security

standards in their new internet-connected models. All 25 of the car brands that Mozilla examines failed their test. Mozilla found that major car brands collect data about their drivers, including race, facial expressions, weight, health information, and where you drive. Now, all of that might seem like pretty reasonable information for your car to collect about you. But this is really wild. Some of the cars tested, collected data that you would not expect your car to be able to collect about you, including details about your sexual activity, race, and immigration status. According to Mozilla, Kia's privacy policy reserves the right to monitor quote, your sex life.

I don't know about you, but I don't know how I feel about my car knowing about my sex life. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, wait. Do they explain how they do this? I mean, I'm sure you're going to get into it. But like, are, are there like cameras in the car that are, this is so, that's so freaky. That is so, I have so many questions. So that's a really good question.

According to the report, a lot of these newer cars have come enabled with, like, cameras in them, with, like, microphones in them. They have like hands-free technology where you can talk to the cars. And so the cars have microphones and they can hear conversations happening in there. And so, yeah, I think that we don't usually think of a car as collecting information about us as we're driving. But that's what's happening. That's so, that's so freaky. I just, okay, I'm always really behind on my TV show.

I just watched the new Black Mirror, like the first episode with, what's your face, Alexis from Schitt's Creek and everything. And I, that was so freaky. I just, I'm thinking of this because I'm like, no, there's so many things that are just, I, yeah, but that's, oh, my God. That was my favorite episode of the new season. It was good. I referenced it quite a bit. So Jen Calderriter, program director of privacy not included, shares your disbelief of that this is happening. Jen says, many people think of their car as a private space.

Somewhere to call your doctor. Have a personal conversation with your kid on the way to school. Cry your eyes out after a break. up. Oh boy, have I been there. Or drive places that you might not want the world to know about. But that perception no longer matches reality. All new cars today are privacy nightmares on wheels that collect huge amounts of personal information. Okay, one thing that I do, I love just like, you know, every once in a while, you just got to like scream and like, I'll go, like, if I'm access to a car, like, if I've ever heard's house, like, sometimes I'll just like sit in the car and

like scream. And I'm like, oh my God. They were, now I'm like going over all. the things that I'm said. Well, how new is your parents' car? I think it's about seven years old. So like 2016, 2017. Okay, you might be okay. You might be okay. This whole thing makes me happy.

I mean, I barely drive. I think I would probably drive like once a month. But my car is a like 15-year-old clunker. So it makes me kind of happening. It doesn't, I still have to do the thing where you plug in like a Bluetooth receipt. into the ox core, into the ox court to like listen to music on my phone if I want to like listen to something that's not the radio. So it is very janky. It is very old school. It doesn't have

GPS. It doesn't have anything. But as janky as it is, at least I don't have to worry about my car listening to me, talk to my doctor on the phone or like have an argument with my partner. I'd be like, oh, it looks like she's arguing about finances. Let's send her some ads about car refinancing or whatever. I feel like. There's always, you always have such emotional conversations in cars, too. I don't know if it's, I don't know if you do this too, but like I feel like I've had a lot of very, especially like as a teenager a lot, like it would be like a friend would be dropping me off or I'd be having like a really dramatic conversation with my parents or something. And it's just, I don't know.

That's, yeah. Well, I think you're right. I do, I don't even know how to put this. I spent a summer living in L.A. And so when I was in L.A. I had a car. And I probably had, it was, it was, it was a. tough summer for me, and I probably had most of my intimate moments, like, where I was questioning myself or having tough conversations with friends and family in the car. Like, the car is, feels like

an intimate space. It feels like a private space. How many times have you taken a long drive and done or said things that you would, that you thought were just between you and, you know, just you and your God, right? Like, the idea that the car is listening, the car is collecting that information. The car is using it to serve you targeted ads. These conversations and these moments that were happening in a place that felt so private and so intimate and so sacred, it's just not a good situation. Mozilla said that a number of car brands say that it is the driver's responsibility to let passengers know about their car's privacy policies, which, you know, because that's a totally normal conversation that you have when somebody gets in your car,

when you get into a car. It's a totally normal thing to be. like, oh, let me just quickly brief you on my car's privacy policy so that you're aware of them. That is an absurd standard to have to opt people into. That's an absurd way to handle people having to opt into this. Or, you know, when you get into an Uber or a taxi cab, like, how is that handled? And even beyond that, that doesn't really help because these policies are always inscrutable in the first place. So if it is your responsibility as a driver or the owner of this car to tell people about the privacy policy, that you didn't set up when somebody gets into your car, how can you do that if they're written

in such a way that it's intentionally inscrutable to the point where you can't even summarize what the policies are? Like one of the car brands they talked about had 12 different privacy policies. So how the hell are you meant to be letting somebody know about your car's privacy policies if you can't even understand them? Yeah, it almost feels like letting somebody into your house and being like, oh, sorry, by the way, if you like talk about X things, there's like a I don't know, which I guess some people have like Alexis and stuff now. So I don't know. Who knows what that's doing?

