Tessera

I wrote about the MeToo backlash genre of celebrity profiles where a rich guy who was “cancelled” over credible rape/abuse allegations wants a “comeback” despite facing little to no accountability. And for some reason we’re supposed to sympathize with his “plight” spitfirenews.com/p/armie-hamm...

The celebrity profile that infuriated me this week

Stop trying to make #MeToo redemption arcs happen.

spitfirenews.com

Laura Bradley @lurabardley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Euphoria launched some of Gen Z’s biggest stars. But showrunner Sam Levinson is a reactionary purveyor of misogyny who should never be handed another blank HBO check again. I wrote about my long-simmering dislike of his work for @spitfirenews.com spitfirenews.com/p/euphoria-s...

'Euphoria' was a misogynistic trash heap that got Gen Z all wrong

Being a world-class hater is easy when your target is Sam Levinson.

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This is really, really good.

"Angelenos are understandably dissatisfied with their current leadership. But while Raman has pages of evidence-based plans to build where Bass left off, Pratt knows that his voters aren’t interested in reading thousands of words. As he bluntly told the New York Times, Pratt says he—and by extension, his supporters—feel like victims, they don’t want to feel that way anymore, and the way to impress them is to say whatever they feel like hearing. In this case, they want to hear Pratt insult women who are actually qualified for the role and degrade the most vulnerable people in LA. Gosh, it all feels so familiar."

Kat Tenbarge@kattenbarge.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A discomforting number of people in LA voted for Spencer Pratt, whose claim to fame is publicly demeaning women. He’s notably not the first reality TV villain to reach voters with vile, reactionary rhetoric. And he has the help of platforms like X. spitfirenews.com/p/spencer-pr...

Why people keep voting for reality TV villains

Spencer Pratt, vice signaling, and using influencers to undermine the left.

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The popular superhero satire The Boys ended with Homelander, a character who is a Trump analogue, meeting his bloody and brutal end. This scared the hell out of conservatives, including Elon Musk, whose death was also parodied. They’ve been crashing out ever since. spitfirenews.com/p/the-boys-e...

Why the right is so mad about the ending of The Boys

It parodied Trump's death, but their anger goes deeper than that.

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Elon Musk has turned X into a machine that generates culture wars on demand. His racist and transphobic attacks on the cast of "The Odyssey" aren't just a distraction, they're the pop culture version of the Trump administration's anti-DEI propaganda. spitfirenews.com/p/the-odysse...

Elon Musk's war on 'The Odyssey' is recycled ragebait

X serves up Gamergate on demand.

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With this bundle, you can get 30 days of access to all of Spitfire News, Garbage Day, and Local News International for 50% off! These newsletter bundles have been a great way to support your favorite journalists and to check out more indie reporting. Don't miss out! trustfnd.com/kattenbarge/...

Trustfnd | Local Garbage Fire

Three creators collaborating.

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Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 3mo ago

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Trustfnd | Local Garbage Fire

Three creators collaborating.

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If you have nothing to do tonight, I’m co-hosting a virtual workshop about survivor-informed journalism and storytelling and would love to see you there!! www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-yo...

Sharing your Story: Survivor-Informed Journalism 101

More Than A Story Workshops x Survivor Stories Deserve Better Virtual Workshop Event

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As some journalists are gearing up to dine alongside an authoritarian who wants them destroyed, I'm revisiting a @spitfirenews.com piece I wrote about my own 2018 WHCD experience. I was one of the student scholarship recipients, but it left me deeply disillusioned. spitfirenews.com/p/partied-tr...

That Time I Partied with Trump's White House

I went to the WHCD in 2018. Not much has changed since then.

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I wrote about how Eric Swalwell supporters tried to reframe the sexual violence allegations against him as a MAGA hoax, how some folks fell for it, and how this kind of rhetoric actually mirrors Trump's line of defense against his own accusers. For @spitfirenews.com spitfirenews.com/p/eric-swalw...

Attorneys like Dabaie know how to use their client’s upper hand, as do press secretaries like Leavitt. They know that people are often swayed by the narrative that a victim was not acting like a victim in the immediate wake of an alleged assault. They know that people like to imagine survivors are actually fabulists who invent their allegations later on to try and collect a payday or sway an election. The perception that survivors stand to benefit from coming forward persists despite years of Me Too backlash showing just how much survivors are punished for doing so. A negligible number of survivors profit from speaking out, while the costs of being victimized—both literal and metaphorical—outweigh any payout.

Today is the LAST day you can get this 50% off bundle deal for 30 days of newsletters from me, @katelynburns.com, and @marisakabas.bsky.social!! For less than $10 you can support three indie publications! trustfnd.com/kattenbarge/...

Trustfnd | Indie Media Bundle

Three creators collaborating.

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It’s disturbing to see so many people and celebrities support a Ye comeback. In addition to 15+ years of antisemitism, white supremacy, and alleged sexual violence, Ye has become a cultural icon for far-right influence. And his “apology” doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. spitfirenews.com/p/ye-s-bigot...

Ye's bigotry and violence wasn't a phase

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“People really need to take agency. Do you want to do something about Nazism? Don’t support a Nazi. Put two and two together. Do something with your behavior to help things get a little better,” says @chantalalive.blacksky.app spitfirenews.com/p/ye-s-bigot...

Ye's bigotry and violence wasn't a phase

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I wrote about how Lindy West discourse turned into a war over “millennial feminism” versus “Gen Z feminism,” which all started from a bad faith, anti-feminist place. Also, I sent a typo in the email subject so I’ll be cowering in shame for the rest of the evening spitfirenews.com/p/in-defense...

