Kate Middleton meets Willy Wonka, Rebecca Ferguson interview has every co-star's PR agent quaking in their boots & Taylor Swift fan who recorded breakdown responds to the internet
The best cringe headlines of the past week according to yours truly.
Hello friend,
This might have been the longest week of our lives. If you’ve been glued to Twitter/X this week following all the Kate Middleton conspiracy theories and the disastrous but absurdly hilarious Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, you’ll know.
We’re only 3 months into 2024, and the internet has already accrued so many unbelievable characters for us to tag ourselves in. Head over to our TikTok for a round-up of some of our favs, which we’re pretty sure is a list that will only grow – we’ll be watching closely.
Now without further ado, let’s get into this week’s newsletter:
WYR take your kid to the disastrous Willy Wonka experience or be the secret co-star Rebecca Ferguson refuses to work with ever again?
Georjia: What a week! The Willy Wonka Experience is wild, I can appreciate the effort but I genuinely am confused on how it got to that level. Also spending £35 EACH!! I think it would be an experience in itself – whether it’s the experience I’m looking for I’m not sure. But to be the co-star Rebecca Ferguson refuses to work with? Kill me now. I deserve it if I upset her. I’ll go to the Willy Wonka Experience and be first in line.
Annika: I’m convinced that I’d be a terrible parent and this is exactly the kind of thing I’d spend money on in the hopes of getting some brownie points with my kid. Sure, everyone got a refund, and it’s safe to say not a single parent could have anticipated what kind of shit show the Willy Wonka experience would turn out to be, but I just know I’d never hear the end of it. Imagine they bring it up in therapy later as my one meagre attempt to offer them a fun experience to remember forever. As much as I’d hate to disappoint my kid though, I hope to never have the arrogance to feel like I could scream at my colleague, let alone knowing I’d get away with it. I’m already constantly worried that I’m annoying everyone at work, so whatever, I’m sure the kid can take it.
WATERCOOLER CHATS
Is your brain fried from going down the Kate Middleton disappearance rabbit hole? Wondering what happens when we create a Venn diagram between Willy Wonka, Kate Middleton and a meth lab that looks like it was taken from the set of Breaking Bad? Want to catch up on everything else that’s attempted to rival the biggest memes of the past week? No worries friend, we got you.
Here are our favourite headlines you can bring up during conversations you’d rather not have:
This week’s Would You Rather refers to
The disastrous Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, parts of which have been described as “looking like a meth lab”, with almost every actor working there coming out and sharing their experience of how much of a sham it all was (we’re talking AI-generated scripts, rationed sweets and lemonade, parents calling the police):
tickets cost up to $44 Rebecca Ferguson revealing in an interview that a co-star who screamed at her on a movie set was defended by producers because they were “number one on a call sheet”. As fans started speculating which co-star this might have been about, some of her former colleagues clearly went into PR mode trying to make it very clear it’s not them.
You can read an interview with the saddest Oompa Loompa actress turned temporary Twitter icon on Vulture.
It’s almost unbelievable this all happened in the same week, but here we are: In an age of increased performativity, authenticity is gold, and the internet is pretty quick to attack anyone performing or posing for vulnerability online. This week’s target was a girl who recorded herself breaking down to a Taylor Swift song, with 2 friends by her side. She’s since defended herself in a video, saying:
“There’s no point letting it upset me. I reacted the way I reacted. I know my friends weren’t judging me. That’s just me. I’m just a passionate person.
I understand why people are laughing at it. I laughed at the video myself once I first watched it back.”
Huge fans of Olivia Rodrigo telling her young and impressionable audience that she celebrated her 21st birthday by buying alcohol and cigarettes but consuming neither – she just did it because “she fucking could” 🤘😝🤘
Looking to go on holiday soon? You can now rent the Anatomy of a Fall murder chalet on AirBnB (includes free wifi!)
A story went viral this week about a woman who lost more than $800,000 in an injury lawsuit after photos revealed she participated in a tree-throwing competition (even winning the event). The injury lawsuit was the result of a 2017 car crash which she claimed caused her debilitating neck and back pain and kept her unable to work for 5 years. The tree-throwing event took place 8 January 2018. Arguably the most iconic L anyone’s ever experienced.
Can’t get over Josh Brolin saying that he “won’t ever stop sh*tting on Jonah Hex because it was a sh*tty f*cking movie!”, but shifting the blame away from director Jimmy Hayward moving forward since it’s been revealed he’s battling with cancer:
“It reminded me [that] you can’t just keep shitting on somebody. I don’t know what the fuck’s going on in his life. I mean, total facial reconstruction, the whole thing.”
This week’s palate cleanser: Facebook Marketplace chats in general, but this one in particular:
CRINGE MEME
Can’t really dedicate this week’s Cringe Meme to anything but the Willy Wonka experience x Kate Middleton conspiracy theory mashups:
That’s it for this week! Feel free to let us know what cringe content, memes, and headlines you’ve been enjoying lately. Until then, we’ll see you in your inbox next Sunday!
Your Cringe Team x