The Weeknd Super Bowl Meme

By now, most of the internet knows that The Weeknd performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show, and if you didn’t, you’ve seen the meme. The high-energy performance, both amazing and eccentric, made for some funny memes that later populated social media. The meme captures the artist’s rendition of “Can’t Feel My Face,” where the camera moves dizzily around the singer. The meme essentially means, “WTF is going on” and is perfect for summarizing the year we just had and for even characterizing the start of 2021. 

I May Destroy Deserved a Golden Globes Nomination 

Earlier this week, the Golden Globes announced their list of nominations, and as always, many decisions were questionable and called attention to a larger issue. As a writer on Emily in Paris, Deborah Copaken was excited to hear her show was nominated but acknowledges the blatant oversight of more deserving shows like I May Destroy You from the film and television industry. Copaken found out about Emily in Paris’s Golden Globe nomination for best comedy series after her mother’s call. She was surprised to hear and also surprised to see a show missing from its list of nominations. Copaken writes, “I May Destroy You, deserves to win all the awards. When it didn’t, I was stunned. I May Destroy You was not only my favorite show of 2020. It’s my favorite show ever. It takes the complicated issue of rape – I’m a sexual assault survivor myself – and infuses it with heart, humor, pathos, and a story constructed so well, I had to watch it twice, just to understand how Coel did it.” 

Copaken wasn’t the only person infuriated by this misstep from the Golden Globes. Many writers, fans, and people in the media shared on their platforms their criticism of the Golden Globes decision to snub the writer of I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel. And after the year, we’ve had a nomination for a show about a white American girl selling “luxury whiteness” does come off as tone-deaf, especially without acknowledging the other more deserving brilliant show. Racial representation is important, but the Golden Globes not nominating a true masterpiece makes you question how they make their decisions. 

#FreeBritney is Back

The #FreeBritney movement was reignited in 2020 when TikTok conspiracy theory videos went viral. But since the release of The New York Times’ new documentary series episode about Britney Spears, the movement is bigger than ever. Framing Britney Spears examines what the public doesn’t know about her conservatorship and battle over her estate. Britney has been under conservatorship since 2008, and fans and colleagues have been wary about the terms ever since. The documentary explores her rise to meteoric fame, mental health struggles, and the #FreeBritney movement now resurfacing on social media. This documentary rocked everyone to their core and caused them to reevaluate how the press treated her and other teenage girl stars during this time. Without social media, these young women were without a space to create and write their narratives. It was all that the media wanted people to believe at the time. 

Elon Musk Busts Clubhouse Room Limit 

Elon Musk is famous for his Twitter presence, where he has grown widespread popularity among the younger crowd. He took his social presence to the new social platform Clubhouse for Clubhouse’s first-ever live-session. Musk used his time on Clubhouse to answer space travel and mars, cryptocurrency, and Covid-19 vaccines questions. At the last quarter of his interview, Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, hopped into the room where Musk started interviewing him. Many people in the room believed the Tenev and Musk mashup to be a PR stunt by the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz who back Robinhood, Clubhouse, and startups that work with Musk’s companies. Whatever this live-session was broke the Clubhouse room capacity limits with more than 5,000 users in the room.

This week was big for social media giants! Tune back in for an exciting update to our Social Sphere and check out our past editions here.