Social Studies (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
-[partygoers shouting]
-[siren wailing]
[light, serious music playing]
I texted Jack
yesterday and I was like,
"What happened to
that kid who, like, OD'd?"
[Jack] He's okay now.
He actually posted
a photo on his
story the next day.
And then he did
an Instagram post
and he wrote this funny caption.
"i knew tha perc was fake
but i still ate it
cuz ima gremlin"
That was his caption.
[chuckles]
I heard that he bought drugs
from a homeless man
and then OD'd off of them.
Then his friends didn't like
that the homeless guy maybe
laced him with somethin'.
So, then they ended up doing
something to the homeless guy.
This girl actually gave me a
ride after home from the party.
She has the Tesla
and they caught it
on the Tesla camera
and you could see,
like, they ended up
on the hood of her car.
And she saw, like, the fight.
It was crazy, super funny,
but, like, not funny
at the same time.
I didn't see that 'cause
I left my own party
[laughs] 'cause I
just was stressed out.
There were holes in the wall,
people breaking into
the owner's office.
[Jack] Someone
took, like, a lightsaber
that was a lotta money.
I posted on the
account the next day.
I was like, "Yo, if you know
anyone that broke the wall,
like, can you let me know?"
[Scarlett] And all the
money that we were making
to cover everything
that we paid for,
was stolen by the
security guards.
Scarlett, she hired,
uh, one of the Kardashians'
old security guard,
which he was a good guy.
But the security
that the venue hired,
they were the ones
that robbed the money.
[Scarlett] Apparently,
the security guards
turned off the security cameras.
Then they just quit
their job and took off
with the, like, $3,000 of money.
But, I mean, overall,
it was a good party.
I think it might go down
as the party of the year.
The thing about this generation,
people are gonna look
back when they're, like, 20
or, like, 50, and
they're gonna be like,
"Oh, I'm gonna show my
kids this Snapchat memory
from when I was 13."
["jealousy, jealousy"
by Olivia Rodrigo playing]
Co-co-comparison
is killing me slowly ♪
I think, I think too much ♪
'Bout kids who don't know me ♪
I'm so sick of myself ♪
I'd rather be, rather be ♪
Anyone, anyone else ♪
Jealousy, jealousy ♪
Started following me ♪
[theme fades out]
[marching band music playing]
-[team shouts]
-[field chatter]
[crowd cheering]
[FB James] It's a
wonderful time over here,
the stadium by the sea.
You got the people
and the fans up there.
Go ahead and share
the feed on your timeline.
We're gonna have
some fun tonight.
[Jordan] I'm going
to the football game
with friends from my old school.
♪♪♪
The culture at Pali
can be, like, a little toxic.
[cheering]
[applause]
[player 10] Let's go, baby!
[Jordan] My friends
aren't from a co-ed school,
so they're just
around all girls, all day.
So, they're just kinda like,
"Oh, my God, like,
there's all these cute boys!"
-Aye, that's how we win! That's how we win!
-Yessir. That's the Pali way.
[player 13] Check my stats.
And they kept saying
like, "Oh, my God, Jordan,
we're so jealous that
you go to Pali," and stuff.
They're, like, kinda like me,
they're a little bit
boy-crazy, so
[speaker] One, two, three!
[student] I, like, brought my
charger 'cause, like, I thought--
[crew member]
Want me to plug it in?
[Dominic] I have a
question, really quick,
has anyone here gone to a school
that was not majority white?
-[students] Yeah.
-[Keshawn] Yeah, when I got to Pali,
I was always lookin' over
my back, saggin' my pants.
I came from, like, two
different environments.
It was hard to,
like, change over.
You go into a classroom,
everyone's starin' at you,
but everyone's a
different color from you.
You gotta change your
whole way of livin' type
just to be in the
classroom with them.
[Anthony] Yeah, in
2017, my freshman year,
I was getting called a n
r, like, left and right,
bathroom, classroom.
I'll be in the AP class,
and you already know,
you already know,
as a Black man,
as a Brown person,
as a person of the
LGB community,
there's been so many times I
just wanted to beat that kid's ass,
but if I stand up in class,
I'm the one that's aggressive.
[Marley] For me, it was,
like, a survival method.
Like, I had to whitewash
myself in order to survive
going to, like, schools
that were mainly white.
Like, I had to make myself
"appeal more" to
the white culture.
Is the social media
world that you're in online
more integrated
than the real world?
No. You go on your news feed
and you see type of shit like,
"Oh, just a whole bunch
of white kids is doin' this,"
then you go on this one, you see the
whole bunch of Black kids doin' this.
-You get two different images on-on-on social media.
-It's the, um, the algorithm.
In social media, I
definitely portrayed myself
as, like, a white girl
'cause, in Instagram,
that's what made you popular.
I tried so hard to be white.
Posting pictures, you know,
in bikinis on the
beach with my besties,
meanwhile, I, like, have
fuckin' body hair all over me
'cause I'm Mexican, but
these girls, like, looked, like--
they looked different than me
and I didn't wanna
seem like a Latina.
I didn't wanna seem
like not like them.
-[pensive music playing]
-[distant sirens]
[Ellie] Which one?
I like the [sings]
Show rockin' ♪
He got everything
that a girl's wanting ♪
[Ellie] Oh, the
Hannah Montana song.
Smooth talkin', so rockin' ♪
-He's got everything that a girl's
wantin' -[Ellie] Oh, my gosh, hold on.
-That one?
-Yeah.
[Ellie] Okay, that's
actually really cute.
We should totally
do that. C'mon.