But yeah, man, there's just, there's no privacy anymore. It's scary. Not even in the ride. Let's take a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guide, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, Help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriters, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. There's that worst singer in the group? The worst? Yeah. Me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation.

The group. The yard birds, right? That's the name. The Harvard yard, but they're open. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open. Since you guys are middle. A one erection.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHearts twice as large as the next two combined. bind. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only IHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business. Think

iHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-844-I-Hart to get started. That's 844-8-4-4-i-heart. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast's point game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. At our back. Okay, so this is a story happening in your neck of the woods, Joey, because short-term rentals like Airbnb, and Verbo are basically over in New York City thanks to new regulations. So last week, new rules said that rentals shorter than 30 days are not allowed unless the hosts register with the city.

Hosts must also commit to being physically present in the home during the duration of the rental, sharing the living quarters with their guests. More than two guests at a time are not allowed. So in effect, kind of barring families from doing short-term rentals like Airbnb in New York City. So that was last week. Well, this week, that went into with that. and The Guardian reports that not many hosts were able to comply with registering with the city. So Airbnb is not allowed to process those rentals.

Very few hosts had successfully registered, and New York City says that it approved just under 300 of the more 3,800 applications received. Now, housing advocates say that the apartments were basically being used as hotels, which is a big problem in a city like New York, where there is very much, you know, as I'm sure you know, an active housing crisis. Oh yeah. Airbnb does not get enough crap for like the way that they have contributed to the housing crisis in so many major cities like all over the world. I like I remember talking to like somebody who lived in like Florence and Italy that was like the same situation. They were talking about how like and that that's like a huge tourist city and and part of the reason that it's impossible to like an apartment there now is just Airbnb has gotten so many apartments. New York same thing. does concern me a little because I do think I have a friend who's staying in New York next week who has an Airbnb, so I probably should check in with her. Check in on your friend. Yeah. But I mean, I am glad that they're cracking down on that because it's out of control. I completely agree. Airbnb is fighting these new rules in court, arguing that they are essentially a ban on Airbnb

and that they would hurt visitors looking for affordable accommodations. So I should say, Airbnb, I have a little bit of hurt. firsthand knowledge. And I'll say this, they are very good at this kind of thing. So I honestly would not be surprised if this policy was short-lived in New York City. I hope it's not short-lived, but I would not be surprised because Airbnb is very good at this kind of thing. So here's a little bit about what you can probably expect. You can expect to see them really highlighting the local people who they say are just like local community members making extra income by welcoming in travelers on a budget into their spare bedrooms.

You know, it's all like Nana and Pop Pop, who just want to make their lasagna for somebody from out of town. Like, definitely they're going to make that or try to make that the face of, like, who's being hurt by this Airbnb crackdown. So they're not going to tell you about the company or the wealthy landlord who has bought up multiple properties that would be available housing and has turned them into hotels for people they probably will never even meet. No, they will not tell you about that. They will definitely be trotting out like Nana and Pop Pop and telling you how this is like hurting your like local community members. Again, I can tell you from personal experience that Airbnb hires what they call community organizers to help create what I would argue is like an astroturf movement specifically to represent their corporate interests, but then make that seem like a completely grassroots collection of just like concerned community members sticking up for their communities. Yeah. And again, like, even though I'm complaining about Airbnb, I've stayed in Airbnb's a couple times. And I think, honestly, most of it, especially if it's like me and my friends traveling where we're like on a tight budget, a lot of times, like it's a company that we're reaching out to. It's not like locals or whatever. They're trying to like position themselves as. I, it is very weird. Because also I remember like when Airbnb was first like becoming a thing that was how they were marketing themselves. It was. It was. like it's a, you know, same sort of like Uber where it was like just sharing rides or sharing

living space for the, you know, week or whatever. But it's, yeah, the whole community organizers thing too, that's so vile just to especially like, I don't know, if you're looking at like a, again, if you're looking at like a job site and you see community organizer, I think you're expecting a very, very different job than working for Airbnb. Oh, yes. I completely, completely agree. I don't want to say anything that's, I don't want to say anything wrong. I'll just say that I used to work for an organization that provided free or low-cost digital training for progressive organizers, real organizers. And we did that. It was usually a network of volunteers and that was done out of the desire to build social change, to build up the left's, you know, muscle in order to create social

