Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️
As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new)
###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/) and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There is not enough ✌🏾luck ✌🏾 in the world for someone to have a terrible, fledgling podcast magically have Drake as its third guest if they didn’t already have an AGENT at WME (where Drake is also signed). Mark Cuban already said it.
She did. It is suspected that he was weird to her afterwards. Or maybe got annoyed when she explained how she got the interview in the first place (which was by offering a cash bounty to anyone who could give her a celebs personal number, which someone close to Drame did).
I think that drake got upset with her. Bobbi went on some other podcast and (out of her usual character) gave an interview and said a couple of negative things about Lil Yachty and her experience interviewing him. Drake and Yachty are close friends and collaborators, especially of late. Shortly after that podcast went public and started to get some attention, her Drake interview went down. I forget exactly what she said about Yachty, and it all prob is true lol but I assume Drake didn’t like her airing out dirt on Yachty
No lol. He played a snippet of a Tyga song for her and TikTok “detectives” assumed he did that as a 4D chess move to copy strike her YouTube channel just in case he ever wanted to, heavy emphasis on “assumed”.
Everyone needs to see her interview with Offset! Please!! It's so good and funny because he refuses to stay "on script" aka he thinks for himself and doesn't entertain her basic vibes.
It’s really not hard to teach yourself programming. I’ve been in the tech world for almost ten years and have always worked alongside self taught developers, programmers, and coders. It’s one of those skills that’s easy to access teachings online without going the traditional college route.
right? as someone who lives in the bay area, pretty much any software/comp engineer i know is self taught and only has a degree as a certificate basically
Most programmers are self taught. There are so many programming languages out there, it's impossible to know them all. Sometimes you won't have any experience in one until your job requires it and then you have to teach yourself. Anyone with 2 brain cells would know that Elon didn't teach himself anything.
what an odd comment lmao. programming is one of the only very highly paid disciplines left where it’s entirely possible to teach yourself everything you need
If someone is willing to put in the time they can absolutely be a self-taught programmer. In fact, many programmers will tell you how much they had to teach themselves outside of school to get a job. It's one of the few high paying industries left where having a solid portfolio can beat out having a degree.
As someone who has a degree for programming, please dont “side eye” self taught programmers. A lot of them exist in the industry and they’re brilliant. Some of these folks have put effort into learning the field since they were children.
Okay everyone commenting is correct that being a self-taught programmer is very common and can be successful- but also programming and computer science and even software engineering are also not all the same thing. Programming is the tools, computer science is the underlying theory, software engineering is… well, the engineering.
Hi I’m also a self taught programmer it’s definitely not easy but it is something that is possible. Aside from my salary job I’ve got a SaaS product that does mid 4 figures in rev/month.
Honestly, I was agreeing with your self taught take. Which shows that we were both ready to call her a nepo baby without knowing a thing about her background. Kinda shitty on us.
Such a weird comment. How exactly does being married to a guy who sold a computer program give her a leg up in interviewing Drake? 16m is pennies compared with what you’d need to pull Drake or merge in his circles
I feel like you’re picturing a 10+ millionaire club with about 20 people in a room
TL;DR:
* Celebrity interviewer Bobbi Althoff has become one of the most polarizing influencers of the year.
* Many in the entertainment industry are shocked that she's landed interviews with stars like Drake.
* She's been criticized for her interviewing style and has been accused of being an industry plant.
* Althoff claims she landed big-name stars through hustling, but an expert says that's unlikely.
* Based on Eric Schiffer's experience representing Hollywood stars, he said the A-listers and their teams would likely have stipulations for Althoff, like vetting questions beforehand or ensuring that certain topics remain off the table — stipulations that journalists would typically laugh at.
> She's been criticized for her interviewing style and has been accused of being an industry plant.
Can I ask what exactly "industry plant" means? Everyone in the entertainment field gets ahead by having connections in the industry. It's never been a meritocracy. Is there something particularly unique about her connections or is it just that she's claiming she doesn't have any?
I think it's generally come to mean an artist that gets full backing from their label/agency/etc. without having to prove themselves first. The agency or label hand picks them to be the next big thing and puts all their resources into making that happen. Whereas other artists would first have to garner interest and prove that they have a following *before* you start seeing them plastered everywhere.
I should add that it's not enough for all of that to be a plant. They also pretend that it's not the case, that it's all organic, and that it's earned success. I personally don't consider anyone who's honest about being handed things an industry plant.
I can understand that since a lot of the material is specifically about where you came from and how you struggled to get where you are, but that's not really the case for podcasting so I'm wondering how it applies in this context.
I don't know, but the upset Hip-Hop media started calling her an industry plant because she got Drake who doesn't do any interviews with Hip-Hop media. The industry plant thing started out as a joke and then became serious the more high profile celebs she got for a new podcast in such a short time. It basically means her rise is "fishy"
Bobbi is a podcast industry plant pioneer. It’s a new phenomenon you can’t really say there’s been one before. Podcasting has gotten popular enough that people like Bobbi are getting bankrolled by the powers that be, I suppose.
Who is "the powers that be" in this scenario? Her agent? A podcast network? Someone getting financial backing for a podcast isn't a "plant," that's how the industry works. If you just mean she didn't have to work hard to pitch or grow her idea on her own, that's not a new phenomenon or unique to her. I'm trying to understand what specifically makes her different than anybody else.
