A Guy Who Broke The Internet With A Tweet Showing His Wife Shoveling Snow, 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 a British journalist with a mannequin problem, a guy who maybe shouldn't have photographed his wife shoveling snow after her 12-hour night shift, a startup bro who said the best way to expand your business is to start a sweatshop and a woman who said men shouldn't cry because it turns her off.
Thursday
Isabel Oakeshott
The character: Isabel Oakeshott, British journalist, fashion police, mannequin antagonist.
The plot: On Thursday morning, Oakeshott was doing a little window shopping in the west end of London's commercial district on Regent Street when she spotted a mannequin wearing a "hideous lime green velour" at Fabletics.
"This […] is what obesity looks like," Oakeshott tweeted. "The so-called 'body positivity' movement is not 'inclusive,' it's dangerous."
The repercussion: Oakeshott's condemnation of the plus-sized mannequin earned her the ire of the internet and garnered over 15,000 replies, many of which dragged the journalist for her attitudes towards heavyset figure, while others pointed out the sheer ridiculousness of getting mad at a dummy in a store window.
But the ultimate clapback came from plus-size model Sophia Tassew, who purchased the supposedly controversial outfit in the window.
"I bought the dangerous outfit!!" Tassew tweeted, posting a selfie with a wink.
Saturday
Jon Reyes AKA 'Snow Shovel Husband'
The character: Jon Reyes, Manitoba's minister of economic development and jobs, loving husband, photographer.
The plot: On Saturday morning, Reyes photographed his wife shoveling their driveway and said, "Even after a 12 hour night shift at the hospital last night, my wife still has the energy to shovel the driveway. God bless her and all our frontliners. Time to make her some breakfast."
The repercussion: Reyes's tweet got buried in an avalanche of quote-tweets, as he drew the full rage of the internet, with many declaring him the "Bean Dad" of 2022 and making numerous memes and jokes at his expense.
Others were quick to grab the pitchforks.
One woman observed that he was up until the wee hours of the night tweeting about tennis, while his wife was still working.
But the coup de grâce came when Reyes was bestowed a new title from a Wikipedia vandal: Minister of Shoveling Snow and Making Breakfast.
Reyes's wife Cynthia later rushed to his defense, tweeting, "All I wanted to do was shovel!"
She subsequently wrote a lengthier defense of her husband's tweet, saying that people blew it way out of proportion and that she would "not be divorcing him over shoveling as many have recommended."
"As I pulled up to my driveway, I felt energy to shovel the snow that fell all night and into the morning," she explained.
"Jon heard me shoveling, it actually woke him up and he was surprised and impressed to see that I had energy after a long shift to do this, so he took a pic, made breakfast and posted, and the rest is embedded in social media history forever!"
Sunday
Nick Huber
The character: Nick Huber, startup bro, previous main character who suggested buying ten tomato plants to become a millionaire in six months.
The plot: On Sunday, Huber revealed that he had expanded his storage company from six employees to 32 by paying remote workers a pittance. "18 of them are in the Philippines and make about $5 per hour," he said.
The repercussion: Huber's humblebrag that his business succeeded by paying workers in Southeast Asia substandard wages earned him a thorough beating from the internet, where people called out his winning strategy of utilizing "overseas talent" as exploitation of labor.
Huber acknowledged the criticism that began pouring in, but doubled down on his stance, apparently under the impression that people were objecting to the fact of his hiring abroad rather than to what he pays his remote workers.
At the time of this writing, @sweatystartup has proudly kept his account public and remained impervious to criticism.
Monday
Evelyn Harlow
The character: Evelyn Harlow, a woman who proclaimed she was not turned on by men crying.
The plot: On Monday, Harlow tweeted a lengthy thread explaining why she felt men shouldn't cry because it turned her off.
She posited that "women are biologically wired to cry more than men."
"I should be able to trust a male partner's levelheadedness in joint decisions when I'm beside myself with grief, pregnant, in labour, sleep-deprived, sick, etc.," she tweeted. "Conversely, if a male partner cries in a situation where I think I wouldn't cry, I sense that he is not dependable in a crisis and and I will be in charge of making decisions for both of us."
The repercussion: Harlow earned a ratio of historic proportions, with most respondents mocking her treatise against men displaying emotions as an inane gender stereotype.
The viral tweet even inspired InsideHook's Bonnie Stiernberg to write a critical response, saying crying doesn't make "make you any less of a man."
Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which included a guy who cried out "All my apes gone," and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
