Coming up today on Mini Scroll, Molly Rudder's viral bar makeup
scandal, La Roche and Zendaya face backlash over a private jet
situation, and an Ariana Grande impersonator drops a
documentary. Hi everyone.
Welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet culture podcast
bringing you the biggest stories from social media, the creator
economy, and the digital space every Monday through Thursday
and sometimes Fridays like today.
I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the Australian
youth digital media brand Centennial World.
Welcome back to mini scroll, everyone.
A Friday mini and I feel like these stories are relatively
normal for a Friday mini. So we're excited about that.
Also, if you guys are watching then you'll notice I am back in
my bear costume. I swore I would never wear this
sweater again on the podcast after the last time I wore it.
You guys were like, I thought you were in a bear costume.
I had so many comments about that on Tiktok and then also on
the YouTube video and I was like guys I have worn the sweater so
many times in the last like 2 years that I've done mini but I
don't know what it was but the last time.
Hopefully, I am not giving like bear cosplay this time, but if I
am, I guess I could be kind of like a cozy vibe, I don't know.
Anyways, before I get into it, Please remember to rate, review
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All right, let's get into the stories for today.
So the first story that I have for you guys today is Molly
Rudder is going viral after asking women at a bar to borrow
their makeup. I love kind of silly stories
like this. Like, people are genuinely mad.
And of course, I'll get into why.
But this kind of story I feel like is what Minnie thrives on.
Like, this is the stuff that I want to be covering.
OK, so earlier this week, creator Molly Rudder went viral
after posting a TikTok in which she's asking a table of women at
a bar if any of them have any makeup that she can borrow
because she's going on a last minute date and she wasn't
wearing any. So Molly is a creator.
She has around 180,000 followers.
And even though she's not like the biggest creator, she did
become really well known around like 2024 and 2025 for
documenting her dating life. And this actually did backfire
on her. She's super controversial.
A lot of people really don't like her.
And in late 2024, she faced backlash after baiting her
audience into believing that she had gone on a date with a man
who was violent. So in this controversial video,
Molly showed herself with fake injuries and flashing emergency
lights alongside the caption that it had been the scariest
date of her life. People were freaking out about
this, of course. And then hours later, she
revealed that the footage was actually promoting a haunted
house attraction because it was like near Halloween, and that
the injuries that she showed were special effects makeup.
She insisted that this was not a paid partnership, but
regardless, people were super pissed off at her for
essentially like, exploiting their concern and using the
possibility of going on a date with a violent man for click
bait. She's very divisive.
She's kind of become a bit of a lol cow, I would say.
I know I cannot stop using that label.
It's when I rediscovered it recently.
I was like, that describes so many of the people that we
talked about on Mini Scroll. So she has become kind of a lol
cow. Like she's not taken very
seriously. OK, so like I said, in this new
video, Molly is asking women at a bar for makeup.
One of the girls gives her a lip gloss, which Molly then films
herself putting directly on her lips.
And the girls are hyping her up. Like they're saying she doesn't
need any makeup for this date. They're being really sweet about
it. There are some people that are
like, you can tell that they were kind of like hesitant about
this whole situation. But regardless, like they did
give her some product, hey. Ladies, I'm so sorry to
interrupt. OK?
I'm spontaneously having a guy meet me up for a date and I have
no makeup on so I'm asking women if they have any makeup on that.
Oh my God, do you have anything? Like any like.
Concealer or like something? Well, first.
Of all, you don't need it, you don't.
Need anything? No, but I feel like I look like
because this is all my natural skin, so I'm like I'm so paint.
Naturally. You know what I mean?
Dating is like the worst right now.
I dated somebody for a month and they called me and said we're
friends, right? I think we're friends.
And I was like, I have black honey Clinique.
What's that? It's a it's a it looks good on
everyone. Hold on I'll put it on.
So this video got 3.5 million views and so much backlash.
People were really grossed out that she was asking strangers to
use their makeup given contamination concerns.
People thought it was selfish and attention seeking for her to
be interrupting women while out asking them for this.
People thought that she was really not reading social cues
properly in this interaction. So let me read you some of the
top comments. One reads, You don't need it was
your cue to stop asking. Another wrote, I would
absolutely lie because I wouldn't want a stranger using
my makeup. Someone else wrote, That's all
you need means stop rubbing my lipstick on your lips, Someone
else wrote. Girl, she was probably expecting
you to use your finger. OK?