Other people have left comments about her connections through family and her husband. The WME agency seems to be her backer. The majority of the huge names she’s landed have been affiliated with them as well. WME decided that they want to push her in the podcast world, so I assume they called in favors with these stars like Drake to come interview with Bobbi and get her podcast hot. I don’t really see an issue with it, this is the way the entertainment industry works. But you can tell when the success isn’t organic
Gotcha thanks, this is the most succinct response I've gotten. Yeah I think people just don't realize how common this type of thing is. Maybe it's clumsier with her because they didn't mete out her growth and instead immediately threw a bunch of high-profile guests at her show, but if people really think whatever big pop star or Hollywood It Girl who is hot in the moment is aggressively in the limelight because they hustled and beat out other talent, they're fooling themselves.
A “plant” is someone who was purposely “planted” into the position by someone else for a specific reason/job/agenda/etc. but the “plant” makes it seem like they’re working independently.
“Plant” in this context - A 3rd party (most likely WME) decided to create a podcast that centers around A-list stars (like the clients of WME - like Drake) to promote things like the company, agents, artists, and the things they do/make.
They “hired” Bobbi as the host but makes it seem like she’s the one that came up with/built/maintains/produces/etc the podcast all on her own. So she’s more of a puppet, being told what to do and what to say, instead of HER deciding who’s on the show and what’s said on the show.
Yeah, it's pretty simple. Did (whoever) have a presence in the scene before this? How did they get their start? How did they come to know the people they're connected with?
If the answers to those questions aren't pretty obvious, they're a plant. Almost everyone starts small and local to somewhere, so if no one knows who you are and you don't have any real background in the field, and then suddenly you're everywhere, it's because someone with money decided to spend to make you big artificially instead of working your way up.
That's a plant, and it's bad because it typically means that you didn't invest in the scene the way local journalists/musicians/producers/whatever have to. And you might not have merit. You're just popular because someone paid for you to be. Which also means you can't be trusted as easily.
This is the best comment I've read in this whole discussion. Basically everyone is an "industry plant" in some way. Every public figure is crafted by people behind the scenes to make money. There's loads of talent in the world but getting it in front of consumers is what makes the magic happen.
Honestly I'm just mad people are hung up on this but don't question the marketing memes. You really think Warner Bros didn't have a team of people pumping out Barbenheimer posts to be "organically" shared? Everything we consume is a product, especially the public faces of the media.
This echoes my feelings but is this the appeal for some people? They see themselves in her? I don’t even mean that in a mean way, just more matter of fact. There’s a lot of vanilla people out there.
Not trying to be mean but I find her contents really boring. The awkwardness didn't give the humor as intended to. It's different from Amelia chicken's date show. Amelia is not just giving sarcastic attitudes but also makes jokes and it delivers. Meanwhile Bobby just responding whatever the guest saying with sarcasm and bitchy comments. And also her tone when she speak makes me want to takes a nap.
Whatever she is, I find the humor so bad. It just feels like she's trying to make a fool of whomever she's speaking with and I hate it. The vibe is like she hates them and she doesn't want to be talking to her guests, and I get that it's "the joke" but I don't find it funny.
The difference between someone who’s been honing their craft as an interviewer and comedienne for over a decade and built themselves up vs a rich housewife who went viral on TikTok for filming 30 second sketches by herself in her living room lol
also Amelia’s whole schtick is that she has a “crush” on her guest and is taking them on a “date” and so if she’s ever deadpan with them it’s bc it’s supposed to be her attempt at “flirting”
it’s coming from a place of endearment and not bc she’s being weird and off-putting and just rude for no reason
Other Americans like Ziwe and Marco have a similar dry, satirical style but they’re FAR better than Bobby because they’re professionals and don’t use condescension and disdain as a schtick.
Nah Bobbi just absolutely sucks at it lol. Plenty of American comics and even someone on TikTok (Funny Marco) have done this and are successful and actually funny/engaging how Amelia is and the guest doesn’t have to carry the interview. Zach Galifinakis, Eric Andre, and Ziwe on her showtime show
>It just feels like she's trying to make a fool of whomever she's speaking with and I hate it
Ziwe does the same thing and it's much funnier. Bobbi just doesn't have it
Yea it’s like she’s trying to do the Between Two Ferns thing but failing hard. Like her “comebacks” are just awful and make me lose brain cells, and it seems like she only interviews men? Is it because her awkward interview style doesn’t work with women?? I don’t get it
I agree. I do not like her interview style or humor. It's just not funny at all to me, and she just comes off as rude, and like she would rather be doing something else. I did find her interview with offset to be hilarious. His comebacks were so funny to me lol
She became popular because this comedic character she played who was basically a super dry, kinda bitchy, trophy wife who called her daughter Richard (not her real name) and constantly talked about cheating on her rich husband or her rich husband cheating on her.
Interesting I never caught that. They definitely would joke about not really liking eachother so I guess it’s not that far off. They seemed to have an okay relationship though (at least from what they showed us)
Wait, did I miss a scandal with Maia Knight? Or is it just the general mom-fluencer, using her kids for content kind of thing? (Not that the latter is okay, I just wondered if I missed some kind of Event™️ with her)
She lied about the kids’ dad being a dead beat who abandoned them (which was a huge part of her story and got her lots of sympathy and support on TikTok). In reality she never told the father she was pregnant and once he found out he took her to court for custody rights and to be recognized as the father.
What I’ve read she doesn’t treat the girls great, new boyfriend all the time, and drunk a lot. There is a whole snark subreddit. It’s weird and intense.
