Mika,I just wanted to say you inspired me to go to grad school. I just finished my bachelors in government & social science. I went to a terrible college that made me feel like I didn’t belong. But after following you for a while I’ve been so inspired by your academic career/work ethic/ overall personality. Your representation on UA-cam matters so much & I hope you know in a small way you’ve impacted my life. Keep being you and being awesome 🫶🥳
As someone currently in grad school, don't do it unless you need it for a job you want. There are so many better ways to burn through thousands of dollars that leave a more positive impact on your life. Grad school just for "fun" or to prove something to yourself isn't worth it in this economy. Grad school expects a time commitment that has not kept up with inflation. Which is why we all end up working 2-3 jobs to support ourselves-all while doing a full class load because that's the only way to receive stipends. I haven't had more than 4 hours of sleep a night since I started. The workload Mika describes is do-able and a "fun challenge" until you burn tf out and realize you're stuck. You put yourself on a merry go round that is rapidly increasing in speed, and you can't slow down or get off without your entire life falling apart. But you want so badly to get off because your brain is mush and wrung dry. Just things I wish someone told me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@BeautifulSilence I appreciate you & this comment. I will definitely take it into consideration as I go forward. I’m privileged in that I currently don’t have to work (I have PTSD & my partners income is taking care of me) & the degree I got from my undergrad is from liberty university. My story is very long convoluted and depressing- so I’ll spare you the details, but I need to put a degree of separation (literally and figuratively) from that place. I want to have my masters from somewhere more recognized so that I can contribute to my family & have a career. All that said, again, thank you for your comment & I really hope you will be able to unwind and take care of yourself soon.
oh I tell people this too (to a certain extent). I do not however believe in the notion that it should ONLY relate to the career. However with youtube and other work I can afford it, that is why I am doing it. also education in Canada, especially Quebec, is way more affordable (my whole degree was around $10k CDN / $7.5K USD)
@@lizg833my advice is to make sure you go for something you’re interested in. I went for a field I thought would have better jobs, got a Masters, and then almost failed out of a PhD and wrecked my physical and emotional health - and I still didn’t get better job offerings. So my advice is always: make sure it’s feasible to need or want to go to grad school, and then make sure it’s a field you care about. I’m thinking of going back for my PhD in my original field, but it’s definitely something I’m doing a lot of thought about first given my previous experiences!
the only thing I would disagree on is the "she doesn't inject her own personality into the coverage (as much)" since I view the Petty University segments as exactly that
SHM!!! Did you watch the US trial? Have you ever been abused? You calling all those witnesses and the jury liars? Goddamn it woman, stop enabling a woman pretending to be an abuse victim.
It gives me so much anxiety when people bring the heard v depp case up, because that stuff is really complicated and amber heard really triggered me. I won’t get into it because people are just going to attack me and say that I’d rather have a dead victim than a messy one when I believed amber for years. I haven’t watched anything involving depp since before the allegations, and certainly not afterwards. I don’t like or support him, but I don’t think this is a situation where one is the sole abuser and the other is a messy angel. I watched the entire trial because court cases are my special interest. She never admitted to a single thing on the stand, not once, even when there was audio evidence proving otherwise, which made me feel gaslit and that triggered me because of a past abusive relationship where my ex was NEVER responsible for anything. I’m not standing up for swoop, I don’t watch her channel, I just wish we could be more nuanced with this conversation. Like if depp triggered someone I totally get that, but that doesn’t mean amber is completely innocent or that they aren’t both in the wrong. But even this comment will have people telling me that I support abusers and I just don’t understand my own misogyny even though I always believe victims including her until I was shown otherwise. At the end of the day, people become feral when this topic comes up. I’ve been sent so much hate for this opinion but then see everyone complaining about how everyone took depp’s side? Then why am I getting lambasted and gross comments about my opinion. I wish with this conversation we could be a bit more respectful. I love princess weekes and still watch her content, but just not her video about that case. I love that Mika made a comment about not talking about this, because there IS no nuance here anymore.
15:15 I don’t mind Swoop as background noise, but I think her attempts at empathy feel a little disingenuous at times. The “you are NOT alone” moments can seem forced. But overall, I don’t think she’s doing anything super abnormal that other commentary channels of her size aren’t also doing - it’s just her turn to be critiqued. It’s the nature of the community.
i know … i’ve gone back and forth with being subscribed and unsubscribed cause her vids are good for in the background while i’m at work but when she’d do the whole “survivors are strong and you are not alone” thing it felt disingenuous and forced. the tone and everything… 🫤
@@CaroleeenaYESSSS almost as if these students weren’t deserving of death bc they had “bright futures ahead of them”. Like everyone’s life is valuable, not sure why she had to keep emphasizing everyone’s bright personality, it didn’t so much honor them as pander i felt.
I used to be subscribed to Swoop and did enjoy her videos on topics such as the Kardashians and some of her true crime coverage. She kinda lost me a bit when I watched a true crime video of hers when she was discussing a murder case, and each section of the video was separated by her tasting different milkshakes as a ‘palette cleanser’ to keep the video lighthearted, though true crime content shouldn’t be lighthearted anyway. And then she started bombarding her channel with the Depp/Heard case and I had to unsubscribe. I do think Swoop is a great content creator when she sticks with topics that aren’t as heavy (such as covering UA-camr scams).
@@chaengster4946she totally decided that that was an ok thing to do because of her relationship with Bailey Sarian. She’s promoted her on her channel for a while now and Bailey also makes really weird, upbeat videos about true crime that make me feel uneasy.
yeah i've skipped most of her true crime videos (although i did see at least one of the milkshake ones, and then i saw when she was like haha yeah sorry that was not great). i skipped the depp v heard videos too cause i just avoid those videos. i like most of her videos that i've seen and i like that she takes criticism well and changes based on that when necessary. not a fan of the clickbaity titles but ya gotta get views somehow i guess. i also didn't find her channel until a while after the depp v heard videos, and when i saw how many there were i almost unsubscribed 😭
Swoop bringing up Observe with the Johnny interview was the first odd thing that set me off, promoting him and his pseudoscience to her huge audience is horrific and can do such huge harm to people who dont show their emotions exactly how they deem you are supposed to react.
is he one of those body-language quacks?? if so, fuck her seriously; that shit is so harmful to autistic people and other neurodivergents. müne cat has a really good video about this topic!
Yeah I liked observe until I noticed that the majority of my neurodivergent behaviors were "guilty/negative" behaviors. Like I cannot make eye contact, it makes me extremely uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean I'm automatically guilty ya know?
I appreciated Swoop’s extensive coverage of the Ballinger situation but I feel as if some of the more nuanced topics aren’t addressed as such. I also didn’t like the petty university segments very much. I haven’t seen much of her other videos because of the sudden switch ups
im so glad to see i am not the only one who feel like this bc i rly thought it was just a me problem. i think it straight up feels Wrong in the more serious videos she makes like idk how can you be talking about a murder and suddenly u decide to ‘take it to pretty university’ with a little sketch idk. it fits in well, petty videos, about non serious things, /drama/, not real life violence. but then again.. ‘its not drama its dangerous’ hm? 😬😬
I think dumb bits like that are fine if you're talking about like the Ace family boxing scams or whatever, like who cares. But when if you're talking about serious topics like ab*se it's just weird. Knowing when to switch tones is so important but a lot of creators don't do it because it's all just content to them. I know everyone has different standards for this sort of thing, but if you used the same dumb meme edit in your video about idk, the Paul brothers, then maybe don't use it in your video about the Ruby Franke child ab*se situation, for example
@@j-skullz THIS ! definitely yes! i havent even watched her videos about ruby franke because 1. its a really tough topic that i cant just take in whenever and 2. i know she will do it in that style- with the petty university stuff etc, and that will just piss me off.
I personally have not trusted Swoop since she began to do body language analysis during the trial and continuously recommended entirely biased channels while claiming herself as unbiased. Can't let go of the entire lack of integrity or self awareness
I really liked swoop content before she started to do this controversy videos. Her style, her editing was amazing, but goddamn, i guess she found an easy niche to create content and decided to stick with it.
She rubbed me the wrong way a long time ago. I think it was a video about Astroworld? She plugged her new merch every 5 minutes in a video about people who died. Taking it to “petty university” when we’re talking abt crimes is distasteful. It reminds me of why I stopped watching Bailey Sarian. Just a lack of sensitivity to victims.
@@dextertravis2611 yes !! omg i totally forgot. that’s how i found swoop’s channel in the first place. i believe she gave her something like “best up and coming creator” for the streamy’s
swoop did a video on gabby petito and i genuinely have never been able to continue watching it because she started doing the “petty university” bit and i got way too uncomfortable to even think about how she decided it was appropriate to add. i’m sure she has good intentions when she makes these videos and that she’s probably adding things like it to try to lighten the mood to make it less uncomfortable, but the big problem with most true crime is that it’s just an uncomfortable thing to speak about due to the subject matter. i saw the clip you’re talking about of the astroworld video and it was genuinely so disturbing to know what the rest of the video was about.
I've watched Swoop for years. I think it was wrong for her to interview a grooming victim who was promised she would air the footage, and then now she won't because "people aren't interested in this anymore." That's fucked. She isn't beyond criticism just because she made a few good videos, and I hate to see that sentiment. Other than that she's fine I guess, I don't always like her takes - her coverage of Depp v. Heard comes to mind. I actually unsubbed at that point. Her Ballinger series was okay, I have thoughts about the Johnny and Josh-centric ones. In the Johnny exposé she invested a lot of time into stressing that Josh had accused Colleen of DV, and the comments reflect that. In her interview with Josh, he never even mentions or alludes to DV. Not that Josh wasn't emotionally abused by Colleen, or that he may not have experienced DV, I just found it confusing and especially odd that she never asked about it given how much she'd just been using it as a tool to argue against Johnny (or John as she calls him, to harshen up his name). Johnny is clearly a bad person and a liar, but that those things were peculiar to me. I don't bring this up to cast doubt on Josh (who I believe RE: his relationship issues with Colleen), or uplift Johnny at all (who I do not believe), I bring it up to highlight an issue I had with her reporting specifically. I hope she can take the good faith critique she's being offered and use it to improve her method. She's not a bad person, just a person who has room for improvement in their field. She really messed up with Oliver, and I hope she makes that right by him somehow.
Yes!! this was not to disparage her at all, it is just an explanation of why people reacted in the way they did (I even saw similar opinions on reddit that I read as it was rendering) and where the credit is due
There’s something about her calling him “John” that rubs me the wrong way. Like yes, I know that’s technically his name but if you’re willing to misname a seemingly cis person bc you don’t like them… well it seems like a slippery slope to me
@@emmettvictor okay i’m sorry. but not using a nickname is so different from deadnaming someone, and there isn’t a slippery slope there. the man was getting 13 year olds to drink on camera, let’s settle down here.
She spoke with Oliver for 3 hours on the phone once she realised he was upset. She never said she would not continue with it - apparently people don't know what a break is 🙄🤣 Oliver has been asking everyone to chill - they have no issues behind the scenes...
@@morbius5881 my point was that names are important, and it doesn’t feel right to not use the name someone tells you to use. We have no idea why he goes by Johnny. There could be a whole story and history there - or maybe he just prefers it. I have a sister named Jennie and when people want to be authoritative they’ll call her Jennifer, but that’s literally not her name. It also makes me think of people wanting to use a “simplified” (aka white washed) version of a name they’re not used to
I was hoping to find a video on this on neutral ground, so to speak. First off, people confuse content creators with journalists way too much. The phrase "fact checking" is used quite often (I'm not sure what Swoop can fact-check in people's personal stories; she was lucky Johnny Silvestri was blatantly lying). Secondly, she didn't mind *not* fact-checking when churning out 10 biased videos on Amber Heard, to rake in the money.
@@m3rchantofmenace Shortly after those videos, she went on to explain DARVO, in a different case, as if she hadn't just participated in a DARVO campaign for profit.
@@dariasmeh That's true. I trust that at least some publications have standards though. YT creators are not accountable to anyone (apart from their audiences).
Ok these comments/this perspective is so refreshing. I unsubbed from Swoop during the Johnny/Amber trial because I found her coverage extremely distasteful. I also think the criticism towards her not posting the interview with Oliver/telling his story to be very valid. A lot of people, including (love him but) Adam, are refusing to criticize her because of the work she put into the Colleen series. I found Oliver's story to be the most disturbing from this whole exposure of the Ballinger's and yet we get 4 hours of Johnny's lies and an additional hours long interview with the ex husband but Oliver gets left on the cutting room floor. And her comment in her second channel video about something along the lines of "I hope his story is able to be told eventually" ???? You literally have the interview on a flash drive somewhere... But ok.
She isn't going to just release the raw interview - that would be a disservice too and people would be annoyed that she didn't give it the same level of investigation as the other parts anyway. She never said she would not continue working on it - people are so impatient 🤦♂️
@@ReviewsAndMore9 Oliver isn't deaf. Trent is a pedo who utilised access to his sister's child fans. He has appeared in her content and was well known to the fanbase so yes, he is a public figure. Hope that helps 🤣😑🤦♂️
@@ReviewsAndMore9except oliver literally posted about how he wants so badly to share his story. also i think you mean trent is deaf, mentally handicapped, and a private citizen but that still doesn’t make the topic untouchable. he used his famous sisters fan base of minors to contact children inappropriately and he admits his family knew about it and did nothing but tell him to stop, that shouldn’t be swept under the rug because trent is handicapped- that’s just ableist. or isn’t famous, that’s exactly what swoop is doing - not covering oliver’s story even though it is the most egregious simply because it’s one degree removed from colleen and won’t get the same viewership as a video of josh where swoop lies about DV the whole time
it's wild to me that people don't see how disrespectful her tone can be. Doing those "petty university" bits in her ruby franky video was so distasteful. She is not a journalist and people should never call her one.
people on YT are quite quick to accept labels of being a journalist or making "documentaries" despite their work not having the integrity expected. not to say that there aren't good journalists and documentarians on YT, there certainly are.
It's kinda odd because in my mind I've always lumped in swoop with the bailey sarian "murder for the ~girlies~ I'm soooo obsessed with jonbenet ramsey I'm so dark and fucked up haha" crowd and I'm not sure why since she seems to try to be uber serious (maybe it's her merch tagline lmao). I was passingly interested in some of her videos until she did that casey anthony/amber heard one (no matter what "side" you take in that case it was unbelievable to me that someone would to try to compare the situations or the women involved) and it basically confirmed my sense she's in it for the sensationalism and what's popular more than empathy for survivors or victims. Which on one hand, I get the hustle, but when the "hustle" is discussing someone else's abuse for money............. idk man it's a very thin line (EDIT I just peeked on her channel and yeah the way she frames her thumbnails and titles especially is just not it for me, especially if she wants to be taken seriously as a documentarian lol...... I have no direct connection to the University of Idaho case but I live in the state and was attending a different college here when that happened and it was absolutely devastating, campus safety was increased for weeks after because there was a kind of unspoken fear it might happen again at our school if it turned out to be serial or targeted. Seeing this type of stuff framed as like "NEW SHOCKING TRUTHS EXPOSED" with a goofy ass thumbnail is such a bizarre cognitive dissonance to me, I just do not fw that type of true crime at all)
Swoop is a big fan of Bailey's!! Or used to be - I used to watch Swoop in like 2021 and when she first mentioned wanting to do True Crime she mentioned being a fan of Bailey Sarian's, and her "Swoop swoop swoop ahhh" intro is, i believe, inspired by bailey sarian? and Bailey personally gave Swoop an "up and coming" type award for a stream award show - so they've met in person as well!! also i agree with everything else you've said also but wanted to share those vibes are legit
love this comment and totally agree w you. she talks about very serious topics, tries to be super serious in her videos, and then directly tells the audience how "it's not drama, it's dangerous", until she's doing her goofy swoop intro, tagging her merch line, & doing the petty university bit...like?? just like you said, the cognitive dissonance is too much. I also really like how you grouped her in w the true crime/makeup girlies bc that's exactly what it's giving n Ive felt the same way for a whiiiiiile. it's just literally unwatchable
I don't hate Swoop and I still appreciate the amount of work her and her team put in but I had to stop watching cause the amount of times she brought up body language and looked at an artice about a mental illness/condition and read off the potential symptoms while applying it to people she was talking about made me feel uneasy after a while. Also I have no idea if I'm remembering this correct but I do remember her dressing up as a clown for a video about a woman who was k*lled by one and I just... why would you do that, exactly?
THE ARTICLES…not going to lie, that drove me mad seeing in the videos. It’s like…going down a list of vague signs from result #7 on a Google search about narcissism is not a healthy or honest way to talk about people and their behavior.
She made a few videos analyzing a person’s wardrobe and color schemes. I don’t know if she still does that, but I always thought that Googling the meaning of color was childish. It’s fine for trashy gossip & mindless entertainment, but not for anything that tries to proclaim itself as “objective truth.”
yes! it was so off-putting to me, how Swoop was featured on NewsNation as an expert/talking head when the 8 Passengers mom Ruby Franke was arrested. by no means is Swoop the most knowledgeable or prolific UA-camr covering 8 Passengers . . . there were creators following and covering Ruby’s ab*se for YEARS . . . Swoop only has one or two videos about them, basically aggregating all the clips other UA-camrs have already covered once the scandal came to the attention of the MSM. Swoop seemed like an odd choice for NewsNation to have as their “expert” when there are literally dozens of other creators that have BEEN on this beat, putting in the work regularly, that deserve to be platformed. i find on most topics she covers, Swoop is not the most knowledgeable person, simply the most camera-ready. i watch some true crime content, but really can’t stand some of the top creators: That Chapter, Annie Elise, Bailey Sarian . . . what they all have in common is that in their delivery of these gruesome cases, they always make themselves the main character. Swoop is no different. i prefer more straightforward, journalistic crime coverage, not a tRUe cRiMe sTOrYTiMe!!! filled with inappropriate jokes by a wannabe entertainer.
I have a fascination with nuclear disasters and I’m extremely knowledgeable about them in general for the average person with no formal education on the topic, but if a local nuclear plant experiences an accident I’m not going to be the one talking to a news station, they’ll pull in an engineer.
Hey Mika, I am a bit of a fan of both of you. But I must say that you have a very valid point here, and I am listening. You have so much respect from me, and I feel strongly that we should be allowed to have commentary and discourse without being villains. I've always valued your opinions and content, and I will continue to do so. I really appreciate your less dramatic approach to videos, it helps me to digest so much more. 🖤
Mika, I know this was not an easy video to make. But I’m so glad you did, because I had a very similar experience/very similar feelings re: Swoop and the channel’s progression and I’m so grateful you managed to articulate these issues 100x better than I ever could.
