Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives.
Can Steve Bannon elevate Logan Paul’s image?
SNL/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNETIt all began with Logan Paul being Logan Paul.
As he giggled and chuckled in a Japanese forest known for suicides — in front of a hanged body — perhaps the YouTube star didn’t imagine what would happen next.
First, there was public disgust. Then YouTube punished him by various — some would say relatively soft — sanctions. Removing him from the Google Preferred ads program, for example, might cost the 22-year-old some money, but it’s hardly draconian.
However, if Paul wanted to know how troubled his star now is, just a peek at a “Saturday Night Live” sketch from last night offered a clue.
We’re witnessing MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. One guest is Michael Wolff (played by Fred Armisen), author of the “Fire and Fury” exposé of life in the current White House.
The other, Steve Bannon, formerly Trump’s chief strategist.
Played by Bill Murray, Bannon struggles to claim that his own political star is still somehow in the ascendancy, after his unceremonious ousting from Breitbart News.
He says he’s working on a web series for Crackle, called “Cucks in Cars Getting Coffee.” As for politics, Bannon still claims to be a kingmaker (at around the 6.00 mark).
He convinced the country to vote for Donald Trump, so he can do it again. He’s already auditioning candidates. The first he mentions: Logan Paul.
As the audience gasps, Bannon reveals who the other candidates are: jailed pharma-bro Martin Shkreli and former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle — who’s also in jail for child pornography.
The humor might be too caustic for some. But if you’re being mentioned in the same stanza as these two, your brand has very serious issues.
Paul, who’s offered his apologies, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
His more than 15 million subscribers might stand by their hero.
But where will the money come from? Brands likely won’t want anything to do with him. And with platforms such as YouTube under increasing pressure to be a little more responsible about what they show, will Google’s site really want to partner with him in any way?
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It’s time for America to slide down the Bannonster,” quips the ever-confident Bannon. Will Paul be sliding along with it?
Technically Incorrect: Bringing you a fresh and irreverent take on tech.
Special Reports: CNET’s in-depth features in one place.