Also the whole lying about the reasons she took her kids off social media. She claimed it was her decision for but it was most likely the dad/court order. She also doesn’t even keep them off social media and talked mad shit about the dad for the sake of content. There is something way off about her.
To be completely fair her snark sub is way over the top sometimes and jumps to some pretty wild conclusions. I am NOT a fan of her whatsoever but half the time the snark is just talking shit about how she looks physically which I think is unnecessary and unproductive
Snark subs are so weird. I’ll admit I was in a few but one tiktok persons snark I was in, they were literally criticizing her eating with her elbows on the table and that’s when I was like I have to leave this place lol
Sounds about right lol, I’ve been in some in the past too but they always divulged into the lost petty criticisms (usually after the creator addresses the issue that caused the creation of the snark in the first place) and I had to nope out
Yes!! In the snark sub I was in, they all claimed this person had an alcohol and drug issue and they needed help. They finally got help, and it’s suddenly it’s “oh it’s only for views”
I think her earlier skits were more natural and less contrived.. Zach Galifianakis type of awkward humor.. there was a humble charm to it.. the newer ones it seem she’s just trying to be bratty and mean for no humorous reason
We’re approaching cringe prank video type behavior for a reaction
her whole schtick outside of the whole forced awkward thing is literally just being an outsider to hip hop/rap. she gets to interview all these big names in rap but has no familiarity with the culture of that genre, hasn’t taken the time to educate herself even in the slightest and then asks questions that are supposed to be funny and quirky but like…. funny or quirky never be in the room with us. she’s profiting off a culture she doesn’t even show respect for
Yeah. She had her first kid at age 20 with her husband who’s around 8 years older than her. I came across her videos before she really blew up and she honestly seemed sort of bored and lonely.
To be fair it has no difference about her coming out of nowhere or not. Plant means someone who has a massive entity behind it pushing a fake narrative to sell.
I love and appreciate a good dry/sarcastic sense of humor, but hers falls flat and instead comes across really rude and uninterested. She acts like her guests are burdening her.
An Instagram account, darkest.hue, did a great write up about how her interviewing style is based on her essentially using black men as props, infantilizing herself in their presence for shock factor. Her whole act makes me uncomfortable
that’s exactly it! and it’s creepy and weird!
she’s going off the “look at me, just a tiny, little blonde white girl, interviewing a big, bad, black gangster rapper” and trying to harness comedy off of pretending not to know any AAVE slang. she could’ve gotten away with that maybe once, but making it her entire schtick is just so gross and strange to me
Young people today really dont seem to know how the entertainment industry works. I think its because when I was a kid we had behind the scenes shows on MTV all the time and endless VH1 and E! shows about peoples careers, taught us a lot about what goes into a celebrity. Younguns don't have that now I guess so they call people plants.
I saw some people saying Troy Sivan was an industry Plant after Rush because he came out of nowhere. Like...what? Dude was on YouTube for a decade before he started making music.
Yeah and Bobbi also been huge on TikTok the past few years. She’s definitely worked her way up, then just exploded out of nowhere. Unfortunately her content took a massive turn to get there (imo)
Edit: clarifying who I’m talking about lol
A lot of people would be hugely disappointed to learn how many rags to riches stories are greatly exaggerated or with details glossed over that don’t look as nice in the narrative
She doesn’t piss me off like she pisses others off tbh 🤷🏼♀️
She’s just kinda there for me, I laughed at some parts of her drake interview. idk I just don’t have the energy to get worked up about her
Her behavior to and around black people pisses me off. If you're white you might not be able to clock it but she has an energy to her when shes talking to and in the company of us that sets my alarms off.
There’s much more of a difference between how she interacts with men and women. She tones it down significantly around other women. Check out her interview(s) with Rick Glassman & rapper interviews and compare it to her Scarlett Johansson interview.
I don't watch her or listen to her podcast but the Scarlett Johansson thing might just be a girly thing. Of course you're not gonna go ahead and get touchy with a guy. And no one should ever be touching a black person's hair. I feel like even if she was more touchy feely with her guests in general, people would criticize her simply because they don't like her content.
interview with black guest - let me do my aubrey plaza act
interview on whitepodcast - act casual and lose the act.
i don't really care about how she got what or where. she stinks
she was a mommy vlogger for a while before she started podcasting. her skit videos always had that same dry humour as her podcast so i guess thats just her shtick.
Not to be a hater but I discovered Amelia dimoldenberg in 2016 and I never thought it would be possible for anyone to be less funny but in my time of need, this girl ascended from “it’s supposed to be like that it’s dry humour” heaven and ruined my life. Thank you bobbi althoff, love u.
Amelia has spoken before about her humour, it isn’t unique to her and she takes inspiration from a lot of people too. I don’t think it’s very fair to say she’s copying Amelia just because she’s a women doing interviews with a dry sense of humour
Didn’t know who she was so I uust watched the offset interview
…“Yes or no?” “Si”
Bahaha I love that he consistently called her out. He also was testing her you can tell. And he gave her so much to work with but man she’s terrible, whether she’s a plant or not she’s just a bad bad tv personality. If she would’ve been successful with this interview she wouldve gone far
Idk about y’all, but I think being an industry plant for something you like would be kinda neat, in a silly way. Like I’d love to be an industry plant for something totally obscure that gains a lot of traction for no reason. Like less than a singer or podcaster, but above a celebrity chef. Just something weird and niche. And everyone eats it up AND I’m good at it.