I used to watch Swoop's videos constantly until she started becoming more of a "company" type of channel. The way the titles are so exaggerated and how she constantly promotes her basic merch rubs me the wrong way. It feels a little hypocritical that she's a commentary youtuber but yet she feels similar to how the Paul brothers clickbait and plug their merch. Kinda weird
The Depp/Heard trial really cemented who I would continue watching and who I unsubscribed to and blocked. I can't believe any courtroom would allow live footage of proceedings especially in domestic abuse trials. This belonged between them, not the world.
All court proceedings are open to the public, from my understanding the reason was that there was significant public interest and there wasn't space for everyone in the court room, but court filings and police records etc are all open for the public to view either via court websites or by foia. The legal system isn't an easy route for any actual victim, it can be brutal. In this case, given the extreme press surrounding both public figures, and the fact that publications were also involved by extension (Washington post) for publishing stories which were defamatory, it made sense that people wanted to see for themselves and make their own mids up with regards to the evidence. In sum, it was necessary for Depp to allow the world to see and make up their own minds instead of believing everything they read on TMZ and other outlets his ex was leaking false information to hence why his team asked the court to rule on the matter.
@@dandelion_official4812 it depends on the area, but I meant literally live recordings of the proceedings as they are happening. Or video at all. That’s much different than having access to dry legal documents. And no those aren’t always available to the public either. So your statement is inherently false. None of that was necessary for the public to see. The public doesn’t need to form an opinion on this case. Depp didn’t need any of it to be public, the public was and is on his side. It needed to be a private matter between the two of them and the court. I’m not even gonna touch the last part of your statement. Point is the public should mind their own damn business instead of being gossip hungry vultures in matters that literally deal with domestic abuse. Y’all are wild to think your entitled to that.
@@FortuitousOwl you can go to the court and be admitted. Tbf, you're right that this is not always the case but it often is. The "abuse" was made public by her via TMZ, People and the Washington post - that's what happened. I know, I know, believe all women but some are liars 🤷♂️ Also note, I didn't say it was right - just that it is that way. Like the Murdaugh trial, Kohberger, and less gruesomly Gwenyth Paltrow. The fact is that the trial WAS broadcast live and there was a lot of public interest and viewers were asking content creators to cover it. For me, I found it beneficial because I had no idea and made the obvious assumption that everyone did. That turned out to be a false accusation, and imho had it NOT been available in full the media coverage would still be defaming the man.
@@dandelion_official4812 don’t put abuse in quotes. I already said I’m not gonna touch on the actual case, it’s clear we disagree and I’m tired, so please stop. You are justifying it though, none of this needed to be public. The court proceedings did not need to be public. You did not need to be a part of that. People don’t need to be a part of the murdaugh trail either. The media defaming people is a consequence of the media existing and people like you who feel like you’re owed a glimpse into the private lives of celebrities. “That’s just how it is” I guess is your conclusion? Ok? Who is that helping and what is that adding to this conversation?
@@FortuitousOwlIt’s not entitled to get the facts right. It’s so people can make up their own minds and know if they want to support this public figure . Their reputations were on the line. Remember Johnny lost roles because of that so at that point why should it be kept private.
I don't watch swoop anymore, so maybe this has been added in subsequent videos, but I worry that she perpetuates the "perfect victim" standard, ESPECIALLY in the amber heard videos. she says so often that she believes survivors, but what about those that fight back against abusers? do survivors of SA or DV need to be docile to be considered victims (and furthermore, who has the privilege of being perceived as innocent as opposed to combatant)? instead of recognizing these victims as such, I worry that she pushes the "mutual abuse" myth, which is particularly harmful to survivors, and I think it's really insidious to feed into this while at the same time profiting off of saying "I believe you" and "you're not alone" to victims, and it completely turned me off of her videos.
@@Andromyway Especially when she focuses on the fact that there are no perfect victims, she did give a leeway to Johnny when she read his violent text messages regarding Amber. Not saying Amber is a saint but there are many reports on Depp being problematic on sets, not to mention he is an addict himself so his retelling of the story. I'm too sure about it.
I do agree with you that I was disappointed that she didn't post Oliver story after promising him that she would. But in general, I do like her content and her POV.
This. Do o think she’s perfect no. Do I think the way she covers everything is perfect no. But I personally haven’t had any problems w her videos that would prompt me to not watch or not like her. Just my opinion obviously
@@ReviewsAndMore9 most people don't go back in and edit their comments tbf 🙄 perhaps they didn't know 🤷♂️ or did you mean Mika? I think she was just looking over the discourse and what people are saying more broadly as opposed to criticising Swoop.
I'm happy to see this video. I used to watch swoop all the time and while I didn't watch every single one of her videos, I would consider myself to be a pretty big fan of her and her content. I found myself almost completely losing interest after her coverage of the Depp v Heard situation, and I fully stopped watching after she made a comment about the remaining Try Guys "profiting" from the Ned Fulmer situation, then went on to put his face in like four or five different thumbnails.
Yes I had to dip out after the Depp v Heard coverage. I thought she was smarter than that, an as a victim herself would understand the dynamics betters.
@@littleflickYeah, I think it’s a giant red flag whenever someone constantly uses their own victim status to create any sort of authority on the matter. I’m also a victim of domestic violence, but I would never pretend that that means I can tell when someone ELSE is a victim, or that I have a right to determine how someone else should tell their story. She’s not an expert on grooming just bc she was groomed; she would need to get formal education on abuse before she can say she’s any kind of expert on such a serious matter
@@emileek4107 that’s true. I guess I expected more from her because I brought into it a bit myself. Her coverage about it was just bizarre too. I saw the first video she posted about it and was willing to ignore it and keep watching her other stuff, so many people were being manipulated by the nonsense and I thought maybe one day she would see that and reassess. But then she just posted more and more and more and it was getting more inflammatory. It was clear she was digging in for views. Even if that is what she believed there was no need for her to change her entire channel to be about that one topic.
@@littleflick Right, it’s so easy to buy into someone constantly reminding you that they’re also a victim. We want to believe the best in people and when you care about victims you want to hear them out on these issues. But it was SO DAMN DISAPPOINTING to see her jump on the Amber hate bandwagon. She spoke out against her awful pos husband and the whole world jumped down her throat. I stopped following anybody who added to Amber’s pain
@@emileek4107 Honestly, I think she does it as some sort of trauma bonding with the audience. Like her chants “you are worthy.” She keeps instructing her viewers to relive their most traumatizing event and then uses that emotion to help direct blame onto whichever person who’s the hot topic right now. She’s criticized other creators for parasocial bonding and she’s clearly uses the same tricks.
The point about resources is interesting. I was hoping to see her cover anything about the alleged charity fraud. I couldn't believe she didn't ask Josh about it at all. It felt like a missed opportunity. All those resources, all those hours and still so many untouched subjects.
I completely agree that she didn’t highlight nearly as much as people thought. Maybe she did ask him about it, but the bottom line is she didn’t include it
She has said she will do so, but that she and her team of 2 needed a break from it all. She said they are taking a break, not that she's never going to release the work that has already taken place such as the potential charity fraud, the allegations of racism, and Trent. It deserves to be covered fully. The video on her second channel was a quick update, Oliver's story deserves better than a quick mention. Swoop has said that they were still cross referencing and fact checking. There was no insinuation that this would not take place. She's not responsible for taking down the entire Balliger-matrix on OUR schedule and fully deserves a break from it all imo 😑
@@dandelion_official4812 yeah I watched hers and Adam’s videos and have kept up with Ollie’s tweets. I don’t know if I believe that there’s any disingenuous stuff going on here- I’ve been binge watching Swoop’s videos after discovering her, if anything. I was just explaining why some people weren’t happy with it, because regardless of what she filmed, she didn’t include it. I don’t doubt that she may cover it in the future, but this does explain some of backlash, as Mika said
@@liamargolis8837 tbh, it seems a bit ludicrous to me. I get why Oliver felt upset - they spoke for 3 hours on the phone once Swoop became aware of this. They have no issues. So people are up in arms defending someone who is telling them to calm tf down 🤣 She covered Joshua's relationship with Colleen and the things he needed and wanted to take full accountability for - the interview was 7 hours long. There is undoubtedly more that was held back to be edited together with the other topics; like charity fundraisers for eg. People want it all yesterday, with little regard for the amount of work (and emotional labour) that goes into covering these topics comprehensively imo 🙄 Swoop has said that there was more research they were doing into Trent and the charity stuff, but that they got so burnt out they had to switch it up. I totally get that - staring at all things Groomleen for over 3 months with further rabbit holes everywhere must have been overwhelming. I can appreciate where it comes from, people get online road rage and become super indignant over what ends up being nada sometimes 🤣
Agreed. It was really disappointing. Well, irritating is more accurate....I don't put these youtubers or celebrities in a position to disappoint me. Lol
Yeah not jumping on that bandwagon wasn't hard. The truth has been there the entire time for people who were willing to admit it (even if just to themselves) despite the gamergate level of insanity.
THANK YOU!! when everyone started praising her as the best possible person to cover the Colleen drama it made me so mad. I like her content at times but I've never looked at her the same since the Depp trial. and it infuriates me how she postures herself as uniquely able to understand abuse when she gets things SOOOOO wrong.
My take on Swoop before watching the vid: i stopped watching her soon after i found her bc of the merch plugging and "petty university" - insensitive and annoying. But i liked her joshua interview in the ballinger series, bc she was very serious in it
My issue with Swoop is that she will use evidence in a way that perpetuates falsities that silence other survivors. I don't think she intends to but it happened a lot during the trial and just saying "if this applies to you it does not mean you're a liar or weren't abused it just does in this case with Amber" doesn't absolve her of the damage it causes. I can't remember specific examples with the trial, I stopped watching early on because of the way she was covering it. I only started watching her again recently because of her coverage of iiluminaughtii but stopped again after her coverage of Johnny. Two examples of what I'm talking about from the Johnny video were when she said Him and Josh were not alone because their 1. hangouts were in public and 2. approved by his parents. It is extremely common for a groomer to connect with the family in order to build trust and to start out with one on one meetings in public. While I agree with the conclusion that he was lying about being groomed I do not think those two pieces of evidence were handled responsibly and have the potential to do damage to other survivors of grooming because of the way they were handled
i can't believe the internet is a place where people have to be afraid to talk about topics with nuance 😭thank you for this vid mika i think you did a great job
gonna be honest any creator that pushes body language psuedoscience should not be taken seriously in basically any other matter. its like using astrology genuinely to say someone is guilty of a crime and i dont know why people pretend it isnt
I’m excited because I’ve had a hard time liking her… she seems like she wants to be taken seriously as a journalist but something about her content still reeks of “stereotypical UA-camr” in a bad way lol.
I feel this exact way and have for a long time but thought I was the only one lol. Something about her trying to be funny but so cringy instead just annoys me but I was like hey it might just not be my type of humor. I have a pretty good BS detector and it starts smoking when I watch one of her videos Also the documentary thing is super inaccurate to me, just bc you make long videos doesn’t make it a documentary. I can at least give that one thing to Shane Dawson his are more worthy of the documentary title
It’s the ‘serious’ face she makes in her thumbnails. I honestly stopped watching her because it gives me bad vibes. Like, the stare down with an open mouth gives me an icky feeling.
@@cottage-core_ That’s not the only thing that bothers me about her but there has only been like two or so pieces that had some small documentary aspects in them. They are literally video essays. And it is stupid because a video essay can totally be as informative and educational as a documentary, so it really doesn’t fail as a good promise. I guess I don’t see the point to call it that, other than to make yourself sound more serious?
I'm exhausted of people acting like the only thing we are criticizing Swoop for is just because of her (awful) handling of the Oliver situation. So glad to see someone actually attempt to address our grievances. I hope Swoop apologizes for these and grows.
To be honest, while I have been a subscriber of hers for a while now it has always felt like something was a little bit off. For me it was her attempts at empathy and support messages, not that the contents of them were wrong but the way she delivered them didn't seem genuine from time to time. Sometimes it felt right, natural, true; sometimes it felt rehearsed, forced, like she was trying too hard to come across a certain way. But I just figured maybe that's just how she comunicates and I was reading too much into it. What really threw me off recently was when she announced that she was to be interviewed in a couple tv shows regarding the Frankie situation. That from the very start felt to me like profiting of a horrible situation (abused children, no less!) without anything that actually warranted her involvement. She was brought on those shows like some kind of expert, because she "had been covering" the whole Frankie situation when in reality (at least to my knowledge) she only made 1 single video about it a year ago. Yes, it was a long one but I can think of other creators that have been covering the topic more throughly and continously. Then, she released the second video about it and included several clips of her interviews on said shows and at least to me it felt like a weird flex. Like a way to boost her credibility in the matter when she is just like the rest of us, a bystander, a stranger to the situacion with no firsthand knowledge of what happened. IMO she had no business speaking about it outside the context of her own platform. Of course the shows were also in the wrong for having her there, there are a ton of other people they could have asked questions, like lawyers, social workers specialized in child abuse, psicologist also specialized in those topics, literally anyone with the right certifications to speak about such things, not a social media influencer. But she accepted the invitation and then boosted it on her platforms. I don't know, it just doesn't feel right to me. That last video truly left me with the sensation that something wasn't right. Edit: Also, genuine question: her videos can be considered documentaries? I don't consider them as such, to me they are long, well produced commentary videos. Just that. So her calling them "docs" feels kind of weird, like Shane Dawson calling his overglorified long vlogs "a docu series" but with commentary content. I can be wrong though, I'm not informed in what actually makes a documentary a documentary so I'm curious.
She's the next Edwin Costa (and that grifter had at least communicated with the victims he was exploiting; lying to them, but regardless). Other creators have covered Ruby Franke for years, but I trust most would not have the hubris to appear on TV as "experts".
your first paragraph is exactly how i feel. i haven’t watched the new franke video in its entirety, mostly just because i already know what’s going on but i also felt a little bit weird about the focus on her being on tv. i mostly watch her videos because they’re comprehensive and usually she does bring something new but i kinda “put up” with the presentation i guess and the things i’m not sure about
You obviously haven't looked up the official definitions of "documentary" therefore you are petty and uninformed. It appears you're also resentful of her as a personality and for her success.
That’s why she says “docs” instead of documentaries. It’s doublespeak. You’ll notice that she obscures the language all the time. For example, “my truth” instead of “the truth.”
I enjoyed Joshua's interview but I felt like the Johnny video was definitely milked? I felt like she could of easily did Oliver's section first then have the latter half be Johnny's section. She already filmed Joshua's interview before releasing Johnny's video so she knew what had to be covered in Johnny's video for it to make sense and so much of it could have been condensed and allow for Oliver's story to be talked about. Also, these nuanced views are why I keep tuning in to every video Mika! Thanks for giving your opinion ❤
Also NGL her going JOHN JOHN JOHN (with emphasis) annoyed me. Okay we get it, we're gonna be petty and refer to him as John and not Johnny but like would Johnny even care lol
I only recently started watching Swoop’s content when I was looking for videos about Colleen Ballinger. I love video essays and analyses (surprise, surprise - I’m subscribed to your channel and love your videos) so I really enjoyed her videos and still enjoy them (mostly). However, I was slightly irked in her recent 8 passengers video when she kept including news clips that featured her and comments from the news casters praising her as the “one true authority” on the issue. I felt it was disingenuous and out of context. I think there’s a lot of power to be attributed to having a team and a certain production value that allow her videos to have such an air of professionalism and in tandem, authority. While her videos do rely on fact checking, just like any other commentator, much of the content is swayed and biased to her opinion. Case in point: the Johnny video. I think it was totally relevant to the situation, but did it need to be over three hours? No. Especially when there were so many other stories to be heard. Much of it was Swoop’s own feelings of betrayal and anger (which I am not saying she was not allowed to show or have - just an example). Side note: I really appreciate your video. All of your videos, really - thank you for your hard work despite being so busy. I work a 9 to 5 and all I can do when I get home is watch a k drama and lay in bed, so props to you
To add: I don't think of her as an authority on the 8 passengers stuff at all. I would rather listen to someone with the background in Mormonism to understand these things.
I am currently juggling my studies, a full-time job, and collaborating with another individual on their channel. It frustrates me that the importance of team size is overemphasized. Additionally, while I enjoyed a few of her videos, I found that the majority did not resonate with me. Furthermore, I disliked how she incessantly promoted her merchandise during discussions on serious subjects.
Honestly, I think a lot of this controversy is due to the fact that people idolize swoop like she's an unbiased news source. She's not. She's a UA-camr and she will be biased, as everyone is, to some extent. Even in academia we learn that even research papers aren't unbiased. The thing that varies is the level of bias. The way a person words arguments and facts, the frequency and timing of such arguments... Everything is biased. I don't know why people genuinely expect a UA-camr to be unbiased, when I personally don't think she has ever presented herself that way, especially with the "Petty University" segments. Swoop should absolutely be criticized by her mistakes, like the Amber Heard-Casey Anthony comparison, but honestly, this whole thing is just people lashing out because their expectations were broken. STOP EXPECTING UA-camRS TO BE UNBIASED NEWS SOURCES!! I promise you will not get as mad when you find yourself disagreeing with their presentation of facts if you do that.
Well, when you call something a documentary, you expect a little more authenticity than a UA-cam tea video. She even used to go heavy on the steeping tea puns and mug slurping. In fact, she originally promised her fans that she would return to her regular content. She denied transitioning into a drama channel. She denied it aggressively until a year passed, then she finally had to relent. Somewhat. Didn’t she change her tagline to “it’s not drama. It’s dangerous” or something like that? More doublespeak from Spankie.
So so so true! Personally i dont belive at all that Coleen groomed someone. There is not even a police report. Just "youtube creator news" that is not fact, just an argument!
I think Swoop is a sanctimonious, glorified drama content creator who has tried every single avenue to UA-cam success and has finally found the formula that works. She is not a journalist, she is not a documentarian just because she makes ridiculously long videos. I don't consider Stephanie Harlowe to be a documentarian because of her deep dives, and it's the same deal with Swoop. I think Swoop's intro dance is ultra cringe and embarrassing for a 30 year old woman, and it feels inappropriate and icky to be doing that before getting into the Chris Watts case, where he literally murdered his entire family. She (Spankie Valentine, which I hope is not actually her legal name) is a pseudointellectual who loves to centre herself in every video she makes instead of talking about the abuse the victims faced. I was disgusted by her coverage of JD and AH and her shameless efforts to grasp some fame. She was so proud of being on a news channel, she kept dropping clips into her vids for clout. She also said that anyone who has a snark page against them is automatically evil, so I wonder now, is she evil by her own logic? Her content is entertainment, not hard hitting journalism.
I fully agree. People use the word “documentary” so liberally on UA-cam. I feel like it cheapens real documentaries, done by people with training and journalistic integrity.
I'm so glad someone else felt weird about the Depp Heard Trial videos. She put up a community post at the time, and I commented that I didn't want another one, because it was starting to feel vouyeristic. I'm sure more people wanted another more than just me, but my comment on that post had the most likes iirc.
