Australian Sushi Lady Accused of Cultural Appropriation
In local news, an Australian woman was accused of cultural appropriation for wanting to open a sushi restaurant in New York. Alex Marks, a former corporate lawyer, made a cute little TikTok about her journey from quitting her office job to opening an affordable sushi restaurant (known as Sushi Counter), with an emphasis on Australian-style sushi. The TikTok went semi-viral and was largely received, which, slay. Unfortunately, the video attracted the ire of brave social justice internet chef Eric Rivera, who summarily responded:
PLEASEEEEE. This reaction is SO over the top and uncalled for. This poor woman was just sharing her adorable little one-woman sushi shop and he called her…a COLONIZER?? Mind you, this lady is doing Australian-inspired sushi, so it’s not like she’s not injecting her own culture into it. Mind you ALSO that this guy is not Japanese, so I’m sure why he feels he has the cultural ‘authority’ to tell someone that it’s not her place to prepare Japanese food. Mind you YET AGAIN that further investigation reveals that Rivera is opening his own sushi restaurant…despite not being Japanese. Mind you ONCE MORE that, if you really want to get into it, Japan itself has been a colonizing force, so the colonizer insult doesn’t quite stick its landing. Okok I’m done.
Because this guy has an audience, his tweet went viral and people flooded Marks’ restaurant with one-star reviews. However, there was backlash against the backlash, and supporters of Marks’ restaurant ended up raising the establishment to a good 4.5 stars on Google. Slay!
I will close this segment by conceding that “Australian-inspired sushi” sounds absolutely fucking heinous and I want no part of it. That being said, let’s allow this restaurant to succeed/fail based on the merits of the food (or, more importantly, the drinks) and not because of some lame-ass idea about who can and cannot prepare sushi. And if you MUST call it cultural appropriation, maybe you should check to make sure you pertain to the culture that she is appropriating.
RHONY Reunion Part II
Disclaimer: Non-Bravo viewers, skip to the next topic lmao
I knowww this is a little late but I put off watching the second reunion because the first was so heinously dull. That being said, the second half of the reunion is an improvement over part I. It still falls woefully short of what we expect for the reunion of a new franchise, but things were moving here & there.
Stray thoughts:
Jenna’s victim complex is going to take years off of my life. “I’ve never had a sister…or a friend…” we get it, you’re soo demure and meek. Do something!
I must say, Erin is right on the money (no pun intended) when it comes to the conversation about Jessel’s level of privilege growing up. Like, we get it, you didn’t grow up with private jets. However, as Erin pointed out, it’s a privilege to do minimum wage/unpaid internships. It’s a privilege to live rent-free with family in a high-cost-of-living city. It’s a (huge) privilege to have your parents pay for college. And that’s totally fine — just admit that you don’t know about that Sai/Brynn life lol
Erin clocked her when Jessel said “we grew up comfortably, but not lavish.” That’s literally the most stereotypical “we grew up in the 1% but not the .1%” thing you can say lmao
Kudos to Ubah — sobbing your way out of difficult situations is top tier housewifery. I can’t believe she even had Erin comforting HER lmao
Sai is apologizing to EVERYONE this reunion lmao. She’s basically begging not to get kicked off, which I understand. As an influencer, she stands to gain a lot by staying on the show
The fact that the cast takes it upon themselves to point out that they’re all totally cool with each other and go out for dinner all the time is…so annoying. THAT IS THE PROBLEM. Half of you are supposed to hate the other half! Have you even watched this show?! It totally takes out the bite from Ubah’s (deranged) rants when immediately after, she starts crying about how much she loves everyone. What’s the point of having a reunion then?!
I have to give it to her…I hate sob story content on Housewives, but goddamn Sai eats it up EVERY. TIME. I was SOBBING by the end of her monologue. I don’t think they can kick her off after that lmao. Take notes Jenna! THAT is a sob story, not your mother looking at you the wrong way once when you were in sixth grade…
Sometimes people are delusional lol. Erin does not look like she’s in her 40s, she is stunninggg
Brynn is fabulous. You can easily see her staying on this show for several years and becoming one of the classic housewives that everybody knows — that is, if the rest of the cast (save Jessel) can step it up and keep this reboot on air…
Travis Kelce’s Unspeakably Evil (jk) Breeder Comments
In the latest update on the internet’s favorite couple (who I’ve accepted as not-PR because otherwise I’ll drive myself crazy), everyone on Twitter is mad at Travis Kielce because he referred to women as “breeders”:
But — shocker — it’s not so black and white. Travis did not just randomly walk up to the town square and scream all women are “objects” who exist solely to make babies. Rather, it came up during a podcast episode with his brother and his mother in February (because of course, why would it be recent…), in which they were joking about which sibling the mom would save from a burning building if she could only save one. Travis’ brother, Jason, pointed out that his kids would have to grow up without a father if she saved Travis. At this point, Travis chimed in with: “I gotta start breeding. I’ve gotta start breeding, to all the breeders out there.”
Okay, so there we have it. Off-color? Yes. Politically incorrect? Definitely. However, it’s pretty clear that he was purposefully using the word ‘breeder’ as — wait for it — A JOKE to be provocative. I think with this context, we can all ‘forgive’ Travis and push on from his comments. The capacity of Twitter users to unearth offensive information from an individual’s past is terrifying but definitely impressive. Imagine the tenacity it takes to comb through Travis’ brother’s various podcast episodes just to find one little offensive nugget to share on Twitter. Impressive!
Reese Witherspoon’s Son Drowning In Nepo Baby Allegations
Reese Witherspoon’s son, Deacon Phillippe (chic name) recently came under nepo baby criticism when he was profiled by that viral TikTok account that asks people for tours of their apartment (you know the one). His apartment, while not what I’d call palatial, was obviously way nicer than what the typical college student could afford, and commenters were not pleased:
“How much do you pay? The correct answer is: ask my mom and dad.”
“West Village prices is rich kid language for free.”
“Rich kids / nepo babies LOVE to avoid mentioning their extremely wealthy parents”
“You got the occupation wrong, occupation should be nepo baby.”
For context, here are some screenshots from the tour:
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