A Guy Whose Tweets Endangered Ken Jennings's 'Jeopardy!' Career, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Every day somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
This week's main characters include a man offended by a tampon, a hot dog enthusiast, a guy who didn't pay attention in 6th grade health class, a bean-obsessed father, a US Senator getting more blame for the Capitol riot than Trump and a Vox writer who doesn't wash his dishes.
Friday
Adam Garrie
The character: Adam Garrie, a Libertarian radio host.
The plot: After Her Majesty's Treasury, the government department for financial and economic policy in the United Kingdom, announced that menstrual products would no longer incur value-added tax (VAT), HM Treasury's official Twitter account tweeted a photo of a tampon with the caption, "Tampon Tax Abolished." Garrie responded by asking, "[I]s this obscene image really necessary?"
The repercussion: Garrie's tweet went viral and was given a thorough walloping by many on the internet who thought he was being puritanical for being up in arms over a drawing. Garrie was was soon dubbed the "tampon guy."
Some men took to apologizing for Garrie on behalf of men everywhere.
Honorable Mention
@KLobstar
The character: @KLobstar, a chaotic legend and anonymous Twitter user with a lust for life.
The plot: On New Years Day, @KLobstar announced they were going to leave a hot dog inside an air fryer for two hours. A wild journey ensued.
The repercussion: With a quarter million likes and thousands of retweets for his epic thread, @KLobstar became the a rare main character that everyone was rooting for.
Saturday
Sidwell
The character: Sidwell, self-described influencer, probably not an OB-GYN.
The plot: Sidwell tweeted that changes in a woman's menstrual cycle are an indication of her promiscuity.
The repercussion: Sidwell's tweet was not particularly well-received on the platform, especially by women, who thought maybe he should sit this one out.
At least one scientist weighed in on Sidwell's assertion, giving actual reasons for changes in a woman's menstrual cycle.
Sunday
John Roderick, aka Bean Dad
The character: John Roderick, lead singer of the band The Long Winters and co-host of the podcast "Omnibus" with Ken Jennings.
The plot: In a 23-tweet thread, Roderick shared a story about how he had prevented his 9-year-old daughter from eating until she learned how to open a can of beans with an unfamiliar tool which she had never used.
The thread began: "So, yesterday my daughter (9) was hungry and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder 'make some baked beans.' She said, 'How?' like all kids do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, 'Open a can and put it in pot.' She brought me the can and said 'Open it how?'"
Matt Awad helpfully plugged the pertinent quotes from the thread into a text-to-speech generator.
Subsequently and somewhat separately, Twitter users unearthed offensive tweets that Roderick had made in previous years.
The repercussion: Roderick's thread became a national scandal, with his anecdote roundly mocked and ratioed to oblivion. It also instantly earned him the moniker Bean Dad.
The thread also launched a thousand Twitter jokes.
Ken Jennings rushed to his co-host's defense, joking that Roderick was going to have his own dictionary entry.
When questioned about Roderick's other problematic tweets, Jennings replied, "If we're word-searching through old tweets now, it's pretty easy to find what he actually thinks about anti-Semitism. On our show he's always the pro-Israel one!"
Soon, Jennings, who heretofore was considered the frontrunner to replace Alex Trebek on "Jeopardy!", found himself fully embroiled in the controversy, with headlines like "Ken Jennings may have botched his chance at hosting 'Jeopardy!'" making the rounds.
Amid the furor, the weekly comedy advice podcast "My Brother, My Brother and Me" announced that it would be replacing its theme song, which was performed by Roderick's band.
The dominos continued to fall from there.
Roderick deactivated his Twitter account and wrote a lengthy letter of apology.
"I had to reflect on what I'd done and the hurt I'd caused, and my mind was clouded by an unprecedented flow of new information," he wrote. "I want to acknowledge and make amends for the injuries I caused. I have many things to atone for. My parenting story's insensitivity and the legacy of hurtful language in my past are both profound failures. I want to confront them directly," he wrote.
"I am deeply sorry for having precipitated more hurt in the world, for having prolonged or exacerbated it by fighting back and being flippant when confronted, and for taking my Twitter feed offline yesterday instead of facing the music."
@maplecocaine, the "one main character" trope namer, suggested that despite all of Roderick's efforts, he'd always be known as Bean Dad.
Wednesday
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
The character: Josh Hawley, Republican senator from Missouri.
The plot: On Wednesday, Hawley, who was the first Republican senator last week to announce he would object during the Electoral College vote count during the joint session of Congress, raised a fist when walking by the pro-Trump rioters who would later breach the Capitol building.
As the mob stormed the Capitol building, Hawley sent out a fundraising email saying he was "leading the charge" for election integrity.
After Congress reconvened Wednesday evening, Hawley continued to object to the election results.
The repercussion: Hawley's actions were roundly criticized, with his book publisher announcing they were canceling his upcoming book after "his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."
Hawley's home state's newspapers called for his resignation.
The Kansas City Star editorial board held Hawley partly responsible for Wednesday's events and called for his removal. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also called on him to resign.
Erin McPike compiled additional reactions to Hawley's behavior.
Stephen Colbert also called out Hawley's actions on his show, saying he had "blood on his hands."
Dishonorable Mention
Matthew Yglesias
The character: Matthew Yglesias, a former Vox political writer.
The plot: Yglesias argued that the $2,000 stimulus checks were political theater, joking (?) that there was plenty of time to print them as large novelty checks with a large Joe Biden signature.
The repercussion: Yglesias's galaxy brain take was put on blast by numerous people, perhaps most notably Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
But the coup de grΓ’ce of dunks came from his former colleague Sarah Kogod, who revealed that Yglesias had once refused to wash his dishes in the kitchen sink shared by his colleagues, arguing that it was more economical to have the office assistant do it.
Read our previous edition of One Main Character, which included an op-ed writer who doesn't think Dr. Jill Biden should use her academic title, a very thirsty Tyler Perry and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
