"I have been a certified Timothy hater for a long time,” Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick says. “I feel very vindicated…Something like the Kalshi thing really solidified feelings or little glimpses people saw, a la: the Kylie Jenner of it all. The — not politically — proud boy-ness. The relationship to not exactly nepotism, but being in situations and having environments to help you succeed. Things like this put him in perspective…You are not an artist: you are a capitalist.”
“I don’t know,” Ben Dietz replies. “I struggle to take away his artistry by virtue of his engagement with capitalism. He falls into the same camp as Zoran Mamdani because they are children of hip-hop. There is equivocation or equanimity between financial success and social success.”
“I don’t think it’s a rapacious thing,” he says. “Holly, what do you think? Is he just out for the bag? Or is it deeper than that?”
“I think,” Holly Beddingfield, editor and founder of Capsule, starts, “Number one: he’s got cash to burn. He loves gambling. He loves poker nights with Kylie Jenner. This is probably a little hobby of his. It may be not-that-deep.”
“He’s also trying to appeal to the masses, or what he deems the masses are,” she continues. “His comments about not wanting to do ballet or opera and his marketing for Marty Supreme trying to bring a smaller film to more people and, then, ultimately gambling, prediction markets — whatever — is a thing that some of the massed engage in. It’s not high brow, I’ll put it that way. he’s kind of trying to get closer to feet on the ground, regular people, one of the guys.”
“The people who criticize him are probably slightly higher brow, more academic,” she adds. “The people who would watch it and be like ‘That’s a cool ad.’ probably also like putting a bet on the game sometimes.”
“I wonder if high brow even exists at this point anymore,” Ben says.
Holly raises her hand. “I’m raising my hand because high brow now is not having to promote yourself online. That’s what I think it is…Low brow is more ‘Click the link in my bio,’ which is me every damn day.”
“Are you low brow and owning it?” Ben asks.
“Yeah,” Holly says. “I’m low brow and owning it. It’s all I can do.”
“I do agree with that,” Kyle says. “But part of that is literal class-based but also the performance of class. Some people have to do it. Kylie and Timothee aren’t doing the click the link in bio because they don’t have to…His literal age peers, who are trying to be actors? Oh they are. They’re on TikTok. They’re having to make their comedy videos every day.”
“This is really fascinating,” Ben says. “There’s a two-by-two to be drawn here, of high brow/low brow, accessible opportunity/optional opportunity. Something like that.”
Something like that indeed. The chat continues, exploring the tiptoeing drama around Ariana Grande’s health and the overflowing love around the World Cup in North America. Listen above, and or on YouTube and Spotify.
Find more from HIP REPLACEMENT on YouTube, Spotify, and Instagram. Be sure to follow Ben Dietz over on SIC and Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick over on The Trend Report™ too.
