Torture queen influencer, cannabis mermaid & a DIY plane crash 👀🍿🧃
Hello Wrecklings! Word on the street (err— Twitter) is that Buzzfeed News is disbanding its investigative reporting team which is a massively sad blow because their exposés are consistently amongst the best. We included one of their swan-song pieces in our Serious Reads section— but be warned, it’s a heavy read.
While Elon was buying Twitter this week and Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp went toe-to-toe in court, there were lots more shady dealings and salacious scandals afoot.
“The CIA’s ‘Torture Queen’ Is Now a Life Coach Hawking Beauty Products”- While I wasn’t able to figure out exactly which line of products this woman is hawking, I’m getting some strong MLM vibes.
“Hillsong's Green Room Problem”- Another week, another piece exposing how the rockstar-like preachers acted more like the former than the latter.
“‘Cannabis Mermaid’ influencer denies ties to organized crime”- It has to be said… this story is fishy. The whole two-fellow-contestants-being-murdered thing was an undeniably red flag.
“Coachella Is In Its Flop Era”- I’d argue that being seen at Coachella isn’t a new priority, there are just far more social platforms to share content to, and the fastest way for clicks is to complain about something everyone else is posting about.
“Influencer Intentionally Crashed His Plane on Camera, FAA Rules”- Speaking of attention-seekers… looks like this influencer has been grounded. 🥁💥
“This Billboard Was the Work of the ‘Devil’”- Guerrilla marketing is most successful when you cause waves or annoy a whole bunch of people, but ideally not the people you’re directly trying to market to, whoops.
“Inside the Implosion of CNN+”- After spending ~$300M to come together, CNN+ lasted about a month, which makes for an absolutely tragic ROI.
“Sheryl Sandberg under fire for trying to kill a story about her ex, the CEO of Activision Blizzard”- Why are we leaning in to helping shady exes? The original piece can be found on WSJ, for those of you with a subscription.
More Serious Stories
We realize some of these can be triggering for some readers, so feel free to skip!
“The Kardashians’ Deep Ties to Predatory ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Founder Joe Francis”
“Influential dance company bred culture of sex, silence, dancers say”
“Seattle CEO Dan Price charged with assault, accused of attempting to forcefully kiss woman”
“Meet the woman behind Libs of TikTok, secretly fueling the right’s outrage machine”
“Spiritual hustlers are all over social media. Don't let them scam you.”
“The Private Equity Giant KKR Bought Hundreds Of Homes For People With Disabilities. Some Vulnerable Residents Suffered Abuse And Neglect.”- This is the Buzzfeed News piece we linked and referenced above. It’s a shame this team is being let go.
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P.S. While we’re obsessed with these stories, we don’t endorse any of these insane behaviors. 💋