Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet as a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Unbust Creative. I'm Bridget Todd
Speaker 1: and this is there Are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: Today we have another edition of Things on the Internet
Speaker 1: that Don't Suck, and today that thing is Olivia Juliana
Speaker 1: Olivia is an abortion advocate and political strategist for the
Speaker 1: organization gen Z for Change, a youth led nonprofit working
Speaker 1: to educate and make tangible change on issues that disproportionately
Speaker 1: affect young people. So strapping because Olivia is about to
Speaker 1: become your new favorite person on the Internet. So you've
Speaker 1: probably heard the name Matt Gets. He's a Florida Republican
Speaker 1: congress person, a huge Trump ally, our right wing extremist,
Speaker 1: and disinformer who says that he's quote proud to be
Speaker 1: in the corner of folks like Marjorie Taylor Green, who
Speaker 1: we know is a very vocal Q and On supporter,
Speaker 1: which is really something when you consider that Gets himself
Speaker 1: is currently under investigation for sex trafficking a minor, So
Speaker 1: you might think that someone facing allegations of pretty serious
Speaker 1: sex crimes against a minor would just kind of lay
Speaker 1: low and not attract too much attention to himself, especially
Speaker 1: not attention involving young women. But you would be wrong.
Speaker 1: At a rally in Tampa, gets one out of his
Speaker 1: way to make fun of abortion rights activists. Why is
Speaker 1: it that the women with the least likelihood of getting
Speaker 1: pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions? Nobody
Speaker 1: wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb.
Speaker 1: These people are odious on the inside and out. They're
Speaker 1: like five to fifty pounds, and they're like, give me
Speaker 1: my abortions or all get up in march and protests.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, March, do look like you got ankles
Speaker 1: weaker than the legal reasoning behind rowe versus way boo,
Speaker 1: we hate it, we hate it, we hate it. And honestly,
Speaker 1: this is just such a tired joke. And it's also
Speaker 1: a rip off of an old George Carlin stand up
Speaker 1: routine which was actually originally making fun of anti abortion advocates,
Speaker 1: So yeah, he wasn't even being original on top of
Speaker 1: not even being funny. And I also love how he
Speaker 1: clearly kind of pauses for like a big laugh or
Speaker 1: a big round of applause that kind of really doesn't
Speaker 1: come because it wasn't very funny, and you know who
Speaker 1: else didn't find it funny? Olivia. Nineteen year old Olivia
Speaker 1: took to Twitter to respond, saying, it's come to my
Speaker 1: attention that Matt gets a legend. Pedophile has said that
Speaker 1: it's always the quote odious five ft to three fifty
Speaker 1: pound women, that quote nobody wants to impregnate? Who rallied
Speaker 1: for abortion. I'm actually five eleven six four in heels.
Speaker 1: I wear them so the small men like you are
Speaker 1: reminded of your place and shout out to all the
Speaker 1: all girls. I'm fave eleven. So you know I loved that.
Speaker 1: So as my mom likes to say, a hit dog
Speaker 1: will holler, So of course Matt had to have something
Speaker 1: the same. He retorted by tweeting an image of Olivia
Speaker 1: alongside an article about his comments about abortion advocates being
Speaker 1: gross looking. Yeah, that's right, that jokes about a nineteen
Speaker 1: year old from a sitting congress person. So this naturally
Speaker 1: and unfortunately led to Olivia getting all kinds of really
Speaker 1: nasty messages from his supporters. She tweeted, this is what
Speaker 1: happens when a sitting Republican congressman body shames and blast
Speaker 1: you on social media. Matt Gets intentionally directed his followers
Speaker 1: to harass a young person. This is the Republican Party,
Speaker 1: these are their leaders. But Olivia didn't stop there. Oh no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no no. You see, Olivia grew up watching professional wrestling,
Speaker 1: and she says that watching w w E taught her
Speaker 1: about the power of quick wit and the devastating comeback
Speaker 1: to really put somebody in their place. So that's exactly
Speaker 1: what she did. On behalf of her organization, gen Z
Speaker 1: for Change, Olivia used gets His ugly comments to start
Speaker 1: a campaign to fundraise for abortion rights. She raised fifty
Speaker 1: dollars in less than twenty four hours, and as of today,
Speaker 1: she's raised a whopping two million dollars, more than she
Speaker 1: says the organization has ever taken in. According to The
Speaker 1: Washington Post, the funds will be split between fifty different
Speaker 1: abortion funds with the goal of widening access to abortion services,
Speaker 1: birth control, contraceptives, and other reproductive health services. Here's what
Speaker 1: Olivia told MSNBC. Honestly, I think my age is a
Speaker 1: gift because I'm so young. A lot of these politicians
Speaker 1: think that I'm young, dumb, naive, or ignorant. When the
Speaker 1: reality is I am the political strategist for one of
Speaker 1: the top and largest youth led nonprofits in the country,
Speaker 1: gen Z for Change. We've had multiple success stories on
Speaker 1: mobilizing young owners across the country. We're working alongside Democratic
Speaker 1: candidates from across the country, and so by underestimating me
Speaker 1: and thinking that I won't be able to fire back
Speaker 1: as hard as I proved that I can, they are
Speaker 1: truly gifting me a national platform on a silver platter.
