social media
Man in blackface mocking ‘The Little Mermaid’ identified as Indonesian star’s sibling
- Jossi Marchelli, the brother of popular Indonesian actor Acha Septriasa, has been banned from TikTok for posting a video in blackface mocking Halle Bailey, the star of the upcoming live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.”
- The now-deleted video shows Marchelli sitting in front of a TV with his back to the camera. When the film’s trailer shows Bailey onscreen, the man turns around with his darkened face to talk to the camera.
- “Mommy, she looks just like me,” he says in a mocking tone.
- Marchelli’s video gained attention after popular TikToker Aunt Karen, who is known for calling out users of the social media platform, criticized his actions. She also discovered that he used to study at Chicago’s Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
- Aunt Karen's most recent TikTok video about Marchelli has garnered over 2.2 million views and 383,000 likes so far.
The man in blackface who posted a TikTok video mocking “The Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey has been identified as a former law student and the sibling of an Indonesian star with over 3.5 million followers on Instagram.
Jossi Marchelli, the brother of Indonesian actor Acha Septriasa, stirred controversy on TikTok after popular TikToker Aunt Karen shared his video earlier this week.
Chinese influencers are posing by Ikea lockers for photos as part of ‘American high school’ trend
- Ikea China has allegedly banned Chinese influencers after the “American high school” trend became disruptive to other shoppers, according to Chinese tech investor and analyst Rui Ma.
- The trend, called "Meigaofeng" (American high school style in English), is currently popular on China’s version of Instagram, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book).
- As part of the trend, influencers dress up in American high school uniforms like those worn in “Gossip Girl” or “The Princess Diaries” — coat, white buttoned long sleeves, pleated skirts, tie and all — and pose in front of the lockers in Ikea.
- The blue lockers are meant for customers to store their belongings while shopping. Some Xiaohongshu commenters have complained that the influencers are causing much disruption to their activities.
- “It’s really annoying,” one Xiaohongshu user complained. “The last time I went to Ikea, I wanted to see the furniture exhibits, but a group of teenagers was taking photos, so I couldn’t get a good look.
A new online trend has flooded Chinese social media platforms with images of influencers dressing like preppy American high school students and posing in front of Shanghai Ikea lockers, much to the chagrin of shoppers.
The trend, called “Meigaofeng” (American high school style in English), is currently prevalent on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), China’s version of Instagram. Several accounts on Weibo, such as Jimu News, have also reported on the trend.
Singaporeans disagree with Japanese TikToker who claims ‘chope-ing’ is unique to Japan
- A viral video posted by Japanese TikToker Matcha Samurai was flooded with comments from several Singaporeans who disagreed that “chope-ing,” the act of claiming a table in a food court by placing items on it, is unique to Japan.
- The clip, which was posted on Monday, has already garnered over 365,000 views, 42,000 likes and 1,200 comments.
- “Chope, same thing here in sg [Singapore],” one user commented.
- “We also do this in Singapore as well. Even a tissue packet counts,” another user wrote.
- TikTok users from other places such as South Korea and Taiwan claimed in the video’s comment section that they also practice “chope-ing.”
A viral video posted by a Japanese TikToker was flooded with comments from several Singaporeans who disagreed that “chope-ing,” the act of claiming a table in a food court by placing items on it, is unique to Japan.
Matcha Samurai, 24, posted a TikTok video on Monday to highlight the different objects that Japanese people use to claim or “reserve” tables in food courts, such as towels, shopping bags and cell phones.
Chinese parents win netizens’ hearts after transforming truck cabin into ‘princess bedroom’ for their daughter
- A mother and father from Qujing, a city in China’s Yunnan province, have captured the attention of Chinese social media users for transforming their coal freight truck cabin into a “princess bedroom” so that their 4-year-old daughter can travel with them on the road.
- The mother, only identified by the surname Hu, shared a video of her trucker husband and their daughter on social media earlier this month. The clip has already garnered more than 110 million views on Weibo.