change. And imagine my surprise when some of those folks took that training that was given, you know, from the goodwill of our, of our time and labor to Airbnb, to do community, to do, quote, community organizing. So, yeah, I, I, I guess I'll just leave it there. It was a, it was a surprising turn of events. Folks were not thrilled that that happened. But, yeah, so Airbnb is so good at this. They're so, like, I, I got to give props for props are due, I, there's, like, if you were not a savvy person and you were looking at the people who are probably opposing this legislation in New York, you would think this is just like community members who are speaking out. But Airbnb, they're really good at that. They really know what they're

doing. And yeah, I, I should say, like, the same as you, I don't, it's not like I don't use Airbnb, but I try to use it sparingly. And I try to just be very aware. Like, it would be, it's one of those things where it would be nice if I could be like, oh, I'm just staying with, like, somebody who has a spare bedroom in their house. And like, you know, this is just like, she's getting extra money. I'm getting to eat the fresh baked cookies that she's making me. This is all great. But that's not what it is in 2023. What it is in 2020 is like, generally, somebody who is running Airbnb as a business. It is usually not their home that they're letting you into.

It is like maybe at best it is their vacation home or something like that. But generally it's a business. And so I just wish that we could talk about it in reality and not in this way that it's just like a fantasy. Again, I think that you're right that it started that way. My very first time ever staying in an Airbnb, this was like when the company first got started, I was staying on somebody's couch in the house that they lived in with their family. it very much was like I'm just crashing here but that certainly isn't what it's like in a meaningful way in 2023 yeah I think there was there was like one time when I was I was in

Amsterdam with some friends and we were like staying at somebody's apartment that it was like it actually was like a spare bedroom bedroom bedroom and they were super nice and like you know gave us recommendations the places to go and stuff but yeah it's I don't know the last like Airbnb that I've stayed in again it was a I didn't book it if I'm not sure what the situation was, but like there was an ant infestation in the house. It was terrible. It was terrible experience. So I'm still mad at Airbnb about that experience anyways. Are you one of those people who is like, oh, it's hotels all day. I'll never stay at an Airbnb if I don't have to? I try to. Like, I don't do as much traveling now, just kind of at this point in my life. But I,

I, like, usually if I am, I'm going to visit people, so I'll go, like, crash at their place. But, yeah, I usually, like, try to go for a hotel, you know, they're going to clean the room every day. It's, like, nice. I like that. That's a nice part about traveling. And you don't, like, the thing that gets me about Airbnb's, and there's been a whole, if folks haven't seen, there's been a whole back and forth of, like, Airbnb's versus hotels. One of the things is, like, with Airbnb's, there was a time where their fees were just out of control where, you. You'd be paying like a cleaning fee but also get a list of chores to do.

So you'd be like, why am I paying this cleaning fee if I'm doing the laundry and like meant to be sweeping up? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I was like, I don't know. Maybe if I'm on vacation, I want to be in a hotel. I don't want to be doing any of the work. Totally fair.

Okay, so why don't you ask me what our favorite person is up to these days? All right. So, Bridget, oh, I know where this is going. I bet you can already tell. Yeah. I have a lot of thoughts on this. Anyways, what's Elon up to now? Well, I spent my Labor Day on vacation at the beach. Elon Musk spent his Labor Day being very anti-Semitic. He spent this week fighting with the head of the Anti-Defamation League because the ADL is basically telling the truth to advertisers about the rise of anti-Semitic hate speech on the platform since Elon Musk took over.

Musk accused the ADL of being, quote, the biggest generators of anti-Semitism on Twitter and threatened a $4 billion lawsuit against them saying that they were scaring away advertisers. So it should be said that per Twitter's own metrics or own API, the use of anti-Semitic hate speech has risen since Elon Musk took over. It's just a fact. But you don't have to have access to that data, nor do you have to be the head of the ADL to see that this is true. All you have to do is follow Elon Musk on Twitter

and see the kinds of things he tweets and the kinds of tweets that he engages with. Elon's brand of anti-Semitism, I would say, like previously was sort of loosely coded. He would use like George Soros or the ADL or like people who control the media, like pretty big dog whistle, as a stand-in to denigrate Jewish people.

So this is not new for him at all. This has been a long-standing, pattern of behavior with Musk. But I think that more recently, his anti-Semitism has gotten more overt, engaging with tweets that straight up attack Jewish people as a whole. He replied with an exclamation point to this tweet that purported to show that, like, he replied to a tweet from a white supremacist that purported to show a poll showing that Jewish people hated free speech. So I would argue that he is someone who has always trafficked in anti-Semitism, but it's especially concerning that it seems to be getting more and more overt and less and less coded.