Do your craziest rock move.
Go, like Do it, go.
-One, two.
-[phone recorder beeps]
["He Could Be the One"
by Hannah Montana playing]
[lip-syncing]
Guitar cutie, he
plays it groovy ♪
And I can't keep myself
from doin' somethin' stupid ♪
[song continues on phone]
Lilah, you look so cute.
This filter, on TikTok, it just
makes you look so pretty.
I live with my sister,
my mom, and my niece.
My mom was born
and raised in Mexico,
and she came to work out
here helping to take care of kids.
Basically nanny.
One of the families
my mom worked with,
they were a very wealthy family.
Their daughter, we
grew up together.
In, like, Brentwood, the
kids have really nice houses,
it was a very nice area.
Definitely way better
than what, like, you know,
what I grew up
around here in Mid City.
So, I started going
to school out there
because it was
closer to my mom's job
and she thought it was a
way better neighborhood
for me to be going to school in.
[Nadine] I love that one, Lilah.
Our parents, you know,
found the opportunity for us
and they took it.
Pali, academically,
it's a great school.
We were waking up three
hours early just to get there.
All the kids that were
on the school buses,
we were mostly
Black and Brown kids.
But, Ellie, she fit in more
over there on that side.
And she even had the look,
like, the way she dressed.
Very super model-y.
She rocked it.
[Ellie] I've come to my
home and people are like,
"You're whitewashed, you're
not Latina enough or whatever,"
and then, I go back to
school and they're like,
"Oh, like, you're Brown, you're
Latina, like, you're from the hood."
You don't ever
know where you fit in.
But it's really good to have,
like, a taste of both, I guess.
-[doorbell rings]
-Oh, the door.
-[gasps] Best friend!
-[Julie] Hi!
-Hi! How are you?
-Good.
[both chuckling]
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Really fast, really fast, really fast.
-[both giggling]
-[FaceTime ringing]
Oh, Juju's calling?
-Hello! It's working.
-[Julian] [over phone] Hello.
[Ellie] Whatcha doin'?
I mean, okay. Go off. I guess.
Do your thing. Aye yo.
Julian grew up
in, like, Mid City,
like, kind of South
Central area.
South Central is a very,
I guess you could say,
urban neighborhood.
He's, like, my first
boyfriend that was,
like, not whitewashed.
He, like, likes stuff,
like getting tatted,
and car meets, and
getting into fights.
Very, like, hood, I guess.
We began dating in freshman year
and he's my first love.
We just were very similar.
We became, like, peas in a pod.
-Bye, love you.
-See you in a bit!
-[family chattering]
-[security door shuts]
-Hoo-hoo. Okay.
-[phone notifications]
Give me one second.
It's crazy, dude.
This is actually fucking crazy.
[sighs] You know, I kinda
like our neighborhood.
Me too. It got a lot more
quiet, that's for sure.
-Right?
-Yeah.
[Ellie] Thank God.
I used to hear gunshots,
like, every week.
[FaceTime ringing]
Hey!
-[Julian] Hey. Where's Julie?
-Um, what's it called?
-Who's askin' for me? Who's askin' for me?
-[Ellie laughs]
He was like, "Where's
Julie?" [chuckles]
-You heard that?
-You miss me?
I really like Julian, but he's,
like, a little overprotective,
you know, a little
toxic ass, but, like
he would text her and be like,
"Send me your location.
I just wanna make
sure, like, you're okay."
Or, like, FaceTime
and be like, "Do a 360."
Okay, guys. Look,
look, look. Okay, guys.
[laughter]
I'm not playing.
[Wii theme song
playing on phone]
[both humming to song]
[both laughing]
[gunfire in video game]
[voice] [in video game]
Kill yourself. [groans]
Turn the lights
on, why are you in--
[Jordan] I play
in the dark, so
And I hope you don't think,
like, my eyesight's
gonna get bad
because you know
that's a myth, right?
I'm pretty sure the
eye doctor told you that.
-[Karen] No, she didn't, we
asked her-- -Uh, she actually did.
[Karen] Okay, see you later.
-M'kay, oh, bye, sorry.
-Bye.
[Jordan] I-I c-- like,
had my headphones in.
This game, they try to make
it, like, look stereotypical, like,
dirty part of the city, like,
urban part of the city. [sniffles]
So, I think that's why
they call it "Da Hood"
which is, like, weird for me.
The other players, most
of them are, like, white.
-[player] [over computer] Hello?
-Hello? [chuckles]
But most of my friends
online are Black kids.
-[game characters chattering]
-[gunshots in game]
I've met a lot of cool people
off the internet, to be honest.
There's just some
people on the internet
where they just
understand your situation,
they understand who you are.
If you're online you have,
like, more confidence.
[hip-hop music playing]
And, most of the time,
people are on there to date,
hook up, whatever.
Crop tops or, like, bikini sets.
I can't really go out with those
'cause my mom
does not let me just
full on with my booty out, so
I mean, that-- I-- That's,
o-obviously, understandable.
But, you know, on TikTok,
it just makes me look
so much better. [chuckles]
["Captain Hook" by
Megan Thee Stallion playing]
Hit this pussy
with an uppercut ♪
Call that nigga Captain Hook ♪
From, like, a young, young age,
like, I would just, like,
talk to people on Skype,
not knowing really
what their age is.
Like, these people probably
have, like, three kids and a wife
and they're just talking to
you knowing you're, like, 15.
So it's a little scary.
[phone notification]
I do have someone
that I like right now.
We joke around and say
"husband" and "wife." [chuckles]
He lives in the D.C.,
Maryland, Virginia area,
the DMV.