- “We are 24 years old, not too young or too old; we cannot make everyone happy, but we will continue to work hard to make our little home better and better and our parents and child happy,” Hu wrote in response to questions from fans.
- Several social media users praised the couple for being “caring and loving,” while another person wrote, “Where the parents are is home.”
A mother and father from Qujing, a city in China’s Yunnan province, have captured the attention of Chinese social media users for transforming their coal freight truck cabin into a “princess bedroom” so that their daughter can travel with them on the road.
The mother, only identified by the surname Hu, posted a video of her trucker husband and their 4-year-old daughter on Douyin earlier this month.
‘Rush Hour’ fans celebrate the franchise’s ‘healthy racism’
- Twitter users are commenting on jokes from the iconic “Rush Hour” film franchise after user @Lexisriches proclaimed that the sequels are “so racist.”
- One of the scenes shared in @Lexisriches' thread, which has over 26,000 likes, is the iconic Hong Kong spa fight scene where LAPD detective Carter (Chris Tucker) accidentally punches Hong Kong detective Lee (Jackie Chan) in the face during the scuffle and tells him, “All y’all look alike.”
- In another scene shared by user @Itsdrew_5, Lee and Carter are tied up inside a moving truck. While the two bicker, Lee tells Carter, “I’ll b*tch-slap you back to Africa.”
- The scene in “Rush Hour 2” where Carter can be heard speaking a made-up language was also shared.
- Although “Rush Hour” was a commercial success in the United States after it was first released in 1998 – making over $141 million domestically and a total of $244 million worldwide – the franchise never took off as hoped in the Asian market.
Twitter users are commenting on jokes from the iconic “Rush Hour” film franchise after one user proclaimed that the sequels are “so racist.”
Over the weekend, Twitter user @Lexisriches wrote about the sequels, and what started as a single tweet opened up an alley down memory lane where many users pulled up some jokes from the buddy cop film franchise that have not aged well.
Dog dies after 2-day hunger strike following owner’s death
- A village dog in China died two days after going on a hunger strike following its owner’s death.
- The dog, who reportedly accompanied its owner for more than 10 years, spent two days refusing to eat, drink and move following the man’s death.
- “The dog then went to my family’s old house and died there, which was also my grandfather’s unfulfilled wish,” the man’s granddaughter, surnamed Sun, told Chinese media.
- Coincidentally, the dog died on its owner's birthday.
A dog in China tugged at the heartstrings of several Chinese social media users after it died while on a hunger strike following the death of its owner.
The man’s granddaughter, surnamed Sun, told Chinese media that the village dog accompanied her grandfather for more than 10 years since it was a puppy.
Police investigating Chinese food vlogger who livestreamed herself eating an endangered baby shark
- A Chinese food vlogger who livestreamed herself eating an endangered baby great white shark and shared the clip on social media is now being investigated by police.
- Following social media backlash, the influencer deleted the clip and all other previous posts from her account.
- In the video, she is seen eating the pepper-covered roasted tail of the baby shark while cutting the rest of it up and boiling it with spices.
- The vlogger claims in the video that the baby shark was “edible” and “bred in captivity,” but many internet users are questioning whether she legally bought the fish.
Police are investigating a Chinese food vlogger after she shared a livestream clip of herself eating an endangered baby great white shark.
The influencer, known as Tizi, livestreams on Douyin and Kuaishou, where she has attracted millions of followers for her bold food choices. She often consumes rarely eaten animals cooked in a large wok with spices and oil, such as an ostriches and crocodiles.
12 women in Thailand fear lawsuit after discovering they all had sex with the same married man
- Twelve Thai women approached a Thai lawyer on July 17 in the central province of Nonthaburi, Thailand, after they discovered that the same man they all met online is married and has lured them into separate sexual relationships.
- The women asked for legal advice as they were afraid of being sued by the man’s wife.
- The 60-year-old married man, identified as Pu, reportedly created eight Facebook accounts, four Instagram accounts and three Line accounts to draw women into sexual relationships.