@ReviewsAndMore9 I literally didn't. I didn't watch any of SWOOP's videos.on that topic. Thanks for telling me what I did though, you obviously know me more than I do lol And even if I had, someone can definitely change their opinion as time passes.
@@ReviewsAndMore9How are you going to create a narrative in your own head about what this person did and then get upset at them and criticize them? YOU made that assumption and then had the audacity to insult them due to it. Do you hear how crazy that sounds? Get a grip.
I hated hearing anything about that trial and I was clicking "not interested" on sooo many videos last year. Maybe it's because I don't follow celebrities, but I hate the fact that these people's trauma was aired on TV and on social media like it was entertainment and people were talking about it like it was a fcking Netflix show, it made me feel icky and I didn't even watch anything to do with it. And I hate if you are critical of any of this it becomes who's "side" you're on. Fuck no I ain't on anyone's side, I don't know anything about these people and neither do you, we weren't there, we will never know, and I don't want to know about stranger's personal lives. it is between them, the people around them, their lawyers and the therapists I hope they are seeing and that's how it should stay. It feels distasteful at best and fcuking dystopian at worst, and I feel the same way about true crime as a genre.
@@j-skullz Tbf if you wanted to blame any “side” on publicizing it, that would be Depp’s side. Heard’s team fought against having the trial broadcast and live-streamed and they unfortunately lost on that front, Depp’s team wanted it live-streamed. There’s also evidence that Depp’s team utilized bots to have it gain traction somewhat in-organically on social media, especially on TikTok.
THANK YOU MIKA!!! the overwhelming dearth of critical analysis regarding Swoop’s content has always irked me. i feel like too often, she is taken to be THEEE authority on a particular topic, that her video on a controversy is considered to be THE ultimate consensus on behalf of “the community” . . . however, regardless of the thoroughness or production quality of her videos, Swoop is ultimately still a commentary UA-camr. her content is . . . fine, but the whole “documentary filmmaker” self-title feels a bit pretentious and cringe to me. but whatever, that’s neither here nor there. i used to subscribe to Swoop for a while, but she really lost me when she made like ten videos both-sides-ing the Depp/Heard defamation trial. it just felt so tasteless and exploitative, and it turned me off her channel overall. i checked out at that point, and now only watch her videos if a particular topic is of interest, but i largely find 75% of her videos to be clips aggregated from other sources, assembled into a very long explainer, with sassy opinions, merch plugs, “you are valids” and Petty University clips sprinkled throughout.
The clapping while talking, playing with her hair and the Petty University interruptions just made it hard for me to watch anymore. Glad I found this channel.
coming back to add that something i found particularly off-putting recently was how Swoop was featured on NewsNation as an expert/talking head when the 8 Passengers mom Ruby Franke was arrested. by no means is Swoop the most knowledgeable or prolific UA-camr covering 8 Passengers . . . there were creators following and covering Ruby’s ab*se for YEARS . . . Swoop only has one or two videos about them, basically aggregating all the issues other UA-camrs have already covered once the scandal came to the attention of the MSM. Swoop seemed like an odd choice for NewsNation to have as their “expert” when there are literally dozens of other creators that have BEEN on this beat, putting in the work regularly, that deserve to be platformed. i find on most topics she covers, Swoop is not the most knowledgeable person, simply the bluest (i.e., the most camera-ready). 🩵
whenever i watch swoop, i just drop in to watch the video that interest me. I would also have to disagree with the fact that swoop doesn't put her personality into her videos because she does give quips and things like that, but I could definitely see her not having a dedicated fanbase though. it seems that a lot of people in the comments had a problem with how she reacted/covered the johnny depp v. amber heard trial. i watched emily d baker's coverage of the trial because she's a former DA lawyer, but was also compassionate and empathetic with the subject matter as well as being knowledgeable on the overall topic (a trial lol). it's very clear to most people who actual watched the trial that they were in a toxic/abusive relationship that they both contributed to, but heard took it too far with the wild accusations she threw at depp because he broke up with her. but even with those accusations that amber came up with, to compare her to casey anthony is CRAZY. i can only assume (and this is where I get a little crazy with my thoughts) is that amber heard triggered swoop REAL fucking bad.
I'm sorry did he say " I'm not profiting off this video" and in the very next breath ' Any money made will go towards MY top surgery" HOW IS THAT NOT PROFITING? I mean it's fine to profit on your own videos but be honest. Don't twist it into something else
i’m biased cause I think the petty university thing is inappropriate for the topics and her editing style is corny. but i feel like adam was too easy on her cause she did a lot for him :/
As a Floridian, Casey Anthony's case was super huge here (obviously) and I cannot emphasize enough how shocking and horrible that case was. To compare THAT to Amber Heard is so unimaginable to me that I had to pause when you mentioned it (I had never heard of Swoop before). LIKE. Not to be dismissive of what happened to Johnny Depp or anything, but that's like comparing the Hamburgler to Thanos at this point
@OfficialRJCervantes Johnny depp wasn't murdered by his mother when he was like 6. So yeah....her saying amber and Casey aren't comparable isn't being dismissive of what happened to Johnny. It's simply stating casey Anthony and amber heard are NOT comparable.
@@AKbaby89 YES thank you that's what I meant! I was being literal with the not wanting to be dismissive, because horrible things did happen to him! But obviously, he was not murdered horrendously by his mother. Thank you for the benefit of the doubt!
This is a good video and I appreciate your perspectives and commitment to nuance. One thing that I want to say is that as someone with a journalism background - it's always bothered me that Swoop calls the videos "documentaries". It creates this sense of legitimacy which I find clashes with the fact that they consistently break tone to 'lighten' the mood, and I always find their introduction (the "swoop/swoop" thing) to be really tonally inconsistent with the rest of the video's tone (the same for the petty university segments). It's also hard to think of any other documentaries that promote merchandise and products so frequently throughout the piece. Most documentaries also won't rely on clickbait to promote their videos. I'm not saying that a UA-cam video can't be detailed and analytical and vital - but I think a good comparison to Swoop would be the UA-camr Folding Ideas (Dan Olson), who's videos on NFTs, Flat Earth and web3 have been some of the most researched, analytical pieces I've seen on the platform. These contain no promotion at all (in fact, one of his videos contains a segment mocking UA-cam ad reads in general) and no tonal shifts. The titles are quite dry ("the problem with NFTs" "this is financial advice" "a search for a flat earth"). He also doesn't label his content as documentary. It just always struck me as so disingenuous for Swoop to label their videos as 'documentaries' just because they're more longform content... Commentary UA-camrs absolutely have a place in the landscape, and I think that some of the videos Swoop has done have been important and well researched. However it's worth acknowledging that people conducting UA-cam videos generally don't have journalism backgrounds. They haven't done detailed analysis of bias and ethics in reporting (and, indeed, even journalists who HAVE done this frequently fall short of remaining unbiased). I think Swoop needs to stop falsely labeling their content with terminology that is heavily weighted with journalistic legitimacy. This is ESPECIALLY pertinent after their coverage of the Heard vs Depp trial and their reliance on using body language analysis (something that deeply impacts neurodiverse people when they're on the stand).
I'm so glad you mentioned content outside of the colleen stuff. I used to watch swoop all the time, and stopped once she pivoted towards the true crime/current events stuff because while I liked her as a person, her coverage of many of these topics rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe her true crime content has improved, I will admit I haven't seen any of her recent content outside of the colleen videos, but I remember the first crime "doc" she posted having kind of cavalier/lighthearted tone that really rubbed me the wrong way. And her coverage of the depp v heard trial disapponts me, I really would have expected her to do better with that considering her motto is "its not drama, its dangerous" or something to that effect.
She lost me with the amber heard videos. It's a bit of a relief that so many comments here are saying the same thing. Coverage of that case makes me feel like I'm insane.
I also stopped watching swoop and many others on UA-cam during this. Like you said, no reliable narrators or unbiased sources who weren’t Johnny depp Stans or obsessive “amber heard is a liar” weirdos. This is including but not limited to Milani cosmetics. It was an uncomfortable time to be in the internet.
What bothers me the most about Swoop, is the focus on mental health that she keeps talking about. But then, she goes ahead and posts an interview with Johnny who quite clearly isn't well at all since his story kept changing in real time. Anyone with half a brain would know this person isn't doing well and I shouldn't use his interview for my video, as it will only make him worse. But there she is not only including the interview but also mocking him. If that doesn't scream fake I don't know what does.
PS. I find it scary and worrying how fans of Swoop and Adam both mass flag comments that aren't in agreement with every single thing they say. I understand flagging hate comments and trolls, but even if you just say something very bland like "I don't think we know the full story, most of this is hearsay in my opinion", they'll flag you and your channel until you get a community strike. And since UA-cam is fully automated, that can lead to losing your account just like that for absolutely no reason. Why is silencing their #1 tactic?
I actually didn't know of Swoop until her iiluminaughtii video and then I watched some other and I will honestly say, not a fan. Her videos are extremely emotionally manipulative going for the cheap tear with a solemn tone and then go on her merch shilling to "alleviate the tone a bit" and go full petty university and then once the shilling is done the solemn tone returns and so is the emotional manipulation. Thanks I hate it. Also, take a shot every time she mentions she was a victim of abuse and take another one whenever she explains what DARVO is. You'll be drunk pretty fast.
Great video, I think she does produce great content, but I think no one is above criticism. I do think she comes off as preachy and her monologue about 'it's not your fault' gives me icks. But I have seen people appreciating her for that so id mind. I would just like to add her origin story when she made an expose about her white friend as racist, I think she took it too far as apart for adding details as her friend is shit talks behind people and publically have a cordial relationship with them. Though I agree these are not great qualities but who doesn't fake liking a person once in their life. Not to mention her one gripes about her friend that she wasn't there for her when she was going through a mental crisis, to which I think not everyone going be there for you all the time. If she didn't liked her or felt being use then she should just have ended the friendship instead blasting them on the internet. Side note: she did add instances of racism but she could just stuck to racism instead of airing the entire dirty laundry.
I've had an issue with Swoop since the Heard vs Depp video, and in general its an issue I have with these "documentary" videos that some creators put out on youtube. Swoop is a film maker but she is not a professional in criminal cases, or in grammar or rethoric, or psycology. She also doesn't seem to be accompanied during filming by profesionals, or doesn't do much reaserch on methodology. I don't mean to say that she needs a degree to analize a situation, but she does make pretty heavy accusations in her videos. So, with that said, how professional are these documentaries or are they just long format gossip videos? I don't despise her btw, and by no means do i think she needs to stop making these videos, its the classifying them as a professional documentary where I start to see issues. Also, I'm kind of getting tired of people monetizing drama and pain. I can understand Adam doing it but not really her, putting sponsors in between takes, monetizing on the pain and life of other people.
Go look up the definition of "documentary" and you'll see your interpretation is uneducated. Her docs are every bit professional, and her editing is spot on and exceptional, better than TV. Everyone who makes videos, regardless of size, has expenses, wants their channel to grow, then the moment they qualify for monetization they enable it to recoup costs. UA-cam throws the ads on, not the Channel. Blame UA-cam. Those who don't have other jobs, work extra hard to turn their channels into a business they can live on. There's nothing wrong with that, regardless of content. You, who create nothing, should be silent on this issue.
@ReviewsAndMore9 Nobody said that her editing is poor, but she presents facts unevenly saying that she is going to be neutral when in fact she very much is not which btw wouldn't be an issue if she disclosed it. And yes, she does sponsored content which by definition ARE adverts, she IS making a profit, out of very controversial issues that are turned into entretainment. My issue with her videos, that you have actually proven, that even though I find her motives to make "documentaries" (again, I do not agree it is professional) is that not everything has or should be profittable like the account of victims of grooming. It's dystopic at best. I, who actually exist in real life and create out of the internet bubble, have two degrees that actually allow me to analize this, will not be silent on this issue, since I have every right to have an opinion.
@@cherrytwizzler I don't think there's a need to say she's a failed model. Many people I know who are great professionals do not have a degree or have "failed" at other jobs. My issue is I don't think she knows enough of what she's doing. There are ethics that documentalists (?) have to abide by, and she does't do that.
I think it’s pretty easy for the audience to be hypercritical, but also have zero patience and demand another video. I think the only person that really is valid in being upset is Oliver, but I heard they made amends. If Swoop had not made the Jonny or Josh videos and went straight to Oliver, would people still complain? Probably.
This. People were being awful towards her in the Colleen snark subreddit long before this bigger drama started. They were acting entitled to her labor then, and they still are.
@@meowiestwo Huh? People in the subreddit were diehard fans of Swoop before the Oliver thing happened (the only critical voices were those that dared to bring up the Depp-Heard trial, but even those were usually massively downvoted). The vibe only changed when she dropped Oliver and the Colleen story altogether - that's why everyone is saying the sub "suddenly turned on her" or "did a complete 180"
@@Rosiewithfootprints I’m just giving my pov. You’re welcome to share yours but it doesn’t change mine. I stopped reading that sub in late July or early August because certain people were being so crappy toward swoop, even going as far as accusing her of appropriating AAVE
I enjoy Swoop's content but I appreciate this video. Reading many of the comments, it seems like I missed a lot, especially the Amber Heard situation. I watched many of her videos but I hadn't watched that particular coverage since I was consuming the AH story via other channels and news outlets at the time. Even the memes were taking over the internet. I didn't even know about her whole thing regarding body language. That being said, I appreciate reading everyone's critiques so that I may keep an eye out for them in her videos and be a bit more skeptical and critical of her work moving forward. There were some things I already found a bit iffy so I'm glad others have noticed them as well. Regardless, I'm a sucker for long-form content to use as background noise so I'll still watch her until it goes too far for me.
the swoop revamp using 'mykie was racist to me' all while not long later releasing merch related to that video 'i worked a year on it!'. then did you plan releasing private dms to discredit an ex friend... she has videos on old channel how 'i know so many influencers that were racist to me, should i expose them haha'. it's so weird. i watched this one good video on the optics of that video by Moriah. on here, titled goodbye swoop or something like that. swoop used that mykie video to totally change the direction of her channel. hmm has she ever addressed kissing shane dawson's ass as last as in 2019? asking him to revive her old channel and all. i know some black people have expressed that swoop is biracial and uses weird pale filter on thumbnail, yet on socials she keeps referring to herself as black woman. Fab Socialism has bunch of videos on biracial celebs that explain the whole thing really well
I’m a casual Swoop viewer & generally like her content. However, no offense to her, but I don’t consider her content “documentaries” and I don’t really consider her a journalist. They’re well made videos, with nice editing and neat scripts, but they’re still YT videos. And no serious journalist will take a break to “head to petty university”. I never watched the Heard/Depp vids, which I see a lot of people commenting on. She does a lot that I don’t like, though-particularly the merch plugs (I timed it once, it was 11 minutes long!! Jeez) and the palate cleansers at the end. I also *hated* that she made a video on the Petito case. Bad vibes. Also, I actually am not a huge fan of her interviews. I don’t think she’s a good interviewer because she consistently holds this really tight expression (eyes narrowed, mouth tight/pinched). It’s uncomfortable. I appreciate that she gives them space to speak-literally-but it just feels so suffocating anyway because of how she watches them. I know if it were me, I wouldn’t feel very comfortable. Huh. Maybe I don’t like her very much 🤔 Interesting. Thx for coming on this journey with me!
Your video didn't disappoint. :) I had the same thoughts before even watching. Never mind Joshua's interview, released 4 or 5 weeks after the Johnny video, when it had been recorded in advance. Nothing will convince me that editing down 7 hours takes a month, or that she was "fact-checking" details of this guy's marriage, that no one else knew. She most likely saw how well the Johnny video had done and built momentum for the next one, canning Oliver's story at the same time, after repeating ad nauseam that "this was about the victims".
i feel like that's the constant approach and narrative to all her videos now, that she does it all for the victims and it's all about the victims without ever once acknowledging the fact that she gets major profit out of it?? while constantly wearing her merch and always, without fail, advertising it at the start of the videos?? like?? i feel like i would believe that she's genuine a lot more if she acknowledged the social and monetary gain that she's getting out of her content (because in my opinion she could easily do that without taking away from her supposed cause and message) instead of pretending to be some sort of crusader who does it without ever expecting anything back. sorry for the long-winded comment! your comment and perception of why she sidelined oliver's story and went for johnny's just clicked right away, you said everything i've been thinking way better than i could have!
I had watched and enjoyed Swoop’s content quite a bit, but I just couldn’t stomach the absolute flood of Depp v Heard content and the clear bias and, well, pettiness of it all. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people during the trial, and it still makes me queasy to think about the Internet’s response. When I’ve gone back to Swoop’s content since, it’s just felt off. The pop psychology pulled from random articles, the need to create these harsh divides between good and bad, perpetrator and victim…it just hits weird. It’s easy to say you’re always on the side of victims, but all too often victimhood is far more nuanced. Like you said, Swoop does do a lot of good work. But she and her team are just people, flawed and biased just like all of us. It’s the platform that exacerbates those issues.
I watched swoop’s ballinger series and really tried to like it (bc I literally invested houuuuurs to finish the videos) and couldn’t help being so put off by multiple things: the serious tone of the “documentary” (which I disagree with Swoop calling her videos documentaries when imo they are not) being interrupted by “petty university” like… even the name of her brand being “petty” when her slogan is that “it isn’t drama it’s dangerous” doesn’t add up to me. Then her literally putting herself in the middle of the entire situation and almost making herself a victim of Johnny’s bc he lied to her AND the entire internet. I don’t understand why she brought herself up in the conversation sooo many times in each video drove me a bit nuts. The Oliver situation put me over the edge and I can’t help but be left with a bad taste in my mouth from swoop
I never really liked swoops content because it just seems so over exaggerated. Like that parody of a documentary that’s on Netflix. But it was just that, personal taste, I find it annoying, kinda redundant, whatever. But I was keeping up with her videos on Colleen because I wanted to understand everything about the controversy and when that video about Johnny dropped and she never gave a heads up to Jessi and Lily about everything she found out so that they could be prepared for the backlash, it just left a BAD taste in my mouth. And they were getting dragged to hell with extremely unnecessary backlash and she couldn’t even tell her fans to maybe tone it down. I’m back to ignoring everything she ever puts out.
I like Swoop and will watch her stuff if it's on a subject I'm curious about, but there have been several instances in which she lost my trust. The first that comes to mind was her coverage of the Try Guys. She was uncharitable toward the three remaining guys, uninformed, and contradictory in her criticisms. The Depp/Heard trial was another problem IMO, and then this recent stuff with going on TV presenting herself as an expert on the Ruby Franke situation because she'd made a couple videos has rubbed me the wrong way. There are actual experts on the Frankes that have expertise on the religious and psychological aspects (like Jordan and McCay and Mormon Stories). Swoop is entertainment, her stuff shouldn't be put on the journalism pedestal.