Molly has since responded to all the backlash in a new video, and
here's what she said. So I recently had a video go
viral where I went up to a random group of women at a bar
asking if they had any makeup that I could use because I
spontaneously planned a date where this guy was arriving in
30 minutes and I didn't have any makeup on.
Let me tell you, I've been posting on the Internet now for
about four years at this point, and I now can have a pretty good
gauge when videos are going to go viral.
And I did predict that this video was going to reach a lot
of people. But I thought it was going to
reach people because it was simply a wholesome, adorable
moment of women supporting women.
OK. I did not expect for the
comments section to be blown up with people thinking it would be
somehow possible for me in 30 minutes time to go to a store,
get makeup, and come back. I don't know if some of you live
in a magical land where there's a Sephora at every corner.
Like you can just exit a bar and there's Sephora is aplenty.
Please let me know if there's a magical place like that that
that exists. I would love to go.
But. What I do know is that in
reality, there are places like cities, like major cities where
you can exit a bar and you can find many stores nearby where
you could get some make up in a pinch, right?
Like Acvs, like a Walgreens, right?
But I don't live in one of those places.
I live in Buffalo, NY, a small city, a car dominated city with
pretty terrible public transportation that's not widely
accessible. And I don't have a.
Car. So yeah, I mean, this video
didn't really go down that well. I think that her delivery is
part of the reason why people have a hard time with her in
general. OK, my opinion on this, first of
all, I don't think it's crazy that she was at the bar with no
makeup on. I don't know.
I saw some comments like that, like if you were at a bar, did
you not already get ready? I mean, there's like levels to
getting ready and there's lots of people who would like be
going out for a drink with their friends and not care and just
wear whatever and wear no makeup versus if they were like going
out with a guy. I think one of the things here
for me, OK, Molly is around my age, so she is in her 30s.
When you're in your 20s, sharing makeup at the bar with random
girls is part of bar culture. I cannot stress that enough.
I have been in so many bathrooms with so many random girls,
helping them do their makeup, fixing their makeup after
they've been like crying in the stalls.
Sometimes with my own makeup. Like I am that friend that goes
out with a purse filled with makeup.
If you ever see me with a purse at any given time, all I have in
it is makeup. I don't have a wallet.
I have all my cards on my phone, OK?
I have nothing in that purse except for makeup.
So I have like whatever you could need.
I always have it on me. That is a literally part of bar
culture when you are younger is being in the bathroom with girls
that have like a sleigh makeup on and you're like, Oh my God,
do you have that lipstick on you that looks so nice?
Oh my God. Like what mascara are you
wearing? You know, whatever.
And then doing each other's makeup and having the best time
and sharing drinks, kissing each other.
Like there is a way grosser shit in my opinion that goes down at
bars. Then sharing each other's
lipsticks. OK, I have seen some disgusting
shit go down at bars when I was in my 20s and like partying like
crazy, kissing boys at bars? Way grosser.
Straight men in their 20s at bars?
Disgusting. And if I had to go on a date and
I had no makeup on and I had 30 minutes till this date, like
that would be an emergency situation to me.
Would I be going around to random tables asking girls to
borrow their makeup at this age? No, because this is where like I
can't get behind it. In your 30s, your frontal lobe
is fully developed, so you do see the risks in sharing makeup
with random strangers or even just your friends.
You know, when you're in your 20s and you're having fun and
like, whatever, it's all just like fun and games.
OK, So I can like understand why the girls share their makeup
with her and things like that. But like in your 30s, you have a
different perspective. I would say in general, even if
you're not really that afraid of germs, I also just feel like if
I at this age was at a bar with my friends doing whatever and I
wasn't ready and a guy was like can I take you on a date in 30
minutes? I would say no.
I'm out with my friends. You can take me on a date
tomorrow or you can take me on a date in like 2 hours when I've
gone home and showered and gotten ready.
So that is where I struggled to get behind it because I just
feel like you grow out of some of that like male centeredness
the older you get and you get a bit more, you know, like a
stronger sense of self. I would say.
