In case you haven’t heard [though if you’ve been on the internet in the last 7 or so weeks, it’s likely you have], he made this video.
And today, this vulture article came out.
I am a little fascinated with every single element of this – with how easily our opinions are influenced by others, with how easy it is to forget there’s a real, true, person with real, true emotions behind the screens, how the tide really turns, whether it is good to just put out content and see what sticks, and what it looks like when someone stops engaging.
So, when I first saw his video, I just kinda shrugged. Like, okay, it was an idea this guy was going for. It didn’t stand out to me as the greatest thing I’d ever seen, nor the worst thing I’ve ever seen [or close on the scale to either of those].
And then more and more people shared it with their own comments on it, and the whole thing kept growing and then as people started to critique it, I thought, “yeah, those critiques are fair. I see how he could’ve made this better.”
And then as some people made videos with their own joke takes on this, some of them were really funny. And in a perfect world, the more lighthearted ones, maybe Jake Novak could’ve laughed at. Maybe.
I know it’s different when your friends are making fun of you vs. strangers on the internet. So, I sort of laughed at some of the funnier takes that didn’t seem mean-spirited, not really actively thinking of this man getting all this [largely negative] internet fame or what it must be doing to his psyche.
And so, I saw people just kind of making fun for him for a few weeks. I figured it would all blow over. But then recently, I have seen a practical internet army coming to his defense talking about how everyone needs to leave him alone – as there are now people taking videos of him and making fun of him at his job. And yes, his job is public-facing, but still.
Public-facing doesn’t mean he should be bullied.
And it was interesting to hear him talk in the article about how at the time, he thought, “what’s the worst that could happen?”
Because I heard advice ALL the time online that’s some version of “good content is better than bad content, but bad content is better than no content… Perfection is the enemy of good… Throw things against the wall, and if they don’t work, throw more. Just try and see what sticks.” And on and on and on.
Just put stuff out, just put stuff out
But look at this guy. He just tried something, and it severely blew up in his face.
What’s also fascinating to me is that he chose to stay completely silent. He hasn’t addressed it. He hasn’t showed us any emotion – not anger, not sadness, not embarrassment, not laughing it off, not anything.
And you would think that maybe that would make people lose interest, but instead somehow it’s GAINING more interest. A lot of people are wondering what’s next for him.
So, it’s interesting how laying fully low is actually working overall in his favor. Maybe silence sometimes is the best option.
This is the first ‘scandal’ I’ve seen that wasn’t actually harming anyone. I do think plenty of things have been overblown over the years, but even in the overblown ones, you can see the parties that were harmed. But here? Who was harmed? Just some people didn’t laugh. It’d be easy to just scroll on.
We all try stuff that doesn’t land sometimes. And while people should be able to critique art, the fallout he’s had over this should not have been anywhere near this harsh.
And I’m glad the tide is turning while he chooses to be completely silent for now. It feels calm, and different to actually take time to choose your next move.
Personally, I hope he gets to cameo on the season opener of SNL, and get the last laugh after all this.