Yeah. I mean, as a Jew who controls the media, I'm so excited. You do edit this podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, obviously. It's, you know, oh, God, I'm so glad we're talking about this story. I have so many thoughts on this. So, like, first things first, I will say upright. ADL, not necessarily a good organization.

their platform, their idea, what they market themselves at, which again is like an anti-hate speech, fighting anti-Semitism, fighting bigotry. There's a lot of criticisms of the organization itself. They've done a lot of things in the past. They've designated certain groups as being anti-Semitic that weren't anti-Semitic. They were more just sort of like critical of Israel or anti-Zionist, which is not the same thing as anti-Semitism. that is a very valid political opinion. Again, I'm not a fan of the ADL.

They are, I disagree with the organization fundamentally on a lot of things. I think they've actually done a lot of shit that's been sort of like detrimental to a lot of anti-racist, anti-bigotry, even like anti-Semitism sort of movements. That being said, like the criticism is clearly, like this is a situation where they're going after this organization for being a Jewish organization, for being a group that speaks out against anti-Semitism. Recently, it was probably like a month or two ago, the CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in an interview, he compared, he said that Elon Musk is like the Henry Ford of our

generation, which also is really ironic because Henry Ford was like notoriously anti-Semitic. So I was like, I don't know, like, if somebody called somebody like the Henry Ford of something to me, I would be like, okay, so they're a piece of shit. Like, I don't know. Anyways, he meant it as a compliment. So I think this is a good example of like, again, so-called like human rights organizations. If you're going to like use your time and your energy and your platform to like cheer on people who have this history of going against other marginalized groups that aren't your own, like they're going to come after you too. Like you're just setting your, like, I don't know, like that they're not going to save you. Surprise.

I just, this whole situation, there's, again, it's so messed up because, you know, you know, that meme that's like the worst person, you know, it's made a great point. Ooh. I mean, it's a version of that where it's like, I can't believe I'm defending the ADL of all things. Like, I, but yeah, it's like nobody, again, I might disagree with some of their platform. but nobody should be attacked for just being a Jewish organization. And also the whole idea of like the ADL contributing it being the most anti-Semitic.

I don't, that is so weird. That is so weird. Yeah, there are like, I mean, I, it's complicated and I appreciate the nuance that you're bringing to it. Elon must saying that the ADL is the most, is spreading the most anti-Semitism. There are people on the platform who tweet swastikas. Like, there are people on the platform who like, so that's just like not. true. And it's so funny that you're saying this, the critic Mark Lamont Hill, who,

Mark Lamont Hill, like, he is someone who has been very open about the fact that he feels like he was, like, personally attacked by the ADL. And even he was like, yeah. And again, this is just my opinion, but I'm Jewish. I was, you know, very involved in a lot of Jewish activists spaces around when that was happening. Like, he was attacked. But, yeah. And yet, even he this week was like, Elon Musk, what Elon Musk is doing with the ADL is anti-Semitic. and it's not like, he was like, I am someone who was attacked by them, and even I can say, like, what's happening is really fucked up. And so it is, it is this very interesting moment in time, I guess, where,

and honestly, the ADL, when it comes to this Elon Musk situation, they didn't really have to do anything to, like, get Elon Musk to go off on this string of anti-Semitic behavior and comments. Like, I don't know, if he is trying to, I always said, didn't he like compare George Soros to like Magneto or something? He sure did. He sure did. Which also, I'm a big X-Men fan. I love Magneto. I was like, excuse you. Excuse you. Like, no, no, no. You're like, that's a favorable comparison, actually. Yeah. Like, this is, this has been an ongoing thing. He's said a lot of antisemitic stuff. And yeah, to be clear, like, I think I think we did an episode about this.

It might have been on the Patreon. But regardless, like, It's one thing to be critical of like, like Soros is a very wealthy, well-connected, you know, influential person in politics. It's one thing to be like, oh, I am critical of George Soros's policies of XYZ or like his positions on XYZ. It's quite another to compare him to Magneto. Like that is, and so like if you, like, I think that with Musk, he's really good. He, he, he, he, he, he, he was like, good at staying, like, keeping it at coach. keeping it a dog whistle. And the fact that now he's like, no, it's just open. Like, it just signals to me that there's been a shift and a change. And it really concerns me for the state of Twitter. I don't remember, Joey, are you still on the platform? Is it a platform that you engage on? I have an account. I don't use it a ton anymore. But like, I'm still on it. And I'm hanging on. I'm trying to see how long till the website collapses on itself.