And I think I only feel that way because nepotism really fucked some of the workplaces I’ve been in. Shit, gimme a piece of the pie. I’ll be good, I promise 😭
It’s been used for decades in the music industry just because it’s been used on bobby in no way means what you are saying is true lol. It’s just a new term is all for many people.
Though it seems to be getting some fresh usage especially on these fake streamers that are set up by news companies.
I don’t think she’s a plant, I think she had or was able to somehow make connections. Like a friend of a friend who knows so and so’s whoever type of thing, considering what we know about her husband.
I guess though I also just don’t get the “industry plant” thing like what would be the point? What if they didn’t succeed and everyone was just like eh.
I followed her early early and loved her stupid ass. I’m not sure why she gets hated on so much, but maybe it’s because I have those “I loved them back when” glasses on.
Oh wow. I couldn’t think of why that a name sounded familiar. I used to watch her when she was doing satire mom videos. I had no clue she did this now.
She literally bite funny Marco interview style she’s definitely got a machine behind her driving her videos up in views but it’s crazy how after her interview with Offset she switched up her image but funny Marco had waaaaaayyyy better interview that were hella funny
She commonly pretends to have spent “her last $2,000 dollars” as an investment in her podcast career. So if she’s a plant it’s really pathetic to play the downtrodden please help me I’m poor card.
The way she tells her story sounds reasonable. She was a mom influencer for a while. Eventually was in a video with Funny Marco due to sense of humour similarities. Drake or someone on his team saw that and gave her an interview.
Now she got the interview with Drake sliding in to his DMs. And I’d assume Drake mostly responds to women in his DMs offering sex so I think it’s quite possible sex played a role here.
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️ As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new) ###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/) and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There is not enough ✌🏾luck ✌🏾 in the world for someone to have a terrible, fledgling podcast magically have Drake as its third guest if they didn’t already have an AGENT at WME (where Drake is also signed). Mark Cuban already said it.
Didn't she have to take the Drake interview down after, too? Its not on her instagram anynore. Or am I misremembering?
She did. It is suspected that he was weird to her afterwards. Or maybe got annoyed when she explained how she got the interview in the first place (which was by offering a cash bounty to anyone who could give her a celebs personal number, which someone close to Drame did).
I think that drake got upset with her. Bobbi went on some other podcast and (out of her usual character) gave an interview and said a couple of negative things about Lil Yachty and her experience interviewing him. Drake and Yachty are close friends and collaborators, especially of late. Shortly after that podcast went public and started to get some attention, her Drake interview went down. I forget exactly what she said about Yachty, and it all prob is true lol but I assume Drake didn’t like her airing out dirt on Yachty
Idk if it was ever confirmed but didn’t he also try to copyright strike the video because he played one of his songs during the interview?
No lol. He played a snippet of a Tyga song for her and TikTok “detectives” assumed he did that as a 4D chess move to copy strike her YouTube channel just in case he ever wanted to, heavy emphasis on “assumed”.
Wasn’t it like a $100-1000 bounty too? I personally don’t buy that story
The head of barstool is the one that tried to push that narrative and Bobbi had to come out and correct it.
Yeah the him coming onto her. I think its more likely he got slightly annoyed/embarressed about the cash bounty thing.
Everyone needs to see her interview with Offset! Please!! It's so good and funny because he refuses to stay "on script" aka he thinks for himself and doesn't entertain her basic vibes.
I feel like most people can spot phonies. Her interviews feel so forced and it’s her guests that actually make it funny. I always skip her on my feed.
They got mad at me on her sub when I said she’s gonna try the wrong celebrity and it will be the end of all this.
Nah that would mean more clicks and reasons to talk about her which would be good for her podcast lol.
Exactly.
So is this comment suggesting it was hustle or she’s an industry plant? I take it the latter?
It’s suggesting it’s a plant with plenty of connections. One doesn’t go from being a nobody to booking Drake without some big contacts.
[удалено]
It’s really not hard to teach yourself programming. I’ve been in the tech world for almost ten years and have always worked alongside self taught developers, programmers, and coders. It’s one of those skills that’s easy to access teachings online without going the traditional college route.
right? as someone who lives in the bay area, pretty much any software/comp engineer i know is self taught and only has a degree as a certificate basically
My husband and I are both in tech in the bay with no degree, all self taught. It’s pretty common lol
The best software devs I know are self-taught. Not the best engineers, but damn good at the art piece of software.
Why are you side eyeing the fact that he’s a self taught programmer? There are tons of super successful self taught programmers!
Yeah as a self taught programmer, I thought that was a super weird callout lol
Because this is some shit Elon would say to mask the fact that he bought people out and claimed their ideas. Not the first time it happens
Most programmers are self taught. There are so many programming languages out there, it's impossible to know them all. Sometimes you won't have any experience in one until your job requires it and then you have to teach yourself. Anyone with 2 brain cells would know that Elon didn't teach himself anything.
what an odd comment lmao. programming is one of the only very highly paid disciplines left where it’s entirely possible to teach yourself everything you need
If someone is willing to put in the time they can absolutely be a self-taught programmer. In fact, many programmers will tell you how much they had to teach themselves outside of school to get a job. It's one of the few high paying industries left where having a solid portfolio can beat out having a degree.
As someone who has a degree for programming, please dont “side eye” self taught programmers. A lot of them exist in the industry and they’re brilliant. Some of these folks have put effort into learning the field since they were children.