The other thing is you can hear in the video one of the girls
say, are you recording? And that I think is like the
most egregious part of this whole situation.
Like, I don't think the sharing of makeup with strangers at a
bar is the craziest thing. But I think it's pretty
egregious that she went up and is recording them.
I just I can't I cannot get around the recording of
strangers in public. Even if we don't see their
faces, which we didn't in this video, I still think we can hear
their voices. Their reactions is still
identifiable. I think it is so wrong.
All right, the next story that I have for you guys today is La
Roche is currently going viral after it was revealed that he
had a private jet waiting for him with a dress.
So Lias, whose real name is Elias Medini, posted a video of
La Roche backstage at Schiaparelli for Paris O Couture
Week. In the video, they are talking
about one of the dresses slated to be worn for an upcoming
premiere. Law said that he had flown into
Paris the night before and had the jet waiting to go to London.
They didn't say who and what exactly the dress was for, but
as many social media users expected, it was for Zendaya at
the Odyssey London premiere. OK so the reception was in like
2 camps. First fashion lovers were
obsessed with the behind the scenes of this where they got
this glimpse into like how this all came together.
Lobbying backstage waiting for the dress to come.
Like literally fresh off the runway with a private jet
waiting for him to take the dress to Zendaya.
But then the other camp of social media users were less
than impressed by the chosen mode of transportation literally
for a dress. So a lot of the discourse around
this is taking place on Reddit. So let me read you some
comments. This one's from our slash pop
culture chat. Someone wrote quote.
It does definitely dampen my enjoyment of red carpet stuff
generally. Like I'm sure they're using
private jets to get everyone where they need to be on such
tight timelines. But address address the train
was also right there. And if insurance or the brand or
whatever said no to that, then just wait two days.
It's not worth the We're the same day headlines other thread
on the R slash What the Frock subreddit epitomized the broader
sentiment. Some users loved the effort that
Lawton Zendaya went to, while others were criticizing the
look, saying the rush was excessive.
They claimed that the dress didn't even fit Zendaya right
because Law prioritized shock factor over everything else.
So this is how the conversation went.
Somebody wrote Law had a private jet to transport the dress from
the Paris show that morning to the premiere the same evening.
And then a response. Well, that at least explains why
it doesn't fit her properly if it wasn't properly fitted for
her body. Someone responds oh damn it did
need to do all that. I love the skirt and of course
she looks gorgeous with the hair and makeup, but the dress didn't
need to be sent on a jet. I liked the Valentino dress she
changed into. She could have just worn that
the whole time and still been stunning and perfect.
And then finally someone wrote love lot and love Zendaya.
But seriously this is ridiculous.
A plane to get a dress. I hope they don't play the
climate chance and sustainability advocate later.
So celebrities have long been criticized for their private jet
usage, most notably Taylor Swift.
Much of the conversation now centers on the environmental
damage that these jets cause. So according to a report from
the International Council on Clean Transportation, a majority
of private jet journeys are short haul flights.
Yet in 2023, private jets collectively quote, emitted more
green house gases than all flights departing from Heathrow
Airport, the busiest airport in Europe.
I've seen a lot of sentiment to where people are like I have to
check my bias here because I would be so angry if Taylor
Swift did this. So I need to like hold the same
energy for Zendaya, which I think is interesting.
I'm not trying to pit them against each other, but I think
the self reflection that I have seen in the comment sections
regarding this particular story has been honestly unique.
That's not very common amongst like pop culture discourse and
look like La Roche and Zendaya, like they're definitely not the
only ones who are using private jets to get outfits here and
there. And, you know, all of these
kinds of things that feel really like wasteful.
I mean, we saw on the Hills. OK, Like this is the first thing
I thought of when I saw this story is on the hills.
Lauren Conrad is flown from LA to New York to drop off a dress
for, I guess New York Fashion Week.
I can't really remember. And then she is put on a plane
immediately right after she like hand delivers the dress to
somebody, she's back on another plane.
And I know that's not private jet usage, but that is one
example from so many years ago. And that was a dress.
I want to say it was for like an editor or something.
I don't even think it was for like an A list celebrity.
So I imagine when we're watching scenes like that in the hills,
like decades ago, that A list celebrities are using their
private jets for all this kind of stuff all the time.
But we don't need to see that right now.
