A Detached Adult’s Guide to Kids’ Culture: Is Jeffrey Epstein in Fortnite?
It’s been a quiet week in the youth culture world, so I asked my always-on son what the kids were talking about. “Dad, the Epstein thing,” he replied. “That’s all everyone’s talking about.”
I like to keep things light, but that’s impossible right now; the Epstein affair is now part of culture, regardless of age. Young people are trying to figure out how to fit this massive story into their worldview, just like you probably are. Younger kids are making sense of the affair by creating “Epstein Island” on Roblox and making jokes about it at school (and then asking their parents what it really means). For young people, “Epstein Island” is becoming synonymous with a forbidden, haunted place, just like “Diddy Party” was 14 years ago—wait, I mean five months ago .
Young adults are making TikTok videos about Epstein’s phone calls , creating memes using Epstein’s sweater , and adding themselves to archived photos using AI . They, like everyone else, are poring over millions of documents and believe they’ve found something older people might have missed.
Does Jeffrey Epstein play Fortnite ?
Among the many conspiracy theories swirling around the Epstein files is this one: Jeffrey Epstein played Fortnite last week . Even for a conspiracy theory, this is a stretch, since it requires Epstein to be alive, but here’s the proof: the files contain a receipt from YouTube addressed to “littlestjeff1,” and a player using that handle did indeed play Fortnite last week. That’s it. While the reasonable reaction would be, “So what?”, the rumor apparently caused such a stir that Fortnite’s parent company responded, claiming it was a player who changed their handle after their name was published online in connection with Epstein:
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Like any internet theory, you can delve into it, but all you’ll find is unverifiable screenshots of “evidence” that could have been taken by anyone at any time, complex theories that connect unrelated data and lead to unfounded conclusions, a host of ardent defenders, and a company desperately trying to minimize the damage . It’s a morass and a truly bleak outlook on the foreseeable future of American culture.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Real-Life Connections to the Gaming Industry
The Fortnite story sounds like complete nonsense, but Epstein was indeed a gamer. At the very least, he had an Xbox Live account. Among the documents in the archive is an email from Microsoft, sent on December 19, 2013 , permanently banning the account associated with Epstein’s email address. It’s a standard ban message, citing “harassment, threats, and/or abuse of other players” as the reason, which was “deemed severe, repeated, and/or excessive.”
A subsequent email stated that Epstein was banned from Live because he was a registered sex offender. “This decision builds on the New York Attorney General’s collaboration with Microsoft and other online gaming companies to remove New York-registered sex offenders from online gaming services to minimize the risk to others, especially children,” the email stated.
What does the word “phonk” mean?
Let’s talk about the word “phonk,” as it’s been mentioned before in this column, and it’s about art, not debauchery. The word “phonk” has a complicated history. It was coined in the 2010s by rapper SpaceGhostPurrp to describe his interpretation of 1990s Southern hip-hop, characterized by a slow, “chopped and twisted” sound and the use of vintage Memphis rap. Interestingly, elements of phonk spread primarily through SoundCloud and other online platforms, making it a subgenre of music that developed without a geographic base.
(Additional explanation: SpaceGhostPurrp is an underground rapper widely considered one of the most influential figures of the 2010s “internet rap” era.)
But when kids talk about “phonk” these days, they usually mean something else. In the late 2010s, a genre called “drift-phonk” emerged in Russia. Drift-phonk began as a soundtrack to videos of drifting cars. It’s fast, often heavily distorted—and, unlike SpaceGhost’s “phonk,” which is good, drift-phonk is bad. In my opinion. Judge for yourself. In any case, “drift-phonk” gradually morphed into “phonk” and spread from car videos, becoming the most common soundtrack for videos that induce dread.
What is a “boys’ aquarium”?
More slang! “Fishbowl Boy” is a TikTok slang term used to describe hockey games. The term is closely linked to the popularity of the HBO hockey romance series “Heated Rivalry , ” and sharing videos of fishbowl boy is becoming popular on TikTok. Some of them are quite funny:
What’s the story with the cartoons on ChatGPT?
If your feed is filling up with weird cartoon versions of people you’re in parasocial relationships with, here’s the deal: a new trend involves asking ChatGPT or other AI to create a caricature of you based solely on your interactions with it. It’s popular because it’s easy to do and pretty funny—or so I thought, until I tried it.
Oh my god, I want to punch myself in the face.
Viral video of the week: Duck with a clover on its head.
This week, a video of a duck with a clover on its head went viral.
The TikTok hashtag “Ducklings” is full of cute ducklings who haven’t done anything wrong. Look at this little one, who’s chirping so cheerfully ! This duckling is trying on hats because he thinks he’s human! And here are a few more little ones taking a bird bath . This one fell asleep in a mug!