Silence, Brand! 02.03.25

🦀 GRAMMYS + USAID wipeout + TikTok trend gone wrong + BIG NBA trade + WH disses Selena + banana botox + Apple x Starlink + Nike bans Jordans + attn: CPG Brands + Pam the Bird + "what’s my plan?" 🦀

welcome to february!!!

it’s only our third day out here,
and the bar is already high because
🎵 on the second day of Black History Month 🎵
Beyonce gave to us: her big tour announcement!!!

will the rest of the month deliver?
will the internet behave?
only one way to find out…

🦀 see what the sea gods (algorithms) dragged in:

fresh catch:

• Musk puts USAID through a ‘wood chipper’ (how lovely 😅)

• everything that went down at the Grammys (why was it so good? 👀)

• A special opportunity for CPG brands to step outside of the box with marketing

trends:

• At least 3 micro trends have spawned from an incident of an American woman stranded in Pakistan’

• The “but I never slip” sound bite from Abbott Elementary shows why you should always look on the bright side

• More brainrot but this one’s to ruin your parents’ brain

and don’t even get us started on…

• Apple x Starlink syncing up to our phones (what is Elon up to now???)

• The viral "FaceTime prank" trend gone wrong

• The “money talks” trend–sorry you had to see the thirst traps but we’ll explain

the algorithm is restless

no thoughts, no brakes—
just vibes (and fresh nonsense)

look both ways before you scroll

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🦀 BUT WAIT 🦀 You’re about to hit a paywall!

Don’t freak out.
Paid subscribers get access to thrice-weekly issues of the weirdest, wildest, most unhinged internet brainrot we can legally share.

You can also claim a free month of S,B! when you refer ✋ (5) new subscribers Check out the leaderboard «««

USAID Wiped Out in Musk-Backed Shutdown (The Hill)
Over the weekend, Elon Musk spearheaded a brutal cost-cutting purge of USAID, aligning with Trump’s executive order freezing foreign aid. The agency’s website vanished, employees were locked out without notice, and hundreds of contractors were axed. Musk claims Trump “agreed” to shut it all down—marking the sudden end of a 60-year legacy of global humanitarian efforts.

@msnbcThe U.S. Agency for International Development’s director of security and his deputy were placed on administrative leave after they tried to prevent employees from the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing secure USAID systems, five sources familiar with the events told NBC News. Jonathan Capehart breaks down what happened. #security #usaid #doge

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