Like we are not in 2010 flex culture anymore.
People don't like to see that anymore.
The general consensus right now is like, yes, we do anticipate
that things like this are happening.
We do imagine that they're happening.
We kind of know they're happening, but please don't show
us because we are all going through so much right now.
Everything is so fucking expensive if the world is going
to die before all of us can have children.
Like, it is such a dystopian, like, weird place that we're at
right now. Please don't show us.
Like, we know it's happening. Please don't show us because
there's no way to control it, right?
It makes people feel more hopeless and more helpless to
see that. OK.
And the last story that I have you guys today is Paige Neiman.
The infamous Ariana Grande impersonator has dropped a
documentary. So Paige Neiman is pretty
infamous online. She is an Ariana Grande look
alike, but also kind of like an impersonator.
She's been quote a quote impersonating Ariana for years.
Adjusting her look to track Ariana's different eras.
She has over 700,000 followers on Instagram and 10 million on
TikTok and she is currently 22 years old.
She's gone viral many times for many different things, but she
actually started an only fans, which I think was her biggest
like controversy. I would say because many felt
like she was leaning on her likeness to Ariana Grande to
generate this revenue and that it was maybe like unethical.
Given she actually can make herself look so much like Ariana
Grande. People were concerned that she
would be like using that and like almost, I guess like in a
way pretending to be Ariana Grande.
People would be signing up thinking that they're getting
like spicy content from Ariana Grande that it could lead to
issues with like deep fakes and things like that for Ari.
So anyways, that was like quite a big content controversy.
So now she is releasing a documentary with Prime Video
called Turning the Page and the series will seem to have about 6
episodes. So many social media users seem
shocked that she has done this docu series or like reality show
at all. But one of the biggest
bombshells so far came when she was asked whether she'd ever
spoken to Ariana. And then she revealed that they
have exchanged DMS and this is what the DM reads that Ari
allegedly sent to Paige. I am flattered and I am sure
you're very sweet but I just wanted you to know I looked back
a little ways on your page and I think someone should tell you if
they haven't today that you're very beautiful as yourself
without all the makeup and trying to make your face look
more similar to someone else's and what not.
I had to say because it is the truth.
Always do what makes you happy of course, but if I didn't say
that to you I'd regret it. You're beautiful as you are,
take care. I mean that is like literally so
nice. So Ariana has spoken out against
her like look alikes or impersonators before.
Paige is not the only one. She has two other infamous look
alikes, Jackie and Jess, and Jess actually pretended to be
Ariana Grande at Disneyland back in the day.
It would like take pictures with fans.
Back in 2019, when Paige first started going really viral,
Ariana responded to a tweet about her content, questioning
why Paige leaned into doing Cat Valentine's voice while wearing
looks that echoed Ariana's own. Thank you next era quote.
I just wonder why the cat voice slash dialogue.
I am sure she is the sweetest sweet sweetheart for real but
it's definitely bizarre seeing people blend the two worlds
LMAO. A year later, Ariana posted a
video on her Instagram Story from actor Jordan Firstman in
which he criticized people who make, like, memes
recontextualizing an artist's work into something that
degrades its value. She captioned the story.
Oh my God, can this please also double as your impression of the
ponytail TikTok girls who think doing the cat Valentine voice
and that wearing winged eyeliner and a sweatshirt is doing a good
impersonation of me because this is really how it feels.
It would be so weird being a celebrity that has
impersonators. I also think I, because
sometimes I get the Taylor Swift impersonator is I think her
name's Ashley on my free page. And sometimes I look at her
content and I just feel a little bit sad.
And I guess you could say the same for Paige because it's
like, yeah, you have a lot of followers, but off the back of
what? Pretending to be someone else
looking like someone else like that is not career longevity.
That is not true fandom. Those followers are there
because of someone else, not because of you.
And it kind of makes me feel a little bit like sad for them.
But I also understand why celebrities do not like it
because it does kind of border on like freaky.
Anyways, I'm actually looking forward to watching Paige's
documentary. This is right up my alley.
Like it's so Internet culture coded, so I'm definitely going
to be watching it. Anyways, guys, that's it for
mini scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
and subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US.
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I love you guys and I will talk to you on Monday.
Bye. Centennial World podcast network
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