I found Swoop through Glam and Gore. I felt they were friends and Mykie wanted to help her but then Mykie started trying to pull away. Then Swoop tried to ruin her. I don’t know the truth but I get a bad vibe and I don’t watch or follow. But just feel she only cares about views and fame and anything else is a pretense used to gain fame.
i only watched one video of hers and couldn't stand it, there was so much self insertion. like an emcee making it about himself instead of the performer. edit: holy shit you're so right, it felt lacking in personality in spite of her attempts. very odd watch for me.
I love Swoops videos and she's the only person I watched for the Colleen stuff, mostly because I had no idea who Colleen was and had watched Swoop before. I didn't know Oliver felt this way so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing his video on the whole situation. Thanks for this video because it brings the attention onto people who were also very affected by this family and their network of people but who necessarily didn't get a real voice. I hope Oliver makes his channel and I can see his video. Nothing but love and support for victims. If someone is brave enough to speak on their trauma and experiences then they should have the whole story heard. I didn't watch Swoop back when the Depp and Heard trial was going on. I didn't really watch anything on it. I wish I could watch the video Amber Heard vs Casey Anthony. You can't compare the two. That's insane. I would love to see the mental gymnastics someone has to do to get to that comparison. As a huge Swoop fan you definitely gave me so stuff to look into about some of her videos.
I subscribed to Swoop after her main Colleen video, then the 4 hour Johnny video came out and the way she deeply personalized it rubbed me the wrong way and I unsubscribed. It was bad vibes to me, not a style of content I want to watch.
I feel like people are being a bit harsh, Oliver is valid in how they feel but this story (can't think of a better word for it) has been going on for months now, swoop is an SA survivor herself so i don't really blame a gal for needing a break, it's mentally draining. I get where people are coming from with the merchanise push and being disingenuous but i just think thats the nature of social media these days. Oliver has every right to want their story told
Oliver had every right to have his story told *once he revealed it to Swoop for the specific intention of it being shared as part of the actually significant discussion* he had trusted her to honor his story and she didn’t even give him a heads up about cutting it out. Absolutely unacceptable.
Of course she needs her break, but what she did with Johnny, imo, was her just being pissed off at him. Yes she also has the right to post what she wants but there was a literal child that had been groomed by an adult, you have proof of this, and you took your time to interview them just so you don't include anything of them, is just so bizarre? I know the internet is being hard on her, she's not a news outlet, but it feels so icky to me to promise someone to get their story out and just never do it, or put it on a backburner for things that are literally you being pissed off. Also, I agree that marketing your merch is common now on social media, but there were a lot of videos, and videos that were VERY heavy topics where her bit with her merch and sponser were at the beginning of the video took around 13 minutes of an hour video... So it feels weird that she pushes her merch (which is not cheap, btw) and her sponser, and then calls out creators for the same thing. Make it make sense.
I've watched some of Swoop's videos, but I generally don't like her channel due to the editing style. It feels manipulative, paired with how I feel she can be un-nuanced I have not subscribed. The Johnny Depp trial coverage is disappointing, I personally don't understand how people are so passionate about a relationship we (the public) we're not a part of. We, as the public, cannot say what is fact as we are not there. It's not our business in my opinion.
I realize this is long. But in my opinion this goes a little deeper, and I think it needs to be said. I’m hoping everyone here is still primed to listen to nuance lol. I used to watch Swoop’s videos like as soon as they dropped. But during the Colleen videos she really started rub me the wrong way, little things in each video that made my ears perk up, until we reached the Johnny expose video where it hit a peak. In her first Colleen video she had a section on Colleen’s stage performances. Which, 100% should have been covered; I was absolutely shocked to see that Colleen was able to get away with having random kids participate in those incredibly sexualizing skits for so long. But then Swoop started talking about the inclusion of sxual innuendo jokes in the set (not the skits with the kids) and showed a clip of Colleen answering a question from a fan’s parent that asked if the show would be entertaining for adults too. Colleen answered this by saying that yes it would be because she made sure to include jokes for the adults that would go over the kids heads amongst the “kid friendly” (….in her mind, apparently) content. Swoop then used that one clip as proof to say that Colleen, from a global view, “mass groomed thousands of the kids who came to her show,” with Swoop’s reasoning being because innuendo should never be used in kid’s content, therefore making innuendo jokes = grooming. It’s impossible for me to overstate how dangerous that statement is. First, it’s completely **not true,** and from one survivor to another, I’m appalled that she would be so reckless with something so serious and life altering, especially given the size of her platform. A child who simply watched her from the audience or from their tv was not groomed by Colleen. Period. Swoop is highly regarded and respected by many, including a lot of teens and sometimes younger, impressionable kids who trust her. Who have now just heard her say that Colleen groomed them if they ever watched a Miranda live show. Someone believing her now has a whole bunch of really awful thoughts and feelings that they now have to figure out what to do with, possibly even on their own if they’re too afraid/ashamed to tell anyone else that they think they’ve been groomed, which is all too common. It’s a helluva lot of trauma for someone to go through….over something that never happened. Second, sxual/adult innuendo is in just about every single good kids media out there. If making adult jokes in kids shows is grooming, anyone who’s watched a Disney/Pixar/Nickelodeon/etc show has been groomed. Toy Story, Wallace & Grommet, Beauty and the Beast, SpongeBob, Johnny Bravo…I could go on and on and on. Those jokes exist to keep the parents entertained enough to continue watching their movies/shows, and are why so many of us as adults still watch them now for nostalgia. I doubt many of today’s kids will be watching Blippi reruns in their 20s+. Finally, this was after the papa gut incident where he accused Colleen’s victims of exaggerating by using the word “grooming,” and claimed it was yet another example of people taking a very serious word and twisting it for shock value. And now here is a creator who is held up as the final source, the main reporter on all this using the word grooming in such an irresponsible and dangerous way so flippantly, that makes it soooo much easier for “dissenters” (so to speak) to point to that clip as a reason to discount EVERYONE’S story as exaggerations. To call Colleen’s ACTUAL victims liars and harass those she DID groom. It’s one thing to talk about what she did to those kids on stage. It’s one thing to say that far too many of her “innuendo jokes” ran way past innuendo and slid straight into straight up blatant. But that’s not grooming, and it’s frankly offensive to say that it is. She of all people should know that. …and she clearly does, because like two videos later in the Johnny exposé a major point she threaded through it all was his incorrect use of the word “grooming.” She even talked about it being dangerous to misuse such a heavy word, including how much it harms those who have had to live through the horror of being groomed! Johnny sure as hell wasn’t groomed by Colleen or Josh, but neither was every kid who watched Miranda show, not by a long shot. If I’m being really transparent here, I actually felt disgusted to hear her speech in that video about how important it is to use such major words correctly, after she herself had a whole multi-piece segment doing the same thing on a much larger scale just a couple videos back. This has gotten longer than I expected so I’ll keep these last couple points short. I was also really turned off by how she handled that Johnny video release, particularly towards the DWKT podcast and how that led to them being demonized for things they didn’t do. It wouldn’t have cost her anything to give them a day or two heads up so they weren’t blindsided like that. Especially since it was their interview of him, which was before he called Josh a groomer or made several of the harsher accusations, that led to her discovering the extent of his lies. This also ties into some of what you said about her having a full time 3 person team warping the ideas of what other creators “reporting” on a story should like by her audience….with a HUGE portion of DWKT’s comments being filled with people blaming them for not clocking Johnnys lies (even though they were the first interview of him… and he didn’t say his biggest lies to them because he hadn’t decided on them at that point… ugh) because “swoop figured it out so why couldn’t you.” Then there was the Josh interview itself. Several other people here have commented that her appeal to other victims has started to seem forced and over the top, which I absolutely agree with. It’s gotten to the point of feeling more expected/performative to me, like with the latest merch, but the start of the Josh interview really took that far and above in my eyes. She made a point to say on camera during the in person bit that there were crisis counselors on set should he need them, because her questions will be tough. …but then ended up doing some of the more hard hitting questions over a zoom call, without specialized counsel on standby. That just made it feel like the whole crisis team inclusion was more of a pandering thing than a genuine concern about how difficult questions could affect his mental health, especially since she made a point to say it on camera. I don’t want what I’ve said to be twisted: I 100% believe swoop is a victim like she’s said. From the little she’s shared publicly it seems like she and I may have had similar experiences, which is absolutely awful and my heart goes out to her. I also 100% believe that the speaking to the victims in the viewing audience and other things like that came from a good place initially (likely still does) and I think you can easily hear/see that in the videos where she initially said things along those lines. I think she’s an excellent film creator who puts together easy to follow stories and does great research. I definitely don’t think she’s some horrible person who should be cancelled or deplatformed or anything even close to all that. I think her heart is in the right place, but that maybe she’s gotten a little swayed by everything that comes with getting bigger and bigger on yt, especially in the arena of “top trusted reporter”/getting major exclusive interviews even over mainstream networks/has major influence with a lot of people. I didn’t know about her interactions with Oliver before this video, but from what I understand it seems that would fall into that mindset change as well. If that is what’s going on, maybe this “backlash” (if you could call it that, so far it doesn’t seem that the internet has turned against her or anything, thankfully) will be the spark she needs to maybe do some reflection and recenter what’s really important.
Wow. So i really enjoy swoops content, but im a DV survivor and didnt watch any of the johnny vs amber videos. So hearing that she compared amber to casey fucking anthony is insane. Im super into true crime so i know the details of caseys case, and that woman is EVIL. She drugged her child and put her in the trunk to go party ffs. I didnt watch anything about the amber vs johnny trial, but if amber had done something even remotely similar to casey, i wouldve heard about it. Idk.... amber and casey just aren't comparable imo. Thats just way too far
I felt pretty alone during the Heard/Depp stuff because it felt like the whole internet was backing Depp. At the time I was a Swoop subscriber and I unsubscribed. Since then I can’t help but be really cynical of her takes. I think she tends to have a bias for the side that she knows people can rally for. I’m not sure if it’s that explicit for her - in all likelihood she’s not aware of her bias - but it was frustrating and upsetting for me as someone who has been in Heards situation during that trial.
Hard agree. She brings a lot of value but that doesn't mean these critiques aren't valid and important. I did not get why she was singing the praises of Bailey Sarian, but looking back she kind of gives the same vibes 🤷♀️ tone and nuance are so important with this kind of content!
I unsubscribed when she did the whole amber heard body language analysis, but after watching her josh video, I feel like she’s improved on a lot of things since the depp/heard trial. I don’t think she’s the kind of person to outright reject constructive criticism, so I have faith that she’ll continue to improve and evolve her content.
Great video, Mika. Just wanted to give a bit of correction about the perception of Swoop and her “team.” It’s really just her and two part-time employees who help her out. Most of the heavy lifting is done on her own. But I like your ability to look for nuance and multiple perspectives on the situation!
I watched a few of Swoops videos a couple of months ago. I liked her at first, but I definitely felt like she was…trying way too hard. Her “petty university” bits really made me cringe. It was so over the top and try-hard bad ass, and sometimes was really inappropriate. When I noticed that every single situation applied to her, and she would Interuppt her own videos constantly to say “This PERSONALLY affects me because this PERSONALLY happened to me,” I couldn’t stop noticing it. Yes, a lot of bad things can happen to somebody. But sometimes, some of it was a stretch- it would personally affect her because it happened to her cousin, or it happened to her mom once and her mom told her the story, etc. It just started coming across really disingenuous.
HEY QUEEN I had no idea this was a thing but kinda had been thinking this about her videos (especially the Heard/Depp trials) so thank you for telling me more about it, I wouldn't want to hear it from anyone else 😇
I really like Swoop, so im kinda nervous to watch this 😂 i know ppl didnt like her depp vs heard coverage, and to be totally honest im a DV survivor and didnt watch any of the depp/heard coverage because it was just too much tor me. So i honestly dont even know what she said to make ppl not like her.
Iirc, Swoop mentioned that she is chronically ill. That could explain the varied amounts of time it takes for her to make certain videos. Keep in mind that with Amber Heard the info was mostly found on the internet whereas with Colleen it must have taken more time because she had to interview different people. But yeah, I agree that she has many slips ups, specially with AH's case. Many youtubers went down that pipeline so she isn't exactly an exceptional case. Of course, that doesn't mean she is not wrong, her take and handling of the situation was too... weird.
That could be it, but I think it would be awfully convenient timing that one of the only times she felt well enough to make multiple videos per week was durring one of the biggest & most profitable youtube topics ever
@@lindseystein9676 Get real. The Depp trial videos were all, if I remember correctly, reaction videos, filmed while watching the trial or parts of the trial. No one had issues with that, they just hate the verdict of the jury (who heard all the evidence presented), unlike the millions of TV watchers who most likely only got bits and pieces. Since Swoop agreed with the jury, that's why they dogpiled her.
I never cared for Swoop bc I think her ego is obnoxious and the ways she adds empathy, understanding and sensitivity towards victims feels forced & grandiose- more like she’s showcasing how ‘good’ SHE is rather than sharing a genuine moment of empathy.
Swoop acts like the arbiter of morality, then goes to petty university... Its jarring. If she wants to be edgy, then she can't pretend to be a saint. She needs to pick a lane and stay in it.
it took a while for me to watch her colleen videos (for the most petty reason, i just hate that blue wig) and they did feel super self congratulatory, making sure everyone knows that this is a Documentary and Really Good. the fact she didn’t all those videos about the depp/heard trial does not surprise me. i don’t think her videos on stuff like the colleen situation are awful but it does seem like she’s happy to latch onto whatever is trendy
Hey Mika, huge props to you as someone who emphasizes the importance of valuing nuance. I say this as someone who admittedly has an overall positive opinion on swoop (but also admittedly not too familiar with her). I believe that if our society values nuance as much as you do, the world would seriously be a much better place.
Oh Mika, wish this was longer (not 4 hrs though)! Swoop put me off ages ago, but the dancing and merch promotion and petty university bit keeps me being a hater. Also, the constant victim mentality is irritating. The way she made it seem like the Johnny video was only made because she was lied to… silly. And then ignore a story about a legitimate creep 😮 ❤you
swoops documentaries remind me of shane Dawson's documentaries a little bit. the only content i ever consumed of swoop are two vidoes on the collen/johnny/josh situation. Because off how much praise she received from people for her "documentaries" i imagined she had a somewhat neutral tone ( or simply informative) in her video. When i watched those two vidoes it felt very reminiscent of shane Dawson "documentaries" that were also once praised for being amazing and insightful. I am not comparing the two people as people but the way they chose to edit and present certain perspectives. For example there were a few moments in her docu where the scary background music and editing felt kind of out off place and over the top. Her presenting certain allegations or evidence with the over the top editing to make it more scary i guess kinda contradicts her solgan " its not drama , its dangerous" in my opinion. The editing choices similar to shane in my opinion kind of give the situation a cartoon-ish feel. Again i am sure swoop is a lovely person and i like her mantra and what she stands for concerning dv,sa and many more victims. I think thats great ! But only looking at her documentary style, these were the thoughts that i had
I watched Swoop for a month or so a while ago and ended up unsubscribing after a few videos. For me, the lack of voice or deeper analysis left me feeling uninterested in the content. I also found the long merch ad right at the start of a video where something serious was being covered kind of tacky. I don’t know if that’s changed but it was like every video and it felt off-putting to me. I don’t know if that’s changed but the vibes were off for me all around, personally. Different strokes for different folks!
Spankie Valentine made a music video called “I Did It For The Views.” That pretty much sums up her entire career on social media. You can watch the music video on Swoop in her video titled, “Shawn Dawson is Being Used Proof.” Most people only discovered her after 2020, but she’s been chasing after popular UA-cam trends since 2010. She’s tried to brand many online personas since then. The latest one feels the most disingenuous to me, since it debuted alongside her new drama channel and after she promised to be her “true authentic self.”
Mika,I just wanted to say you inspired me to go to grad school. I just finished my bachelors in government & social science. I went to a terrible college that made me feel like I didn’t belong. But after following you for a while I’ve been so inspired by your academic career/work ethic/ overall personality. Your representation on UA-cam matters so much & I hope you know in a small way you’ve impacted my life. Keep being you and being awesome 🫶🥳
As someone currently in grad school, don't do it unless you need it for a job you want. There are so many better ways to burn through thousands of dollars that leave a more positive impact on your life. Grad school just for "fun" or to prove something to yourself isn't worth it in this economy. Grad school expects a time commitment that has not kept up with inflation. Which is why we all end up working 2-3 jobs to support ourselves-all while doing a full class load because that's the only way to receive stipends. I haven't had more than 4 hours of sleep a night since I started.
The workload Mika describes is do-able and a "fun challenge" until you burn tf out and realize you're stuck. You put yourself on a merry go round that is rapidly increasing in speed, and you can't slow down or get off without your entire life falling apart. But you want so badly to get off because your brain is mush and wrung dry.
Just things I wish someone told me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@BeautifulSilence I appreciate you & this comment. I will definitely take it into consideration as I go forward. I’m privileged in that I currently don’t have to work (I have PTSD & my partners income is taking care of me) & the degree I got from my undergrad is from liberty university. My story is very long convoluted and depressing- so I’ll spare you the details, but I need to put a degree of separation (literally and figuratively) from that place. I want to have my masters from somewhere more recognized so that I can contribute to my family & have a career.
All that said, again, thank you for your comment & I really hope you will be able to unwind and take care of yourself soon.
oh I tell people this too (to a certain extent). I do not however believe in the notion that it should ONLY relate to the career. However with youtube and other work I can afford it, that is why I am doing it. also education in Canada, especially Quebec, is way more affordable (my whole degree was around $10k CDN / $7.5K USD)
@@lizg833my advice is to make sure you go for something you’re interested in. I went for a field I thought would have better jobs, got a Masters, and then almost failed out of a PhD and wrecked my physical and emotional health - and I still didn’t get better job offerings.
So my advice is always: make sure it’s feasible to need or want to go to grad school, and then make sure it’s a field you care about. I’m thinking of going back for my PhD in my original field, but it’s definitely something I’m doing a lot of thought about first given my previous experiences!
That's awesome! 👊💜
the only thing I would disagree on is the "she doesn't inject her own personality into the coverage (as much)" since I view the Petty University segments as exactly that
Exactly
Yes, at least it is very clear when thats occurs. Other channels present opinions as facts.
Princess Weekes said re amber heard that people prefer their victims perfect and dead rather than messy and alive and that has really stuck with me
SHM!!! Did you watch the US trial? Have you ever been abused? You calling all those witnesses and the jury liars? Goddamn it woman, stop enabling a woman pretending to be an abuse victim.
