Ben Shapiro's prediction of Barbie's box office has aged terrible: "I overestimated the taste of the public"
As Barbie passes $1 billion at the box office, people are taking the opportunity to remind Ben Shapiro of his prediction after he went to see the movie on the opening weekend. The conservative commentator made a 40-minute video criticising the box-office hit calling it “woke” and a “flaming garbage heap of a film”. At the beginning of the video, Shapiro makes a prediction on the movie’s success, saying: “My prediction: [Barbie] is just absolutely going to fall off a cliff after [week one]. The repeat business on this movie is going to be nonexistent.” Oh how wrong could he be? So, of course, everyone is taking this opportunity to use Ben’s own words against him. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter After MSNBC contributed and podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen responded to the news of Barbie making $1 billion at the box office with a clip of Shapiro’s prediction, people couldn’t resist laughing. Users to the opportunity to comment on how poorly Shapiro’s take aged: Some even mentioned Shapiro’s stint at becoming a screenwriter when he was younger, saying that this is why he failed to be successful: Shapiro himself responded to the comments about his prediction, writing: “I radically overestimated the taste of the American public. Guilty.” But few accepted that explanation. Cent Uygur, host of The Young Turks, a progressive news commentary show, told Shapiro “you overestimated how big your tiny, right-wing faction is.” Greta Gerwig is the first solo female director to make $1 billion at the global box office. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-08 17:57
Kyle Gordon confirms release date for the full Planet of the Bass song
The parody song-turned-viral sensation ‘Planet of the Bass’ by the comedian Kyle Gordon is finally being released in full and fans are excited. Gordon’s track went viral after a 50-second snippet of the song in a TikTok caught people’s attention thanks to its catchy and hilarious Eurodance influence. The parody track took its inspiration from the 90s style of pop music by acts such as La Bouche and Aqua and has been viewed over 7.2 million times on TikTok. Now, fans of the TikTok video will be pleased to know they are being treated to a full-length version of the song, due to be released on Tuesday 15 August. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The comedian made the announcement in an X post, writing: “Full song make a release next week - Aug 15!” Alongside the tweet, Gordon also shared a new video for the track that features a different female vocalist from the original viral video, replacing the person playing Ms. Biljana Electronica with the TikToker Sabrina Brier. Ahead of the release of the full track, people were obsessed with Gordon’s commitment to the Eurodance bit. One fan wrote: “A different person in every video like he truly understands the essence of Eurodance I’m tearing up.” Another said” “He’s actually doing the bit of having a different girl in each video he posts just like the 90s Eurodance videos he's parodying, this rules.” Someone else argued: “Original girl is still best but this is a wise choice.” A pre-save link for the song on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Deezer and Amazon is available here. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-08 16:24
Identity of 'not real' plane rant woman finally named as Tiffany Gomas
The identity of the woman behind the ‘not real’ plane rant that delayed a flight for hours has been officially revealed. The bizarre incident unfolded on 2 July when a female passenger onboard an American Airlines flight was filmed freaking out over another passenger that was seated close to her. In the subsequent viral video, the woman, who had left her seat and walked towards the front of the plane, turned back and pointed to the passenger, shouting, “that mother f**ker back there is not real”. An investigation among people online began as they tried to confirm the identity of the woman, with two names flying around. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, it has been revealed that one of the names was correct, as the woman has been identified as Tiffany Gomas, a marketing executive from Texas. It is believed the incident started when Gomas had an argument with relatives she was travelling with over accusations they stole her AirPods headphones. According to The New York Post, which viewed documents linked to the incident, the 38-year-old refused to leave the plane despite suggesting in her rant that she wanted to get off. “The female then started claiming the aircraft was not safe and did not want the aircraft to leave due to her believing it would not make it to its destination,” the 2 July complaint read. “Due to the statements the flight attendants felt the aircraft needed to be rescreened. [The airline manager] explained that the passenger was denied boarding and they wanted her escorted to the public side.” All of the passengers on the plane were forced to get off the aircraft and be rescreened through security. The plane also underwent another screen. Gomas attempted to reboard the plane but was issued with a “verbal criminal trespass notice” and was escorted away to the public side of the airport. Despite this, she tried multiple times to come back through security to reach the boarding area. Police eventually located Gomas waiting for an Uber outside the terminal. She refused to sign a criminal trespass notice, refused to show police her ID and was never formally arrested. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-08 15:24
Justin Trudeau went to see Barbie and 'fragile' men are absolutely raging