but it's been such a shit show lately. Like it hasn't been fun to be on the platform. So it does seem like we've hit a new moment with Twitter where folks are just really starting to see, just like what you said, that it's just not fun, it's not pleasant. Civil society groups are pushing to get advertisers to stop spending money advertising on Twitter. I actually did a pretty personal deep dive

into my own relationship with Twitter on Patreon where I heard from folks who similarly are feeling a little bit weird about our relationship with the platform in this specific moment, but who also feel it as a deep loss. Roe, who gave me permission to share this, wrote, I keep having this conversation with myself. I only keep it because of the community connections that will be lost if I leave, but so many are already gone. I run a mutual aid meal delivery in my city, and one weekend we had extra food. While I was delivering, I pulled over and tried to reach a single mom. I know only through Twitter to offer to drop by. She's left the platform, and I have no means to contact

her now. Twitter was so important when Ottawa was overrun by the freedom, in quotes, convoy last year. I don't know where we could share information at the same scale now. So the too long didn't read is that I stay on Twitter out of fear and I'm incredibly resentful that an awful man broke a critical resource for my community. And boy, Ro, did I identify with that? That is exactly how I am feeling. I'm really wrestling with a lot of that same stuff of like, this used to be a resource that was good. It wasn't perfect. It had its problems.

I will talk all day about some of the issues I had with pre-Musk Twitter. But something about this week, I was like, this is just not fun. It's not pleasant. I don't enjoy showing up here. The example that I gave on the Patreon was I was having a conversation with somebody about Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I don't know if you watch the show, but like this season hasn't been great. And somebody was like, oh, who would be a gray? If you were doing a casting, who would you cast?

And somebody was like, T. Madison, who is this black trans woman, like, blogger and content creator. I was like, oh, my God, T. Madison would be amazing. Why didn't that occur to me? Like, she's so funny. She's so good at, like, clapping back, blah, blah, blah, blah, love T Madison. And it didn't take long until people with blue check marks were intentionally misgendering T Madison, calling Ms. like dead naming T. Madison.

And this was just like a fun conversation about a television show. And it's like, it's not pleasant to show up to a platform and try to have a like fun, light conversation. And then next thing you know, like someone is intentionally dead naming and misgendering somebody. It's no longer against Twitter's terms of service to do that because that was one of the things that Elon Musk, one of the policies that he changed. But the first thing that he did. And, you know, the whole conversation turned into people being like, this is fucked up, don't do this. And then people being like saying transphobic things. And it's like, we can't even have a conversation about Bravo Housewives without this nonsense.

It is just not good. It doesn't feel good. And I don't feel good knowing that I am supporting Elon Musk and helping to make the platform look like it's still viable by showing up there. Yeah. I agree with that. I feel like especially what Road said, just feeling resentful that, again, feeling resentful that this man, like, broke Twitter and sort of almost feeling like, like, I feel like at this point I'm kind of staying on out of spite.

Like, I'm sort of like, no, like, you can't scare me away. Like, nope, we're staying here. But yeah, it's, I, then it's, but then it's, yeah, the other side is like, it's not usable anymore. I'm not seeing my friends posts. I'm, yeah, seeing a lot of just blue checkmark stuff. I also yeah like Twitter was especially during like the height of the pandemic when stuff was on lockdown like that was how I was staying connected to people. I was still in college at the beginning of the pandemic and like we were using Twitter to like get mutual aid to people and help people like get information that like the school was not telling us get information.

That's how I was able to get like my vaccination appointment when that was first happening. Same. I was crazy trying to get like my vaccine in New York. It's such a, it has become such an important tool and it's just, it's so sad to like see this happening. It is sad. I should mention while all of this was going down, Twitter's CEO, maybe CEO, Linda Yaccarino, while Elon Musk was like engaging with anti-Semitism and all of that, she was busy tweeting, did somebody say sports? After a huge Labor Day weekend, X video views continue to surge above last year. So while Linda Yacarino, as supposedly the CEO of Twitter, was saying all of this stuff about how Twitter is now advertiser-friendly, brand-friendly, blah, blah, blah.

My question for Linda Yacarino is, how does Elon Musk tweeting all of this anti-Semitic nonsense squared with her publicly stated intention to make Twitter a place where brands want to show up and want to spend money in advertising? I'm curious, like, if I were the CEO of a company and my head of engineering was tweeting like this, I might have something to say about it, but not Linda. I'm so curious what's going on there. So yeah, if folks want to know my thoughts on the, should I stay or should I go of it all, please check out our Patreon. And I also would love to hear where folks are at with Twitter. Like, are you still there? Have you left? Are you, what are the vibes like for you? Let me know I would love to know. More after a quick break.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guide. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. There's that worst singer in the group?

The worst? Yeah. Me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from heart, Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The group. The yard birds, right? That's the name.

The Harvard Yardt. They're open. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open. Since you guys are middle-aged. One erection. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me.

I need something to do. to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only IHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business.

Think IHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Let us show you at iHeartadvertising.com. That's iHeartadvertising.com. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series. because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers

while he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the bomb. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get right back into it.