It gives me so much anxiety when people bring the heard v depp case up, because that stuff is really complicated and amber heard really triggered me. I won’t get into it because people are just going to attack me and say that I’d rather have a dead victim than a messy one when I believed amber for years. I haven’t watched anything involving depp since before the allegations, and certainly not afterwards. I don’t like or support him, but I don’t think this is a situation where one is the sole abuser and the other is a messy angel. I watched the entire trial because court cases are my special interest. She never admitted to a single thing on the stand, not once, even when there was audio evidence proving otherwise, which made me feel gaslit and that triggered me because of a past abusive relationship where my ex was NEVER responsible for anything. I’m not standing up for swoop, I don’t watch her channel, I just wish we could be more nuanced with this conversation. Like if depp triggered someone I totally get that, but that doesn’t mean amber is completely innocent or that they aren’t both in the wrong. But even this comment will have people telling me that I support abusers and I just don’t understand my own misogyny even though I always believe victims including her until I was shown otherwise. At the end of the day, people become feral when this topic comes up. I’ve been sent so much hate for this opinion but then see everyone complaining about how everyone took depp’s side? Then why am I getting lambasted and gross comments about my opinion. I wish with this conversation we could be a bit more respectful. I love princess weekes and still watch her content, but just not her video about that case. I love that Mika made a comment about not talking about this, because there IS no nuance here anymore.
15:15 I don’t mind Swoop as background noise, but I think her attempts at empathy feel a little disingenuous at times. The “you are NOT alone” moments can seem forced. But overall, I don’t think she’s doing anything super abnormal that other commentary channels of her size aren’t also doing - it’s just her turn to be critiqued. It’s the nature of the community.
i know … i’ve gone back and forth with being subscribed and unsubscribed cause her vids are good for in the background while i’m at work but when she’d do the whole “survivors are strong and you are not alone” thing it felt disingenuous and forced. the tone and everything… 🫤
@@wa_akii6873 Agreed. She might not be saying anything groundbreaking, but I think it comes from a genuine place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
YES! When she kept going on about "those Bee-u-tiful" students in the Idaho case, I was taken aback by how disingenuous and fake that felt.
Agreed. Commentary community gonna commentate. It's just her turn.
@@CaroleeenaYESSSS almost as if these students weren’t deserving of death bc they had “bright futures ahead of them”. Like everyone’s life is valuable, not sure why she had to keep emphasizing everyone’s bright personality, it didn’t so much honor them as pander i felt.
I used to be subscribed to Swoop and did enjoy her videos on topics such as the Kardashians and some of her true crime coverage. She kinda lost me a bit when I watched a true crime video of hers when she was discussing a murder case, and each section of the video was separated by her tasting different milkshakes as a ‘palette cleanser’ to keep the video lighthearted, though true crime content shouldn’t be lighthearted anyway. And then she started bombarding her channel with the Depp/Heard case and I had to unsubscribe. I do think Swoop is a great content creator when she sticks with topics that aren’t as heavy (such as covering UA-camr scams).
TASTING MILSHAKES? this is so weird 🥲
Saaaaammmee
THIS!! i seen that video and never went back.
@@chaengster4946she totally decided that that was an ok thing to do because of her relationship with Bailey Sarian. She’s promoted her on her channel for a while now and Bailey also makes really weird, upbeat videos about true crime that make me feel uneasy.
yeah i've skipped most of her true crime videos (although i did see at least one of the milkshake ones, and then i saw when she was like haha yeah sorry that was not great). i skipped the depp v heard videos too cause i just avoid those videos. i like most of her videos that i've seen and i like that she takes criticism well and changes based on that when necessary. not a fan of the clickbaity titles but ya gotta get views somehow i guess.
i also didn't find her channel until a while after the depp v heard videos, and when i saw how many there were i almost unsubscribed 😭
Swoop bringing up Observe with the Johnny interview was the first odd thing that set me off, promoting him and his pseudoscience to her huge audience is horrific and can do such huge harm to people who dont show their emotions exactly how they deem you are supposed to react.
she always latches on body language pseudoscience it annoys me so much
is he one of those body-language quacks?? if so, fuck her seriously; that shit is so harmful to autistic people and other neurodivergents. müne cat has a really good video about this topic!
Yeah I liked observe until I noticed that the majority of my neurodivergent behaviors were "guilty/negative" behaviors. Like I cannot make eye contact, it makes me extremely uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean I'm automatically guilty ya know?
@@AKbaby89yeah i was beaten as a child for "lying", turns out i was just autistic. münecat made an amazing video on body language analysis
@@ahouseofpomegranates4338love münecat
I appreciated Swoop’s extensive coverage of the Ballinger situation but I feel as if some of the more nuanced topics aren’t addressed as such. I also didn’t like the petty university segments very much. I haven’t seen much of her other videos because of the sudden switch ups
im so glad to see i am not the only one who feel like this bc i rly thought it was just a me problem. i think it straight up feels Wrong in the more serious videos she makes like idk how can you be talking about a murder and suddenly u decide to ‘take it to pretty university’ with a little sketch idk. it fits in well, petty videos, about non serious things, /drama/, not real life violence. but then again.. ‘its not drama its dangerous’ hm? 😬😬
Yeah, I think the petty university section is a bit cringy and a lot inappropriate for a lot of topic
I think dumb bits like that are fine if you're talking about like the Ace family boxing scams or whatever, like who cares. But when if you're talking about serious topics like ab*se it's just weird. Knowing when to switch tones is so important but a lot of creators don't do it because it's all just content to them. I know everyone has different standards for this sort of thing, but if you used the same dumb meme edit in your video about idk, the Paul brothers, then maybe don't use it in your video about the Ruby Franke child ab*se situation, for example
@@j-skullz THIS ! definitely yes! i havent even watched her videos about ruby franke because 1. its a really tough topic that i cant just take in whenever and 2. i know she will do it in that style- with the petty university stuff etc, and that will just piss me off.
That gets a bit tiresome after a while.
I personally have not trusted Swoop since she began to do body language analysis during the trial and continuously recommended entirely biased channels while claiming herself as unbiased. Can't let go of the entire lack of integrity or self awareness
I forgot about the Body Language Analysis bs 😭😭
I really liked swoop content before she started to do this controversy videos. Her style, her editing was amazing, but goddamn, i guess she found an easy niche to create content and decided to stick with it.
100% concur. If someone uses body language reads as a point of evidence, I immediately question their reliability.
I 100% agree.
Its probably because her dog stepped on a bee
She rubbed me the wrong way a long time ago. I think it was a video about Astroworld? She plugged her new merch every 5 minutes in a video about people who died. Taking it to “petty university” when we’re talking abt crimes is distasteful. It reminds me of why I stopped watching Bailey Sarian. Just a lack of sensitivity to victims.
Speaking of Bailey I remember feeling weird that she seemed to be a fan of her Bailey present an award to her, maybe it was the streams i can’t recall
@@dextertravis2611 yes !! omg i totally forgot. that’s how i found swoop’s channel in the first place. i believe she gave her something like “best up and coming creator” for the streamy’s
i’ve felt off about her for yearsss. so long that i don’t even remember why i stopped watching her in the first place💀
swoop did a video on gabby petito and i genuinely have never been able to continue watching it because she started doing the “petty university” bit and i got way too uncomfortable to even think about how she decided it was appropriate to add. i’m sure she has good intentions when she makes these videos and that she’s probably adding things like it to try to lighten the mood to make it less uncomfortable, but the big problem with most true crime is that it’s just an uncomfortable thing to speak about due to the subject matter. i saw the clip you’re talking about of the astroworld video and it was genuinely so disturbing to know what the rest of the video was about.
It was the amber heard rhetoric for me
I've watched Swoop for years. I think it was wrong for her to interview a grooming victim who was promised she would air the footage, and then now she won't because "people aren't interested in this anymore." That's fucked. She isn't beyond criticism just because she made a few good videos, and I hate to see that sentiment.
Other than that she's fine I guess, I don't always like her takes - her coverage of Depp v. Heard comes to mind. I actually unsubbed at that point. Her Ballinger series was okay, I have thoughts about the Johnny and Josh-centric ones. In the Johnny exposé she invested a lot of time into stressing that Josh had accused Colleen of DV, and the comments reflect that.
In her interview with Josh, he never even mentions or alludes to DV. Not that Josh wasn't emotionally abused by Colleen, or that he may not have experienced DV, I just found it confusing and especially odd that she never asked about it given how much she'd just been using it as a tool to argue against Johnny (or John as she calls him, to harshen up his name). Johnny is clearly a bad person and a liar, but that those things were peculiar to me. I don't bring this up to cast doubt on Josh (who I believe RE: his relationship issues with Colleen), or uplift Johnny at all (who I do not believe), I bring it up to highlight an issue I had with her reporting specifically.
I hope she can take the good faith critique she's being offered and use it to improve her method. She's not a bad person, just a person who has room for improvement in their field. She really messed up with Oliver, and I hope she makes that right by him somehow.
Yes!! this was not to disparage her at all, it is just an explanation of why people reacted in the way they did (I even saw similar opinions on reddit that I read as it was rendering) and where the credit is due
There’s something about her calling him “John” that rubs me the wrong way. Like yes, I know that’s technically his name but if you’re willing to misname a seemingly cis person bc you don’t like them… well it seems like a slippery slope to me
@@emmettvictor okay i’m sorry. but not using a nickname is so different from deadnaming someone, and there isn’t a slippery slope there. the man was getting 13 year olds to drink on camera, let’s settle down here.
She spoke with Oliver for 3 hours on the phone once she realised he was upset. She never said she would not continue with it - apparently people don't know what a break is 🙄🤣 Oliver has been asking everyone to chill - they have no issues behind the scenes...
@@morbius5881 my point was that names are important, and it doesn’t feel right to not use the name someone tells you to use. We have no idea why he goes by Johnny. There could be a whole story and history there - or maybe he just prefers it. I have a sister named Jennie and when people want to be authoritative they’ll call her Jennifer, but that’s literally not her name. It also makes me think of people wanting to use a “simplified” (aka white washed) version of a name they’re not used to
I was hoping to find a video on this on neutral ground, so to speak. First off, people confuse content creators with journalists way too much. The phrase "fact checking" is used quite often (I'm not sure what Swoop can fact-check in people's personal stories; she was lucky Johnny Silvestri was blatantly lying). Secondly, she didn't mind *not* fact-checking when churning out 10 biased videos on Amber Heard, to rake in the money.
Yeah her amber heard take was trash.
Thank you omg I hate that she’s gotten this image of supporting victims when her videos on Amber Heard continue to do damage
literally when i saw her start to try and cash in on that shit i stopped watching
@@m3rchantofmenace Shortly after those videos, she went on to explain DARVO, in a different case, as if she hadn't just participated in a DARVO campaign for profit.
@@dariasmeh That's true. I trust that at least some publications have standards though. YT creators are not accountable to anyone (apart from their audiences).
I admire your bravery because yes the internet hates nuance. I appreciate your commentary and discussing this from an unbiased POV
Ok these comments/this perspective is so refreshing. I unsubbed from Swoop during the Johnny/Amber trial because I found her coverage extremely distasteful. I also think the criticism towards her not posting the interview with Oliver/telling his story to be very valid. A lot of people, including (love him but) Adam, are refusing to criticize her because of the work she put into the Colleen series. I found Oliver's story to be the most disturbing from this whole exposure of the Ballinger's and yet we get 4 hours of Johnny's lies and an additional hours long interview with the ex husband but Oliver gets left on the cutting room floor. And her comment in her second channel video about something along the lines of "I hope his story is able to be told eventually" ???? You literally have the interview on a flash drive somewhere... But ok.
She isn't going to just release the raw interview - that would be a disservice too and people would be annoyed that she didn't give it the same level of investigation as the other parts anyway. She never said she would not continue working on it - people are so impatient 🤦♂️
Honestly the 4 hours felt like she took the lies personally (and I would too to be fair) rather than a focus on truth telling or investigation
Oliver is deaf and has mental issues. He's also a private citizen, not a public figure. There's no way she should feature Oliver's story, therefore.
@@ReviewsAndMore9 Oliver isn't deaf. Trent is a pedo who utilised access to his sister's child fans. He has appeared in her content and was well known to the fanbase so yes, he is a public figure. Hope that helps 🤣😑🤦♂️
@@ReviewsAndMore9except oliver literally posted about how he wants so badly to share his story. also i think you mean trent is deaf, mentally handicapped, and a private citizen but that still doesn’t make the topic untouchable. he used his famous sisters fan base of minors to contact children inappropriately and he admits his family knew about it and did nothing but tell him to stop, that shouldn’t be swept under the rug because trent is handicapped- that’s just ableist. or isn’t famous, that’s exactly what swoop is doing - not covering oliver’s story even though it is the most egregious simply because it’s one degree removed from colleen and won’t get the same viewership as a video of josh where swoop lies about DV the whole time
it's wild to me that people don't see how disrespectful her tone can be. Doing those "petty university" bits in her ruby franky video was so distasteful. She is not a journalist and people should never call her one.
people on YT are quite quick to accept labels of being a journalist or making "documentaries" despite their work not having the integrity expected. not to say that there aren't good journalists and documentarians on YT, there certainly are.
It's kinda odd because in my mind I've always lumped in swoop with the bailey sarian "murder for the ~girlies~ I'm soooo obsessed with jonbenet ramsey I'm so dark and fucked up haha" crowd and I'm not sure why since she seems to try to be uber serious (maybe it's her merch tagline lmao). I was passingly interested in some of her videos until she did that casey anthony/amber heard one (no matter what "side" you take in that case it was unbelievable to me that someone would to try to compare the situations or the women involved) and it basically confirmed my sense she's in it for the sensationalism and what's popular more than empathy for survivors or victims. Which on one hand, I get the hustle, but when the "hustle" is discussing someone else's abuse for money............. idk man it's a very thin line
(EDIT I just peeked on her channel and yeah the way she frames her thumbnails and titles especially is just not it for me, especially if she wants to be taken seriously as a documentarian lol...... I have no direct connection to the University of Idaho case but I live in the state and was attending a different college here when that happened and it was absolutely devastating, campus safety was increased for weeks after because there was a kind of unspoken fear it might happen again at our school if it turned out to be serial or targeted. Seeing this type of stuff framed as like "NEW SHOCKING TRUTHS EXPOSED" with a goofy ass thumbnail is such a bizarre cognitive dissonance to me, I just do not fw that type of true crime at all)
Swoop is a big fan of Bailey's!! Or used to be - I used to watch Swoop in like 2021 and when she first mentioned wanting to do True Crime she mentioned being a fan of Bailey Sarian's, and her "Swoop swoop swoop ahhh" intro is, i believe, inspired by bailey sarian? and Bailey personally gave Swoop an "up and coming" type award for a stream award show - so they've met in person as well!!
also i agree with everything else you've said also but wanted to share those vibes are legit
@@lauryntonioahh ok interesting, thanks for the insight!
love this comment and totally agree w you. she talks about very serious topics, tries to be super serious in her videos, and then directly tells the audience how "it's not drama, it's dangerous", until she's doing her goofy swoop intro, tagging her merch line, & doing the petty university bit...like?? just like you said, the cognitive dissonance is too much. I also really like how you grouped her in w the true crime/makeup girlies bc that's exactly what it's giving n Ive felt the same way for a whiiiiiile. it's just literally unwatchable
I don't hate Swoop and I still appreciate the amount of work her and her team put in but I had to stop watching cause the amount of times she brought up body language and looked at an artice about a mental illness/condition and read off the potential symptoms while applying it to people she was talking about made me feel uneasy after a while.
Also I have no idea if I'm remembering this correct but I do remember her dressing up as a clown for a video about a woman who was k*lled by one and I just... why would you do that, exactly?
THE ARTICLES…not going to lie, that drove me mad seeing in the videos. It’s like…going down a list of vague signs from result #7 on a Google search about narcissism is not a healthy or honest way to talk about people and their behavior.
She made a few videos analyzing a person’s wardrobe and color schemes. I don’t know if she still does that, but I always thought that Googling the meaning of color was childish. It’s fine for trashy gossip & mindless entertainment, but not for anything that tries to proclaim itself as “objective truth.”
Being presented as an expert on TV for something just rubbed me the wrong way recently. I can't now.
Same. What has she done that would make her an expert?
yes! it was so off-putting to me, how Swoop was featured on NewsNation as an expert/talking head when the 8 Passengers mom Ruby Franke was arrested. by no means is Swoop the most knowledgeable or prolific UA-camr covering 8 Passengers . . . there were creators following and covering Ruby’s ab*se for YEARS . . . Swoop only has one or two videos about them, basically aggregating all the clips other UA-camrs have already covered once the scandal came to the attention of the MSM.
Swoop seemed like an odd choice for NewsNation to have as their “expert” when there are literally dozens of other creators that have BEEN on this beat, putting in the work regularly, that deserve to be platformed. i find on most topics she covers, Swoop is not the most knowledgeable person, simply the most camera-ready.
i watch some true crime content, but really can’t stand some of the top creators: That Chapter, Annie Elise, Bailey Sarian . . . what they all have in common is that in their delivery of these gruesome cases, they always make themselves the main character. Swoop is no different. i prefer more straightforward, journalistic crime coverage, not a tRUe cRiMe sTOrYTiMe!!! filled with inappropriate jokes by a wannabe entertainer.
COMPLETELY agree. Just because you have essentially put a book report together does not make you an expert! Just kinda icky.
I have a fascination with nuclear disasters and I’m extremely knowledgeable about them in general for the average person with no formal education on the topic, but if a local nuclear plant experiences an accident I’m not going to be the one talking to a news station, they’ll pull in an engineer.
Hey Mika, I am a bit of a fan of both of you. But I must say that you have a very valid point here, and I am listening. You have so much respect from me, and I feel strongly that we should be allowed to have commentary and discourse without being villains. I've always valued your opinions and content, and I will continue to do so. I really appreciate your less dramatic approach to videos, it helps me to digest so much more. 🖤
Mika, I know this was not an easy video to make. But I’m so glad you did, because I had a very similar experience/very similar feelings re: Swoop and the channel’s progression and I’m so grateful you managed to articulate these issues 100x better than I ever could.
I used to watch Swoop's videos constantly until she started becoming more of a "company" type of channel. The way the titles are so exaggerated and how she constantly promotes her basic merch rubs me the wrong way. It feels a little hypocritical that she's a commentary youtuber but yet she feels similar to how the Paul brothers clickbait and plug their merch. Kinda weird
Regardless of your channel size your videos are well done and critical, while remaining fair to the person you cover. The quality is always present
Thank you so much!!!!!
The Depp/Heard trial really cemented who I would continue watching and who I unsubscribed to and blocked. I can't believe any courtroom would allow live footage of proceedings especially in domestic abuse trials. This belonged between them, not the world.
