WELCOME TO THE SCROLL by Brett Cooper 

Welcome to your weekly round-up of everything I’m loving on my feeds and beyond! These are the stories that have kept me inspired, made me laugh, and more. Hopefully it gives you some insight into the ways my algorithm - and brain - seem to work.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

STORIES FROM X

Morgan Wallen and SNL

So Morgan Wallen was the guest musician on SNL this week, and let’s just say he made a splash… but not because of his music… It's because of the way he ended the evening. Specifically the fact that after the closing, he marched right off stage while the credits were rolling.

And you might be thinking, ok yeah, that’s normal, the show is finished, right? Well, yes, technically.

But you have to put yourself in the MINDSET of a theatre kid. Theatre kids who go out to dinner at a 24 hour diner after their shows, in full makeup, to cry and hug and reminisce about the show that they just did, that they will LITERALLY PERFORM AGAIN next weekend. 

And I can say all of this, because I’ve been there. I am a theatre kid.

So when Morgan Wallen didn’t stay on stage to clap, and hug, and say “omg, you were SO amazing tonight OMG THEY LOVED YOU,” people were positively shocked and took it as him giving them the cold shoulder.

Take a watch:

I mean, it’s pretty hysterical. The dichotomy between him and the gaggle of actors behind him is incredible.

And we have to acknowledge that the situation wasn’t helped by him posting these immediately after:

So X was immediately set ablaze. The Right was celebrating him for showing SNL and the NYC libs what he really thought of them, and Libs and SNL fans were attacking him for being so rude.

However, I don’t think it’s either of those things.

Once again, we have to go back to the theatre kid context. Morgan Wallen is about as far from a theatre/SNL kid as you can get. He’s a Tennessee country singer, a Vol from Knoxville, he throws chairs from rooftop bars on Broadway in Nashville. This man has probably never WATCHED an episode of SNL nor has he experienced the post curtain call energy of a community theatre production.

Google AI confirms.

So, I personally think this man just didn’t know the customs and didn’t care, and frankly, why should he?

SNL has mocked him, they canceled him as a guest for “breaking their COVID protocols,” and they consistently crap on people like him who share his normal America, maybe redneck values and lifestyle.

If I was him, I also wouldn’t want to be singing kumbaya and hanging out for the afterparty.

PLUS, the Vols were playing a huge basketball game on Sunday. All that man was thinking about was getting home to God’s country - Tennessee - and sitting in front of his TV to watch them play, and promptly get destroyed, LOL.

And I guarantee, Morgan Wallen is more torn up about that loss than he is about people criticizing his SNL exit.

End rant.

TIKTOK BOOKMARKS

Body Positive Influencers Lying About Weight Loss

Y’ALL THE BODY POSITIVITY INFLUENCERS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN.

So remember last year when I did an episode about the influencers who lose a bunch of weight and then get torched by the body positive audiences? Or try to hide it and lie about it to save face because their brand has been all about being fat?

Well, there was a certain influencer I desperately wanted to include in that episode: Remi Bader.

She had made a name for herself as a plus sized fashion influencer, but in early 2024, she went through an awful breakup and basically changed her life completely. 

She made a commitment to make a 180, and she did. She lost the weight, her confidence soared, her skin was glowing, and people wanted to know what the secret was!

And she basically said it was a healthy lifestyle and working out, which to be fair, she did. She was posting workout videos constantly.

But things didn’t add up because the weight loss was SO SO drastic. So then, people started speculating that she had taken Ozempic or had undergone some form of surgery, and in response, she blocked people. Deleted their comments. Didn’t acknowledge it at all.

Which of course, only made matters worse. Now people were accusing her of USING the body positivity movement to gain fame and influence and then lying about wanting to be skinny and HOW she got skinny, it was a mess. 

And of course in my mind, this is because the body positivity movement is more like a cult than anything else and they perpetually want you to be fat and unhealthy and lie to them about beauty standards so that THEY feel good about themselves. And with all her weight loss, Remi wasn’t making people feel good at all, and people never got answers.

Until last week when she went on Khloe Kardashian’s new podcast and disclosed that yes, she HAD gotten weight loss surgery. Here is the clip:

@pagesix

Influencer Remi Bader has finally admitted to weight-loss surgery during a candid conversation with Khloe Kardashian. 🎥: Khloe Kardashian/x

And oh boy, all hell broke loose. People were LIVID. 