Great.
We really started
talking, like, a lot.
[phone notifications]
And then he was like, "Oh
yeah, I followed you on Roblox."
[chuckles] It was so funny
'cause, like, he only follows
one person and it's me.
[meows]
[light music playing]
It's just, like, kinda fun.
No!
I don't like you.
It would be so cool if we
could meet, like, in person.
But that's probably
not gonna happen
'cause of my mom. [chuckles]
[music fades out]
[Kristi] Well, I'm so impressed,
obviously, with my son, Jack.
We have a very
great relationship,
so we communicate a lot.
He's maintained straight
A's all through school.
You know, he
started a non-profit,
his TikTok was so brilliant
and, you know,
he did it on his own.
Do you mind if I just look
at a monitor really quick?
Oh, yeah, oh, wow,
look how orangey it is.
Holy buckets, I look like I got
sunburned at the tanning salon.
Lighting's everything, right?
Uh, my mom, uh, does
celebrity marketing,
so she works with a
lotta, like, the celebrities
in the industry with that.
Oh yeah, I've worked with
hundreds of celebrities, yeah.
I don't usually, like,
name drop. [chuckles]
She wor-- used to work
with Lindsay Lohan.
She was, like, her assistant
or something like that.
No, no, no, we were
business partners.
We owned a brand together.
[Jack] She has a
lot of experience
and she's always been
really good at marketing.
So he actually
came up with the idea.
We were in the car one
day goin' to a friend's house,
and he was like, "Yo,
we should start a brand."
And I was like, "That
sounds awesome. Let's do it."
We're about to launch
our new Loonar drop
and these are some of
the products we have.
So, we have these
pants, super sick.
Uh, Loonar hats
right here, unreleased.
But they're coming
soon in our next drop.
-Yup.
-And the-- yeah.
[Jack] My mom was kinda
helpin' with the whole process,
just, like, tellin' us, like, "You
gotta do this first, then this."
And we were, like-- 'Cause
sh-she wanted it to be professional.
[Kristi] One day, I remember I
got a call from KTLA, they're like,
"We wanna interview your son."
I'm like, "Oh!"
[reporter] Two teens have
designed a fashion empire
out of recycled materials.
Fifteen-year-olds, Jack
Schwartz and Mateo Santamaria
from Los Angeles have been
friends since the third grade.
The brand's
message is "equality."
What is the meaning
behind "Loonar"?
From the dark side to
the light side of the moon,
-we represent equality for all.
-I love that!
One incredibly creative
way they decided to market
was to get celebs to
wear Loonar masks.
[Jack] We'd go around, we're
like, "Aye, we got this clothing brand.
"We represent equality for all.
"You think you could
just throw on a mask
and help us promote it?"
-[Charli D'Amelio] Sure.
-[Jack] Thank you.
If we were to pay
Charli D'Amelio
or Addison Rae
to wear our brand,
it would be thousands
and thousands of dollars.
But since, like, they were kinda,
like, scared of getting "canceled,"
they couldn't say really no
when they were gettin'
filmed by the paparazzi.
[Jack] We posted that video of
us giving her the mask on TikTok,
and it got, like,
11 million views.
That would translate
to all, like, the sales.
Our family is just,
like, we're, ya know,
serial entrepreneurs. [laughs]
I think that drive and
tenacity and determination,
you either have it or ya don't.
[ambient nature sounds]
[Keshawn] My life
has been hectic.
Do what you gotta do
and make yourself a name.
That's what we're all tryna do.
But it's hard to keep it goin'.
[ambient street noise]
Is this the Uber?
[exclaims]
Check Footaction.
A-ha, they got 'em, look.
Nah, look at them
Adidas right there.
[Keshawn] I haven't
seen the other side of life.
To see millions of dollars,
you know, I haven't
seen the other side
to not worry about
pickin' up clothes and
lookin' at the price tag.
You know, I'm tryin'
to look fly and rich
and I wanna put
on that impression
that I have money.
Yah.
We all know money
is the root of all evil,
but without money,
there is nothing, you know,
if we're being realistic.
They say money
can't buy happiness,
but it buys everything
else that makes you happy.
-[chuckles] I'm just sayin'--
-I know you off TikTok!
-[Keshawn] Oh, you do? Aye, l-let's take a picture.
-Yeah.
[Keshawn] Aye, you've
seen me on TikTok?
The most famous-ass
nigga on TikTok.
[Nubia] Yeah. You be poppin'
up on my For You Page.
[Keshawn] That was,
like, the first-ever encounter
of, like, someone,
like, runnin' up to me,
"Oh, my God, like, you're
KD off of, like, Tiktok!"
[ambient street noise]
[bubbling]
[Ellie] Go, Julie. [chuckles]
[Julie] Me? Shit.
[Ellie] Okay.
Julian and I, like,
are going through
some relationship problems.
-[phone notifications]
-I need my phone.
Oh, wait, let me grab
my phone really fast.
After a two-and-half-year
relationship, like,
I just don't wanna not
be close to him anymore.
[phone notification]
Sometimes it's really
hard to just cut the cord.
[sighs]
[phone ringing]
-[Lourdes] Uh-oh.
-Yeah, what's up?
[Ellie] It's Julian. Yeah.
No! What the hell?
No. Definitely not.
Me too So much.
I said, "Me too."
Bye.
[phone notifications]
Just keep goin'
straight down, Mom.
[Lourdes] No, it's right
here, no? Oh, no, on three.
Okay, this is Temple.
[quiet chatter]
[Ellie] So, I started talking
to this guy named Bodhi.