All court proceedings are open to the public, from my understanding the reason was that there was significant public interest and there wasn't space for everyone in the court room, but court filings and police records etc are all open for the public to view either via court websites or by foia. The legal system isn't an easy route for any actual victim, it can be brutal. In this case, given the extreme press surrounding both public figures, and the fact that publications were also involved by extension (Washington post) for publishing stories which were defamatory, it made sense that people wanted to see for themselves and make their own mids up with regards to the evidence. In sum, it was necessary for Depp to allow the world to see and make up their own minds instead of believing everything they read on TMZ and other outlets his ex was leaking false information to hence why his team asked the court to rule on the matter.
@@dandelion_official4812 it depends on the area, but I meant literally live recordings of the proceedings as they are happening. Or video at all. That’s much different than having access to dry legal documents. And no those aren’t always available to the public either. So your statement is inherently false. None of that was necessary for the public to see. The public doesn’t need to form an opinion on this case. Depp didn’t need any of it to be public, the public was and is on his side. It needed to be a private matter between the two of them and the court. I’m not even gonna touch the last part of your statement. Point is the public should mind their own damn business instead of being gossip hungry vultures in matters that literally deal with domestic abuse. Y’all are wild to think your entitled to that.
@@FortuitousOwl you can go to the court and be admitted. Tbf, you're right that this is not always the case but it often is. The "abuse" was made public by her via TMZ, People and the Washington post - that's what happened. I know, I know, believe all women but some are liars 🤷♂️ Also note, I didn't say it was right - just that it is that way. Like the Murdaugh trial, Kohberger, and less gruesomly Gwenyth Paltrow. The fact is that the trial WAS broadcast live and there was a lot of public interest and viewers were asking content creators to cover it. For me, I found it beneficial because I had no idea and made the obvious assumption that everyone did. That turned out to be a false accusation, and imho had it NOT been available in full the media coverage would still be defaming the man.
@@dandelion_official4812 don’t put abuse in quotes. I already said I’m not gonna touch on the actual case, it’s clear we disagree and I’m tired, so please stop. You are justifying it though, none of this needed to be public. The court proceedings did not need to be public. You did not need to be a part of that. People don’t need to be a part of the murdaugh trail either. The media defaming people is a consequence of the media existing and people like you who feel like you’re owed a glimpse into the private lives of celebrities. “That’s just how it is” I guess is your conclusion? Ok? Who is that helping and what is that adding to this conversation?
@@FortuitousOwlIt’s not entitled to get the facts right. It’s so people can make up their own minds and know if they want to support this public figure . Their reputations were on the line. Remember Johnny lost roles because of that so at that point why should it be kept private.
I don't watch swoop anymore, so maybe this has been added in subsequent videos, but I worry that she perpetuates the "perfect victim" standard, ESPECIALLY in the amber heard videos. she says so often that she believes survivors, but what about those that fight back against abusers? do survivors of SA or DV need to be docile to be considered victims (and furthermore, who has the privilege of being perceived as innocent as opposed to combatant)? instead of recognizing these victims as such, I worry that she pushes the "mutual abuse" myth, which is particularly harmful to survivors, and I think it's really insidious to feed into this while at the same time profiting off of saying "I believe you" and "you're not alone" to victims, and it completely turned me off of her videos.
100%
@@Andromyway Especially when she focuses on the fact that there are no perfect victims, she did give a leeway to Johnny when she read his violent text messages regarding Amber. Not saying Amber is a saint but there are many reports on Depp being problematic on sets, not to mention he is an addict himself so his retelling of the story. I'm too sure about it.
I do agree with you that I was disappointed that she didn't post Oliver story after promising him that she would. But in general, I do like her content and her POV.
This. Do o think she’s perfect no. Do I think the way she covers everything is perfect no. But I personally haven’t had any problems w her videos that would prompt me to not watch or not like her. Just my opinion obviously
She will release that - she said they needed a break. She will get back to it when she can. Swoop and Oliver have spoken and are cool.
This commentator critices Swoop for not mentioning everything, then she omits telling everyone that Swoop and Oliver have cleared it up.
@@ReviewsAndMore9 most people don't go back in and edit their comments tbf 🙄 perhaps they didn't know 🤷♂️ or did you mean Mika? I think she was just looking over the discourse and what people are saying more broadly as opposed to criticising Swoop.
I'm happy to see this video. I used to watch swoop all the time and while I didn't watch every single one of her videos, I would consider myself to be a pretty big fan of her and her content. I found myself almost completely losing interest after her coverage of the Depp v Heard situation, and I fully stopped watching after she made a comment about the remaining Try Guys "profiting" from the Ned Fulmer situation, then went on to put his face in like four or five different thumbnails.
Yes I had to dip out after the Depp v Heard coverage. I thought she was smarter than that, an as a victim herself would understand the dynamics betters.
@@littleflickYeah, I think it’s a giant red flag whenever someone constantly uses their own victim status to create any sort of authority on the matter. I’m also a victim of domestic violence, but I would never pretend that that means I can tell when someone ELSE is a victim, or that I have a right to determine how someone else should tell their story. She’s not an expert on grooming just bc she was groomed; she would need to get formal education on abuse before she can say she’s any kind of expert on such a serious matter
@@emileek4107 that’s true. I guess I expected more from her because I brought into it a bit myself. Her coverage about it was just bizarre too. I saw the first video she posted about it and was willing to ignore it and keep watching her other stuff, so many people were being manipulated by the nonsense and I thought maybe one day she would see that and reassess. But then she just posted more and more and more and it was getting more inflammatory. It was clear she was digging in for views. Even if that is what she believed there was no need for her to change her entire channel to be about that one topic.
@@littleflick Right, it’s so easy to buy into someone constantly reminding you that they’re also a victim. We want to believe the best in people and when you care about victims you want to hear them out on these issues. But it was SO DAMN DISAPPOINTING to see her jump on the Amber hate bandwagon. She spoke out against her awful pos husband and the whole world jumped down her throat. I stopped following anybody who added to Amber’s pain
@@emileek4107 Honestly, I think she does it as some sort of trauma bonding with the audience. Like her chants “you are worthy.” She keeps instructing her viewers to relive their most traumatizing event and then uses that emotion to help direct blame onto whichever person who’s the hot topic right now. She’s criticized other creators for parasocial bonding and she’s clearly uses the same tricks.
The point about resources is interesting. I was hoping to see her cover anything about the alleged charity fraud. I couldn't believe she didn't ask Josh about it at all. It felt like a missed opportunity. All those resources, all those hours and still so many untouched subjects.
I completely agree that she didn’t highlight nearly as much as people thought. Maybe she did ask him about it, but the bottom line is she didn’t include it
She has said she will do so, but that she and her team of 2 needed a break from it all. She said they are taking a break, not that she's never going to release the work that has already taken place such as the potential charity fraud, the allegations of racism, and Trent. It deserves to be covered fully. The video on her second channel was a quick update, Oliver's story deserves better than a quick mention. Swoop has said that they were still cross referencing and fact checking. There was no insinuation that this would not take place. She's not responsible for taking down the entire Balliger-matrix on OUR schedule and fully deserves a break from it all imo 😑
@@dandelion_official4812 yeah I watched hers and Adam’s videos and have kept up with Ollie’s tweets. I don’t know if I believe that there’s any disingenuous stuff going on here- I’ve been binge watching Swoop’s videos after discovering her, if anything. I was just explaining why some people weren’t happy with it, because regardless of what she filmed, she didn’t include it. I don’t doubt that she may cover it in the future, but this does explain some of backlash, as Mika said
@@liamargolis8837 tbh, it seems a bit ludicrous to me. I get why Oliver felt upset - they spoke for 3 hours on the phone once Swoop became aware of this. They have no issues. So people are up in arms defending someone who is telling them to calm tf down 🤣 She covered Joshua's relationship with Colleen and the things he needed and wanted to take full accountability for - the interview was 7 hours long. There is undoubtedly more that was held back to be edited together with the other topics; like charity fundraisers for eg. People want it all yesterday, with little regard for the amount of work (and emotional labour) that goes into covering these topics comprehensively imo 🙄 Swoop has said that there was more research they were doing into Trent and the charity stuff, but that they got so burnt out they had to switch it up. I totally get that - staring at all things Groomleen for over 3 months with further rabbit holes everywhere must have been overwhelming. I can appreciate where it comes from, people get online road rage and become super indignant over what ends up being nada sometimes 🤣
How she sensationalized the depp v heard thing was so disgusting and how she treated amber heard made it clear to me who she was
Agreed. It was really disappointing. Well, irritating is more accurate....I don't put these youtubers or celebrities in a position to disappoint me. Lol
That’s not fair though information on the trial was withheld for ages
@@derfgerps4016 Not exactly. The transcript of the UK trial had been public the entire time. It dealt with the same events.
Yeah not jumping on that bandwagon wasn't hard. The truth has been there the entire time for people who were willing to admit it (even if just to themselves) despite the gamergate level of insanity.
THANK YOU!! when everyone started praising her as the best possible person to cover the Colleen drama it made me so mad. I like her content at times but I've never looked at her the same since the Depp trial. and it infuriates me how she postures herself as uniquely able to understand abuse when she gets things SOOOOO wrong.
My take on Swoop before watching the vid: i stopped watching her soon after i found her bc of the merch plugging and "petty university" - insensitive and annoying. But i liked her joshua interview in the ballinger series, bc she was very serious in it
Does anyone remember when she did a true crime video where drank a mystery smoothie for each chapter? Super weird and inappropriate.
Yes! I couldn't even finish, my brain was not okay with that.
My issue with Swoop is that she will use evidence in a way that perpetuates falsities that silence other survivors. I don't think she intends to but it happened a lot during the trial and just saying "if this applies to you it does not mean you're a liar or weren't abused it just does in this case with Amber" doesn't absolve her of the damage it causes. I can't remember specific examples with the trial, I stopped watching early on because of the way she was covering it. I only started watching her again recently because of her coverage of iiluminaughtii but stopped again after her coverage of Johnny. Two examples of what I'm talking about from the Johnny video were when she said Him and Josh were not alone because their 1. hangouts were in public and 2. approved by his parents. It is extremely common for a groomer to connect with the family in order to build trust and to start out with one on one meetings in public. While I agree with the conclusion that he was lying about being groomed I do not think those two pieces of evidence were handled responsibly and have the potential to do damage to other survivors of grooming because of the way they were handled
i can't believe the internet is a place where people have to be afraid to talk about topics with nuance 😭thank you for this vid mika i think you did a great job
gonna be honest any creator that pushes body language psuedoscience should not be taken seriously in basically any other matter. its like using astrology genuinely to say someone is guilty of a crime and i dont know why people pretend it isnt
I agree
I’m excited because I’ve had a hard time liking her… she seems like she wants to be taken seriously as a journalist but something about her content still reeks of “stereotypical UA-camr” in a bad way lol.
mostly it bothers me that she calls her videos documentaries
I feel this exact way and have for a long time but thought I was the only one lol. Something about her trying to be funny but so cringy instead just annoys me but I was like hey it might just not be my type of humor. I have a pretty good BS detector and it starts smoking when I watch one of her videos
Also the documentary thing is super inaccurate to me, just bc you make long videos doesn’t make it a documentary. I can at least give that one thing to Shane Dawson his are more worthy of the documentary title
It’s the ‘serious’ face she makes in her thumbnails. I honestly stopped watching her because it gives me bad vibes. Like, the stare down with an open mouth gives me an icky feeling.
@@JDawg9496I second the part about her humor, I almost felt bad about how hard I would cringe during the petty university segments or any other jokes
@@cottage-core_ That’s not the only thing that bothers me about her but there has only been like two or so pieces that had some small documentary aspects in them. They are literally video essays. And it is stupid because a video essay can totally be as informative and educational as a documentary, so it really doesn’t fail as a good promise. I guess I don’t see the point to call it that, other than to make yourself sound more serious?
I'm exhausted of people acting like the only thing we are criticizing Swoop for is just because of her (awful) handling of the Oliver situation. So glad to see someone actually attempt to address our grievances. I hope Swoop apologizes for these and grows.
To be honest, while I have been a subscriber of hers for a while now it has always felt like something was a little bit off. For me it was her attempts at empathy and support messages, not that the contents of them were wrong but the way she delivered them didn't seem genuine from time to time. Sometimes it felt right, natural, true; sometimes it felt rehearsed, forced, like she was trying too hard to come across a certain way. But I just figured maybe that's just how she comunicates and I was reading too much into it.
What really threw me off recently was when she announced that she was to be interviewed in a couple tv shows regarding the Frankie situation. That from the very start felt to me like profiting of a horrible situation (abused children, no less!) without anything that actually warranted her involvement. She was brought on those shows like some kind of expert, because she "had been covering" the whole Frankie situation when in reality (at least to my knowledge) she only made 1 single video about it a year ago. Yes, it was a long one but I can think of other creators that have been covering the topic more throughly and continously. Then, she released the second video about it and included several clips of her interviews on said shows and at least to me it felt like a weird flex. Like a way to boost her credibility in the matter when she is just like the rest of us, a bystander, a stranger to the situacion with no firsthand knowledge of what happened. IMO she had no business speaking about it outside the context of her own platform. Of course the shows were also in the wrong for having her there, there are a ton of other people they could have asked questions, like lawyers, social workers specialized in child abuse, psicologist also specialized in those topics, literally anyone with the right certifications to speak about such things, not a social media influencer. But she accepted the invitation and then boosted it on her platforms. I don't know, it just doesn't feel right to me. That last video truly left me with the sensation that something wasn't right.
Edit: Also, genuine question: her videos can be considered documentaries? I don't consider them as such, to me they are long, well produced commentary videos. Just that. So her calling them "docs" feels kind of weird, like Shane Dawson calling his overglorified long vlogs "a docu series" but with commentary content. I can be wrong though, I'm not informed in what actually makes a documentary a documentary so I'm curious.
She's the next Edwin Costa (and that grifter had at least communicated with the victims he was exploiting; lying to them, but regardless). Other creators have covered Ruby Franke for years, but I trust most would not have the hubris to appear on TV as "experts".
your first paragraph is exactly how i feel. i haven’t watched the new franke video in its entirety, mostly just because i already know what’s going on but i also felt a little bit weird about the focus on her being on tv. i mostly watch her videos because they’re comprehensive and usually she does bring something new but i kinda “put up” with the presentation i guess and the things i’m not sure about
@@mobwatch8119 Resentful comment
You obviously haven't looked up the official definitions of "documentary" therefore you are petty and uninformed. It appears you're also resentful of her as a personality and for her success.
That’s why she says “docs” instead of documentaries. It’s doublespeak. You’ll notice that she obscures the language all the time. For example, “my truth” instead of “the truth.”
I enjoyed Joshua's interview but I felt like the Johnny video was definitely milked? I felt like she could of easily did Oliver's section first then have the latter half be Johnny's section. She already filmed Joshua's interview before releasing Johnny's video so she knew what had to be covered in Johnny's video for it to make sense and so much of it could have been condensed and allow for Oliver's story to be talked about. Also, these nuanced views are why I keep tuning in to every video Mika! Thanks for giving your opinion ❤
Also NGL her going JOHN JOHN JOHN (with emphasis) annoyed me. Okay we get it, we're gonna be petty and refer to him as John and not Johnny but like would Johnny even care lol
I only recently started watching Swoop’s content when I was looking for videos about Colleen Ballinger. I love video essays and analyses (surprise, surprise - I’m subscribed to your channel and love your videos) so I really enjoyed her videos and still enjoy them (mostly). However, I was slightly irked in her recent 8 passengers video when she kept including news clips that featured her and comments from the news casters praising her as the “one true authority” on the issue. I felt it was disingenuous and out of context. I think there’s a lot of power to be attributed to having a team and a certain production value that allow her videos to have such an air of professionalism and in tandem, authority. While her videos do rely on fact checking, just like any other commentator, much of the content is swayed and biased to her opinion. Case in point: the Johnny video. I think it was totally relevant to the situation, but did it need to be over three hours? No. Especially when there were so many other stories to be heard. Much of it was Swoop’s own feelings of betrayal and anger (which I am not saying she was not allowed to show or have - just an example).
Side note: I really appreciate your video. All of your videos, really - thank you for your hard work despite being so busy. I work a 9 to 5 and all I can do when I get home is watch a k drama and lay in bed, so props to you
To add: I don't think of her as an authority on the 8 passengers stuff at all. I would rather listen to someone with the background in Mormonism to understand these things.
I was confused by the news clips too. She can just say those things in her video, and she doesn't have special expertise.
I am currently juggling my studies, a full-time job, and collaborating with another individual on their channel. It frustrates me that the importance of team size is overemphasized. Additionally, while I enjoyed a few of her videos, I found that the majority did not resonate with me. Furthermore, I disliked how she incessantly promoted her merchandise during discussions on serious subjects.
In my opinion, it feels like Swoop wants to be a “spill the tea” news anchor type deal. It’s always felt a little off-putting to me.
Honestly, I think a lot of this controversy is due to the fact that people idolize swoop like she's an unbiased news source. She's not. She's a UA-camr and she will be biased, as everyone is, to some extent. Even in academia we learn that even research papers aren't unbiased.
The thing that varies is the level of bias. The way a person words arguments and facts, the frequency and timing of such arguments... Everything is biased. I don't know why people genuinely expect a UA-camr to be unbiased, when I personally don't think she has ever presented herself that way, especially with the "Petty University" segments.
Swoop should absolutely be criticized by her mistakes, like the Amber Heard-Casey Anthony comparison, but honestly, this whole thing is just people lashing out because their expectations were broken.
STOP EXPECTING UA-camRS TO BE UNBIASED NEWS SOURCES!! I promise you will not get as mad when you find yourself disagreeing with their presentation of facts if you do that.
This is so so true!!!!
Well, when you call something a documentary, you expect a little more authenticity than a UA-cam tea video. She even used to go heavy on the steeping tea puns and mug slurping. In fact, she originally promised her fans that she would return to her regular content. She denied transitioning into a drama channel. She denied it aggressively until a year passed, then she finally had to relent. Somewhat. Didn’t she change her tagline to “it’s not drama. It’s dangerous” or something like that?
More doublespeak from Spankie.
So so so true! Personally i dont belive at all that Coleen groomed someone. There is not even a police report. Just "youtube creator news" that is not fact, just an argument!
She is surprisingly cruel and I never see anyone adress that part
in what regard?
She is very cruel. She throws people under the bus so she can get some fame
I think Swoop is a sanctimonious, glorified drama content creator who has tried every single avenue to UA-cam success and has finally found the formula that works. She is not a journalist, she is not a documentarian just because she makes ridiculously long videos. I don't consider Stephanie Harlowe to be a documentarian because of her deep dives, and it's the same deal with Swoop.
I think Swoop's intro dance is ultra cringe and embarrassing for a 30 year old woman, and it feels inappropriate and icky to be doing that before getting into the Chris Watts case, where he literally murdered his entire family.
