An MSNBC Host Shares A Fun 'Fact' That's Hilariously Wrong, 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 an MSNBC host with a fact that's too good to check, an actor who suggests food stamps work only on healthy foods, a white politician who announced that he's a Black gay man, an actor who appeared to misinterpret the meaning of "Parasite" and a congressman who wants the world to know he really likes Tiffany Trump.
Monday
Joy Reid
The character: Joy Reid, host of MSNBC's "The ReidOut."
The plot: On Monday, to make a point about close elections, Reid claimed that Nate Silver's polling website FiveThirtyEight was named after the vote margin in Florida between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000.
"Here's the thing: the reason there's a thing called @FiveThirtyEight is because 538 was the margin in FL when the Republican SCOTUS reversed the 2000 election during a recount, making Dubya the president," Reid tweeted. "That's the kind of margin where races can flip. That's not what's up now."
The repercussion: Reid's assertion was shot down by politicos like Jake Tapper, who explained that the 2000 Florida vote margin was actually 537 votes and that Silver's website was named after the number of electors in the electoral college.
To her credit, Reid corrected herself, but added that her original point remained the same: that Biden's lead would not be overturned by a recount.
Reid's assertion also become meme fodder, with folks providing their own facetious FiveThirtyEight origin stories.
Dishonorable Mention
Keke Palmer
The character: Keke Palmer, former host of the third hour of "Good Morning America," actress and person who famously doesn't know Dick Cheney.
The plot: Palmer tweeted, "Imagine if your EBT card could only work on healthy items." (Electronic benefit transfer cards provide low-income Americans money for groceries.)
The repercussion: Palmer was roundly criticized for her tweet, which one person characterized as "hating poor people." Another person asked, "Why should poor people be denied that small pleasure that impacts you in no way?"
Palmer deleted the tweet and tried to save face by arguing that her point was that healthy foods were too expensive.
She tried to clarify even further on Instagram.
I have been eating extremely healthy lately and I have been sad about my debit card balance because of it.
Healthy food is more expensive for a reason. It's fresh, good for you and gives you energy. Bad foods are bad for a reason. They last long they taste good because of tons of sodium and they aren't expensive because they're honestly not food. Mostly likely they are food-LIKE products.
In any event imagine if you could get whatever healthy foods you wanted on your EBT card. Like all the healthy foods could swipe for free. Pretty much a reward for being healthy but even more so giving homes a break that want to eat healthy but can't afford it!
Tuesday
Dean Browning
The character: Dean Browning, Pennsylvania Republican and former commissioner of Lehigh County.
The plot: Browning, a White married man, turned heads on Tuesday when he curiously replied to someone that he was "a black gay guy" who believed things were "so much better under Trump."
The repercussion: Browning's tweet went mega-viral, capturing the attention of the internet.
People began to parse Browning's Twitter history and discovered he had a follower — "Dan Purdy" — who appeared to match Browning's description.
"You know who replies to Dean Browning a lot? 'Dan Purdy,' a gay Black Trump supporter who joined Twitter in October," observed Phillip Bump, a Washington Post reporter.
Speculation abounded about the identity of Dan Purdy, with some suggesting he was likely a sock puppet account.
Folks also combed through Purdy's Twitter history and found some extremely questionable tweets.
But then things took a very bizarre turn, and Purdy tweeted a (now-deleted) video seemingly confirming his identity.
But the story didn't stop there: it turns out that Purdy, whose real name is Byl Holte, is the nephew of R&B legend Patti LaBelle.
Purdy's account was later suspended by Twitter.
For his part, Browning claimed to be "quoting a message" that he received from a "follower."
People were left mostly stupefied from the surreal, convoluted internet drama, but there was no doubt who was Tuesday's main character.
Dishonorable Mention
Bradley Whitford
The character: Bradley Whitford, an actor known for his roles in "The West Wing" and "Get Out."
The plot: Reacting to the news that Donald Trump had refused to concede the election, Whitford posted a photoshopped image of the scene from "Parasite" in which the Kim family is hiding from the Park family under a coffee table, with the Bidens depicted as the rich homeowners and the Trumps as the working-class protagonists.
The repercussion: Whitford's ostensibly pro-Biden tweet appeared to backfire, with numerous people saying the actor misunderstood the point of the film and some accusing him of acting like his character from "Get Out."
Wednesday
Matt Gaetz
The character: Matt Gaetz, Republican congressman from Florida.
The plot: Gaetz retweeted a photo of Tiffany Trump and captioned it with flames, a red heart, a heart-eyes happy face and a thumbs up emoji.
The repercussion: Gaetz's tweet was ratioed into oblivion, with people calling the flirty tweet "creepy," "inappropriate" and unbecoming of an elected official.
After getting buried in criticism for his tweet, the Florida congressman tried to clarify that he and the president's daughter are friends.
For her part, Tiffany did not appear to be as grossed out as the internet and retweeted Gaetz's retweet with her own series of emojis (notably absent: 🔥).
Read last week's One Main Character column, which includes an ill-advised GAP tweet, a woman who poked fun at her murder trial with a tweet about the election and a very enthusiastic Trump spiritual advisor.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected]