Okay, so this last story is really just like a story tailor made for me. So hopefully it is interesting to others as well, because I was like very invested. And that is that something is rotten over at Rotten Tomatoes. So Rotten Tomatoes is a movie criticism aggregate platform. They have a thing called the Tomato Meter, which aggregates critics' reviews of movies and gives a percentage score. The tomato meter may be the most important metric in entertainment, yet it is also erratic,

reductive, and easily hacked. This is from a very interesting report on Vulture. So Vulture reports that back in 2018, a movie called Ophelia, which was meant to be kind of a feminist retelling of Hamlet starring Daisy Ridley, was getting not super great reviews from critics, meaning that its aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes was a dismal 46%, which is not good, especially for a prestige film they were trying to sort of like find a studio home for and kind of thought maybe might have some award season buzz. The film was rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, which means that it scored below 60%. Bunker 15, a movie publicity firm,

recruited a bunch of smaller, obscure, often self-published critics who are nevertheless part of the pool tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. Bunker 15 paid these critics $50 or more to write reviews. These payments are typically not disclosed and rotten tomatoes says that it prohibits reviewing based on a financial incentive. So Bunker 15 told Vulture a lot of stuff. Like I would read the article if you want to want the whole thing, but essentially what Bunker 15 told Vulture was pretty much an obvious code for, we don't tell them to write good reviews, but we pay them to write reviews so that we can raise the Rotten Tomato score and it's really nice that those reviews are good reviews. So, like, essentially, we pay them.

They write good reviews. If they didn't like the film, they don't write a review. And that's how we're able to get the Rotten Tomato score up. I'm not surprised by those. I feel like there's been so many weird. Especially, like, you know, we've talked about review bombing on the show. And that's become such a prevalent thing whenever, you know, there's a movie about anybody that's not a straight white man. And, like, Rotten Tomatoes, maybe there's, like, a theme with this.

I feel like it was the same thing with Airbnb where it was like, kind of cool when it first, like, was a thing. And it was like, you know, the people's kind of method of reviewing movies. And it was like, but, but then it's so quickly, like, now I don't even look at it. I don't, like, I see, especially like, like, like, whenever the, for a movie, I want to see, like, the Ron Tomato stuff will come out. But like, and I'll, like, I'll look at it. But it's not like, like, I always take it with a grain of salt now because, I don't know, there have been some movies that were rated great that I did not enjoy. And there were other movies and the opposite happened, like, didn't get a good review. And I thought it

was fun and it just maybe it wasn't you know not for everybody but it's still fun so it's so interesting to hear you say this i might be like a little pollyanna-ish like this vulture piece blew like blew the lid right off this thing for me because i probably spend more time browsing rotten tomatoes than every any other site like i i'm a movie person i love film i love cinema it is my first love. And I guess it should have occurred to me that rotten tomatoes could be hacked, could be bought, could be bombed, could like be artificially inflated or depleted. It just, I don't know. I think I, I think I'm usually pretty skeptical about tech, but I wonder if I let my pure love of movies blind me to the truth that was right in front of my face. No, I mean, I guess I also

like, I'm a big friend of, like, I love movies. I'm a big movie person. But I feel like, my opinion too my view is always i think ultimately like it's objective everybody's got their own interest and opinions and stuff and i think you know it is hard to like universally i don't know but but yeah i i think it's just the seeing all these incidences of review bombing i'm not surprised but but the one thing that does surprise me is the fact that it's like because i feel like there's usually the official tomato man and then there's the fan one and yeah it's it's it's Interesting. So this article is saying that it's affecting the like official tomato meat area? Yeah. So that's a great question. So basically the official critic, so for folks who don't spend all their time on fucking rotten tomatoes like I do, it has two different tracks. There is the audience score and the critic score. And the critic score is the one that like really matters. And so to answer your question, Joey, yes, the critic score can be gamified. Here's how it works. The scores can sort of be hacked by studios.

When a studio is prepping the release of a new title, it will screen the film for critics in advance. It's a film publicist's job to organize these screenings and invite the writers they think will respond most positively. Then that publicist will set the movie's review embargo in part so that its initial tomato meter score is as high as possible at the moment when it can have the maximum benefits for word of mouth and early ticket sales. they really rely on fan sites. So even though, like, traditional critics are probably less likely to write a glowing review for, like, a superhero movie, studios can generally count on somebody who is a big fan of that franchise to write a positive review. And even if they write that positive review on, like, a self-published fan site or, like, a medium page, that can sometimes still count toward the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate critics review.

