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. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
Welcome back to Mini scroll, everyone.
I hope you guys had a good weekend.
I actually had such a good weekend.
It was the first weekend in probably five months that I
didn't have to work on the weekend and it was kind of life
changing, honestly. I have spent at least one full
day at the office every single weekend since just the year
kicked off with the craziness that it was.
And yeah, I feel like I have started to get a strong grasp, a
stronger grasp on my schedule and my workflow and all of that
just in time to disrupt it again.
Because if you guys are long time listeners, you know, once a
year I usually go home and either July or August I go back
to Canada and I spend about a month, like a few weeks to a
month. They are working from Canada and
I am heading back home to Canada on Monday.
So in a week's time, nothing should change with the podcast
except obviously the setup. You guys are going to be seeing
me. I think I'm probably just going
to have to record on my bed maybe.
But I'm bringing my camera, I'm bringing the tripod, I'm
bringing the teleprompter for mini or for infinite scroll.
I yeah, it's going to be like a full setup.
I bought a mic that I can hold. So it'll like plug directly into
the camera. So I feel like the audio quality
might, you know, not be like as great as it is right now with
this like whole Rd. mixer and everything, but it'll still be a
professional microphone plugged into a professional camera.
So I am doing that. So I'm going home on August 5th.
So there'll be no mini scroll August 5th or 6th because as we
know the flights from Sydney to Toronto are like 24 plus hours.
So I'm going to have those two days off.
I'll be back on Wednesday with mini scroll.
I don't, I guess maybe that will be Thursday, but either way like
the day will be pushed, you know, like Thursday for
Australia. I mean anyways, there will be
two episodes of mini school next week and a deep dive as usual.
But yes, I'm really excited. My parents retired up to our
cottage a few years ago so when I go home now it's like 2 hours
north of Toronto and I'm just in cottage country on a lake and
it's so beautiful and it's just like so serene.
It's the exact like, chill vibe I really, really need.
And I was laughing so hard because TikTok gave me a memory
that one year ago today, I was at home, like at my family
cottage back home with my parents.
And this was the day that James Charles launched Painted, I
guess, like his beauty brand. And his launch video had me in
it like a clip from our podcast TikTok, where I was talking
about how like, he's irrelevant and like, nobody is going to buy
paint. And I was dying because I
remember that day so well. I remember being home so vividly
last year and like how I felt. And I just, it was just such a
different time. And all the Colleen Ballinger
stuff had just happened. We just did our big deep dive
into Gwen Swinarton, like Gwen Gwizz ASMR, and that was popping
off. And then this James Charles
thing. And it was just like, I just
remember having like a lot of anxiety when I was home and
like, feeling like I just didn't have a lot of control over the
business. And I, I mean, I still don't
really feel in control. I don't know if you ever feel in
control when you run a business, but I have a completely
different business now. Like, it's just, it's wild.
It's just been a wild year. But yeah.
So I will be podcasting from home for three weeks.
So like the 7th or whatever, once I get there, the 7th to
the, I believe it's like the 29th or the 30th.
And then I'm going to Europe for two weeks because one of my best
friends from high school is getting married in Tuscany and
they're doing like a joint bachelor, Bachelorette trip
beforehand in Croatia that we're going to go to.
We have a few days of just like us time traveling, whatever.
And then we have the wedding. And then we're going to have a
couple nights in Rome and then fly back to Sydney.
So I'm going to be gone for like almost six full weeks and two of
those weeks at the end. So the first two weeks of
September, I am going to take off as a vacation.
So this is your warning to Backlog Bank your mini scroll
episodes if you want some content while I'm gone.
So yes, I'm going to take the first two weeks of September
completely off. I'm going to try and have like a
proper vacation, a proper break. I really, really need it.
So I'm looking forward to that and I hope you guys understand.
OK, let's get into the stories for today.
So I have two stories for you guys.
The first one will be no surprise that I'm reporting on
this. I guess I just report on all the
developments on this story now. But Cody Ko and Noelle Miller
have released a statement amid the ongoing Tana Mojo
allegations. We've covered this on Mini
Scrolls so many times, like I said, over the past couple of
weeks, but if you missed it, Tana Mojo recently claimed that
she hooked up with Cody Ko when she was about 16 or 17 years old
and he was 25. Since then, Cody has been under
pressure to respond. He stayed silent, though he did
face backlash after being filmed playing Sorry by Justin Bieber
during a DJ set in Las Vegas. Now over this past weekend, Cody
finally issued a statement. However, it wasn't directly
addressing the allegations. Instead it was a shared
statement with Noel Miller. So Cody and Noel run a podcast
network called TMG Studios. TMG stands for Tiny Meat Gang
which is the name of the podcast that they Co host under TMG
Studios. Cody hosts his own show called
Insanely Chill. Other influencers like Brooke
Averick also have podcasts under the network.