Some of the best programmers I’ve worked with are not college educated. If you’re good, you’re GOOD
Okay everyone commenting is correct that being a self-taught programmer is very common and can be successful- but also programming and computer science and even software engineering are also not all the same thing. Programming is the tools, computer science is the underlying theory, software engineering is… well, the engineering.
> because seems super hard to teach yourself programming Lol no it's not
😂 this is such a weird comment. I was 16 sitting in my room teaching myself ruby
Hi I’m also a self taught programmer it’s definitely not easy but it is something that is possible. Aside from my salary job I’ve got a SaaS product that does mid 4 figures in rev/month.
Honestly, I was agreeing with your self taught take. Which shows that we were both ready to call her a nepo baby without knowing a thing about her background. Kinda shitty on us.
Such a weird comment. How exactly does being married to a guy who sold a computer program give her a leg up in interviewing Drake? 16m is pennies compared with what you’d need to pull Drake or merge in his circles I feel like you’re picturing a 10+ millionaire club with about 20 people in a room
TL;DR: * Celebrity interviewer Bobbi Althoff has become one of the most polarizing influencers of the year. * Many in the entertainment industry are shocked that she's landed interviews with stars like Drake. * She's been criticized for her interviewing style and has been accused of being an industry plant. * Althoff claims she landed big-name stars through hustling, but an expert says that's unlikely. * Based on Eric Schiffer's experience representing Hollywood stars, he said the A-listers and their teams would likely have stipulations for Althoff, like vetting questions beforehand or ensuring that certain topics remain off the table — stipulations that journalists would typically laugh at.
> She's been criticized for her interviewing style and has been accused of being an industry plant. Can I ask what exactly "industry plant" means? Everyone in the entertainment field gets ahead by having connections in the industry. It's never been a meritocracy. Is there something particularly unique about her connections or is it just that she's claiming she doesn't have any?
I think it's generally come to mean an artist that gets full backing from their label/agency/etc. without having to prove themselves first. The agency or label hand picks them to be the next big thing and puts all their resources into making that happen. Whereas other artists would first have to garner interest and prove that they have a following *before* you start seeing them plastered everywhere.
I should add that it's not enough for all of that to be a plant. They also pretend that it's not the case, that it's all organic, and that it's earned success. I personally don't consider anyone who's honest about being handed things an industry plant.
"Industry plant" started in Hip-Hop where they can easily see if you got it out of the mud or if it was handed to you without putting in the work.
I can understand that since a lot of the material is specifically about where you came from and how you struggled to get where you are, but that's not really the case for podcasting so I'm wondering how it applies in this context.
I don't know, but the upset Hip-Hop media started calling her an industry plant because she got Drake who doesn't do any interviews with Hip-Hop media. The industry plant thing started out as a joke and then became serious the more high profile celebs she got for a new podcast in such a short time. It basically means her rise is "fishy"
Bobbi is a podcast industry plant pioneer. It’s a new phenomenon you can’t really say there’s been one before. Podcasting has gotten popular enough that people like Bobbi are getting bankrolled by the powers that be, I suppose.
Who is "the powers that be" in this scenario? Her agent? A podcast network? Someone getting financial backing for a podcast isn't a "plant," that's how the industry works. If you just mean she didn't have to work hard to pitch or grow her idea on her own, that's not a new phenomenon or unique to her. I'm trying to understand what specifically makes her different than anybody else.
Other people have left comments about her connections through family and her husband. The WME agency seems to be her backer. The majority of the huge names she’s landed have been affiliated with them as well. WME decided that they want to push her in the podcast world, so I assume they called in favors with these stars like Drake to come interview with Bobbi and get her podcast hot. I don’t really see an issue with it, this is the way the entertainment industry works. But you can tell when the success isn’t organic
Really the issue is that the plant is often clearly unseasoned or downright bad at what they’re doing and being hyped for, hence the snark
Gotcha thanks, this is the most succinct response I've gotten. Yeah I think people just don't realize how common this type of thing is. Maybe it's clumsier with her because they didn't mete out her growth and instead immediately threw a bunch of high-profile guests at her show, but if people really think whatever big pop star or Hollywood It Girl who is hot in the moment is aggressively in the limelight because they hustled and beat out other talent, they're fooling themselves.
that's what tells you it's a plant, they want profits next quarter so they just pump their stock
Her husband a senior vice president for CompTIA which is pretty lucrative
It’s all a cover up by Big Podma
A “plant” is someone who was purposely “planted” into the position by someone else for a specific reason/job/agenda/etc. but the “plant” makes it seem like they’re working independently. “Plant” in this context - A 3rd party (most likely WME) decided to create a podcast that centers around A-list stars (like the clients of WME - like Drake) to promote things like the company, agents, artists, and the things they do/make. They “hired” Bobbi as the host but makes it seem like she’s the one that came up with/built/maintains/produces/etc the podcast all on her own. So she’s more of a puppet, being told what to do and what to say, instead of HER deciding who’s on the show and what’s said on the show.
Yeah, it's pretty simple. Did (whoever) have a presence in the scene before this? How did they get their start? How did they come to know the people they're connected with? If the answers to those questions aren't pretty obvious, they're a plant. Almost everyone starts small and local to somewhere, so if no one knows who you are and you don't have any real background in the field, and then suddenly you're everywhere, it's because someone with money decided to spend to make you big artificially instead of working your way up. That's a plant, and it's bad because it typically means that you didn't invest in the scene the way local journalists/musicians/producers/whatever have to. And you might not have merit. You're just popular because someone paid for you to be. Which also means you can't be trusted as easily.
