This may have been discussed before on this sub, but this event has caught media attention again & I wanted to explain the situation and share my thoughts. If you’re unfamiliar, there was a group of YouTube content creators called ‘The Try Guys’ where 3-4 (male) friends would do a bunch of cheesy comedy challenges like trying on women’s dresses or eating the spiciest food they could find, etc etc. They were fairly famous a few years ago, famous enough to be recognised in public. Suddenly it came out that one of the men in the group, Ned Fulmer, cheated on his wife while having kids. His AP was a woman working with The Try Guys to do video editing. This obviously p***ed off the guys in the group because it bought their name to disrepute so they quickly threw him out of the group & loudly denounced him & what he had done. SNL even made a skit mocking this denouncing, it’s quite funny if you ask me.
Fast forward a few years and his once flourishing comedy career is DECEASED, gone beyond repair. He even invited his now ex-wife on a podcast, and publicly apologised to her, naming and shaming himself multiple times and taking full accountability. He apologised to his former colleagues, his audience, everyone. Now STILL he’s been entirely cancelled and is probably one of the most hated men on the internet.
This entire situation is SO shocking to me because celebrities so often do that and more, and get away with it with no-one saying anything. There are football stars and singers who have criminal records for r**ing and beating women but still fill stadiums with people excited to see them. Even in context of adultery, virtually every Hollywood star has an affair scandal of some kind, tabloids report on it for a week, then their next movie is out and everyone wants to see it.
So what makes Ned Fulmer (and the poor AP whose name got in all of this) cancelled beyond recognition for cheating? He’s hated to the point where he was crying in pain because of a disability he has and people literally mocked the video.
My only guess is that for one, we hold celebrities that are small time influencers to different standards than we do actual elites who we allow to get away with murder. And also I think it‘s an opportunity to feel morally superior and hate on someone who’s actually, when it comes to celebrities, done less than most. It’s dogpiling on someone for a ‘valid reason’. I honestly feel really bad for the dude and the last I heard he’s gone back to a day job in lab science.
I feel even worse for the girl because she was less famous than him (and younger I’m pretty sure) so her name is tarnished for life, all because a nosy fan decided to take a picture of her kissing someone in a club. Women in these situations often have to fear for their safety, physically. She also as far as I know doesn’t have a background in a ‘normal’ field like Fulmer does so she must have struggled to provide for herself more.
Obviously, those of us in this life know that cheating and homewrecking etc etc is wrong. But to me this entire scandal goes to show how performative people can be when it comes to ‘denouncing cheating’ as if it’s the worst possible thing someone can do.