After the allegations surfaced, Emergency Intercom by Drew and
Enya recently cut ties with the network, which I believe I
reported on. I think that was last week as
well. So in the statement, they
started by thanking the team and their listeners for being
patient. The pair then announced that
Cody will be taking a step back from TMG.
Quote As we enter into this next phase of the studio, we wanted
to let you know that Cody will not be involved in the
day-to-day operations at TMG Studios.
What has transpired over the past few weeks is a personal
issue for him and Cody wants to remove any effect this has on
your professional or personal lives and the work you and other
hosts have done to make TMG Studios so successful.
This statement reads. They also revealed that Quote
Noel will continue to lead the team, where his top priority
remains the life and growth of the studio and its talent.
So while this is Cody's most public statements so far, many
people feel like he didn't really do much beyond
acknowledging the allegations. On top of this, many believe
that he will still be associated with TMG, but mostly just behind
the scenes. Now, interestingly, there's been
a lot of discourse on Twitter comparing this situation to that
of the Try Guys. Many users have expressed
disappointment with TMG, pointing out that the Try Guys
cut ties with Ned Fulmer for having an affair with a
consenting adult. However, she was also an
employee. Meanwhile, Cody is likely to
continue profiting from and being involved in TMG despite
allegedly sleeping with Tana while she was a minor.
So obviously Ned and his Co worker at the time or his
employee at the time, those were two consenting adults and it was
definitely like an HR issue possibly.
And he was cheating on his wife. So there's a lot of like
interpersonal stuff, a lot of professional stuff because he
did it with an employee of the Try Guys.
But at the end of the day, it wasn't like a crime, whereas
what Cody allegedly did could be an alleged crime.
So, you know, there are different lines there, I would
say. And I, I think when the try guys
did cut ties with Ned, like it was such a big deal because it
felt like they took action right away and they did something that
seemed a bit drastic, but it was in the name of protecting their
brands, their employee. And it just, it went over really
well because they made it so public and they took action
right away. And it was like steps in the
right direction. And I don't know, I don't, I
don't know what is going to happen with TMG Studios.
I don't know what's going to happen with Cody.
Like, this statement very much makes it sound like Cody, you
know, is still a partner in TMG. He still owns it.
So I don't know. We'll have to see.
And there's so much discourse about like why Cody maybe hasn't
addressed it. And people are like, well, he's
Canadian, so maybe he's worried about his citizenship coming in.
I think the simplest answer is if he comes out and says sorry,
then he's essentially admitting to an alleged crime.
So like, you know, I don't think we're ever going to get a
statement about this in any type of like, meaningful way because
he's not going to admit to an alleged crime on the Internet.
That's my take on that. OK, The next story that I have
for you guys is I'm going to address the Ava Tyson
allegations. Now, I know these allegations
have been going around for about a week, and I know Mr. Beast
made a statement and I'll go through all of that in a minute,
but I didn't want to address these.
I wasn't going to cover it because there are just a lot of
people that are using this situation for an opportunity to
be transphobic and I didn't want to empower anyone to do that.
However, the alleged victim has spoken out and done an interview
with Rolling Stone. So I'm going to cover it because
now we have all sides to the story.
I think it's an important story to cover for sure, but I want to
make it clear, if anyone finds this on YouTube, and it will be
YouTube, it will be YouTube that people, rogue people, will find
this because it will come up in the recommended or their search
or whatever. If you find this video on
YouTube and you comment anything transphobic in the comments, I
will, we'll just block you. OK OK so over the past few weeks
grooming allegations have been levelled against Ava Chris
Tyson. So if you aren't familiar with
Ava, she is long time Co host of Mr. Beast's videos and has been
friends with Jimmy who is Mr. Beast since childhood.
She is also a trans woman who has been the target of
discrimination since she opened up about her gender affirming
HRT journey and transition last year.
Recently, Ava has been accused of sending inappropriate
messages to a minor when she 20. Over the past month, video
started circulating of messages with a user named Lava GS, who
was 13 at the time. Last week, Ava took to Twitter
to address the claims, apologizing for her previous
behavior while also clarifying that she, quote, never groomed
anyone. She also announced that she will
be taking a step back from social media for her mental
health and all things Mr. Beast to ensure that no one at the
company will be hurt by these allegations.
Quote, I would like to apologize for any of my past behavior or
comments if it hurt or offended and anyone it was not my intent.
Seeing recent events, we've mutually decided it's best I
permanently step away from all things Mr. Beast and social
media to focus on my family and mental health, she wrote.
I want to add, I never groomed anyone.
The person who gets brought up in these accusations at Lava GS
has vocally supported that these are false.
Beyond this, Ava continued by acknowledging that her previous
behavior online was inappropriate.
Quote I humbly apologize to anyone I have hurt with my
unacceptable social media posts, past actions, and to those who
may feel betrayed by how I used to act online.