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau shared a photo of himself and his son Xavier attending a showing of Barbie to social media, and men are absolutely rattled. Thousands of users responded to the tweet with a range of insults, with some suggesting that it makes Trudeau unfit to be a world leader, all because he went to see one the highest-grossing films of the year. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter One user called him a "man-child" while Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative organisation Turning Point USA, decided to mention Trudeau's recent announcement about his split from his wife: Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative organisation Turning Point USA, decided to mention Trudeau's recent announcement about his split from his wife: Scrolling through reactions to the post it wasn't hard to find lots of fragile men struggle to comprehend a man wearing pink: Andrew Tate took a slightly more satanic tone with his reaction: Some even believed Trudeau was gay and that his 15-year-old son was actually his boyfriend: Many criticised the replies, calling the men fragile and homophobic: Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-08 00:20
Wild Montgomery riverboat brawl prompts folding chair memes after footage goes viral
Footage of a wild brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, has gone viral across social media, prompting X users (formerly known as Twitter) to do what they do best: Memeify it. The incident occurred on August 5 near Montgomery Riverfront Park and was captured by several witnesses before being broken up by Alabama police. What appeared to be an argument between a man, believed to be a riverboat employee, and two other men soon escalated. Many more people jumped in to seemingly defend the man. In one piece of footage, one woman claimed: "These white people jumped this black security guard at the Riverfront. The staff got off the boat and it turned into WWE Smackdown. I’m so proud of Montgomery." Another person shared a different angle of the brawl, writing: "I HATE when people jump people a majority of the time, & even more so when you want to fight or jump someone for doing their job. I applaud EVERYONE that helped that man out." People were thrown into the water and folded chairs were smashed over people's heads – which led to the 'inventor' of the folding chair being the centre of memes across the net. In 1911, Nathaniel Alexander patented a design of the chair for schools, churches and "in small towns when somebody tries you," one person jokingly quipped. As the jokes rolled in, many users highlighted that the image "of Alexander" was in fact Lewis H Latimer, who invented many things including the light bulb filament. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The Montgomery Police Department have since revealed in a statement that several people have been detained with charges pending. Officials "acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job," Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement. "Warrants have been signed and justice will be served." Reed continued: "This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 23:26
Flat Earther claims entire continents containing 'aliens' are being kept secret
Flat Earth conspiracy theorist David Weiss has now claimed aliens live in hidden parts of the Earth. Weiss initially wanted to disprove flat earth but then became part of the conspiracy. On a podcast with James English he explained: "I was doing really well and I'm looking into this flat earth thing and I said 'oh it's so stupid, of course we know the Earth is not flat. I mean how could it be flat? This is crazy what about all the other planets?" "But then I uh tried to disprove flat earth. I'm gonna prove all you flat earthers to be dum-dums and I'm just gonna be done with it, and that's how you become a flat earther." He explained that his biggest turning point was discovering a map - said to have been made in Tibet tens of thousands of years ago - that shows our familiar continents surrounded by a ring of ice. Beyond the ring are new contents and lands, with names such as Hapis and Thoth The Moving Island. Weiss asked, "all those extra continents, what's going on out there?" Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Instead of extraterrestrials from outer space visiting our planet, Weiss believes that any unknown creatures that have been spotted have instead come from the lands beyond the ring of ice. Adding that UFOs are clearly from a base in these secret lands. "If there are people that live out there and they came to visit us, you might consider them an extraterrestrial from outer space." "Space travel is nonsense because space doesn't exist - but if they're coming from the outer lands they're right here." Weiss also stated that the discovery of the secret land helps explain the question many flat earthers are frequently asked, which is - why would anyone try to hide the shape of the planet? "It's to control the human race," he explained. "Your thoughts create the world that you're in - and if they can limit your thoughts they can put you in the Matrix. The heliocentric system, the globe, is a matrix. It's a matrix for your mind and it limits your thoughts." The Earth is Flat and Aliens Live Among Us - David Weiss Tells His Story www.youtube.com He also added that the sun, moon, and are planets are "sentient", and does not believe the sun to be a huge ball of gas in space, but in fact a living entity. The idea of the moon being sentient explains, for Weiss, why the moon landing is fake, saying "there's so many issues" and that cameras "wouldn't even work on the moon." And in fact, the moon landing was a ploy "to keep you believing the lie" that the Earth is flat." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 22:16
'Hardest Geezer' kidnapped by man wielding machetes while running length of Africa