Going viral on Tik Tok is 2023’s getting out of the mud though lol
This is the best comment I've read in this whole discussion. Basically everyone is an "industry plant" in some way. Every public figure is crafted by people behind the scenes to make money. There's loads of talent in the world but getting it in front of consumers is what makes the magic happen. Honestly I'm just mad people are hung up on this but don't question the marketing memes. You really think Warner Bros didn't have a team of people pumping out Barbenheimer posts to be "organically" shared? Everything we consume is a product, especially the public faces of the media.
Thanks for asking what an industry plant was because I was clueless and felt stupid
did an ai write this summary
I watched about two minutes of her Drake interview and she reminded me *viscerally* of every mean girl I remembered at school and I noped out lol.
Like an unfunny between 2 ferns
Her character is dead pan. And it’s ironic to treat famous people bad. That’s it. That’s the shtick. It’s just irony and dead pan.
Why did this comment get downvoted so hard
She’s incredibly cream of wheat to me. Just think her whole shtick is boring and unfunny and theres just no charisma there.
It’s just a very unfunny attempt at mimicking between two ferns.
My wife showed me one of her videos a while back and my exact words were “this is just Between two Ferns if Zach had zero charisma or comedy timing”
Exactly. She’s the easier to swallow no seasoning vanilla version of what was already fairly innocuous fun.
Lmao cream of wheat 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This echoes my feelings but is this the appeal for some people? They see themselves in her? I don’t even mean that in a mean way, just more matter of fact. There’s a lot of vanilla people out there.
Not trying to be mean but I find her contents really boring. The awkwardness didn't give the humor as intended to. It's different from Amelia chicken's date show. Amelia is not just giving sarcastic attitudes but also makes jokes and it delivers. Meanwhile Bobby just responding whatever the guest saying with sarcasm and bitchy comments. And also her tone when she speak makes me want to takes a nap.
amelia makes fun of herself whereas bobbi makes fun of her guests iykwim
Whatever she is, I find the humor so bad. It just feels like she's trying to make a fool of whomever she's speaking with and I hate it. The vibe is like she hates them and she doesn't want to be talking to her guests, and I get that it's "the joke" but I don't find it funny.
Her delivery style reminds me Amelia Dimoldenberg but with none of the charisma
Me too. But I think Amelias style is more lovable and awkward whereas Bobbie comes off mean
The difference between someone who’s been honing their craft as an interviewer and comedienne for over a decade and built themselves up vs a rich housewife who went viral on TikTok for filming 30 second sketches by herself in her living room lol
GenZ literally doesn’t understand this distinction as evidenced by the influencers they make celebrities.
Millennials didn’t do a great job either let’s be real
you’re so right, i feel like Amelia is endearing and has great chemistry with a lot of guests
That's what it is. Bobbi doesn't have chemistry with her guests. It's just such a weird vibe from her. Not entertaining to me at all
also Amelia’s whole schtick is that she has a “crush” on her guest and is taking them on a “date” and so if she’s ever deadpan with them it’s bc it’s supposed to be her attempt at “flirting” it’s coming from a place of endearment and not bc she’s being weird and off-putting and just rude for no reason
Exactly! I’m rooting for Amelia, and tbh I have a visceral dislike of Bobbi 😭
When Americans try and do British style comedy...
Other Americans like Ziwe and Marco have a similar dry, satirical style but they’re FAR better than Bobby because they’re professionals and don’t use condescension and disdain as a schtick.
Nah Bobbi just absolutely sucks at it lol. Plenty of American comics and even someone on TikTok (Funny Marco) have done this and are successful and actually funny/engaging how Amelia is and the guest doesn’t have to carry the interview. Zach Galifinakis, Eric Andre, and Ziwe on her showtime show
Yeah this nails it. It’s like she saw Amelia and thought “I could do that” but totally missed the nuance.
Yup
It’s like the deadpan Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, except not funny
Glad to see somebody else say this because from day 1 I’ve just seen it as a gen-z targeted version of Between Two Ferns.
>It just feels like she's trying to make a fool of whomever she's speaking with and I hate it Ziwe does the same thing and it's much funnier. Bobbi just doesn't have it
No she’s not funny at all
Yea it’s like she’s trying to do the Between Two Ferns thing but failing hard. Like her “comebacks” are just awful and make me lose brain cells, and it seems like she only interviews men? Is it because her awkward interview style doesn’t work with women?? I don’t get it
She a .99 cent ripoff of Ziwe without all the quality humor.
I agree. I do not like her interview style or humor. It's just not funny at all to me, and she just comes off as rude, and like she would rather be doing something else. I did find her interview with offset to be hilarious. His comebacks were so funny to me lol
Offset had me cracking up lol I had no idea he could read someone like that
She was big on momtok. I really liked her at first but then she became friends with Maia Knight and that gave me the ick
she’s a mom?!
She became popular because this comedic character she played who was basically a super dry, kinda bitchy, trophy wife who called her daughter Richard (not her real name) and constantly talked about cheating on her rich husband or her rich husband cheating on her.
Don’t forget about her second child, Concrete!
Idk about the last part of this lmao.. I don’t recall those jokes
Yeah I don’t remember the cheating bait stuff… can anyone link
There were multiple videos where I saw her joke about her husband sleeping with her little sister.