- The lawyer advised the women to file separate complaints against Pu to the police.
Twelve Thai women approached a lawyer for advice after discovering that the same man they all met online and carried on separate sexual relationships with is married.
The 60-year-old married man, identified as Pu, reportedly created eight Facebook accounts, four Instagram accounts and three Line accounts to draw women into sexual relationships.
Man accused of ‘hacking’ Johnston & Murphy’s Instagram has no ties to the company, senior exec confirms
- Jerome Basilio, who is accused of hacking into Johnston & Murphy’s Instagram account, is not affiliated with the company, according to a senior executive.
- The footwear brand sparked outrage on Wednesday night after several Instagram users exposed racist, anti-Asian comments and messages they had received from its verified account.
- In a parting message, the person behind the account stated that they were going to claim that it was “hacked” and identified their personal account as “@JeromeBasilio.”
- Shortly after the chaos, Johnston & Murphy released a statement saying that their Instagram account had been “compromised.”
- Basilio has vehemently denied the allegation and any association with the company, adding that he himself has been targeted by hackers.
- Jason Wong, who received most of the racist messages, said he does not believe Basilio was behind the attacks.
A senior executive at Johnston & Murphy has confirmed to NextShark that the man accused of “hacking” into the company’s verified Instagram account is not and has never been affiliated with them.
The alleged hacking, which rattled Instagram on Wednesday night, resulted in racist, anti-Asian comments and messages sent to several Asian users on the platform. In a statement, the footwear brand said its account had been “compromised” and apologized for having posted offensive content.
Got7 drops teaser and announces first full group comeback since leaving JYP Entertainment
- K-pop boy group Got7 announced a full group comeback on Monday, following their last group release “Encore” in February last year, with teasers to celebrate the eighth anniversary of their fandom Ahgase (short for “I got 7”).
- The self-titled EP is slated for a May 23 release at 6:00 p.m. KST, following an in-person concert for fans on May 21 and 22 at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Korea. An online version of the May 22 show will also be available.
- New social media accounts have been created for the group since their departure from JYP Entertainment last year.
- The members have been busy with solo projects in the meantime, such as Bambam’s new music under the Golden State Warriors’ new entertainment division and Jackson Wang’s performance as part of 88rising at Coachella.
K-pop boy group Got7 celebrated the eighth anniversary of their fandom Ahgase (short for “I Got 7”) on Monday with a teaser for their new EP to announce an upcoming full group comeback.
The seven-member group will release its self-titled EP on May 23 at 6:00 p.m. KST. New official social media accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter were created for the group on May 6th and feature a teaser video of their logo.
Weibo starts displaying users’ IP locations to discourage ‘bad behavior’
- Chinese social media site Weibo has implemented new account settings that displays users’ IP locations on their account pages and every comment they post.
- Weibo said users in China will have their current province or municipality location displayed, while overseas users will only have their country indicated.
- According to the platform, the feature is designed to discourage people from “impersonating parties involved in hot topic issues, malicious disinformation and traffic scraping, and to ensure the authenticity and transparency of the content disseminated."
- The setting, which can not be disabled, has earned mixed reactions from users, with some expressing concerns about losing online anonymity and others supporting it for its potential to curb online misinformation.
Chinese social media platform Weibo has begun publishing users’ IP locations on their account pages to discourage “bad behavior.”
The platform, which is home to over 570 million monthly active users, announced the change via a post on Thursday, the same day it took effect.
Instagram ‘systematically fails’ to protect women from online abuse in DMs, study says
A recent report by the U.S.-based nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) says Instagram “systematically fails” to protect women from online abuse and harassment.
According to CCDH’s “Hidden Hate” report, the Meta-owned image-sharing platform did not act on 90% of complaints made about gender-based abuse and harassment received via direct messages, despite them being reported via its tools. The platform also did not resolve image-based sexual abuse messages within 48 hours.