So it doesn't seem like it's really that hard to gamify those critic scores. And it really, like, people listening might be like, why are you telling me this? Why does this matter? Well, it matters because Rotten Tomatoes is actually kind of a big deal. It can really make or break a film's release. If you watch one of my favorite shows on HBO Max, the other two, there's a whole plotline about how powerful Rotten Tomatoes is unshaping how a film is perceived. Studios are so scared about Rotten Tomatoes' tomato meter score that they actually work with a company called Screen Engine ASI, which attempts to forecast score. course. One publicist spoke to Vulture and said, I put in our original business plan that we should not do films that score less than 80. Rotten Tomatoes is the only public stamp of approval that says this is out of immense quality and all critics agree.

But like, not necessarily. And so if you're, if studios and publicists are using this as a stamp of approval, but it's also easily hacked and easily gamified, it seems like a little bit of a scam. Anyway, the whole piece is definitely worth a read. I thought not focusing on films that score less than an 80. I feel like that's so concerning. Because people, I think because the film industry is, it's like an industry and it is this very like hyper capitalized. It is still like art. It is still art that's very accessible to people too.

And that's the reason like film has such an important place. And like, I don't know. I have a lot of feelings about the film industry. But I feel like, yeah, like there's plenty of movies that like I love that have like 70s or like, even, yeah, even in like the 50s or 60s, all the like cult classic films that like, like, if studios are only focusing on movies that score over 80, we're not going to get so much of like the culture around film or the culture that the film industry produces. Yeah, the thing. And I think it's the same thing with like all the Netflix stuff with all these like TV shows that are getting canceled. there's been a lot of things. You know, like we're in the middle of the writer's strike for a reason.

There's like all these movies that are getting shelved. There's like TV shows that are getting canceled after one season because it's film is an art form. And it's like these companies are trying to take that aspect away and the creative aspect away. And that's just like concerning overall. I mean, I'm almost like tearing up here when you talk about this because it, Film is something that I take very seriously. Art and culture and film. It's like the thing that saved me and it's really important. And it feels like we're losing it. This is a little bit of a longer read, but I want to read this quote that Richard Linklater, one of my favorite directors said. So he was asked in an interview about what he thinks about the current state of American movie making. And he said, it's a little bit long, so bear with me. He said, it feels like it's gone with the wind or gone with the algorithm. Sometimes I'll talk with some of my contemporaries who I came up with during the 90s and we'll go, oh my God, we could never get that done today. So on the one hand, selfishly, you think, I guess I was born at the right time. I was able to participate in what always feels

like the last good era for filmmaking. And then you hope for a better day. But man, the way distribution has fallen off, sadly, it's mostly just the audience. Is there a new generation that really values cinema anymore? That's the dark thought. I have a film society and I run into so many young cinema-loving kids who actually have the Criterion Channel and they watch all kinds of amazing movies, but I know that culturally, that's the exception. I fear that there's not enough of a critical mass

in the culture to sustain what was, but who knows? I don't think I have any deeper analysis than anyone else would, and it's not in my nature to make huge statements about whether it's all over. I just feel we're all treading water and hoping we don't drown. Challenging times are certainly here. With a changing culture and a changing technology,

it's hard to see cinema slipping back into the prominence it once held. I think we can feel it coming when they started calling films content. But that's what happens when you let tech people take over your industry. It's hard to imagine indie cinema in particular, having the cultural relevance that it did. It's hard to imagine the whole culture is going to be on the same page about anything, much less filmmaking. We can be so self-absorbed and say it's just about cinema, but it's really all of our modern cultural life. You can say the same things about reading books.

A lot of young people can't really read a book because they're just on their phones. Some really intelligent, passionate, good citizens just don't have the same need for literature. and movies anymore. It doesn't occupy the same space in the brain. I think that's just how we've given over our lives largely, to this thing that depletes the need for curating and filling ourselves up with meaning from art and fictional worlds. That need has been filled up with, let's face it, advanced delivery system for advertising. It's sad, but what can you do? I also don't want to go through life thinking our best days are behind us. That's just not productive. So in your own area, you just have to persist and do what you can on behalf of the things that you believe in. You have

to believe that everything can change and things can go back to being a little bit better. Isn't that what we all want for everything these days from democracy on down? Can't we just go back to things being a little better? And boy, did that answer really punch me in the gut because I feel like that's where we're at, where these things that are, that we're just purely good, movies are good, culture is good, art is good, music is good, we are losing that, and we're losing the kind of collective cultural understanding that those things have value and that they're not just content to fill streamers and content to put advertising on, that they are inherently value. They're what make

us us, right? Like, when all of us are dead, those are the things that people are going to watch and read and listen to and consume to understand what we were in 2023. And it's really sad to me the idea that as a culture collectively, we might not hold that as a value, that long, that cultural longevity, we might be losing that. It really, it hurts. Yeah, I think, I feel like the same way. I think it is really concerning to see what's happening. The one thing I do kind of disagree with with that quote, I think the kind of lens of like, oh, people just don't want these kind of movies, don't want these kind of like indie really like more artistic movies anymore. I think that's that I'm a little bit more cautious of. I don't think it's necessarily that people don't want it. I think so much of it just has to do with the fact that like the way that the film industry has acted in the past like decade it has kind of given people like it. It's the, the, the, the, the, the, it. It's become so much more centralized. There's been so much more emphasis on, like, you know, a lot of, like, special effects and

