I know I’m late to the game in summarizing 2022 pop culture, I mean we’re already a few weeks into February. But, after some deep recollection of the events that shaped my attitude toward this past year, I’ve decided that it’s time to air them out. There’s no possible way I could cover every pop culture moment of prevalence from last year, so I’ll just pick the most popular one—in my opinion—from every month. So, join me for this inevitable journey of blasphemous celebrity tomfoolery, and moments that made every mediasphere gasp in awe, with a sprinkle of secondhand embarrassment.
January: Season 2 of Euphoria
Is it even a question that the second season of Euphoria had all of us glued to our HBO Max accounts and TV screens every Sunday night? I don’t particularly think so. Besides, this season was all about drama, drama, drama. Not only was it highly anticipated, but watching Cassie’s slow descent into her villain era for Nate was wholly captivating, Rue’s sobriety journey led to more antics, and we got a second dose of stellar costuming. But if we’d known what would come for the rest of the year, I’m sure we’d all say, “Bitch, you better be joking.”
February: Kanye West dated Julia Fox, meanwhile Kim Kardashian dated Pete Davidson
Okay, I’m not trying to bring any attention to the rapper who is a heinous antisemite and needs a healthy vacation to a psych ward, but this pairing was a ride. Firstly, I think we were all floored when Kim K and Pete announced their relationship in October of 2021, but Ye pairing up with Julia Fox was just icing on the cake. I mean how abstract can you get? I’ll be completely honest, when Julia and [redacted] started dating I had no idea who she was. But now I completely stan her and I attribute her as being one of the only humble celebrities. Also, thank god that Kim and Pete called it quits because their relationship gave me the ick.
March: Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars, AKA “Slapgate”
Look, do I think that Will Smith should’ve caused a scene screaming at Chris Rock during the Oscars and then storm the stage to lay down the slap heard around the world? No, but also yes because I’m messy and LIVE for the drama. Arguably, Will was just defending his wife Jada, and Chris’ joke about GI Jane–relating to Jada’s alopecia–was insensitive. But, that type of humor is what celebrity comedians use as their bread and butter. I mean when was the last time you watched a special from Dave Chapelle or Kevin Hart where they didn’t make fun of someone? Yeah, the answer would be never. Anyway, I loved this meme content.
April: Elon Musk starts his acquisition of Twitter
In debatably one of the worst things to happen to a social media platform, Elon Musk initiated his acquisition of Twitter. There are a lot of things I think multi-billionaires shouldn’t do, and there are a lot of things I think Elon Musk, personally, shouldn’t do, owning Twitter is on this list. Because the top thing we need someone disgustingly rich to do is own and *try* to operate one of the largest social media sites in the world. But, that’s just my hot take. (Let’s not even mention how the whole app almost faced a chaotic crash and burn when he took over in October 2022.)
May: Kim Kardashian wears Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the Met Gala
No. That’s my simple answer, just no. I don’t know how you feel about Kim Kardashian, but I will happily tell you how I feel about her. In short, I despise the Kardashian/Jenner clan almost as much as I hate peanut butter, the GOP, and Marjorie Taylor Green. But I think this use of Marilyn Monroe’s death was blatantly disrespectful to the former actress. I also think of all the damage that was caused to this beautiful film artifact and it makes my blood boil. I don’t care how famous you are, or you think you are, it doesn’t mean that you should get everything you want. It was a move in very poor taste in my opinion.
June: Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard defamation trial wraps up in Virginia
Ahh, the messy divorce of the century. Not only is this probably the most quotable trial transcript I’ve ever come across–cue “mega pint”—but once again, I’m a messy gal so I was living for this drama. There were so many layers to this trial that got completely spun in 30 different directions by the media that it was hard to take anything seriously. I’m not going to get into the who was right and who was wrong aspect of this, because that’s a very tricky opinion to navigate. But just taking this moment at its face value is enough.
July: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez get married… again
Honestly, I don’t really care about this one. I’m not a huge fan of Ben Affleck or Jennifer Lopez, they’re just not important to me. But, the millennials went crazy on this one. Affleck and JLo got married for the first time in 2003 and considering that I was still in diapers at that point, I’m indifferent to the event and its outcome.
August: Corn Kid on TikTok
“It’s Corn!” might have been repeating in my mind for a month after its debut. Not only was the meme kid absolutely adorable, but the tune of the TikTok original became a perpetual earworm for everyone. I also thought it was cute that some people did follow-up interviews with the little boy to see where he was at after his fame, and if he still had a sweet spot for corn. I will say this was probably one of the more influential TikTok moments of the year.
September: Queen Elizabeth II DIES
Well at least the UK only had to change one word in its national anthem. I’m not trying to invalidate her subjects’ feelings, this was tragic. But, other people (I’m looking at you Ireland) rejoiced in the monarch’s passing. As someone who’s obviously not a citizen of the UK, I think it’s sad that she died, I mean she was a person just like you and me. I can’t speak for others, and if you ask me every person in control of a country does absolutely terrible things sometimes. But, I still think it’s insane that she was on the throne for 70 years, 70… years… That is an absurd amount of time to be a monarch. She also took the throne when she was 25, if I did some quick math—I’m 21, and that would mean I could take the throne in four years. Would I be capable and ready? Absolutely not. My second point is that she was the longest-reigning British monarch, and I think it’s pretty sick that a woman holds that title. Anyway, enough of my rant, good luck King Charles.
October: The Try Guys break up
Ned Fulmer you f****** piece of s***, you singlehandedly ruined one of my favorite YouTube crews from my adolescence. This fallout was truly unexpected and all sides of the story came out. Anyway, girls support girls and Ariel is a queen that truly deserved better. The honorable mention of this event is when the Try Guys editing team thoroughly dedicated so many late-night hours editing Ned out of pre-filmed footage and even went the length of replacing him with cutouts of animals in different videos. Well played Try Guys, well played.
November: Wednesday catapults Jenna Ortega into celebrity crush-hood
Wednesday Addams is and will forever be one of the original “It Girls” to me. I recall a good chunk of my prepubescent years being absolutely obsessed with Christina Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday in The Addams Family [1993]. Also, one time at a drag show, a rather intoxicated person told me that I looked like Christina Ricci so that’s marked on my list of top compliments of all time. Anyways, back to the show, when I first saw Jenna Ortega in The Fallout [2021] I was an instant fan. Her portrayal of the new-age Gen Z Wednesday is superb and I will never get the remix of Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” out of my head because of it.
December: The New York Times publishes a crossword that resembles a swastika
Finally, we’ve reached the end of my 2022 pop culture recap with anti-semitism, yay. This massive mistake really just made me wonder how many copy editors and other people the crossword had to go through and it still got published. You’re not going to be able to tell me that no one, NO ONE, at the NYT office thought it kind of sort of resembled a swastika? Even though this mishap had nothing to do with the news, I want to say that it aided in some people not trusting the major news outlet. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, in a moment of double trouble the crossword was posted on the first day of Hanukkah. That’s a huge yikes.
Well anyways, thanks for coming along on the pop culture ride with me, it’s been fun. Whether you choose to remember 2022 with joy, peril, or contempt, just know that the world will continue to be batshit crazy. I can’t wait to see what 2023 holds.