Redfoo & Bill Cosby: Internet trolls doing it right

As always, it’s been an intense week in the news. G20, Kim Kardashian’s bum, Russian warships headed towards Brisbane, Bill Cosby and Redfoo. The internet has a tendency to react to anything and everything with negativity, bitterness and relentlessly overzealous ridicule – but sometimes, every so often, it’s justified. Let’s take a look at two events in entertainment news this week that lured all the internet trolls out for exactly the right reasons.

Redfoo. Literally, everything about him.

I’ll be honest; I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the world to realise what an incredibly apt douchebag Redfoo is. He’s got no real talent, he uses oversized clown pyjamas and dumb glasses to make himself a gimmick who looks more like Ricky Gervais’ character in Extras than any legitimate artist, and he’s a fucktard on reality TV. Oh, and he has an incredibly famous, wealthy and important father. When you think about it like that, he’s basically Paris Hilton. Now, he’s featured on Play-N-SKillz’ track Literally, I Can’t, which has been hailed as one of the most offensive, misogynistic and downright shitty tracks in recent memory – some go as far as saying it promotes ‘rape culture.’I don’t think I need to go into detail again about the sheer number of horrors in this song and its horrendous video. I’m sure you already know. If you’re interested, read my full-length piece about it on Stoney Roads.

The media had a red-eyed feeding frenzy. Redfoo was so heavily criticised that a) his lawyers felt the need to get in touch with blogs to request retractions and apologies and b) there’s a petition signed by more than 21 000 people so far to ban him from X-Factor.

What makes me really happy about the coverage is that, apart from this one interview with his radio station sponsors KIIS FM (aka Kyle and Jackie O, aka the only people who can out-douche Redfoo) 100% of the media and social media attention has been completely negative. And that does not translate to sales, popularity, Facebook likes or anything else. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I’m glad that this happened because it brought a few things to public attention. Firstly, it proved once and for all how cataclysmically SHIT Redfoo is. Secondly, it raised a number of extremely high-priority issues regarding misogyny, casual sexism, peer pressure and the idiocy of putting it all in a song – a fucking terrible song, no less. Like, before we even get to the lyrics I want to rip my ears out ‘cos it’s so bad. Thirdly, and most importantly, the immense criticism showed us that the world knows this is NOT OKAY. The world knows that Redfoo fucked up really badly. We know that he shouldn’t have said what he said, we know WHY, and we’re not willing to let it stand. I am really proud about that. Well done, everyone (except Kyle & Jackie O and anybody associated with writing, recording, filming, producing or promoting that song.)

Anyway if you haven’t seen it yet, watch this and judge for yourself.

What you’ll find in the dictionary under “moronic talentless fool”

Bill Cosby: comedian? rapist? why not both?

Someone got fired this week. Whoever is in charge of Bill Cosby’s social media made a fatal mistake; asking the internet to create memes about a celebrity who has been accused of sexual assault and rape of at least 13 women.The internet went INSANE with their memes, which is amazing. The relentless hatred of internet trolls usually irks me, but this week it was spot on. And the best part? The media took hold of it and went a lot further – all week, decades-old rape allegations and victim testimonies have been resurfacing and reinvestigated across the world. Trial by media? Sure. But a number of articles have made an incredibly good point; why is America (and the rest of the world) so happy to ignore these horrific crimes? Just because he’s a famous comedy actor?

Cosby hasn’t done too well in terms of responding to the events this week. He and his wife were interviewed on NPR and, when questioned, he flatly refused to respond or even acknowledge the allegations. He also pulled out of a forthcoming appearance on Letterman.

It’s not the first time that Cosby has pushed these accusations away. In fact, he’s never done anything BUT deny them, despite the mounting evidence. It was most recently called to media attention by awesome comedian Hannibal Buress (who you may know from Broad City), who accused Cosby of being a rapist in a not-so-funny moment during a standup routine earlier this year. He also left ANY mention of the allegations out in a recent biography.

Nobody knows how this is going to end. Will the allegations simply get pushed back under the rug? Probably. Will police and victims work together to mount a serious case with enough substantial evidence to take Cosby down? Hopefully. But what I’m pleased with this week, is the detail and attention we’re collectively putting into this investigation. The internet is working together to make sure that we don’t forget about this again.

Bravo to everybody who submitted a meme, an article, a tweet or any other kind of online statement showing that they’re no longer willing to let the bright stars of Hollywood blind ourselves to the fact that some despicable shit goes down by the people who supposedly bring laughter and happiness into our homes.