CGI and stuff that isn't even particularly good coming from a lot of these studios. But, like, and I mean, I think this whole idea of, like, these film franchises has become such a bigger thing culturally. But a lot of that is because that is what these production companies have, like, sort of engineered the film industry to look like to look like. And again, like I brought up the writer's strike earlier. It's the fact that the power, the monetary power, is so centralized right now. And the people that are the ones making this art aren't getting compensated, aren't able to live their lives.

Yeah, I think it's just the one thing that I think kind of gives me hope in this sort of situation is the fact that I think we are reaching a point where like all these superhero movies keep flopping because people have gotten really sick of it. Because again, like I love superhero movies. I think they're fun. and they're always going to be a thing in American culture. But, like, we're all kind of sick of the, of the, like, Avengers thing. Like, they kind of did their big thing. And it's like, we're ready for the next thing. I feel like lately there's been, like, a couple more that it's sort of, like, I remember,

okay, everything everywhere all at once when that came out. Because I had a, I loved that movie so much. I know lots people love that movie. And I remember talking to a friend about it. And they were just like, I felt so like, like, it felt new. It was the first thing that I watched in a while that felt like new and original. And I feel like I'm seeing a little bit more of that. And like, I don't know, I saw like bottoms last weekend.

Oh my God. How was it? Wait, I'm seeing it. I'm seeing it tomorrow. Is it good? It's so good. Okay, okay, okay. I'm so excited.

That is like one of my new favorite movies. Again, solidarity with the writer's showing, solidarity with the actors. Like, I know they're not doing promotion right now, so I don't want to be like, but, but it's an amazing movie. I totally recommend people go see it. But even like with that, I remember seeing a tweet from somebody about it where they were like, here's the budget and here's what it made. And it's opening weekend. And it was like, okay, but that's just opening weekend. And also it opened only a couple theaters. This isn't like a Marvel movie where they're trying. Like there was that whole thing for a while where like Disney kept trying to like one up. It's like most money made for a movie. And there was like a whole thing. It was between like the Avengers and like avatar for a while. And like I don't care. Like it was one of those things I was sort of like they made. They made. millions of dollars. Why are they still trying to make more money just to be just for like a PR stunt? So I think again, I think the issue is less like people don't want this stuff. I think

people do. I think people always will. Yes, there's the argument that like with, you know, TikTok and Twitch streamers, there's all this much more like packaged, targeted content out there. Again, like the whole, using the word content versus film, which I agree with that. I think calling it content feels a little weird. But yeah, but at the same time, I think, you know, people like art. People want art. That's like a part of humanity that has existed forever. And yeah, again, I am hopeful.

I do think like the fact that like 824 has kind of taken off and its popularity, like, as much as I don't like film Twitter as a whole, I think the fact that like film Twitter and letterbox and all these things are sort of like becoming a bigger thing. I think it shows that like there's still people interested in that. There's still people that want to see this. It's just the industry's fucked. Like, honestly, yeah, I'm hoping for the best. But, yeah, we'll see what happens.

Oh, my gosh. I love everything that you just said. First of all, I think I'm like an A-24 stand. I'm probably the person on film Twitter that you're like, God, you're so annoying. I'm in like. I'm worse. It is a thing where I'm like.

I'm like, I'm part of the problem. Yes. Yeah, I'm the problem. It's me. Yeah, exactly. But this is so hopeful. This is such a hopeful note to end on, like, support the writer's strike. As much as I, like, as much harm as these like billionaire, streamer, Hollywood CEO

bastards have given us the fact that they robbed us of a bottoms press tour, I will never forgive them. But there are like a couple of videos I did before the strike. We're just like beautiful. But yeah, again, and I go see Bottoms. The way to support the strike is to show these executives that people want these movies, that people want this creativity. Go see Bottoms.

Fantastic film. That is a great place to end. You have your assignment for the weekend, folks. Go see Bottoms. Joey, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. Of course. And thanks so much to all of you for listening.

We will talk to you very soon. If you're looking for ways to support the show, check out our merch store at tangoody.com slash store. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach us at hello at tangoity.com. You can also find transcripts for today's episode at tangoity.com.

There are no girls on the internet was created by me, Bridget Todd. It's a production of IHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative. Edited by Joey Pat. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our producer and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, check out the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS.

Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me? Or does every woman might be? age. Want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes. They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend, Janet. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast we're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games

in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.