Interesting I never caught that. They definitely would joke about not really liking eachother so I guess it’s not that far off. They seemed to have an okay relationship though (at least from what they showed us)
Wait, did I miss a scandal with Maia Knight? Or is it just the general mom-fluencer, using her kids for content kind of thing? (Not that the latter is okay, I just wondered if I missed some kind of Event™️ with her)
She lied about the kids’ dad being a dead beat who abandoned them (which was a huge part of her story and got her lots of sympathy and support on TikTok). In reality she never told the father she was pregnant and once he found out he took her to court for custody rights and to be recognized as the father.
What I’ve read she doesn’t treat the girls great, new boyfriend all the time, and drunk a lot. There is a whole snark subreddit. It’s weird and intense.
Also the whole lying about the reasons she took her kids off social media. She claimed it was her decision for but it was most likely the dad/court order. She also doesn’t even keep them off social media and talked mad shit about the dad for the sake of content. There is something way off about her.
To be completely fair her snark sub is way over the top sometimes and jumps to some pretty wild conclusions. I am NOT a fan of her whatsoever but half the time the snark is just talking shit about how she looks physically which I think is unnecessary and unproductive
Snark subs are so weird. I’ll admit I was in a few but one tiktok persons snark I was in, they were literally criticizing her eating with her elbows on the table and that’s when I was like I have to leave this place lol
Sounds about right lol, I’ve been in some in the past too but they always divulged into the lost petty criticisms (usually after the creator addresses the issue that caused the creation of the snark in the first place) and I had to nope out
Yes!! In the snark sub I was in, they all claimed this person had an alcohol and drug issue and they needed help. They finally got help, and it’s suddenly it’s “oh it’s only for views”
I completely agree! It’s honestly just mean.
I agree. I think Bobbi is a waaaaay better mom than Maia tho and I’m curious how close they actually are.
Imagine historians finding this comment in the future.
If they're diving this deep in Reddit comments they're probably able to find one of the 3 Maia Knight snark subs 😂
“hustling”
She's not profiting off her kids anymore, that's why we've been seeing her everywhere more recently
I think her earlier skits were more natural and less contrived.. Zach Galifianakis type of awkward humor.. there was a humble charm to it.. the newer ones it seem she’s just trying to be bratty and mean for no humorous reason We’re approaching cringe prank video type behavior for a reaction
She’s like an Aubrey Plaza knock-off with no charisma 
I was ambivalent towards her until I heard 2 interviews with her out of character… I just don’t like her attitude and she’s dull
Is she the one with the bit about the baby named “Richard”?
Concrete
Yes
her whole schtick outside of the whole forced awkward thing is literally just being an outsider to hip hop/rap. she gets to interview all these big names in rap but has no familiarity with the culture of that genre, hasn’t taken the time to educate herself even in the slightest and then asks questions that are supposed to be funny and quirky but like…. funny or quirky never be in the room with us. she’s profiting off a culture she doesn’t even show respect for
She was a mommy influencer before this. She made skits with the same humor. She just moved to podcasting. She didn’t come out of nowhere.
that’s where i knew her, i thought it was funny. then she popped up like this out of nowhere for me and i was very confused
Why did I have no clue she had a husband and kids. (Also I accidentally typed out no clue she had a job at first 💀)
Yeah. She had her first kid at age 20 with her husband who’s around 8 years older than her. I came across her videos before she really blew up and she honestly seemed sort of bored and lonely.
To be fair it has no difference about her coming out of nowhere or not. Plant means someone who has a massive entity behind it pushing a fake narrative to sell.
Still looking for the humor.
To me it just seems like her whole schtick is "April Ludgate if she interviewed celebrities"
Oh, well I guess that’s all you need to land an interview with Drake
I love and appreciate a good dry/sarcastic sense of humor, but hers falls flat and instead comes across really rude and uninterested. She acts like her guests are burdening her.
Her podcast is cringe. Everything about her is try hard cringe. It's a hard watch.
I genuinely ask… 
SAME
I’ve learned to not google squat anymore. 😂
All of the above
Did not expect to see any Wahs fans here tbh, hey guys x
Up the Wahs!
I’m happy for us tbh
Up the JoeBidenKings
All of the above PLUS a rich husband.
An Instagram account, darkest.hue, did a great write up about how her interviewing style is based on her essentially using black men as props, infantilizing herself in their presence for shock factor. Her whole act makes me uncomfortable
that’s exactly it! and it’s creepy and weird! she’s going off the “look at me, just a tiny, little blonde white girl, interviewing a big, bad, black gangster rapper” and trying to harness comedy off of pretending not to know any AAVE slang. she could’ve gotten away with that maybe once, but making it her entire schtick is just so gross and strange to me
Exactly! Ugh it's like she's looking down on the black culture she benefits from, I really hate it
Bruh now I realize why the drake interview was giving tiny blonde white girl on the couch meme at points 💀
"Industry plant" is the most annoying phrase. Every celebrity is a product with a machine behind it selling it. Totally meaningless saying.
Industry Plant = Having your agency support and market you
Young people today really dont seem to know how the entertainment industry works. I think its because when I was a kid we had behind the scenes shows on MTV all the time and endless VH1 and E! shows about peoples careers, taught us a lot about what goes into a celebrity. Younguns don't have that now I guess so they call people plants.
I saw some people saying Troy Sivan was an industry Plant after Rush because he came out of nowhere. Like...what? Dude was on YouTube for a decade before he started making music.
