Red carpet reality (star)

Giggly Squad cohost and stand-up comedian Hannah Berner is apologizing after receiving backlash for remarks she made during a red carpet interview with Megan Thee Stallion on the red carpet of an Oscars afterparty, where she and Paige DeSorbo, her Giggly Squad cohost, were hired by Vanity Fair to interview celebrities.

During their nearly three-minute chat with Megan, Hannah remarked that she started her day with Meg’s music, adding that Meg’s songs are her fight soundtrack.

“When I want to fight someone, I listen to your music. When people are talking sh-t, I go, 'Turn on Megan Thee Stallion!'" 

Upon hearing this, Megan tried to shut down the talk of violence, saying "You want to throw that fighting sh-t out the window and you want to get cute and be a bad bitch."

@vanityfair

Reminder: #MeganTheeStallion is that girl. #VFOscarParty

♬ original sound - Vanity Fair

As the clip made its way across social media, the reactions were swift, and Hannah’s comments were characterized as being a microaggression and racist. Claims that, despite my love and adoration for Hannah, I can’t argue with.

In a prelude to the latest episode of Giggly Squad, Hannah began with an apology that mirrored one she made in a now-expired Instagram story, saying:

“Looking back at the interview, I really wish I used any other word except ‘fight’ to describe how her songs impact me. Definitely was not the right word. While there wasn’t any ill intent, that does not matter. I acknowledge that what I said has a deeper meaning and I’m so sorry to Megan. I appreciate everyone who brought this to my attention.”

Having been a long-time listener of Giggly Squad, and a follower of Hannah’s since her days on earlier seasons of Summer House, I trust that her intentions were truly to laud and flatter Meg and simply make the point that her music hypes her up. But as Hannah said herself, intent doesn’t negate impact, and I wouldn’t be writing this right now if she had just left violence - especially considering she was in conversation with a woman who was the victim of gun violence - out of it. 

As Sarah has written before, sometimes the point of influencers hitting the red carpet is so that articles like this can be written, and clips like the exchange between the podcast hosts and Meg can go viral, and conversations can be had. All of that can work wonders in helping to promote a movie or publication or keep any given star in the spotlight. But this particular exchange begs the question of whether all press is good press, and what the risks associated with sending untrained and ill-equipped influencers to red carpets are.

It's no secret that Hannah and Paige have done incredibly well for themselves after being on Summer House together and teaming up to do their podcast. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a huge hit. In its four-year run, Giggly Squad now ranks 31st in the United States on Spotify, has over 650,000 followers on Instagram, and has sold out live shows in every city on their North American tour. 

In fact, out of all the Summer House cast members, Hannah boasts the largest Instagram following, sitting at more than 2 million. Her following is even larger than Paige’s, who, many would agree is more likeable and relatable – and certainly less polarizing, based on the responses to the TikTok of the interview posted by Vanity Fair. 

 

Despite the apparent dislike for Hannah, she’s successful in her own right. She landed a Netflix special for her stand-up comedy, which gave her a huge boost and helped her expand her platform, exposing her to new audience members. We all know stand-up comedy is hard so none of this is to say that Hannah is not skilled – but red carpet skills are a completely different beast. 

As for Paige, out of the pair, she seemed to be a bit more of a natural fit for a red carpet, considering her background in fashion – it’s always been her bread and butter. But she wasn’t approaching the red carpet interviews from the perspective of a fashion industry insider. She was there as one half of the Giggly Squad. And while it would’ve been great to see her use this opportunity to show her experience, having attended so many fashion shows and building relationships with designers and conducting interviews from that perspective. But instead, we got what was a bit of a trainwreck.

There’s a reason there are entire cast and crew teams sent to Los Angeles during awards season. Producers help ensure that hosts, who also bear their own knowledge and experience, have an abundance of information about the stars they are about to interview, the film they may be discussing and the designer they may be inquiring about. But hands down, one of the biggest advantages to having a team, having real red carpet experience as opposed to just being handed a microphone, is having that much more context, that much more situational awareness – which means being able to prepare yourself to avoid a misstep like Hannah’s. 

All of this highlights the importance of posing the question that the TikTok user in that last comment did – about hiring people with journalism degrees. In all of the discourse about this exchange and the many exchanges between influencers and celebrities on red carpets before it, that we will continue to revisit unless we can collectively come to some sort of agreement about what the role of influencers on red carpets is, and whether they belong there at all, media outlets themselves should be asking this internally. And it’s not to say that they don’t, but perhaps there needs to be more criteria, and more of a framework for what it looks like.

This exchange is also a prime example of how being likeable and successful in one setting doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be well-received in another. So much of the feedback about Paige and Hannah’s interviews, not only with Meg but with some of the other celebrities they talked to, which included Amy Poehler, Hailey Bieber and Jesse Eisenberg, were that they spoke over each other and the stars too much. But anyone who listens to Giggly Squad knows this is very on brand for them.

Outlets like Vanity Fair that contract influencers to do these types of interviews have a decision to make. The decision is whether the risks of bad publicity or a bad interview going viral outweigh the benefits of having the influencers there – which usually comes down to attracting newer, younger audience members, simply meeting them where they’re at, and particularly through people they recognize, people like Hannah and Paige. And perhaps what outlets like Vanity Fair need to do is assist these influencers in going from untrained yappers given microphones and free reign over what, historically, has been one of the most exclusive spaces in Hollywood, to more refined media professionals that can make the switch between being influencers, podcast hosts, and red carpet interviewers. 

It's unfortunate that this moment, a career high for both these women, just perhaps in different senses, went left. For Hannah, a Meg stan, this stain will be hard to forget. And for Paige, her mere association with this exchange could mean that she’s not invited back to do red carpet interviews, which could actually be a viable option for her if she just gets a bit more training and experience. But I hurt most for Meg. Because she doesn’t rap about fighting. She makes empowering music for women. And this entire conversation has synonymized her with one of the things that has negatively impacted her life the most – violence.