And to be fair, while I don’t subscribe to that cult and am disgusted by the people who want others to stay unhealthy, I do understand the hurt from SOME members of her audience. Because as she had gotten healthier, she had been encouraging her followers to work out and eat better, but never told the truth about how she lost her weight so quickly.

People were left wondering what THEY were doing wrong, and why they couldn’t change their lives the way that she did. And again, if surgery or ozempic was brought up, your comment was deleted and you could be blocked.

So for her to say all of this NOW after hiding it for a year really rubbed people the wrong way.

Now, she’s coming out with videos of her in recovery, showing that it was an awful painful process and that she had many complications and underlying health concerns that made everything harder, basically saying she wasn’t ready to share.

Which, for sure, is her prerogative, she doesn’t OWE anyone anything, but there certainly could have been a better handling of the situation. And while she doesn’t owe transparency to her audience, they also don’t owe her undying support.

There’s been a ton of noise about this whole story, and I think Bethenny Frankel gave the most balanced response and hit a lot of these points:

In general, the best policies are to not surround yourself with people who want you to stay sick and unhealthy, and be honest with those who support you. Even if it is just as simple as, “I’m making a decision about my health and my body, and I’m not ready to discuss it yet, but I promise I will.”

And reject the body positivity cult at every single turn. Always, LOL.

@bethennyfrankel

Weight is a sensitive emotional issue #khloekardashian #remibader @Remi Jo #weightloss #weightlosssurgery

INSTAGRAM

Now I know this next feature isn’t TECHNICALLY Instagram, but I came upon it on Instagram and the comments really got me thinking.

So the NYT published this piece after the World Happiness Report came out:

And here is the link to the actual article:

We are currently ranked 24 in happiness, which is the lowest we have ever fallen in the history of this report.

Most of this is driven by young Americans, which the article gets into, but I was really interested in what the NYT featured in their caption: the rising number of Americans dining alone.

And this is something that went viral back in the fall, here’s a New York Post covering it:

According to OpenTable, Americans making solo reservations has increased by 29% in the last two years. Even earlier this week, Alex and I were out in Nashville for dinner, and the man next to us was eating alone. He made conversation with those around him, ordering a big glass of white, an appetizer, a HUGE steak, and seemed quietly content. And obviously, while he was alone that night, he’s not alone in this trend.

But the fact that the NYT honed in on this cracked me up, because this is of course, only one part of the problem. And it’s a symptom not a cause.

Now in the comments, NYT readers were quick to blame… guess who. Donald Trump.

The ROOT OF ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS!

However, it would be ridiculous to believe that ALL of our issues involve Trump, and if you genuinely believe he is the root of your issues, then I’m sorry, you have far bigger concerns we need to address because that is insane.

What the NYT should have written about was the technology crisis and the fact that we spend the majority of our time online, whether it be working or scrolling, and not interacting with others in real life. There is a complete and utter lack of interpersonal relationships off screen, and this is creating chemical imbalances in our brains.

And of course, I talked about that in this episode!

They should have also discussed our chronic health epidemic and the fact that most Americans are overweight, eating diets composed of processed foods, and living sedentary lifestyles that surround their technological devices. And guess what, those are all root causes of depression. The inflammation in our brains is a silent killer that most people want to blissfully ignore.

They should have been BOLD and said, “hey, maybe Americans deciding that we are all perpetual victims and that the Big Bad Orange Man is out to get us and that we hate our skin colors and our genders doesn’t lead to a joyful, fulfilled life.” Crazy idea NYT. I urge you to dig into that.

I guarantee you’ll find that solo dinner reservations aren’t the problem, but are in fact a result of all of this, and that while young people lead the charge, this isn’t JUST a generational problem. It’s societal.

And no, commenters, it’s not about Trump. Maybe you should look in the mirror.

If a political party or president has THAT much power over your attitude and joy in your personal life, regardless of your party affiliation, that is a major problem.

Spend time outside, fill your life with goodness, invest in your communities, build a family. You will be able to weather any storm, and maybe our happiness levels will increase.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

WATCH OF THE WEEK

Check out my latest episode of The Brett Cooper Show. Snow White. What Happened?