Because I must walk many miles every day in order to keep my silly little brain from rebelling against me, I listen to many podcasts. But because I am easily distracted, and easily bored, and cannot think about the terrors of the world on my walks, I prefer podcasts that are fun. This means that my favorite podcast is Who? Weekly, a podcast that teaches you everything you need to know about the celebrities you don't. Usually, the overlap between the Who? Weekly content and Defector dot com content is rare, and so it is unnecessary for me to blog about it. But this week, Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber talked about something so unbelievable that I had to find it for myself. (You can listen to the whole episode here.)
During the show, the hosts point out a YouTube video titled "Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers visit Walt Disney World." It was posted April 12, and has (as of publication) a little over 61,000 views. If you know anything about these two pretty famous celebrities, you know already that something isn't right. That's not enough views. Then things get weirder. The video was posted by an account called "Chip and Company" and, for that account, this is a ton of views. Most of their videos, like "A look inside Marvel's Avengers Campus," have less than 100.
Why did Rodgers and Woodley agree to do this video? And why is it ... uh ... so fucking weird? Let's just watch it:
I thought, as Bobby and Lindsey talked, it must be because they are Disney People. Rodgers and Woodley do give off the kind of optimistic, all-American, Disney-People vibe, so it wouldn't be that surprising. But that's not it. They both say they haven't been to Disney World in a while, and it is one of the most uncomfortable, quick Q&A videos I have ever seen! Look at their body language!!!!
Their relationship, while it seems genuine, makes me very uncomfortable. "I'm really proud, baby, of how you make the bed in the morning," Woodley says at the 1:40 mark. "You're really good at it." While she says this, she pets his leg like she is grooming all the hair to go in the same direction? I hate it!
Then Who? Weekly ruined my life again by finding a similar video of Tom Brady:
Yes, the video of Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers at Disney World was weird and *not* affiliated with Disney. But the video of Tom Brady uploaded by the same non-Disney account is... much, much weirder. What do these celebrities think they're filming, exactly? Some highlights: pic.twitter.com/sLtai7n6kf
— Who? Weekly (@whoweekly) April 16, 2021
Let's watch this whole video, too. It's a Sunday. What do you have to do that's so much more important?
This video is even weirder! Brady seems to think he's shooting some kind of commercial? His kids aren't even with him? You can watch Brady ride a ride in this video, so that's something. But you can also watch him play with a lightsaber? Then halfway through this video, it switches to B-roll footage so you can watch him walk around. That's exciting, I guess.
Upsettingly, there are even more of these videos that we must see. Here' s one of Rob Gronkowski from February.
At least in this one, his family seems to be with him. But it has the same home-video vibe to it. Gronkowski seems to think he's filming an Instagram story? For another person? We also get to watch him ride the ride.
There also is a video of Julian Edelman in 2019, but this one makes more sense. It seems to have been filmed at a press conference after the team trip to Disney World, post-Super Bowl victory. None of the other videos on this page are like these three: strange, personal, and awkward. The weirdest part is that this account isn't even affiliated with the Disney Corporation. It's an account of people who love Disney World.
Why would Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers agree to this? Did they get paid some money? Did they get a free hotel? Did they think this was promotion for his Jeopardy! appearance? The paparazzi photos make sense, but this video? Why would they do this?
It has haunted me, and now it must also haunt you.