In defense of 'millennial feminism' AND 'Gen Z feminism'

The generational infighting is the product of—and distraction from—the broligarchy.

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Newsletter bundle alert—me, @marisakabas.bsky.social, and @katelynburns.com are offering a 1-month trial for 50% off our usual subscription prices! It's a one-time payment, no strings attached. With so many newsletters out there, we wanted to try something new! trustfnd.com/kattenbarge/...

Trustfnd | Indie Media Bundle

Three creators collaborating.

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I wrote about the time-honored tradition of reality TV shows turning domestic violence into entertainment, usually through a misogynistic lens and sometimes by escalating abusive relationships. This culture has in turn informed how the internet exploits abuse cases spitfirenews.com/p/taylor-fra...

The 'Bachelorette' cancellation is not what it seems

Reality TV has a long, sordid history of pushing women to their breaking point.

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I've been reporting on these types of campaigns for years now as a fixture of the era of MeToo backlash. I'm grateful for my Spitfire News members whose generosity allows me to publish this kind of reporting unpaywalled. spitfirenews.com/upgrade

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These types of campaigns are boosted by algorithms and biases that identify women who report sexual harassment as attention-seeking and overreacting. It's another form of DARVO, and it's increasingly affecting everyday women who speak up about sexual violence. spitfirenews.com/p/she-report...

She reported her professor. Then the Reddit comments poured in.

Part one of an investigation into an online smear campaign that followed a complaint against a music school.

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After Rebecca got expelled following her Title IX complaint, she filed a complaint against her music school with the state division of human rights. She has a lot of evidence on her side. But now her top Google result is a Reddit comment calling her a "nightmare." spitfirenews.com/p/she-report...

She reported her professor. Then the Reddit comments poured in.

Part one of an investigation into an online smear campaign that followed a complaint against a music school.

spitfirenews.com

Smear campaigns in Reddit comments have become a fixture of celebrity legal dramas, but they aren't just affecting public figures. For @spitfirenews.com, I investigated anonymous online attacks against a woman who reported a music professor for sexual harassment. spitfirenews.com/p/she-report...

She reported her professor. Then the Reddit comments poured in.

Part one of an investigation into an online smear campaign that followed a complaint against a music school.

spitfirenews.com

I have been following the minutiae of these cases for years, even when people told me they didn't matter. I reviewed hundreds of Epstein Files for this piece. It's free to read & subscribe, but please consider supporting my journalism @spitfirenews.com if you can! spitfirenews.com/upgrade

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These crisis PR strategies: building a pseudo-feminist narrative around an alleged predator, relying on access journalists, and turning to partisan influencer "news" sources over actual journalists when that fails, are consistent across each of these cases. spitfirenews.com/p/epstein-jo...

The Epstein-Johnny Depp-Justin Baldoni connection

These men shared some of the same crisis publicists and PR strategies.

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Melissa Nathan, through her lawyer Bryan Freedman, denies that said meeting ever took place or that she would ever meet with Epstein. But you won't hear about her denial from any mainstream media sources, because they exclusively shared it with a pro-Baldoni, anti-Lively podcaster.

An excerpt from the aforementioned Spitfire News article: One of those publicists, Nathan, is mentioned in the Epstein Files regarding a May 5, 2017 meeting scheduled between Epstein and Hiltzik that Sosenko and Nathan were supposed to attend. Bryan Freedman, the lawyer representing Baldoni and Nathan against Lively, denied that this meeting took place in an exclusive statement he shared with Zack Peter, a militantly anti-Lively and pro-Baldoni podcast host who gained attention in recent days for spreading cruel, baseless conspiracies that broadcaster Savannah Guthrie is hiding information from the public about her mother’s highly-publicized kidnapping.

This is reminiscent of when Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman testified that he had been in contact with three pro-Depp YouTubers, engaging with them like he would with journalists. In Nathan’s case, the people most likely to care that she’s in the Epstein Files is the audience most avidly following the case against her and Baldoni. By issuing a denial through such a partisan source, she and Freedman are speaking through and to their most sympathetic audience. The mainstream media has yet to pick up on this, shielding the denial from much scrutiny. Peter didn’t respond to my request for comment.

Matthew Hiltzik was the main point of contact for Epstein. One of his then-associates, Melissa Nathan, was listed as attending a meeting with them. She later represented Justin Baldoni and is now being sued by Blake Lively for an alleged PR campaign of retaliation. spitfirenews.com/p/epstein-jo...

The Epstein-Johnny Depp-Justin Baldoni connection

These men shared some of the same crisis publicists and PR strategies.

spitfirenews.com

Publicists who represented Johnny Depp during his 2022 trial against Amber Heard charged Jeffrey Epstein five figures a month for representation during 2017, according to invoices in the Epstein Files. Their PR strategies for Epstein reflect the later MeToo backlash. spitfirenews.com/p/epstein-jo...

The Epstein-Johnny Depp-Justin Baldoni connection

These men shared some of the same crisis publicists and PR strategies.

spitfirenews.com

I wrote about how the women Epstein and co victimized have been minimized and ignored as individuals even in popular discourse about the very abuse they endured—and how the legal system has punished them and other women, not helped them, for daring to come forward. spitfirenews.com/p/even-the-m...

Even the most famous victims are silenced

From the Epstein files to Amber Heard, we obsess over victims while denying their own right to speak.

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