Speaker 1: So honestly, I would like to thank them for consistently
Speaker 1: undermining me and undermining gen Z, because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, we're the ones who usually win these battles.
Speaker 1: I also really love what she had to say in
Speaker 1: teen Vogue. Olivia told teen Vogue that Matt really just
Speaker 1: picked the wrong team to bully, saying, quote, Matt had
Speaker 1: put a spotlight on me, he had given me the
Speaker 1: chance to rebut publicly, and I think that what he
Speaker 1: was expecting was for me to fall into an outrage cycle.
Speaker 1: He wanted me to be like, this is horrendous, You're evil,
Speaker 1: you should be canceled. He wants people to label him
Speaker 1: as a monster and a free speech absolutist and I
Speaker 1: don't think he expected me to respond the way that
Speaker 1: I did to fundraise for abortions. He also probably didn't
Speaker 1: expect me to bring up his criminal and the stigation.
Speaker 1: What a weirdo to talk about another teenager. And I
Speaker 1: really love this because I think that she brilliantly subverted
Speaker 1: this tired notion of a young person as this delicate
Speaker 1: scold who would just fall apart when challenged. I know
Speaker 1: that's the portrait that people like Matt Deets and his
Speaker 1: supporters like to paint of our young people, but it
Speaker 1: is a fiction. Young people gen z. They're some of
Speaker 1: the most resilient, creative, strong people I have ever met,
Speaker 1: and honestly, they inspire me to stay in this movement
Speaker 1: time and time again. And Yeah, I think the bottom
Speaker 1: line is don't mess with teens. I can tell you
Speaker 1: this firsthand from hanging out with my teenage cousins, and
Speaker 1: if you've got any teens in your life, I know
Speaker 1: that you know what I'm talking about, because they will
Speaker 1: embarrass you. Case in point, I think it's quite telling
Speaker 1: that Gates's office would try to keep the word teenager
Speaker 1: out of the headline. I'm Matt Gates and teenager trended together,
Speaker 1: it didn't end so well for him, So a live
Speaker 1: via Thank you for giving me something on the Internet
Speaker 1: that doesn't suck. Thank you for being a light in
Speaker 1: a world that feels like it is full of trash
Speaker 1: and constantly on fire. And as you know, I asked
Speaker 1: you all to send along your good news, things that
Speaker 1: are making you feel something other than to spare in
Speaker 1: these dark times, and listener, Valerie Maids in and Arbor,
Speaker 1: Michigan shared a little good news that I actually didn't
Speaker 1: even know about and wanted to share with all of you.
Speaker 1: Valerie writes here in Michigan, LGBTQ protections were not insured
Speaker 1: by law, and yesterday the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that
Speaker 1: were the state's non discrimination law bands discrimination on the
Speaker 1: basis of sex, that that now also includes protections for
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ community. I didn't even know they were considering that,
Speaker 1: and I was delighted to hear, and Valerie, I am
Speaker 1: delighted as well. Thank you for sharing, and listeners, please
Speaker 1: continue to share with me what's bringing you joy or happiness,
Speaker 1: or a little bit of light or a little bit
Speaker 1: of laugh on the Internet. I don't care how petty
Speaker 1: it is. I don't care how small it is, I
Speaker 1: don't care how silly it is. I want to hear
Speaker 1: about it. If you're looking for ways to support the show,
Speaker 1: check out our mark store at tangodi dot com. Flash Store.
Speaker 1: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or
Speaker 1: just want to say hi, You can reach us at
Speaker 1: Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts
Speaker 1: for today's episode at tangdi dot com. There Are No
Speaker 1: Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Tod.
Speaker 1: It's a production of iHeart Radio and Unboss Creative, edited
Speaker 1: by Joey pat Jonathan Strickland as our executive producer. Terry
Speaker 1: Harrison is our producer, and sound engineer. Michael Amatta was
Speaker 1: our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you
Speaker 1: want to help us grow, rate and review us on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from I heeart Radio, check
Speaker 1: out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.