A GOP Senator Who Praised The COVID-19 Relief Bill After Voting Against It, 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 characters include an alt-right social media platform that tried to turn satire into reality, a fast-food company with the worst possible tweet on International Women's Day, a woman with the hottest take on stimulus checks, a Republican senator who applauded the bill he did not vote for and a man with a very poorly received question about marriage.
Saturday
Gab
The character: Gab, an alt-right social media service popular with white supremacists.
The plot: On Saturday, Gab tweeted out a Norman Rockwell-like painting of a family gathered around a barbecue grill with the mother, father and dog (!?) all pictured holding a gun, with the caption, "Our way of life must be preserved."
The repercussion: Gab's tweet was ratioed into oblivion as many mocked the painting for being completely over the top, with numerous jokes made at their expense.
Others pointed out that dogs don't have opposable thumbs to actually operate firearms.
It was later revealed that Gab's photo was ripped from the cover of a virtual reality video game entitled "The American Dream."
Samurai Punk, the game developer, accused the social media company of stealing the image and quipped, "Let's not turn satire into reality, thx."
The image was later taken down by Twitter for copyright infringement.
Monday
Burger King
The character: Burger King, the fast-food chain with the creepiest mascot.
The plot: To, uh, celebrate International Women's Day, Burger King UK's Twitter account tweeted, "Women belong in the kitchen."
The account later claimed that the provocative tweet had been intended to bring attention to the underrepresentation of professional women chefs. Their subsequent tweets explained that only 20 percent of chefs in the restaurant industry are female and that the company was on a mission to change the gender ratio.
The repercussion: Burger King's attempt to be clever backfired spectacularly, and they soon found themselves embroiled in a public relations nightmare.
Ryan Brown observed how badly their tweet had gone over with the internet by pointing out that the original tweet had 22,000 retweets but the reply had just 1,000. "Using sexist remarks as bait is a dumb, dumb idea. The majority of people aren't seeing your positive reply. They're just seeing a sexist comment made by a brand account," Brown said.
Fast-food competitor KFC also couldn't help but pile on the burger chain.
Initially, Burger King refused to back down, defending itself as drawing attention to a lack of female representation in the restaurant industry.
However, the negative press continued to mount, and the burger chain was forced to apologize and take down their tweet.
Tuesday
Sara Amato
The character: Sara Amato, UX designer, "not the wrestler."
The plot: On Tuesday afternoon, Amato tweeted a self-described "hot take" that if you have a job, you should not be eligible for the stimulus check.
The repercussion: Amato's tweet was roundly criticized, with many people saying she didn't understand the purpose of the stimulus checks.
Amato later deleted her "hot take" and set her account to private.
Wednesday
Roger Wicker
The character: Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican senator, not a fan of wearing masks on planes.
The plot: On Wednesday, Wicker applauded the stimulus bill for providing independent restaurant operators with $28.6 billion for "targeted relief." He added that the funding would "ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic."
The repercussion: Wicker's tweet praising the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — which passed without him actually voting for it — drew widespread condemnation from all over the Twitterverse.
Wicker later told CNN's Manu Raju that just because he agreed with one provision of a bill didn't mean he had to vote for it.
Dishonorable Mention
Ubi Franklin
The character: Ubi Franklin, investor and self-described "Christ Advocate."
The plot: On Wednesday, Franklin asked his 40,000+ Twitter followers if a woman ran her own company and her husband was out of a job, would she allow him to take over as CEO.
The repercussion: Franklin's tweet went viral but for all of the wrong reasons as many people dunked on him over the premise of his question.
Franklin attempted to explain the reasoning behind his question, and cried foul that he was getting bashed on social media.
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which includes the worst website launch in history and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