She (Spankie Valentine, which I hope is not actually her legal name) is a pseudointellectual who loves to centre herself in every video she makes instead of talking about the abuse the victims faced. I was disgusted by her coverage of JD and AH and her shameless efforts to grasp some fame. She was so proud of being on a news channel, she kept dropping clips into her vids for clout. She also said that anyone who has a snark page against them is automatically evil, so I wonder now, is she evil by her own logic? Her content is entertainment, not hard hitting journalism.
I fully agree. People use the word “documentary” so liberally on UA-cam. I feel like it cheapens real documentaries, done by people with training and journalistic integrity.
I'm so glad someone else felt weird about the Depp Heard Trial videos. She put up a community post at the time, and I commented that I didn't want another one, because it was starting to feel vouyeristic. I'm sure more people wanted another more than just me, but my comment on that post had the most likes iirc.
Yet you watched and so did everyone else. Hypocrisy.
@ReviewsAndMore9 I literally didn't. I didn't watch any of SWOOP's videos.on that topic. Thanks for telling me what I did though, you obviously know me more than I do lol
And even if I had, someone can definitely change their opinion as time passes.
@@ReviewsAndMore9How are you going to create a narrative in your own head about what this person did and then get upset at them and criticize them?
YOU made that assumption and then had the audacity to insult them due to it. Do you hear how crazy that sounds? Get a grip.
I hated hearing anything about that trial and I was clicking "not interested" on sooo many videos last year. Maybe it's because I don't follow celebrities, but I hate the fact that these people's trauma was aired on TV and on social media like it was entertainment and people were talking about it like it was a fcking Netflix show, it made me feel icky and I didn't even watch anything to do with it. And I hate if you are critical of any of this it becomes who's "side" you're on. Fuck no I ain't on anyone's side, I don't know anything about these people and neither do you, we weren't there, we will never know, and I don't want to know about stranger's personal lives. it is between them, the people around them, their lawyers and the therapists I hope they are seeing and that's how it should stay. It feels distasteful at best and fcuking dystopian at worst, and I feel the same way about true crime as a genre.
@@j-skullz Tbf if you wanted to blame any “side” on publicizing it, that would be Depp’s side. Heard’s team fought against having the trial broadcast and live-streamed and they unfortunately lost on that front, Depp’s team wanted it live-streamed. There’s also evidence that Depp’s team utilized bots to have it gain traction somewhat in-organically on social media, especially on TikTok.
THANK YOU MIKA!!!
the overwhelming dearth of critical analysis regarding Swoop’s content has always irked me. i feel like too often, she is taken to be THEEE authority on a particular topic, that her video on a controversy is considered to be THE ultimate consensus on behalf of “the community” . . . however, regardless of the thoroughness or production quality of her videos, Swoop is ultimately still a commentary UA-camr. her content is . . . fine, but the whole “documentary filmmaker” self-title feels a bit pretentious and cringe to me. but whatever, that’s neither here nor there.
i used to subscribe to Swoop for a while, but she really lost me when she made like ten videos both-sides-ing the Depp/Heard defamation trial. it just felt so tasteless and exploitative, and it turned me off her channel overall. i checked out at that point, and now only watch her videos if a particular topic is of interest, but i largely find 75% of her videos to be clips aggregated from other sources, assembled into a very long explainer, with sassy opinions, merch plugs, “you are valids” and Petty University clips sprinkled throughout.
The clapping while talking, playing with her hair and the Petty University interruptions just made it hard for me to watch anymore. Glad I found this channel.
coming back to add that something i found particularly off-putting recently was how Swoop was featured on NewsNation as an expert/talking head when the 8 Passengers mom Ruby Franke was arrested. by no means is Swoop the most knowledgeable or prolific UA-camr covering 8 Passengers . . . there were creators following and covering Ruby’s ab*se for YEARS . . . Swoop only has one or two videos about them, basically aggregating all the issues other UA-camrs have already covered once the scandal came to the attention of the MSM.
Swoop seemed like an odd choice for NewsNation to have as their “expert” when there are literally dozens of other creators that have BEEN on this beat, putting in the work regularly, that deserve to be platformed. i find on most topics she covers, Swoop is not the most knowledgeable person, simply the bluest (i.e., the most camera-ready). 🩵
whenever i watch swoop, i just drop in to watch the video that interest me. I would also have to disagree with the fact that swoop doesn't put her personality into her videos because she does give quips and things like that, but I could definitely see her not having a dedicated fanbase though. it seems that a lot of people in the comments had a problem with how she reacted/covered the johnny depp v. amber heard trial. i watched emily d baker's coverage of the trial because she's a former DA lawyer, but was also compassionate and empathetic with the subject matter as well as being knowledgeable on the overall topic (a trial lol). it's very clear to most people who actual watched the trial that they were in a toxic/abusive relationship that they both contributed to, but heard took it too far with the wild accusations she threw at depp because he broke up with her. but even with those accusations that amber came up with, to compare her to casey anthony is CRAZY. i can only assume (and this is where I get a little crazy with my thoughts) is that amber heard triggered swoop REAL fucking bad.
I'm sorry did he say " I'm not profiting off this video" and in the very next breath ' Any money made will go towards MY top surgery"
HOW IS THAT NOT PROFITING? I mean it's fine to profit on your own videos but be honest. Don't twist it into something else
i’m biased cause I think the petty university thing is inappropriate for the topics and her editing style is corny. but i feel like adam was too easy on her cause she did a lot for him :/
Always love to hear your opinion on things, but dear god Mika please straighten the frames in the background. 😂
Yes! Gus hops up and knocks them around all the time 😭😭😭
@MikasRhetoric that makes sense I was like how are they so crooked??? 😂
@@MikasRhetoricLEAVE THEM
i don't like how she keeps calling her videos "docs". It's like she's trying to give them more validity and set herself apart from other creators.
As a Floridian, Casey Anthony's case was super huge here (obviously) and I cannot emphasize enough how shocking and horrible that case was. To compare THAT to Amber Heard is so unimaginable to me that I had to pause when you mentioned it (I had never heard of Swoop before). LIKE. Not to be dismissive of what happened to Johnny Depp or anything, but that's like comparing the Hamburgler to Thanos at this point
Wait what?! Thats a horrible comparison😳
@@AKbaby89 EXACTLY!!
"Not to be dismissive of what happened to Johnny Depp or anything".
*Checks Subscriptions*
Yep, you pass my imbecile test.
@OfficialRJCervantes Johnny depp wasn't murdered by his mother when he was like 6. So yeah....her saying amber and Casey aren't comparable isn't being dismissive of what happened to Johnny. It's simply stating casey Anthony and amber heard are NOT comparable.
@@AKbaby89 YES thank you that's what I meant! I was being literal with the not wanting to be dismissive, because horrible things did happen to him! But obviously, he was not murdered horrendously by his mother. Thank you for the benefit of the doubt!
This is a good video and I appreciate your perspectives and commitment to nuance.
One thing that I want to say is that as someone with a journalism background - it's always bothered me that Swoop calls the videos "documentaries". It creates this sense of legitimacy which I find clashes with the fact that they consistently break tone to 'lighten' the mood, and I always find their introduction (the "swoop/swoop" thing) to be really tonally inconsistent with the rest of the video's tone (the same for the petty university segments). It's also hard to think of any other documentaries that promote merchandise and products so frequently throughout the piece. Most documentaries also won't rely on clickbait to promote their videos.
I'm not saying that a UA-cam video can't be detailed and analytical and vital - but I think a good comparison to Swoop would be the UA-camr Folding Ideas (Dan Olson), who's videos on NFTs, Flat Earth and web3 have been some of the most researched, analytical pieces I've seen on the platform. These contain no promotion at all (in fact, one of his videos contains a segment mocking UA-cam ad reads in general) and no tonal shifts. The titles are quite dry ("the problem with NFTs" "this is financial advice" "a search for a flat earth"). He also doesn't label his content as documentary. It just always struck me as so disingenuous for Swoop to label their videos as 'documentaries' just because they're more longform content...
Commentary UA-camrs absolutely have a place in the landscape, and I think that some of the videos Swoop has done have been important and well researched. However it's worth acknowledging that people conducting UA-cam videos generally don't have journalism backgrounds. They haven't done detailed analysis of bias and ethics in reporting (and, indeed, even journalists who HAVE done this frequently fall short of remaining unbiased). I think Swoop needs to stop falsely labeling their content with terminology that is heavily weighted with journalistic legitimacy. This is ESPECIALLY pertinent after their coverage of the Heard vs Depp trial and their reliance on using body language analysis (something that deeply impacts neurodiverse people when they're on the stand).
I'm so glad you mentioned content outside of the colleen stuff. I used to watch swoop all the time, and stopped once she pivoted towards the true crime/current events stuff because while I liked her as a person, her coverage of many of these topics rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe her true crime content has improved, I will admit I haven't seen any of her recent content outside of the colleen videos, but I remember the first crime "doc" she posted having kind of cavalier/lighthearted tone that really rubbed me the wrong way. And her coverage of the depp v heard trial disapponts me, I really would have expected her to do better with that considering her motto is "its not drama, its dangerous" or something to that effect.
She lost me with the amber heard videos. It's a bit of a relief that so many comments here are saying the same thing. Coverage of that case makes me feel like I'm insane.
I also stopped watching swoop and many others on UA-cam during this. Like you said, no reliable narrators or unbiased sources who weren’t Johnny depp Stans or obsessive “amber heard is a liar” weirdos. This is including but not limited to Milani cosmetics. It was an uncomfortable time to be in the internet.
What bothers me the most about Swoop, is the focus on mental health that she keeps talking about. But then, she goes ahead and posts an interview with Johnny who quite clearly isn't well at all since his story kept changing in real time. Anyone with half a brain would know this person isn't doing well and I shouldn't use his interview for my video, as it will only make him worse. But there she is not only including the interview but also mocking him. If that doesn't scream fake I don't know what does.
PS. I find it scary and worrying how fans of Swoop and Adam both mass flag comments that aren't in agreement with every single thing they say. I understand flagging hate comments and trolls, but even if you just say something very bland like "I don't think we know the full story, most of this is hearsay in my opinion", they'll flag you and your channel until you get a community strike. And since UA-cam is fully automated, that can lead to losing your account just like that for absolutely no reason. Why is silencing their #1 tactic?
What. Load of crap. She exposed John for the liar and fake he was, robbing real victims of their stories. Good for her. Bad on you.
I actually didn't know of Swoop until her iiluminaughtii video and then I watched some other and I will honestly say, not a fan. Her videos are extremely emotionally manipulative going for the cheap tear with a solemn tone and then go on her merch shilling to "alleviate the tone a bit" and go full petty university and then once the shilling is done the solemn tone returns and so is the emotional manipulation. Thanks I hate it. Also, take a shot every time she mentions she was a victim of abuse and take another one whenever she explains what DARVO is. You'll be drunk pretty fast.
Great video, I think she does produce great content, but I think no one is above criticism. I do think she comes off as preachy and her monologue about 'it's not your fault' gives me icks. But I have seen people appreciating her for that so id mind.
I would just like to add her origin story when she made an expose about her white friend as racist, I think she took it too far as apart for adding details as her friend is shit talks behind people and publically have a cordial relationship with them. Though I agree these are not great qualities but who doesn't fake liking a person once in their life. Not to mention her one gripes about her friend that she wasn't there for her when she was going through a mental crisis, to which I think not everyone going be there for you all the time. If she didn't liked her or felt being use then she should just have ended the friendship instead blasting them on the internet. Side note: she did add instances of racism but she could just stuck to racism instead of airing the entire dirty laundry.
I've had an issue with Swoop since the Heard vs Depp video, and in general its an issue I have with these "documentary" videos that some creators put out on youtube. Swoop is a film maker but she is not a professional in criminal cases, or in grammar or rethoric, or psycology. She also doesn't seem to be accompanied during filming by profesionals, or doesn't do much reaserch on methodology. I don't mean to say that she needs a degree to analize a situation, but she does make pretty heavy accusations in her videos. So, with that said, how professional are these documentaries or are they just long format gossip videos? I don't despise her btw, and by no means do i think she needs to stop making these videos, its the classifying them as a professional documentary where I start to see issues.
Also, I'm kind of getting tired of people monetizing drama and pain. I can understand Adam doing it but not really her, putting sponsors in between takes, monetizing on the pain and life of other people.
Go look up the definition of "documentary" and you'll see your interpretation is uneducated. Her docs are every bit professional, and her editing is spot on and exceptional, better than TV. Everyone who makes videos, regardless of size, has expenses, wants their channel to grow, then the moment they qualify for monetization they enable it to recoup costs. UA-cam throws the ads on, not the Channel. Blame UA-cam. Those who don't have other jobs, work extra hard to turn their channels into a business they can live on. There's nothing wrong with that, regardless of content. You, who create nothing, should be silent on this issue.
@@ReviewsAndMore9 go away 🙄
@ReviewsAndMore9 Nobody said that her editing is poor, but she presents facts unevenly saying that she is going to be neutral when in fact she very much is not which btw wouldn't be an issue if she disclosed it. And yes, she does sponsored content which by definition ARE adverts, she IS making a profit, out of very controversial issues that are turned into entretainment. My issue with her videos, that you have actually proven, that even though I find her motives to make "documentaries" (again, I do not agree it is professional) is that not everything has or should be profittable like the account of victims of grooming. It's dystopic at best. I, who actually exist in real life and create out of the internet bubble, have two degrees that actually allow me to analize this, will not be silent on this issue, since I have every right to have an opinion.
@@cherrytwizzler I don't think there's a need to say she's a failed model. Many people I know who are great professionals do not have a degree or have "failed" at other jobs. My issue is I don't think she knows enough of what she's doing. There are ethics that documentalists (?) have to abide by, and she does't do that.
I think it’s pretty easy for the audience to be hypercritical, but also have zero patience and demand another video. I think the only person that really is valid in being upset is Oliver, but I heard they made amends. If Swoop had not made the Jonny or Josh videos and went straight to Oliver, would people still complain? Probably.
This. People were being awful towards her in the Colleen snark subreddit long before this bigger drama started. They were acting entitled to her labor then, and they still are.
@@meowiestwo I’m so glad I stay out of that side of Reddit. People do act pretty entitled and I hate it.
I couldn't stick it out in that section of reddit it was so gross and annoying oof I feel this
@@meowiestwo Huh? People in the subreddit were diehard fans of Swoop before the Oliver thing happened (the only critical voices were those that dared to bring up the Depp-Heard trial, but even those were usually massively downvoted). The vibe only changed when she dropped Oliver and the Colleen story altogether - that's why everyone is saying the sub "suddenly turned on her" or "did a complete 180"
@@Rosiewithfootprints I’m just giving my pov. You’re welcome to share yours but it doesn’t change mine. I stopped reading that sub in late July or early August because certain people were being so crappy toward swoop, even going as far as accusing her of appropriating AAVE
I enjoy Swoop's content but I appreciate this video. Reading many of the comments, it seems like I missed a lot, especially the Amber Heard situation. I watched many of her videos but I hadn't watched that particular coverage since I was consuming the AH story via other channels and news outlets at the time. Even the memes were taking over the internet. I didn't even know about her whole thing regarding body language.
That being said, I appreciate reading everyone's critiques so that I may keep an eye out for them in her videos and be a bit more skeptical and critical of her work moving forward. There were some things I already found a bit iffy so I'm glad others have noticed them as well. Regardless, I'm a sucker for long-form content to use as background noise so I'll still watch her until it goes too far for me.
the swoop revamp using 'mykie was racist to me' all while not long later releasing merch related to that video 'i worked a year on it!'. then did you plan releasing private dms to discredit an ex friend... she has videos on old channel how 'i know so many influencers that were racist to me, should i expose them haha'. it's so weird. i watched this one good video on the optics of that video by Moriah. on here, titled goodbye swoop or something like that. swoop used that mykie video to totally change the direction of her channel. hmm
has she ever addressed kissing shane dawson's ass as last as in 2019? asking him to revive her old channel and all.
i know some black people have expressed that swoop is biracial and uses weird pale filter on thumbnail, yet on socials she keeps referring to herself as black woman. Fab Socialism has bunch of videos on biracial celebs that explain the whole thing really well
I’m a casual Swoop viewer & generally like her content. However, no offense to her, but I don’t consider her content “documentaries” and I don’t really consider her a journalist. They’re well made videos, with nice editing and neat scripts, but they’re still YT videos. And no serious journalist will take a break to “head to petty university”.
I never watched the Heard/Depp vids, which I see a lot of people commenting on.
She does a lot that I don’t like, though-particularly the merch plugs (I timed it once, it was 11 minutes long!! Jeez) and the palate cleansers at the end. I also *hated* that she made a video on the Petito case. Bad vibes.
Also, I actually am not a huge fan of her interviews. I don’t think she’s a good interviewer because she consistently holds this really tight expression (eyes narrowed, mouth tight/pinched). It’s uncomfortable. I appreciate that she gives them space to speak-literally-but it just feels so suffocating anyway because of how she watches them. I know if it were me, I wouldn’t feel very comfortable.
Huh. Maybe I don’t like her very much 🤔 Interesting. Thx for coming on this journey with me!
That was a voyage of discovery.
Your video didn't disappoint. :) I had the same thoughts before even watching. Never mind Joshua's interview, released 4 or 5 weeks after the Johnny video, when it had been recorded in advance. Nothing will convince me that editing down 7 hours takes a month, or that she was "fact-checking" details of this guy's marriage, that no one else knew. She most likely saw how well the Johnny video had done and built momentum for the next one, canning Oliver's story at the same time, after repeating ad nauseam that "this was about the victims".
i feel like that's the constant approach and narrative to all her videos now, that she does it all for the victims and it's all about the victims without ever once acknowledging the fact that she gets major profit out of it?? while constantly wearing her merch and always, without fail, advertising it at the start of the videos?? like?? i feel like i would believe that she's genuine a lot more if she acknowledged the social and monetary gain that she's getting out of her content (because in my opinion she could easily do that without taking away from her supposed cause and message) instead of pretending to be some sort of crusader who does it without ever expecting anything back.
sorry for the long-winded comment! your comment and perception of why she sidelined oliver's story and went for johnny's just clicked right away, you said everything i've been thinking way better than i could have!
I had watched and enjoyed Swoop’s content quite a bit, but I just couldn’t stomach the absolute flood of Depp v Heard content and the clear bias and, well, pettiness of it all. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people during the trial, and it still makes me queasy to think about the Internet’s response. When I’ve gone back to Swoop’s content since, it’s just felt off. The pop psychology pulled from random articles, the need to create these harsh divides between good and bad, perpetrator and victim…it just hits weird. It’s easy to say you’re always on the side of victims, but all too often victimhood is far more nuanced.