We started chatting on Snapchat.
It was just kind of, like,
a weird, like, situation.
Julian and I, we were
kind of, like, on and off
before Bodhi and I
had started talking.
And then, Bodhi, we had
talked about New York,
and how I wanted to go
and how he wanted to go.
And he was like, "We
should totally go together,"
and I was like, "Oh, wow, okay."
[Ellie] Uhh, I mean, like,
Julian and I have been
together for, like, ever.
I don't know. Like,
I just feel very, like,
like, suffocated
in different ways.
You know that, so
[light, tense music playing]
Bodhi's from,
like, the West Side.
He grew up in Santa Monica.
We definitely come
from different lifestyles
and with him, I saw the
world a little differently.
Bodhi is very, like, proper
and, like, you
know, responsible,
and, like, calm, and, like,
super into technology
and, like, hacking.
And, like, you know,
just little stuff like that.
But I like that.
[Julie] Alright. Spark it.
It's a cacao-wrapped pre-roll?
-[Julie] Let me see this.
-I got it from Bodhi.
[Julie] Homie Bodhi.
It smells like
chocolate. [laughs]
[both laughing]
-Like, why did I do this to myself?
-For real.
-[phone notification]
-Yeah.
-I don't know.
-Dang.
-It's a lot going on right now.
-This cacao leaf.
I know, it's good, right?
Should I FaceTime
Julian really fast?
-[FaceTime ringing]
-Hello?
[Ellie] Guess where I'm at?
Oh!
Yes, sir. The spot.
I'm smoking a
cacao-wrapped pre-roll.
Cool, huh?
From the shop.
Yes Alright, well,
drive safe, okay?
[Ellie] You too.
Talk to you later.
Bye.
[call ends]
[softly groans]
[Sofia] My ex was, like,
low-key a bit abusive
and would, like,
definitely use location
and, like, knowing
where you were
as, like, a form of
abuse to use, like, you
and control you and
know where you are,
same as having your passwords,
like, that's totally
a form of abuse.
Once you give your
password to someone else,
you might as well throw the
relationship out the window
-'cause that's where it's gonna go.
-I disagree.
-Nah, nah.
-[crosstalk]
-I disagree.
-[Keshawn] Let me explain, let me explain.
[Maren] What are
you hiding then?
I'm not hidin' nothin', but the fact
that you have to go through passwords
just to know that, that
means you don't trust me.
If I'm just gonna go on your
phone, do something little,
if I'm like, "Let me take
a selfie on your phone,"
if I'm like, "Wait, I need to text
my mom back and my phone died.
Let me text her on your phone."
If you really don't want
me to just go on your phone
'cause there's
that big of a chance
that I'll see something
that I don't wanna see,
-then that's your problem, and you're untrustworthy.
-Yes.
I understand that. Can I-- That's
what we was, that's what we was saying.
If you don't trust your partner,
then you shouldn't
be with him, one,
and, two, I feel like I
don't give my passwords
because there's some stuff on my
phone that I don't want you to see
-because that's for me.
-[Maren] Like what?
[Cori] You know what
I'm sayin'? Like, notes,
certain pictures,
certain stuff--
[Anaya] Yeah, that's
actually, that's actually true.
Like, nobody has my Instagram
or Snapchat passwords.
I'm not giving those
out to anybody,
not even my boyfriend,
not because I don't trust him,
but because it's, like, that's
my social media, you know?
I don't want someone
to have access to that.
It's, like, mine, you know?
[group member] Mm-hm.
[Jordan] Just wait for it.
-[Karen] Okay. Slay.
-[Jordan] Okay.
["Love On Top" by
Beyoncé playing in house]
[Karen and Jordan chuckling]
Hello, everybody, hello,
welcome to my grand show!
To my [chuckles]
Sunday Morning Live!
Okay, okay.
So, we have this beautiful,
beautiful presentation
of why I should go to D.C.
-This November or October. Okay.
-[Jordan] October. Mm-hm.
So, first, I wanna start off on
my appreciation post for my mom.
Mom, um, like, you know,
you really do a lot for me.
-Very, very--
-[unsure] Okay.
[Jordan] So, reasons
why we should go to D.C.
-[Karen] Okay.
-I just really wanna sightsee
and I think the last place
we went to was Italy, right?
[sighs] Lot of
sightseeing there, yeah.
-So, other stuff we could do.
-Mm-hm.
Um, we have the African
American museum.
-I do wanna go there.
-I wanna go there too.
Um, you also can go see
Georgetown and Howard.
-[Karen] Okay.
-Which, you know, I would love to see.
And possibly, if we
went to New York, wh--
-Columbia?!
-Columbia.
I know-- Okay, I know you're
opposed to Columbia because--
I'm not opposed, I'm just,
you know, all those fees.
-Those out-of-state fees.
-I know.
[Karen] Okay, well,
that's a great presentation.
I'm gonna have to
think about all of that.
-My concern is
-[Jordan groans lightly]
are we-- what is-- what's gonna
happen when we get there?
-'Cause I know you have these friends right?
-Mm-hm.
Am I gonna get to
the sightseeing place
-and then, all of a sudden, "Oh, look who's here!"
-No, no, no.
"Oh, what a
coincidence!" You know?
-No, no.
-Is all that gonna happen?
No, that's not gonna happen.
Why are we so stuck
on going to D.C.?
-[Jordan] Okay.
-Mm-hm.
["Mood Swings" by Pop
Smoke ft. Lil Tjay playing]
-She my lil' boo thing ♪
-Fatty ♪
[Keshawn] Me and Amari,
there's this one video we posted.
