GOOD AFTERNOON!

This is OUT OF SCOPE, your weekly intel to fuel your water cooler conversations, delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. If someone forwarded you this email, be sure and subscribe here. 

 are we here for the love?

If you’re not invested in the villa drama, you’re not in the loop. This season’s Love Island USA is the pop culture obsession of the summer. It’s drawing March Madness-level watch parties, it’s completely inescapable on social media, and it’s dominating screens on a nightly basis (besides Wednesdays, of course). People are watching in record numbers and digging into the islanders’ lives more than ever before. 

While the contestants embark on their search for love on the coast of Fiji, phoneless and completely disconnected from the outside world, some islanders gain millions of followers overnight. That’s part of what draws people to participate in this (at times cruel) social experiment in the first place. But some contestants are cyberbullied, threatened, and harassed as obsessed viewers search for skeletons in their closets—even host Ariana Madix had to tell the haters to stand down. 

As of Sunday night’s episode, two islanders have been dumped from the villa after racial slurs from their past were brought to light. Each one made their real-world reentrance to a very real slew of online hate. It’s the pinnacle of the ruthless scrutiny that has persisted throughout the show’s airing, encompassing everything from plastic surgery mockery to criticism of parenting choices. And the islanders aren’t only struggling once they read their comment sections – islander Huda Mustafa’s three-day-long crash-out had viewers begging producers to send her home for her emotional well-being. 

It’s not lost on us that more than a couple of former Love Island UK contestants took their own lives in the show’s aftermath. While Love Island is meant to celebrate budding romance and tropical fun, there’s certainly a dark side to the show’s newfound popularity. This reality show comes with a harsh reality check: online culture is brutal.

LUNCH BREAK

five quick consumption recs for the time between meetings

1. BRIDGING GENERATIONS. Gen-Z darling Meg Stalter joins Fergie for a reshoot of the “London Bridge” video—20 years after the pop star filmed the original on the wrong U.K. bridge. 

2. GET TO KNOW THE BLACK WIDOW. Survivor legend/villain/icon Parvarti Shallow gave an interview with Vulture to promote her new memoir Nice Girls Don’t Win.

3. THE INTERNET FLIPS OUT OVER COOKIES. Pop star and frequent back-flipper Benson Boone teamed up with Crumbl Cookies to release a cookie inspired by his lyric: “moonbeam ice cream” –– and the internet has, of course, made it a meme.

4. TEACHERS GET SMART ON AI. Microsoft, OpenAI, and the second-largest teachers’ union are launching the National Academy of AI Instruction to improve AI integration in schools.

5. PAYING ATTENTION. Kyla Scanlon joins Ezra Klein to discuss what the attention economy means for politics and the actual economy.

TREND RAPPORT

viral vocab of the week 

W.A.G. (n.) – An abbreviation for “wives and girlfriends” of professional athletes. While the term has existed since the early 2000s, it’s still in frequent use today. Athletes’ partners share outfits on social media and build their personal brands around “WAG style.” Taylor Swift’s Chiefs games outfits made headlines. Brands like Reformation launched a collection emulating “WAG style.” But what “WAG style” really means is often more complex, with roots in gender, race, and class signals.

DUPE (n.) –  A knockoff. Dupe culture is here to stay, with budget-conscious shoppers scouring the internet for a cheaper version of a product they love, often sharing their finds on TikTok (aka “DupeTok”). However, brands like Lululemon are fighting back, suing companies like Costco for allegedly making copycat versions of their products.

WAYMO (n.) –  Google’s self-driving cars, which have fueled controversy in the cities that have rolled them out. The company announced its Philly debut this week—let’s see how the new-age taxi fares.

SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY!

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