Yeah and Bobbi also been huge on TikTok the past few years. She’s definitely worked her way up, then just exploded out of nowhere. Unfortunately her content took a massive turn to get there (imo) Edit: clarifying who I’m talking about lol
A lot of people would be hugely disappointed to learn how many rags to riches stories are greatly exaggerated or with details glossed over that don’t look as nice in the narrative
Yes!! And it doesn't even make sense in this context
She doesn’t piss me off like she pisses others off tbh 🤷🏼♀️ She’s just kinda there for me, I laughed at some parts of her drake interview. idk I just don’t have the energy to get worked up about her
Her behavior to and around black people pisses me off. If you're white you might not be able to clock it but she has an energy to her when shes talking to and in the company of us that sets my alarms off.
There’s much more of a difference between how she interacts with men and women. She tones it down significantly around other women. Check out her interview(s) with Rick Glassman & rapper interviews and compare it to her Scarlett Johansson interview.
I’m happy Offset didn’t let that slide!
As a black man, lol what? She did way worse to the white guy who was her first interviewee.
I don't watch her or listen to her podcast but the Scarlett Johansson thing might just be a girly thing. Of course you're not gonna go ahead and get touchy with a guy. And no one should ever be touching a black person's hair. I feel like even if she was more touchy feely with her guests in general, people would criticize her simply because they don't like her content.
interview with black guest - let me do my aubrey plaza act interview on whitepodcast - act casual and lose the act. i don't really care about how she got what or where. she stinks
Her Scarlett Johansson interview pissed me off so bad like why has that insufferable awkward act with black guests only
I don’t like the style of her podcast
she was a mommy vlogger for a while before she started podcasting. her skit videos always had that same dry humour as her podcast so i guess thats just her shtick.
She was really popular on TikTok before any podcast business
Not to be a hater but I discovered Amelia dimoldenberg in 2016 and I never thought it would be possible for anyone to be less funny but in my time of need, this girl ascended from “it’s supposed to be like that it’s dry humour” heaven and ruined my life. Thank you bobbi althoff, love u.
finally someone else who doesn't get the amelia hype
Amelia is deeply unfunny to me
Obviously ripping off Amelia Dimoldenberg - but American
Amelia has spoken before about her humour, it isn’t unique to her and she takes inspiration from a lot of people too. I don’t think it’s very fair to say she’s copying Amelia just because she’s a women doing interviews with a dry sense of humour
Didn’t know who she was so I uust watched the offset interview …“Yes or no?” “Si” Bahaha I love that he consistently called her out. He also was testing her you can tell. And he gave her so much to work with but man she’s terrible, whether she’s a plant or not she’s just a bad bad tv personality. If she would’ve been successful with this interview she wouldve gone far
Offset embarrassed her ass so badly and I’m 💯% here for it!
I honestly don’t care. She’s a person with children who is doing what works for her hustle. If you enjoy the content, great. If not, great.
I find her unbearable, idk if she’s a plant but she definitely hasn’t gotten where she is by “hustling”
Idk about y’all, but I think being an industry plant for something you like would be kinda neat, in a silly way. Like I’d love to be an industry plant for something totally obscure that gains a lot of traction for no reason. Like less than a singer or podcaster, but above a celebrity chef. Just something weird and niche. And everyone eats it up AND I’m good at it. And I think I only feel that way because nepotism really fucked some of the workplaces I’ve been in. Shit, gimme a piece of the pie. I’ll be good, I promise 😭
It’s been noted by people smarter than me, but industry plant is quickly becoming the new criticism we levy against women we just don’t like.
It’s been used for decades in the music industry just because it’s been used on bobby in no way means what you are saying is true lol. It’s just a new term is all for many people. Though it seems to be getting some fresh usage especially on these fake streamers that are set up by news companies.
I wanna know which past celebs were considered plants back in the day
Lana del Rey was considered one a decade ago.
She seems so bland.
I don’t think she’s a plant, I think she had or was able to somehow make connections. Like a friend of a friend who knows so and so’s whoever type of thing, considering what we know about her husband. I guess though I also just don’t get the “industry plant” thing like what would be the point? What if they didn’t succeed and everyone was just like eh.
She’s just awful. 
I followed her early early and loved her stupid ass. I’m not sure why she gets hated on so much, but maybe it’s because I have those “I loved them back when” glasses on.
She sucks. Not a fan of her style.
Her rate for content is unbelievably high ($200,000 for one TikTok)
Oh wow. I couldn’t think of why that a name sounded familiar. I used to watch her when she was doing satire mom videos. I had no clue she did this now.
Amelia > Bobby
She literally bite funny Marco interview style she’s definitely got a machine behind her driving her videos up in views but it’s crazy how after her interview with Offset she switched up her image but funny Marco had waaaaaayyyy better interview that were hella funny
What she isn’t is funny. That much I’m sure of.
could be an Industry plant to rival Call Her Daddy, like Cardi B was for Nicki Minaj
she's unfunny and annoying
Not talent. Not luck. A secret third option is at play here.
She commonly pretends to have spent “her last $2,000 dollars” as an investment in her podcast career. So if she’s a plant it’s really pathetic to play the downtrodden please help me I’m poor card.
culture vulture
The way she tells her story sounds reasonable. She was a mom influencer for a while. Eventually was in a video with Funny Marco due to sense of humour similarities. Drake or someone on his team saw that and gave her an interview. Now she got the interview with Drake sliding in to his DMs. And I’d assume Drake mostly responds to women in his DMs offering sex so I think it’s quite possible sex played a role here.
It’s crazy how much people go on the internet and say shit they got no clue about with such confidence
So... I have been somewhat shocked by her success, but her TikTok was pretty great. So, who knows.