It has, like, a million
views right now.
Like, "Shorty a lil' baddie,
she my lil' boo thing."
-"And shorty got the fatty."
-The fatty ♪
On the "fatty" part,
I rub her stomach,
like I was callin' her fat.
[mellow music playing]
Woke up the next day
and it was so much hate.
"Oh, you need a new boyfriend,
he's body shaming you."
"A boy should never
do that to a girl."
It made people unfollow us.
They was tellin' other people
not to watch our videos.
We got shadow-banned
for that video.
That v-video was, like, "You
know g-girls are insecure,
now she's insecure."
Keshawn was like,
"She's not insecure."
I had just found
out I was pregnant.
♪♪♪
[Keshawn] It was an accident.
Very much an accident.
But, you know, everything
happens for a reason.
[Amari] Keshawn, he said,
"Okay, well, what are we gonna do?"
Not, "What are you gonna do?"
So, it was, like, he made--
gave me reassurance that, like,
I didn't have to
do it by myself.
I didn't wanna be a
mom. We're still young!
I remember I was crying,
my mom was like,
"What are you crying for?"
And I said, "Mom, I'm pregnant,"
and it was so quiet for
about the first 10 minutes,
then she was like,
"Don't sit there and cry.
You knew what you were
doing, now take responsibility."
Well, my mom doesn't believe
in getting rid of your children,
and she said,
"If I believed in it,
I wouldn't have
you or your sister."
And I'm like, "Okay."
[light piano music playing]
[cooing]
[Keshawn] He was
born June 5, 2021.
His name is Kalin.
Seven pounds, 11 ounces.
♪♪♪
[Amari] People were
supportive, believe it or not.
-[cooing]
-[video playing on phone]
-[yawns]
-Mm, you're still tired.
I try to be around my
son as much as I can.
And I try to do little
things my dad didn't do.
Like, you don't gotta take
them to Disneyland or nothin'.
Just, like, just sit there and
really just chill with him, you know?
Enjoy time with him.
♪♪♪
I lost my pops at
a early age, at 10.
[solemn music playing]
Sad to say I think he, uh
was chokin' in his sleep on
somethin' he had took the night before,
and nobody heard him
and he died right there.
Um, a day before
his birthday, actually,
um, so, yeah, it
was pretty tough.
[music fades out]
[ambient nature sounds]
[light music playing]
[gong echoes]
[Maren] We have a
lot of little elements
of Buddhism in our house.
My dad really loves
their ideals or whatever.
I really like the aspect
of Buddhism that
has to do with how
you are as a person
and how your actions now
could influence
you in your next life.
I don't really see any open
Buddhists on social media.
I think there's an
obvious reason why.
Suddenly, you're
getting influenced
by all these popular,
famous people
who are doing all of these
things that you weren't doing.
And then you think, like, "I
have to be doing that too."
"I have to wear Converse
because, like, my Adidas
are so ugly and
so out of style."
"You have to wear
Brandy Melville."
I told my parents, I was like,
"You guys are
gonna get me a car."
-[Maren's mom] So, guess what?
-What?
[Maren's dad] This
car is yours, Maren.
-[Mom laughing]
-Yay! [gasps]
-[Mom] Your first car.
-Oh, my God! She's so pretty.
[Dad laughs]
[Mom] She must be
posting something now.
I'm afraid.
[Maren] I'm, like,
super grateful.
But I think people
hate being privileged.
Like, people hate being lucky.
And, like, I don't have
any mental illnesses.
I'm white, and I'm
rich, and I'm lucky.
But, like, that's
not cool anymore.
[Ellie] All those
people at Pali,
even though they
had, like, everything,
they would be,
like, very, like, sad
or, like, they wouldn't
really see their parents
or just, you know,
little things like that.
But to me,
sometimes I feel like,
"Wow, I wish I had
those problems."
-Play that.
-[upbeat music plays on video]
Ellie's famous on YouTube.
-[whispers] That's Ellie.
-[Ellie] That was cool.
-[Lilah] [whispers] That's her old boyfriend.
-[Ellie] Lilah.
-[Lilah] [whispers] Her old one.
-[Ellie] Stop.
[music continues
playing on laptop]
Jack Dylan Grazer and I
started being friends in 6th grade.
I remember when Ellie
was going to middle school.
She took it herself
to hang out with a lot
of the Caucasians,
the white people.
And amongst that crowd was Jack.
[door creaks open]
And then, out of nowhere,
Jack gets this big role
[creepy music playing]
and then it blew up.
As the relationship
grew, he became famous.
[reporter] "As the nephew of
Hollywood producer Brian Grazer,
"Jack Dylan Grazer's
talents run in the family.
It pulled in the biggest-ever
September opening for a film."
[Nadine] I just think
that both her and Jack
-[screaming]
-[creepy laughter]
[Nadine] did not
see that coming.
[Ellie] Look at--
Look at how cute.
-Wait.
-[friend] He is cute.
[Ellie] No, look at
how cute my baby is.
Our first or second date,
we made a live stream,
and, at this point, people had already
started to find out, like, who I was.
I was already getting, like,
tons of, like, followers, like
Ellie, you're almost at 1,000.
Ellie, you're almost at 1,000.
Oh. Oh, my God!
-Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
-[friend] Oh, my gosh, Ellie!
-Guys, follow--
-I need to end this!
I kid you not, it was,
like, the first live stream,
like, on-- trending,
like, in ev-- all the world.
[friend] I literally clicked "top live"
on Explorer and you're on there.