To lump these two factors together to create a narrative
that my behavior extended beyond bad edgy jokes is disgusting and
did not happen. Lava has corroborated Ava's
statement on Twitter, writing I am not a victim and I am not
backpedaling any statements I have already made.
Everything I have stated is still very true.
Nothing bad happened between me and Chris.
People are creating lies around my name.
So Chris is Ava's dead name? In an exclusive interview with
Rolling Stone. Leyva Lava.
Sorry, I don't know what I was just saying.
I don't know if I was saying Lava or Leyva.
I think it's Lava. Lava asserted that certain
creators have been misrepresenting the story to
further their own agendas. In the interview, Lava explained
that he communicated with Ava after she had reached out and
asked him to make a Discord server.
This was back in 2016, so it was a fairly new platform quote.
Chris reached out to me and saw I was making Discord for people,
Lava tells Rolling Stone. He was new to it and wanted a
bot that would play lo fi study music, which isn't hard to do.
Lava ended up staying in the server after it was built, where
the two would continue to communicate.
In the interview, Lava says that Ava was not aware of their age
gap until 2018, although he, quote, couldn't remember the
specific details of how it came up.
Regarding the quote, UN quote inappropriate conversations
between the two that have recently surfaced, Lava said.
Quote, I was at the age where I spoke to all my friends like
that. There was nothing more than
that. It's how Bros talk.
I saw Chris as an older brother because he reminded me a lot of
my older brother. Lava would then go on to work
for Mr. Beast as a production assistant, with Ava helping him
land the job. He later stopped working for Mr.
Beast in May 2021. It has been speculated that the
creators who started pushing the grooming narrative are doing so
for transphobic reasons. Quote one right leaning creator
who had thoughts about Tyson and her transition happened to be
Prism 42A YouTube with 800 subscribers who had found the
messages between Lava and Tyson on 4 Chan.
That was unclear how they ended up there.
Prism felt he needed to get the information out, so he claimed
he contacted 50 creators. Steven Asarsh writes for the
Rolling Stone Quote. Prism then contacted YouTube
Verdis, an 18 year old with 600 subscribers, and had him reach
out to Lava looking to interview him for an editor position.
Verdis tells Rolling Stone he had no idea he was being set up
or that Lava had anything to do with Tyson or Mr. Beast.
He was just looking for an editor.
On June 13th, Verdis and Prism went on to release their own
video about Ava and Lava's messages, but neither reportedly
included the information from Lava's interview.
The video blew up a month later when Androx posted a commentary
video compiling the claims, with many right wing creators
seemingly using the story to spread transphobia.
So Mr. Beast also released his own statement on this last week,
he wrote on Twitter. Over the last few days, I've
become aware of the serious allegations of Ava Tyson's
behavior online and I am disgusted and opposed to such
unacceptable acts. During that time, I have been
focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a
thorough investigation to ensure I have all the facts.
That said, I've seen enough online and take an immediate
action to remove Ava from my company, my channel, and any
association with Mr. Beast. I do not condone or support any
of the inappropriate actions. I will allow the independent
investigators the necessary time to conduct a comprehensive
investigation, and we'll take any further actions based on
their findings. So a lot of people have
commended Mr. Beast for making a public statement very quickly,
taking action. And I agree with that.
I think despite Lava's insistence that Eva, you know,
did not groom them, there's a lot of other allegations now
floating around about Eva and people are bringing up old
conversations and whether Lava feels groomed or not.
If the messages are inappropriate, it makes sense
that Mister Beast, as the owner of the company where Ava and
then eventually Lava were representing him, he was putting
them in an environment together like he would need to make sure
he understands everything about the situation.
So that'll make sense. Lava actually responded to Mr.
Beast's tweet, he said. I commend Mr. Beast for taking
the situation seriously and hiring a third party
investigator while also taking the appropriate actions of
cutting ties with Ava. While the allegations involving
my name aren't true, I feel there is still a lot of other
allegations, negations that deserve to be investigated
thoroughly. That's that on that.
You know, I might do a deep dive one day on kind of how early
intranet was like the Wild West. And I do believe that is the
reason that it feels like all of our favorite creators were like
quote UN quote groomers or having like inappropriate
relationships with minors. I think there's like a very big
topic to explore there and I don't even know if I'm really
the right person to do it. I feel like I would probably
need an expert online with me. But yes, just another one like
that DJ Khaled sound another one.
All right, guys, well, that's it for today.
Thank you guys so much for listening to Mini Scroll.
If you like this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe.
It helps me so much. Oh yeah, and we also didn't make
it to 5000 subscribers on YouTube.
Obviously, unfortunately, we're not that far off, but like we
didn't make it. So maybe we'll make it by the
end of the week. All right, anyways, thank you
guys. I love you and I will talk to
you tomorrow. Bye.