YouTuber The Hardest Geezer, who is attempting to run the entire length of Africa, has shared details of his terrifying experience after being kidnapped. The Hardest Geezer, real name Russ Cook, is attempting to become the first person ever to complete the feat as part of “Project Africa”, with money being raised for charity. Cook had already been dealt a serious blow after being robbed at gunpoint earlier in his journey. However, the newest development saw him share details of recent days, which he described as “the toughest of my life.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Posting on social media, Cook said he had recently become separated from his team after coming across impassable roads along the route. “In an attempt to find the boys at a village on the plan B route, I stumbled into a rural settlement where the chief told me I must give him money. I had none,” he wrote, describing the ordeal. “So that went down well. Pretty soon I found myself surrounded by lots of game blokes with machetes. Was escorted out the village into the bush. “Emptied my bag to show I had nothing but a half eaten biscuit. Gave it to them, and ran. Spent the next few hours bushwhacking through overgrown jungle paths. Trying to stay off any tracks until I was far away. “Made it to the village on the plan B route to find the road was also impassable for the support van again. Exhausted and dehydrated, I started heading back to the last known place with passable roads when two blokes pulled up on a bike. “They spoke no English but tried to communicate I must come with them to get back to my friends. Why I was forced to LEAVE Angola - I'm Running the Entire Length of Africa www.youtube.com “What happened next was a seven-hour motorbike ride deeper into the jungle. In my head I thought this was it. Me. The self proclaimed hardest geezer. About to get held in a Congo gulag before being ripped apart limb by limb and eaten.” He went on to say he had been driven to a village and taken into a hut. There, his captors decided what to do with him and decided how much money they owed him. Cook was able to contact his team, though, and over the next few days his team were able to reach him. Cook added: “We made it out. And travelled back to the start point of day 102, where I ran 60km today on our new route. “My head ain’t fully there right now. But we move the same way as always, forward.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 21:50
MrBeast has demolished a new world record with his latest video
MrBeast has smashed yet another YouTube record after racking up the most views for a non-music video in 24 hours. The hugely popular content creator had his most recent success with his ‘Stranded at Sea’ video, which was posted on August 6. The clip sees MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, spend a week out in the middle of the ocean with his pals, tasked with keeping themselves out of the elements and tackling tough conditions on an unprotected floating platform. It managed an incredible 46 million views in the space of just 23 hours, and he shared the news with his followers that it was a record-breaking clip. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “New video broke the world record for most views in 24 hours on a non music video! I’m living the life I would dream of every night when I was 13. I love all of you and thank you so much for watching our videos! I’ll never take you all for granted,” he wrote on Twitter. It’s not the first YouTube record MrBeast has set during his time posting on the site. He set the record for the fastest non-music video to reach 100 million views with his Squid Game video in 2021. 7 Days Stranded At Sea www.youtube.com Earlier this year he also overtook Pewdiepie for the most total channel views with a mind-boggling 29,077,461,841 hits. Meanwhile, Andrew Tate was upset recently that he didn’t win a MrBeast competition, and he’s claimed the YouTuber’s latest giveaway is a “lie” and is the work of “Satan”. It came after MrBeast previously announced that he’d be giving away his Twitter revenue for a month to the person who could achieve the most likes with their reply to his Tweet. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 19:50
Voros Twins roast Island Boys after HipHop duos recent kissing controversies
Social media entertainers, the Voros Twins, known for their comedy videos on TikTok, have taken a swipe at the Island Boys following their kiss last month. In a clip shared online, the pair responded to a question asking whether they were the controversial Island Boys, who have recently caused backlash for kissing each other romantically. "We're not the Island Boys, we have zero tattoos, we don't rap, we don't live in Florida, we never swear and we're always positive," the Hungarian-Canadian duo said, before taking a long pause. "And we don't kiss each other," they joked. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The video was soon inundated with comments, with one person thanking the Voros Twins for "clearing this up for us." "Just hold out till the end, they really said that," another said, while a third humoured: "They saw what the Island Boys were doing and had to clear those allegations real quick" It comes after the Island Boys, Kodiyakredd (Franky Venegas) and Flyysoulja (Alex Venegas), shared a video of them kissing, and later defended their actions as "not that big of a deal." The twins, who went viral in 2021 for their catchy TikTok song, disturbed social media in July when they locked lips to mark the launch of their OnlyFans account. They later appeared on Adam22's No Jumper podcast where they told him: "We're twin brothers, we came out of the womb together, we grew up together. It's not really disgusting if it's twins." They continued: "We kind of just made out or whatever, we kissed and then we just like look the other way for a few minutes and couldn't like, look at each other, but it wasn't that big of a deal – just a kiss." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 18:27
Elon Musk's Chinese double is in training should he be asked to fight Mark Zuckerberg
