Vine was, overall, a good thing, providing hours of entertainment in seven-second videos. I still regularly watch Vine compilations on YouTube, if only to remember the good ol’ days (2014) of Squidward dabbing, the duck army, and everything Demi Adejuyigbe made. But I had to include that “overall” earlier, because while most of Vine rocked, it was almost where Jake Paul got his “big break.” The same Jake Paul who used the n-word during a freestyle rap in 2018, and who’s now in trouble with the authorities for “allegedly participating in weekend looting” at a mall in Arizona.
Variety reports that Paul was “charged by police in Scottsdale, Arizona, with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly after he was identified among the crowd of looters at a local mall Sunday.” In response, Paul, brother of Logan, tweeted, “Gimme my charges and let’s put the focus back on George Floyd and Black Lives Matter.” For sure, he definitely wasn’t there to “profit off human suffering.” Both charges are misdemeanors:
On Sunday, Paul posted videos to his Instagram story showing him protesting outside the Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale and police officers who threw tear gas in his direction. He captioned the video “america is in ruins” and “what can we do,” then posted a photo of his face saying “I’m tear gassed my eyes bleeding.” Subsequent videos posted on Twitter from the scene showed Paul watching others damage the outside of a P.F. Chang’s restaurant.
Sigh. Remember the Squidward dabbing video? That was fun. Let’s watch that again.
(Via Variety)