Like you said, Swoop does do a lot of good work. But she and her team are just people, flawed and biased just like all of us. It’s the platform that exacerbates those issues.
I watched swoop’s ballinger series and really tried to like it (bc I literally invested houuuuurs to finish the videos) and couldn’t help being so put off by multiple things: the serious tone of the “documentary” (which I disagree with Swoop calling her videos documentaries when imo they are not) being interrupted by “petty university” like… even the name of her brand being “petty” when her slogan is that “it isn’t drama it’s dangerous” doesn’t add up to me. Then her literally putting herself in the middle of the entire situation and almost making herself a victim of Johnny’s bc he lied to her AND the entire internet. I don’t understand why she brought herself up in the conversation sooo many times in each video drove me a bit nuts. The Oliver situation put me over the edge and I can’t help but be left with a bad taste in my mouth from swoop
This comment section gives me faith in people omg
I never really liked swoops content because it just seems so over exaggerated. Like that parody of a documentary that’s on Netflix. But it was just that, personal taste, I find it annoying, kinda redundant, whatever. But I was keeping up with her videos on Colleen because I wanted to understand everything about the controversy and when that video about Johnny dropped and she never gave a heads up to Jessi and Lily about everything she found out so that they could be prepared for the backlash, it just left a BAD taste in my mouth. And they were getting dragged to hell with extremely unnecessary backlash and she couldn’t even tell her fans to maybe tone it down. I’m back to ignoring everything she ever puts out.
I like Swoop and will watch her stuff if it's on a subject I'm curious about, but there have been several instances in which she lost my trust. The first that comes to mind was her coverage of the Try Guys. She was uncharitable toward the three remaining guys, uninformed, and contradictory in her criticisms. The Depp/Heard trial was another problem IMO, and then this recent stuff with going on TV presenting herself as an expert on the Ruby Franke situation because she'd made a couple videos has rubbed me the wrong way. There are actual experts on the Frankes that have expertise on the religious and psychological aspects (like Jordan and McCay and Mormon Stories). Swoop is entertainment, her stuff shouldn't be put on the journalism pedestal.
I found Swoop through Glam and Gore. I felt they were friends and Mykie wanted to help her but then Mykie started trying to pull away. Then Swoop tried to ruin her. I don’t know the truth but I get a bad vibe and I don’t watch or follow. But just feel she only cares about views and fame and anything else is a pretense used to gain fame.
I stopped liking and watching her when she was covering the Heard/Depp trial and was supportive of Depp.
Ppl are talking alot about the merch plugging but thats literally every single youtuber… even the true crime ones…
They're talking about Swoop doing, because that's what the video is about. It's equally trashy no matter what channel is doing it.
i only watched one video of hers and couldn't stand it, there was so much self insertion. like an emcee making it about himself instead of the performer.
edit: holy shit you're so right, it felt lacking in personality in spite of her attempts. very odd watch for me.
I love Swoops videos and she's the only person I watched for the Colleen stuff, mostly because I had no idea who Colleen was and had watched Swoop before. I didn't know Oliver felt this way so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing his video on the whole situation. Thanks for this video because it brings the attention onto people who were also very affected by this family and their network of people but who necessarily didn't get a real voice. I hope Oliver makes his channel and I can see his video. Nothing but love and support for victims. If someone is brave enough to speak on their trauma and experiences then they should have the whole story heard.
I didn't watch Swoop back when the Depp and Heard trial was going on. I didn't really watch anything on it. I wish I could watch the video Amber Heard vs Casey Anthony. You can't compare the two. That's insane. I would love to see the mental gymnastics someone has to do to get to that comparison.
As a huge Swoop fan you definitely gave me so stuff to look into about some of her videos.
I subscribed to Swoop after her main Colleen video, then the 4 hour Johnny video came out and the way she deeply personalized it rubbed me the wrong way and I unsubscribed. It was bad vibes to me, not a style of content I want to watch.
People really need to get offline more. This Swoop drama proved it.
I feel like people are being a bit harsh, Oliver is valid in how they feel but this story (can't think of a better word for it) has been going on for months now, swoop is an SA survivor herself so i don't really blame a gal for needing a break, it's mentally draining.
I get where people are coming from with the merchanise push and being disingenuous but i just think thats the nature of social media these days.
Oliver has every right to want their story told
Oliver had every right to have his story told *once he revealed it to Swoop for the specific intention of it being shared as part of the actually significant discussion* he had trusted her to honor his story and she didn’t even give him a heads up about cutting it out. Absolutely unacceptable.
Of course she needs her break, but what she did with Johnny, imo, was her just being pissed off at him. Yes she also has the right to post what she wants but there was a literal child that had been groomed by an adult, you have proof of this, and you took your time to interview them just so you don't include anything of them, is just so bizarre? I know the internet is being hard on her, she's not a news outlet, but it feels so icky to me to promise someone to get their story out and just never do it, or put it on a backburner for things that are literally you being pissed off.
Also, I agree that marketing your merch is common now on social media, but there were a lot of videos, and videos that were VERY heavy topics where her bit with her merch and sponser were at the beginning of the video took around 13 minutes of an hour video... So it feels weird that she pushes her merch (which is not cheap, btw) and her sponser, and then calls out creators for the same thing. Make it make sense.
I've watched some of Swoop's videos, but I generally don't like her channel due to the editing style. It feels manipulative, paired with how I feel she can be un-nuanced I have not subscribed. The Johnny Depp trial coverage is disappointing, I personally don't understand how people are so passionate about a relationship we (the public) we're not a part of. We, as the public, cannot say what is fact as we are not there. It's not our business in my opinion.
i didn’t like swoop’s coverage of the amber heard vs depp case. made me unsubscribe.
also i hated the petty university thing.
I realize this is long. But in my opinion this goes a little deeper, and I think it needs to be said. I’m hoping everyone here is still primed to listen to nuance lol.
I used to watch Swoop’s videos like as soon as they dropped. But during the Colleen videos she really started rub me the wrong way, little things in each video that made my ears perk up, until we reached the Johnny expose video where it hit a peak.
In her first Colleen video she had a section on Colleen’s stage performances. Which, 100% should have been covered; I was absolutely shocked to see that Colleen was able to get away with having random kids participate in those incredibly sexualizing skits for so long. But then Swoop started talking about the inclusion of sxual innuendo jokes in the set (not the skits with the kids) and showed a clip of Colleen answering a question from a fan’s parent that asked if the show would be entertaining for adults too. Colleen answered this by saying that yes it would be because she made sure to include jokes for the adults that would go over the kids heads amongst the “kid friendly” (….in her mind, apparently) content. Swoop then used that one clip as proof to say that Colleen, from a global view, “mass groomed thousands of the kids who came to her show,” with Swoop’s reasoning being because innuendo should never be used in kid’s content, therefore making innuendo jokes = grooming.
It’s impossible for me to overstate how dangerous that statement is. First, it’s completely **not true,** and from one survivor to another, I’m appalled that she would be so reckless with something so serious and life altering, especially given the size of her platform. A child who simply watched her from the audience or from their tv was not groomed by Colleen. Period. Swoop is highly regarded and respected by many, including a lot of teens and sometimes younger, impressionable kids who trust her. Who have now just heard her say that Colleen groomed them if they ever watched a Miranda live show. Someone believing her now has a whole bunch of really awful thoughts and feelings that they now have to figure out what to do with, possibly even on their own if they’re too afraid/ashamed to tell anyone else that they think they’ve been groomed, which is all too common. It’s a helluva lot of trauma for someone to go through….over something that never happened.
Second, sxual/adult innuendo is in just about every single good kids media out there. If making adult jokes in kids shows is grooming, anyone who’s watched a Disney/Pixar/Nickelodeon/etc show has been groomed. Toy Story, Wallace & Grommet, Beauty and the Beast, SpongeBob, Johnny Bravo…I could go on and on and on. Those jokes exist to keep the parents entertained enough to continue watching their movies/shows, and are why so many of us as adults still watch them now for nostalgia. I doubt many of today’s kids will be watching Blippi reruns in their 20s+.
Finally, this was after the papa gut incident where he accused Colleen’s victims of exaggerating by using the word “grooming,” and claimed it was yet another example of people taking a very serious word and twisting it for shock value. And now here is a creator who is held up as the final source, the main reporter on all this using the word grooming in such an irresponsible and dangerous way so flippantly, that makes it soooo much easier for “dissenters” (so to speak) to point to that clip as a reason to discount EVERYONE’S story as exaggerations. To call Colleen’s ACTUAL victims liars and harass those she DID groom. It’s one thing to talk about what she did to those kids on stage. It’s one thing to say that far too many of her “innuendo jokes” ran way past innuendo and slid straight into straight up blatant. But that’s not grooming, and it’s frankly offensive to say that it is. She of all people should know that.
…and she clearly does, because like two videos later in the Johnny exposé a major point she threaded through it all was his incorrect use of the word “grooming.” She even talked about it being dangerous to misuse such a heavy word, including how much it harms those who have had to live through the horror of being groomed! Johnny sure as hell wasn’t groomed by Colleen or Josh, but neither was every kid who watched Miranda show, not by a long shot. If I’m being really transparent here, I actually felt disgusted to hear her speech in that video about how important it is to use such major words correctly, after she herself had a whole multi-piece segment doing the same thing on a much larger scale just a couple videos back.
This has gotten longer than I expected so I’ll keep these last couple points short. I was also really turned off by how she handled that Johnny video release, particularly towards the DWKT podcast and how that led to them being demonized for things they didn’t do. It wouldn’t have cost her anything to give them a day or two heads up so they weren’t blindsided like that. Especially since it was their interview of him, which was before he called Josh a groomer or made several of the harsher accusations, that led to her discovering the extent of his lies. This also ties into some of what you said about her having a full time 3 person team warping the ideas of what other creators “reporting” on a story should like by her audience….with a HUGE portion of DWKT’s comments being filled with people blaming them for not clocking Johnnys lies (even though they were the first interview of him… and he didn’t say his biggest lies to them because he hadn’t decided on them at that point… ugh) because “swoop figured it out so why couldn’t you.”
Then there was the Josh interview itself. Several other people here have commented that her appeal to other victims has started to seem forced and over the top, which I absolutely agree with. It’s gotten to the point of feeling more expected/performative to me, like with the latest merch, but the start of the Josh interview really took that far and above in my eyes. She made a point to say on camera during the in person bit that there were crisis counselors on set should he need them, because her questions will be tough. …but then ended up doing some of the more hard hitting questions over a zoom call, without specialized counsel on standby. That just made it feel like the whole crisis team inclusion was more of a pandering thing than a genuine concern about how difficult questions could affect his mental health, especially since she made a point to say it on camera.
I don’t want what I’ve said to be twisted: I 100% believe swoop is a victim like she’s said. From the little she’s shared publicly it seems like she and I may have had similar experiences, which is absolutely awful and my heart goes out to her. I also 100% believe that the speaking to the victims in the viewing audience and other things like that came from a good place initially (likely still does) and I think you can easily hear/see that in the videos where she initially said things along those lines. I think she’s an excellent film creator who puts together easy to follow stories and does great research. I definitely don’t think she’s some horrible person who should be cancelled or deplatformed or anything even close to all that. I think her heart is in the right place, but that maybe she’s gotten a little swayed by everything that comes with getting bigger and bigger on yt, especially in the arena of “top trusted reporter”/getting major exclusive interviews even over mainstream networks/has major influence with a lot of people. I didn’t know about her interactions with Oliver before this video, but from what I understand it seems that would fall into that mindset change as well. If that is what’s going on, maybe this “backlash” (if you could call it that, so far it doesn’t seem that the internet has turned against her or anything, thankfully) will be the spark she needs to maybe do some reflection and recenter what’s really important.
Wow. So i really enjoy swoops content, but im a DV survivor and didnt watch any of the johnny vs amber videos. So hearing that she compared amber to casey fucking anthony is insane. Im super into true crime so i know the details of caseys case, and that woman is EVIL. She drugged her child and put her in the trunk to go party ffs. I didnt watch anything about the amber vs johnny trial, but if amber had done something even remotely similar to casey, i wouldve heard about it. Idk.... amber and casey just aren't comparable imo. Thats just way too far
I felt pretty alone during the Heard/Depp stuff because it felt like the whole internet was backing Depp. At the time I was a Swoop subscriber and I unsubscribed. Since then I can’t help but be really cynical of her takes. I think she tends to have a bias for the side that she knows people can rally for. I’m not sure if it’s that explicit for her - in all likelihood she’s not aware of her bias - but it was frustrating and upsetting for me as someone who has been in Heards situation during that trial.
Swoop supports body language analysis and as an autistic person I cannot support her because of this.
Hard agree. She brings a lot of value but that doesn't mean these critiques aren't valid and important. I did not get why she was singing the praises of Bailey Sarian, but looking back she kind of gives the same vibes 🤷♀️ tone and nuance are so important with this kind of content!
I personally never click on Swoop videos because of her thumbnails. They drive me absolutely insane, lol.
I unsubscribed when she did the whole amber heard body language analysis, but after watching her josh video, I feel like she’s improved on a lot of things since the depp/heard trial. I don’t think she’s the kind of person to outright reject constructive criticism, so I have faith that she’ll continue to improve and evolve her content.
Great video, Mika. Just wanted to give a bit of correction about the perception of Swoop and her “team.” It’s really just her and two part-time employees who help her out. Most of the heavy lifting is done on her own.
But I like your ability to look for nuance and multiple perspectives on the situation!
I watched a few of Swoops videos a couple of months ago. I liked her at first, but I definitely felt like she was…trying way too hard. Her “petty university” bits really made me cringe. It was so over the top and try-hard bad ass, and sometimes was really inappropriate. When I noticed that every single situation applied to her, and she would Interuppt her own videos constantly to say “This PERSONALLY affects me because this PERSONALLY happened to me,” I couldn’t stop noticing it. Yes, a lot of bad things can happen to somebody. But sometimes, some of it was a stretch- it would personally affect her because it happened to her cousin, or it happened to her mom once and her mom told her the story, etc. It just started coming across really disingenuous.
HEY QUEEN
I had no idea this was a thing but kinda had been thinking this about her videos (especially the Heard/Depp trials) so thank you for telling me more about it, I wouldn't want to hear it from anyone else 😇
Omg hi girly I love ur videos 👉👈❤️
omg the queen is in the comments
I really like Swoop, so im kinda nervous to watch this 😂 i know ppl didnt like her depp vs heard coverage, and to be totally honest im a DV survivor and didnt watch any of the depp/heard coverage because it was just too much tor me. So i honestly dont even know what she said to make ppl not like her.
Iirc, Swoop mentioned that she is chronically ill. That could explain the varied amounts of time it takes for her to make certain videos. Keep in mind that with Amber Heard the info was mostly found on the internet whereas with Colleen it must have taken more time because she had to interview different people.
But yeah, I agree that she has many slips ups, specially with AH's case. Many youtubers went down that pipeline so she isn't exactly an exceptional case. Of course, that doesn't mean she is not wrong, her take and handling of the situation was too... weird.
That could be it, but I think it would be awfully convenient timing that one of the only times she felt well enough to make multiple videos per week was durring one of the biggest & most profitable youtube topics ever
@@lindseystein9676 Get real. The Depp trial videos were all, if I remember correctly, reaction videos, filmed while watching the trial or parts of the trial. No one had issues with that, they just hate the verdict of the jury (who heard all the evidence presented), unlike the millions of TV watchers who most likely only got bits and pieces. Since Swoop agreed with the jury, that's why they dogpiled her.
All of what she said was already on the snark subreddit. The only work i found new was her Johnny video
I never cared for Swoop bc I think her ego is obnoxious and the ways she adds empathy, understanding and sensitivity towards victims feels forced & grandiose- more like she’s showcasing how ‘good’ SHE is rather than sharing a genuine moment of empathy.
Swoop acts like the arbiter of morality, then goes to petty university... Its jarring. If she wants to be edgy, then she can't pretend to be a saint. She needs to pick a lane and stay in it.
I stopped subbing to SW00P when she started talking about the Depp vs Heard defamation trial.
I never reallt liked her cause tthe way she talked abotu serious situation ls like abuse, rape and even murder like tabloid gossip
it took a while for me to watch her colleen videos (for the most petty reason, i just hate that blue wig) and they did feel super self congratulatory, making sure everyone knows that this is a Documentary and Really Good. the fact she didn’t all those videos about the depp/heard trial does not surprise me. i don’t think her videos on stuff like the colleen situation are awful but it does seem like she’s happy to latch onto whatever is trendy
Hey Mika, huge props to you as someone who emphasizes the importance of valuing nuance. I say this as someone who admittedly has an overall positive opinion on swoop (but also admittedly not too familiar with her). I believe that if our society values nuance as much as you do, the world would seriously be a much better place.
Oh Mika, wish this was longer (not 4 hrs though)!
Swoop put me off ages ago, but the dancing and merch promotion and petty university bit keeps me being a hater. Also, the constant victim mentality is irritating. The way she made it seem like the Johnny video was only made because she was lied to… silly. And then ignore a story about a legitimate creep 😮
❤you
swoops documentaries remind me of shane Dawson's documentaries a little bit.
the only content i ever consumed of swoop are two vidoes on the collen/johnny/josh situation. Because off how much praise she received from people for her "documentaries" i imagined she had a somewhat neutral tone ( or simply informative) in her video.
When i watched those two vidoes it felt very reminiscent of shane Dawson "documentaries" that were also once praised for being amazing and insightful. I am not comparing the two people as people but the way they chose to edit and present certain perspectives.
For example there were a few moments in her docu where the scary background music and editing felt kind of out off place and over the top.
Her presenting certain allegations or evidence with the over the top editing to make it more scary i guess kinda contradicts her solgan " its not drama , its dangerous" in my opinion.
The editing choices similar to shane in my opinion kind of give the situation a cartoon-ish feel.
Again i am sure swoop is a lovely person and i like her mantra and what she stands for concerning dv,sa and many more victims. I think thats great !
But only looking at her documentary style, these were the thoughts that i had
I watched Swoop for a month or so a while ago and ended up unsubscribing after a few videos. For me, the lack of voice or deeper analysis left me feeling uninterested in the content. I also found the long merch ad right at the start of a video where something serious was being covered kind of tacky. I don’t know if that’s changed but it was like every video and it felt off-putting to me. I don’t know if that’s changed but the vibes were off for me all around, personally. Different strokes for different folks!
Spankie Valentine made a music video called “I Did It For The Views.” That pretty much sums up her entire career on social media.
You can watch the music video on Swoop in her video titled, “Shawn Dawson is Being Used Proof.” Most people only discovered her after 2020, but she’s been chasing after popular UA-cam trends since 2010. She’s tried to brand many online personas since then. The latest one feels the most disingenuous to me, since it debuted alongside her new drama channel and after she promised to be her “true authentic self.”