What the hell?
-[bright music playing]
-[Ellie] No way. That's c--
Oh, shit! [laughs]
It was crazy how many people.
I think the overall, like,
calculation of all people
that viewed it all together
was, like, over a million.
[friend] [in video] Guys,
look how cute they are.
Oh, my God. They're
just, like, goals.
I remember one
time I was online,
I seen a picture of Ellie
holding Jack's hand,
walking down the
Brentwood market,
like if paparazzi
took it or something.
It just all switched into
like, "Who's that girl?"
"Who's that girl?"
"That's Jack
Grazer's girlfriend."
[music fades out]
[Lauren Greenfield]
Okay, show of hands,
how many knew
that Ellie went viral?
Did anybody know
her from online?
Oh, not from online,
but I knew about it.
Okay, so, I'm on
Urban Dictionary, right?
[deep breath] Let's
look up "Ellie Hiyar."
"Ellie Hiyar is a lying,
snake like, bitchy girl
"who loves taking
advantage of her boyfriends,
(specifically ones
named jack dylan grazer.)"
[chuckles] Wait, can I read
this? This is really funny.
Wait, okay, one last definition,
"Ellie Hiyar is not a
snake, she's a lemur.
"Snakes slither
their way to fame,
"lemurs have a
good sense of smell.
"She smelled fame
from Jack Dylan Grazer
"and became
famous by association,
I rest my case, SHE'S A LEMUR."
That was good. Whoever
wrote that, like, that was good.
You know, what-what
hurt me for her
was the way she was being,
like, bashed and bullied.
[light, tense music playing]
A lot of these people
were younger kids.
Sometimes they would
get so angry at the fact
that Jack and I were together
and they would
send so much hate.
There was over, maybe, a
hundred thousand, like, threads,
like, "You don't deserve
Jack and you're so terrible,"
just, "I hate you," like, "Die."
Like, all this crazy shit.
They did try to say
she was a gold digger
because we come
from a lower class.
I would be on there, like,
at 2:00 in the morning,
like, writing back
to these comments,
like, "You better not
talk to my sister like that."
"Who do you think you
are?" Like, she's a child.
I've been through
my own personal hell,
you know, and I'm only 14.
[Nadine] You could tell she
started developing anxiety,
she lost weight.
Obviously, her
and Jack broke up.
[applause, cheering]
So, the bullies, they won.
After that, it's had a
ripple effect in her life.
Even to this day, it's,
like, still really hurting her.
It did affect me a
lot in different ways,
but at the same time,
I will never regret it
or say I would take it back.
It made me feel so amazing
and it-it made everything worth it,
whether it was good or bad.
It was the most
interesting thing
I've ever experienced in my life
and it really taught
me a lot about people.
[laughs] A lot of people said
that Bodhi looks like Jack,
so I definitely have a type.
[laughs]
[phone notifications]
[light music playing]
[Jordan] So, I convinced
my mom to take me to D.C.
-to see Howard and Georgetown.
-[camera clicks]
[bell tolling]
[Jordan] It was
different definitely
'cause it's, like,
all Black students.
So, I was just like, "Oh,
my God, this is so cool."
[plucky, upbeat music playing]
Georgetown, when
I was at the tour,
I was like, "Oh, my God,
this campus is so beautiful."
[speaker] Okay, so, thank you for
visiting Georgetown this afternoon.
We are, at this point, of course,
a Tier 1 research university
with undergraduate
and graduate programs.
-[phone notifications]
-[light music playing]
-[music fades out]
-Yeah, that should work.
[indistinct chatter]
Alright, go for it.
[claps]
-Action.
-Action.
Yessir.
[Jonathan] Um, alright, cool, so
being at a school
that's majority white,
most of the kids come
from the Palisades,
which is a rich area.
What is that like, being a student
of color at a school like that?
Well, that's a good
question you ask, man.
It's very hard, but I know
how to code-switch pretty well.
You know, I can go, I can
go hood from straight like,
-[code-switched voice] "Hello, my name is Anthony."
-Exact-- [laughs]
That code-switchin', bro.
[Anthony] But I don't like white
guilt. I have a bunch of white friends.
I don't believe that you should
feel sorry for me and stuff.
I didn't-- I wasn't
part of that time,
my ancestors had
to deal with that.
Like, I say-- I tell
Black kids and shit,
you can't be gettin' mad
at the system no more.
It's literally, it's literally about
you, what you wanna get.
Like, I tell people, if you
wanna be a photographer,
go out there, be a photographer.
Take all those pictures.
-Do videos and shit.
-Do your thing.
You gotta want it. I
wanted that outta myself.
Yeah. 100%.
Nice to meet you.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[downbeat music playing]
You really can't think
about the racial part.
You gotta think about just really
trying to connect through these people.
I know these kids, they're
gonna go far in some way in life,
so I try to use them
to my advantage
'cause I'm tryin' to save
money to go to college.
[Jack] The Loonar
photoshoot went smooth.
We had two photographers.
My boy, Anthony, he
should be a creative director.
He was doin' all the
creative shots and all that.
People pay him to take
photos and I saw he has, like,
an account with all
his photos on 'em,
and I was like, "Damn,
those photos are hard."
[Anthony] I use my social
media, basically, to, like,
promote my business,
my photography.
I wasn't really posting anything
controversial back in the day.
[upbeat music playing]
[Jack] Anthony was
actually, I think, a senior
doin' all the craziest parties
when I was a freshman.
And I was just-- I
kinda looked up to them.
I was like, "Damn,
like, that's sick."
