The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | GE16, Exit Polls, & Free Kesha

By Jade Hayden

This week, the general election happened, and Twitter was awash with tweets about polling booths, exit polls, the demise of the country as we know it, and ballot papers. We also saw the whole of the internet transform into a viral campaign to #FreeKesha, after the singer lost her legal battle against Dr Luke and Sony. As well as this, lots of black people recorded trap covers of lots of white songs. It was great.

@KeshaRose loses sexual assault case against #DrLuke and Sony #FreeKesha 

Over the weekend, it was reported that Kesha had lost her court battle against Dr Luke – her producer and alleged abuser of ten years. Kesha originally sued Dr Luke for battery, sexual assault, and emotional distress a few years ago in an attempt to break her contract with Luke’s record label and Sony. This week, it was revealed that Kesha would not be permitted to exit her contract, and was to legally record six more albums for the label.

Following the verdict, thousands upon thousands of fans, recording artists, and general people who believe forcing somebody to work with their abuser is wrong, took to Twitter to condemn the court’s decision, and to demand justice for Kesha. The ‘Free Kesha’ hashtag trended worldwide for over a day, as the social media site became inundated with messages of support for the singer, her family, and anyone else who has ever been afraid to speak out about sexual abuse.

https://twitter.com/musicnews_shade/status/703263597502181376

Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, Adele, Lorde and many more also used Twitter to extend their love and support to Kesha, and to express their disgust with an industry that actively promotes the dehumanisation of its female artists.

https://twitter.com/ddlovato/status/701134345545748480

During the week, Kesha released a statement in which she thanked everyone supporting her for their kindness, and encouraged anybody afraid to speak out about their abuse to do so.

#GE16 campaigns grind to a halt. Everybody votes. #ExitPolls are released.

Well, that’s it. The leader’s debates are over. The votes have been cast. The posters are about to come down. The ballots are being counted. Labour will soon disappear. General election 2016 is over. Almost.

Right this second as I am typing this very sentence we don’t yet know what sort of tragic government we’re going to get stuck with for the next four years, but if the exit polls and early tallies are anything to go by, it may very well be a Fine Gael/Fianna Fail coalition, much to the dismay of the good people of the country who didn’t vote for them, everyone who actually gives a fuck about Irish women, and even some FF/FG supporters, who are afraid that Gerry Adams will become automatic leader of the opposition should this coalition go ahead.

But it’s still early days, and as it stands about 50% of ballot boxes around the country have been opened and counted. There appears to be a lot of support for Independents and smaller parties, which is nice, but there also seems to be a massive resurgence in support for Fianna Fail, which is not so nice. It’s awful in fact, and left just about everybody wondering how anybody with a bit of sense/a vague memory of recent past events could actually put their trust in such a party.

#TrapCovers make the week a little less terrible

Lately, white people have done some stupid things. Been supporters of Donald Trump. Condemned gun control. Thought that reverse racism is real. Denied that Ted Cruz is in fact the Zodiac killer. Danced.

Another stupid thing that white people have done recently is record covers of songs that they have no business recording, like Beyoncé’s ‘Formation,’ and Rihanna’s ‘Work.’ The results were astounding, mesmerising, and truly inspiring, but not at all in the ways that white people had hoped they would have been.

Enter #TrapCovers – a means of responding to every single god awful white rap you’ve ever heard, while also vastly improving a lot of the god awful white people songs you’ve ever heard too. Trap covers took Twitter by storm yesterday, and it was great, because Twitter this week had been a fairly dismal place. That was, until, #TrapCovers. They’re good. Watch them.

https://twitter.com/The_RapGirl/status/703434680880799744

Featured image source.

Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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