Elon Musk is busy “lifting weights throughout the day” to prepare for his touted cage fight against Mark Zuckerberg – and he’s not the only one getting ready for action. In fact, his Chinese doppelgänger is also preparing himself in case, for some reason, he’s called upon to take his place in the bout. In case you missed it, Musk and Zuckerberg seemingly agreed to a cage match after it was leaked that Zuckerberg's Meta was planning to release a rival to Twitter called Threads. After Musk said he’d be up for a cage match if he is”, Zuckerberg then posted a screenshot of Musk's tweet to his Instagram story saying "send me location". Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It’s got a lot of people interested – not least Chinese TikToker Yilong Ma. @mayilong0 #zuckerberg #elonmusk I am X, challenge Zuckerberg. Yilong bears an uncanny resemblance to Musk, and he’s been posting videos of himself also preparing for a “fight” with Zuckerberg. One clip sees him pose in a pair of boxing gloves, next to a man wearing a cardboard box over his head with a picture of Zuckerberg taped to it. @mayilong0 #elonmusk #zuckerberg #tesla He also stands in front of a Tesla in the clip, shouting “come on” and “KO”. Who knows, perhaps if the real Musk and Zuckerberg don’t end up meeting in the ring they’ll get their lookalikes to go toe to toe instead. It comes after Musk previously shared information about a potential venue to host the match. He tweeted back in June that there’s "some chance fight happens in Colosseum". In a post on Sunday (August 6) in Meta’s recently launched social media platform Threads, Mr Zuckerberg said he had proposed 26 August for the bout with the Tesla titan. “I’m ready today. I suggested Aug 26 when he first challenged, but he hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath,” the Meta chief said in response to Mr Musk’s post on Twitter, which has been rebranded as X. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-07 17:15
Brits are sharing their unpopular opinions about the country
There's no denying that we're a nation full of moaners. Now, one person has dedicated an entire Reddit forum for people to voice their unpopular opinions on Britain – and it's as chaotic as it sounds. From Wetherspoons to transport, all the way to King Charles, the popular thread has already racked up almost six thousand complaints in a matter of days. Here are our favourite unpopular opinions, thanks to honest Redditors who certainly did not hold back: "The litter in this country is disgusting and people need to take personal responsibility for it instead of whining about a lack of bins. Take it home." "We're actually lucky to have the weather we do here, really, in the grand scheme of things." "'God Save the King' is probably one of the worst national anthems about. Not only is the tune an offensively dull, dirgy number, but the song doesn’t mention Britain at all, it’s all just banging on about some members of the German aristocracy." "Wetherspoons is fine." "British people are far too wedded to their cars and driving. I’m 30 and have never learned to drive. Never wanted to. When I tell people that, they look at me with either pity or contempt, as if it’s somehow embarrassing to use public transport. When really it’s the state of public transport that is the problem in many areas." "British cheese is better than French cheese." "I don't give a s*** about tea or proper breakfasts or any of the other superficial nonsense that people on Reddit seem to think makes you 'truly British'." "The mainstream tea culture is awfully bad. We can keep having fights about PG Tips vs Yorkshire while both are lowest-grade tea dust not much better than Lipton. An average post-Soviet supermarket will have a tea shop with stuff better than at Fortnum and Mason." "London is hideous. Too cramped, too noisy, everything is absurdly overpriced. The one good thing is the range of diversity from people to food, but other than that it is simply the worst place on earth." "The drinking culture is embarrassing." "The North's friendliness is greatly exaggerated and many of their residents have a chip on their shoulder about the South." "The UK is overall a very good place to live." "We have aligned too much with American culture and not enough with European. We are too damned lazy to learn another language." "Ban fast foods on trains. Nothing worse than getting on a Southern train from Victoria to Three Bridges, which is packed, and people are stinking up the carriages eating katsu curry and Burger King. Shameless." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-04 21:51
'Frustrated' pilot draws massive penis in sky after being diverted
A Lufthansa pilot left aviation watchers in hysterics after drawing a penis shape in the sky when it was forced to divert. The pilot was heading to Sicily from Frankfurt last week (28 July) but instead was diverted to Malta – and decided to have a bit of fun in the meantime. It's unclear whether the pilot's art was intentional, with some Italian reports claiming they did it out of frustration. Officials have claimed it was accidental, according to Euronews. SAC, the company that manages Catania's airport, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "Other planes also tried to land a first time but had failed so they had to go around and then they managed to do it." Lufthansa went on to tell Corriere della Sera that the wind meant "not possible to land safely in Catania". "For this reason, the pilot had to remain in a holding position before once again trying to land which was not successful." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The phallic shape was picked up on the plane tracking website Flightradar24. "If I was on the plane, I would like to have a pilot like this," one person joked on Twitter, while another humoured: "Justified use of company property." Meanwhile, a third added: "Looks more like pink panther face." This isn't the first time a flight has done this. Last year, an American KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling aircraft made a ballsy move by drawing a penis in the sky near a Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria according to history from FlightRadar24. Flight RAKE71 drew the "sky penis," but it's unclear whether the aircraft was refuelling fighter planes or just playing a prank. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-04 17:19