Like, they were
getting all the attention
from the girls and all that,
and I'm like, "I kinda
gotta do somethin'."
I'm not gonna lie, I
kinda put Jack on.
I'm not gonna lie about that.
And he was askin' me
how to throw parties,
and me and my other friends
basically helped him out.
So, I'm happy for
him. I really am.
I'm very proud that
he's takin' over that shit.
He's tryin' to implement
his business into the party.
I wasn't doin' that. I was just throwin'
parties and everything just for fun.
But, Jack, he's
making money off it.
He's just tryna
make it like all of us.
[Amari] Keshawn?
-[Keshawn] Hm?
-[Amari] What time is it?
-[yawning]
-Let's go wash those clothes.
[yawning] Oh, yeah.
Damn.
[Amari] It's your clothes, my
clothes, and the baby's clothes.
-Nah.
-Yes.
It was $112 for just me and you.
-Nah.
-Now there's two added on to that.
-Plus, your son's clothes.
-Naaahhh. [groans]
[Amari] Yeeesss.
[Keshawn] Now that I have
a kid, it's a bigger picture.
I got responsibilities
to look after.
You gotta work to get money.
I'm thankful that the
way I achieve money
is through somethin' I love.
[laughter]
["Too Cool" by Oh I Like
That Music & others playing]
Superstar, yeah,
cameras flashin' ♪
-Cameras flashin' ♪
-Lifetime, yeah ♪
We forever flashin' ♪
-Yeah, VIP ♪
-I-P ♪
Yeah, they know they see me ♪
Yeah, they wanna be me, yeah ♪
Hop out the Lamborghini ♪
Lamborghini ♪
Fast like, sheesh ♪
[partygoer] Who is buyin'
the baby her first gold chain?
Tyrone!
-[all shouting]
-[laughter]
[Keshawn] Money comes
with a goal I've always wanted.
I wanna bring the
generation under me
in my family, into
somethin' better.
Not havin' to worry
about our kids
living in a neighborhood
that's not safe.
That's what everybody works for.
♪♪♪
[phone notifications]
We forever flashin' ♪
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪♪
[song ends]
[crickets chirping]
[phone notifications]
[Lauren] Can you just tell me
what happened in Washington?
Uhh. I would say, it's--
Sorry, let me try to check her
location right now, real quick.
[laughs] Just to see where she
is. Okay, yeah, we're good. Okay.
Um [chuckles]
when I was in D.C., I
was still texting Jordan,
the boy I met online.
-[phone notifications]
-[light music playing]
I posted on my story, like,
"Oh, I'm going to the
mall." And he was there!
And I was like, "Oh,
my God, he did not p--"
Like, my mom was
there. I was just like
♪♪♪
-[indistinct chatter]
-[giggling]
Stop, why you be like this?
Why you be like this? Hm, hm?
[camera clicking]
It was like, "Oh, my God, if my mom
saw you right now, she would freak out."
She would've been
pissed if, if she saw, though.
She would've been
like, "Oh, my God,
your whole objective
was to see him."
But he's really cool
in person, I will say.
And that was the day he asked
me to be his girlfriend. [laughs]
♪♪♪
-[dogs barking]
-Lilah, this way. Come on.
We're gonna go
to the LA High Park.
-[dog barking]
-[birds chirping]
Gonna drive it or walk it?
-Walk it, girl!
-Walk.
You lazy or somethin'?
[Nadine] Tell me that
doesn't look like a jail!
That was my high school.
I went to Pali and
I ended up here.
-It sucked. I hated this school.
-[Lilah] I hated this school.
-[Nadine] Lilah, you never went here.
-[Lilah] I never went here.
[Nadine] I was in
Pali for about a year
and then I had a D in English
my last semester of ninth grade.
They told me I was gonna have
to get transferred out to LA High.
I was devastated.
We would hang out right
here and we would smoke,
like, we'll roll up
joints right here.
At LA High, it was one of
those schools where, like,
being bad was, like, a thing.
Everyone was getting
pregnant, like at 15, 16.
Around here, it was very normal.
And I remember, like,
going to Pali, I mean,
if you were, like,
pregnant in school,
it was, like, you
didn't see that.
You'd be lucky if you
graduated from LA High.
[Lilah] Mommy, I love you.
[Nadine] I got pregnant at 20.
Everyone's response was,
"That's not so bad,
you're, you're old enough."
You're not.
[Lilah] Your school is so ugly.
It's ugly for you.
You should go in
a rich one! Like--
[Julie] Rich one? Is that
where you gonna go?
-[Lilah] Yeah. Mm-hm.
-[Julie] A rich school?
[Nadine] Ellie's upbringing
was different than mine
because after everything
that I went through,
I made sure she wasn't gonna
go through that type of exposure.
-[Lilah] Call Ellie, I miss Ellie.
-[FaceTime ringing]
-Hey!
-[group] Hey!
Hey! Hey, best friend!
Show us your view.
-Okay.
-Oh, my gosh!
[Ellie] Oh, my gosh.
New York, baby.
I mean, this is just,
like, from our hotel, but--
Wait, where are you exactly?
Uh, we're innn--
-Where are we? SoHo?
-[Julie] You don't even know where you at.
-[Bodhi] We're in, uh, SoHo.
-[Ellie] Yeah, SoHo.
We went to the Met.
[gasps] You went
to the Met, bitch!
[Nadine] Dude, I
wanna go to the Met.
Bring Bodhi into
the conversation.
Let's see the homie.
[Ellie] Post up, babe. [laughs]
He's so dirty right now.
Say hi, wave. Uh-huh.
That's right Uh-huh.
