How the New Era of Public Discourse Ruined the Kendrick/Drake Beef
The media has exploded recently in light of the beef and Baby Reindeer and the internet is here to ruin it all.
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Kendrick may have won the rap beef, but looking at the state of the subreddit has cheapened his win.
KAnon, a riff of QAnon, theories have taken over the sub after an anonymous Twitter user EbonyPrince2k24 began posting cryptic messages and videos hinting at a potential “incident” that took place at the Mark Hotel last January. The hotel, rumored to be an Epstein hotspot, might have been the setting for a crime that took place during Drake’s stay, or at least that’s what EbonyPrince2k24 would have you believe.
The tweets set the /Kendrick subreddit and TikTok alight with allegations; ones that say Drake may have attacked a disabled person, may have committed sex crimes against minors, may have been responsible for two men losing their jobs at the hotel, and so on.
The anonymous EbonyPrince2k24 gave Drake a deadline to reply and redact that his team had fueled Kendrick’s with false information about a hidden daughter during the back-and-forth beef, or else he would release incriminating evidence. The deadline came and went without any update, leaving redditors angry that their weekend of fun had amounted to nothing.
It’s no surprise that the conspiracy became as huge as it did, racking up millions of impressions on Twitter, thousands of comments on Reddit, and endless TikTok videos. Kendrick’s cryptic lyricism had people digging, people’s contentious views on Drake had them hoping for validation, and two subreddits, r/Drizzy and r/Kendrick were poised for a war.
The incentive to create content for views plus the obsessive nature of a Discord or Reddit forum were the perfect intersections to shape today’s current pop culture discourse which has turned increasingly obsessive and and intrusive.
“We live in the age of the internet sleuth.” Amelia Tate says in an article about the rise of amateur internet sleuths. “The line between genuine investigation and mob justice is only a pixel thick.”
Content creators are incentivized to participate even when doing so can cause a mess for actual investigators during crimes. If you want to make a case for internet sleuthing, you’ll find stories of small but mighty wins such as the Gabby Petito case where social media actually helped find the location of Petito’s van and subsequently her remains. Then there are the times when TikTokers and Redditors have thrown around baseless theories from vibes, tarot cards, or minute details.
“They might argue that their hobby is benign—that they’re just killing time on the internet, indulging in a bit of frivolous speculation for fun. But the consequences of this kind of conspiracy thinking are never contained to their virtual communities,” McKay Coppins wrote for the Atlantic.
People part of the Kendrick subreddit may have convinced themselves that their investigations would bring them closer to justice, but most of the discourse was a near foaming-at-the-mouth desire for there to be a crazy revelation just for the entertainment of it all.
Let’s not forget that real victims were behind these speculated allegations, some of which were heavy, like the one that says Drake may have beaten a disabled man, Christopher Alvarez, or that he was running a child sex ring. Plus, is it really that heroic to think that Kendrick sat on that information for years and didn’t tell anyone?
Christopher Alvarez, a journalist and an activist for disabled rights got roped into this mess when he appeared in a photograph that was released by EbonyPrince2k24. The whole story eventually forced Alvarez’s hand, who released his own article that cleared Drake’s name from the allegations and said the rumors damaged his own reputation while simultaneously dehumanizing the disabled community.
People quickly become collateral damage when the internet runs with a mystery, and that was clear in the recent case of internet sleuthing that happened in the aftermath of Netflix’s hit autobiographical show, “Baby Reindeer,” created, written, and starring Richard Gadd.
The series is about the main character, named Donnie Dunn in the show, and his run-ins with a stalker, Martha, and Darrien, a writer who ends up drugging and raping him. The powerful show quickly took off and since the story is based on true events, the internet, as it usually does, devolved into witch hunts under the guise of justice and public safety.
People quickly figured out who Martha was and threw around accusations to someone they suspected to be Darrien, sending a flood of posts harassing someone who has since defended their innocence. Darrien’s identity hasn’t been revealed and it probably won’t ever be.
The result of the onslaught of harassment has given the real Martha room to twist the narrative to convince people that she’s the real victim of harassment and stalking. Gadd has since made a statement, pleading with fans to stop. “Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
The whole thing is a huge mess and has soiled the nature of autobiographical work so much so it’s got people are even questioning if the genre of true stories is even ethical. A great question, but one that shouldn’t be aimed at artists. Instead, it should be pointed at the current era of internet discourse where people think every piece of content is an interactive puzzle for them to solve. Think about it: what does an artist have if not for their experiences and how sad it is that we’ve slipped into a behavior that could take that away?
The obsessive nature of our current cultural discourse makes complete sense. People are naturally curious and the world is a mess, confusing and unjust, a place rife with mystery and gatekeepers who don’t let us in on crucial information.
“When you have an environment of fear and uncertainty, you tend to get this type of rampant speculation that’s divorced from evidence.” John Matthias told Coppins when asked about the average internet sleuth’s motive.
We all want to help in the way we think best, we all want to make sense of people’s fucked up behavior. We also have digital meeting rooms where we can let our theories stew and take misshapen forms; perfect little echo chambers of misinformation across Discord, Facebook, and Reddit.
The new era of pop culture discourse online is this: We are a generation entitled to information and when left out, we’ll resort to our own conclusions, correct or not. It’s not the best way to handle things, it’s, honestly, crazy behavior, but it looks like it’s here to stay.