Whats' Trending - February 23, 2016

Yelp customer service employee Talia Jane wrote an online letter to her boss and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. The letter, written on Medium, talks about how much Talia is struggling as a result of the company’s low pay. Less than two hours later, Jane wrote on Twitter that she had been fired for writing the post. She later claims she was fired for violating Yelp’s terms of conduct. Meanwhile, Stoppelman insists her firing was not related to the post.

Talia Jane lives in one of the most expensive cities in the world. In her letter, she talks about how grueling it is to be working more than 40 hours a week, yet bringing home a mere $733 every two weeks while paying $1,245 a month for her apartment rent. On top of that, Jane says she spends $11.30 every day just to take the train to work. 

“Here I am, 25-years old, balancing all sorts of debt and trying to pave a life for myself that doesn’t involve crying in the bathtub every week. Every single one of my coworkers is struggling. They’re taking side jobs, they’re living at home. One of them started a GoFundMe because she couldn’t pay her rent.”

How has Yelp responded to the controversy? In his response, billionaire CEO Jeremy Stoppelman focused more on housing costs, and how “the cost of living in SF is far too high”.

Stoppelman also tried defending himself by writing, “Twitter army please put down the pitchforks.”

A Yelp spokesperson wrote: “We do not comment on personnel issues. However, we did agree with many of the points in Ms. Jane’s post and we viewed it as her real, personal narrative about what it’s like to live in the Bay Area. Most importantly, it’s an important example of freedom of speech.”

READ FULL LETTER HERE

Henry Cavill, who will play Superman in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film, asked kids to decide who was better: Batman or Superman? Despite being in the presence of a superhero, these kids were not the least bit intimidated to share their honest opinions.

Batman seems to be more popular when it comes to this crowd, even if Cavill tried his best to convince them otherwise. One kid suggested that perhaps some upgrades to Superman’s stunts would be a cool tornado kick that hits guys where it hurts the most!

The video was made as a part of a charity the movie is involved in. Basically, people’s donations gives them a chance to win a meet-and-greet with Henry, Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenberg at the premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

 

Demi Lovato is defending herself after some people on social media claimed she was calling out Taylor Swift for donating money to Kesha. Since finding out that Kesha must continue working under contract with Sony and Dr. Luke, the producer she claims emotionally, mentally, and sexually abused her — multiple celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus took to the internet to show their support for the 28-year-old singer.

Demi Lovato tweeted the following:

So when Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha to help her with legal fees, Kesha’s mom confirmed this news on Twitter:

But then, Demi Lovato wrote this, and people took it as a jab to Taylor Swift

Demi responded to the haters saying:

“How the f**k am I making it about myself? Not everyone has 250k to just give to people. Would love to but I didn’t grow up with money and def haven’t made as much as her…There’s no ‘rivalry’ I just give more fu**s than other people and would rather start a dialogue ABOUT WOMEN COMING FORWARD ABOUT BEING RAPED than throw money at one person.”

“I didn’t shade Taylor. If you take it that way than fine. I’m just tired of seeing women use ‘women empowerment’ and ‘feminism’ to further brands without actually being the ones that have the uncomfortable conversations. I get shade and I don’t give a f–k because someone has to be the one to take it. At least I’m getting my hands dirty.”

Dr. Luke took to Twitter on Monday to address a judge’s recent ruling that Kesha cannot back out of her contract with him despite alleging years of abuse at the hands of producer. “I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her,” he wrote. “Kesha and I were friends for many years and she was like my little sister.” He continued, “The only truly objective person who knows the facts is the judge. The judge did not rule in Kesha’s favor on Friday. I understand why people without all the information are speaking out. I can appreciate their compassion. But lives can get ruined when there’s a rush to judgment before all the facts come out. Look what happened at UVA, Duke etc.” Dr. Luke went on to share screenshots of articles from TMZ and the ?New York Daily News?, in which Kesha states that he did not sexually assault her.

NOW, Jack Antonoff, who has worked with Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Sia, is offering to help Kesha record new music

In a series of tweets, he wrote to Kesha saying –

“Don’t know what the legal specifics are, but if you want to make something together & then leak it for everyone I’m around or just make something and wait on it till that creep can’t block you anymore. standing offer”

Nothing will likely come of this though because he is signed to RCA Records – a Sony label and any sort of collaboration would lead to big lawsuits for Kesha.

She is trapped.

Eva Longoria celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Spice Girls’ Spice album this week by putting a telenovela spin on the group’s hit “Wannabe” for Mashable. Posted yesterday, the clip shows the actress delivering a super dramatic and emotional reading of the song–complete with ugly crying and ear-splitting laughter. For those unfamiliar with telenovelas, the Spanish-language soap operas are known for their tendency to be mega-dramatic. And as expected, Longoria delivers the goods.

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