We lovin' this
shit. Mclovin' it.
I'm gonna go to New York
with you next time or I-I'll see--
Can we plan that? Or sh--
Okay, so this is what I'm thinking.
-So, for my 18th--
-Are you guys down?
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's what I'm thinking
for-for my birthday this year,
like, we're planning Hawaii.
-Oh!
-[Ellie] So, if you guys are tagging along,
-like, we're making that plan.
-Okay.
You wanna do
Hawaii? 'Cause I was--
Lowkey, I've been
wanting to leave.
-[Julie] Me too.
-[Ellie] Yeah, let's do Hawaii,
-but I'm thinking Kauai.
-[both] Kauai?
-[Ellie] Yeah.
-Where's that? What's the difference?
-[laughing]
-[indistinct chatter]
-Kauai, first off--
-Not a difference.
-Huh?
-[Ellie laughs]
Yo, so, did you see, um
Oh yeah. Let's
not talk about that.
Anyways.
-[Lilah] Move it, Lata!
-Hold on.
There's drama left and right.
[Nadine] So, Ellie's in
New York with Bodhi.
And she posted a
picture of Bodhi at a nice,
high-class restaurant
on Snapchat.
But then, someone took
a screenshot of her story
and showed it to Julian.
And then he posted
it on Instagram.
This is a-a picture
of a phone being held.
-And it's Bodhi's picture.
-And it's--
And then, it's a nail.
Like, a female's nail.
Ew. It was a horrible
manicure by the way.
We're not even sure
whose nail that is.
-That's the real question.
-[Julie] Yeah, that skimpy-ass nail.
'Cause she posted Bodhi
on what, her spam account?
No, girl. Her main Snapchat.
-Ooh.
-Where she has everyone from Pali.
-That must've been an accident.
-That must've been.
-That must've been an accident.
-That must've been. [chuckles]
[phone notifications]
[Nadine] Holy shit.
Oh.
[Julie] So, he's trippin' out.
[Nadine] So, she's saying
Bodhi's been insecure about it.
Yeah, but Juju's trippin' out.
Why the fuck is he callin' her?
I would've been pissed.
Girl, if I came out of a
three-year relationship
and my man's in New
York with another girl,
he's lucky if I don't fly in.
Don't let your boyfriend stop
you from finding your soulmate.
Oh, my God.
[light music playing]
Bodhi and Julian,
they're nothing alike.
I think what attracted
Ellie to Bodhi
what attracts all of us
that grew up in the hood
we want a better
quality of life.
[music fades out]
[ambient street noise]
[Anthony] Aw.
Shit.
I felt like I was a outsider
when I came to Pali
'cause there wasn't
a lot of Black kids.
A lotta white kids
were stuck-up.
But I'm just like, "I'm
just gonna focus on me."
The schools are goin'
through all this stuff
with the COVID and everything,
and I remember when
the outbreak first happened,
it was just insane.
[people shouting]
[Jonathan] After the
George Floyd killing,
and the Black Lives
Matter movement,
things happened at Pali
that aren't so, uh, positive.
I believe it has gotten
worse since the pandemic.
Social media has made
racism more accessible.
[crowd] [chanting in
video] Sixteen shots!
[chanting continues]
Sixteen shots! Sixteen shots!
[President Donald Trump] far
more of us than there are of them.
Prolonged lockdown,
basically, is slavery.
[people chanting]
[Anthony] So we did a couple
walkouts, protests, and everything.
And the white kids, you know,
they'll try to be lookin' like,
"Yeah, we're on your
side and everything."
Soon as that protest ends,
you guys go right back
on Instagram and Snapchat
sayin', "No, we need
a white student union."
That's when that
school got really divided.
[tense music playing]
You really start to see people's
true colors on social media.
People will just
call you the N-word.
[students] You cannot say
[bleep] to a Black person.
[Anthony] Like, what the fuck?
[Jonathan] There have been
racial comments on Instagram.
Students in a group chat
on Snapchat making "jokes"
that weren't jokes.
[Anthony] I didn't
believe it at first.
This kid wore blackface.
I was the type of kid, I
will beat these fools up.
I will literally beat their
ass and everything.
But my friend, he told me,
"We can't be beating
up people like them.
"You need to use your words.
You need to show
proof and everything."
So, I made a whole report.
I made a whole report.
I wrote everything down.
♪♪♪
I posted that shit on Instagram.
[music fades out]
We tried to tell the
school first the next day,
they didn't do
anything about it.
It's kinda just the kids
fending for themselves.
The situation got handled.
It didn't get handled
in my way I wanted to
'cause I wanted to beat
his ass, but what I did was,
I exposed him to the
point, to his school,
he was goin' to UC Santa
Barbara, they didn't take him.
The business got done.
I handled his shit.
I handled that shit.
[Santi] I agree, you
need to be called out
if you say somethin' wrong,
but I feel like, nowadays,
how the cancel culture
has gotten is that
people are scared to
not say some words.
But it's, like, you shouldn't
be scared to say them,
you should know why
you should not say them.
When you, like, educate
people why those words hurt,
their minds will
open up and, like,
they'll morally know that
it's not right, you know?
[Lauren] So, how
do they learn that?
It's already hard at Pali
'cause it's predominantly white.
So, us even bein'
there is, like, hard.
[Anthony] Bro, let's be
real, let's, let's be a 100%.
Everybody knows Pali's diverse.
But it's sectioned off, bro.
It's Black folks at the courts.
You got the, you got the quad.
That's motherfuckin' Disneyland.
That's where all the damn
white people be, alright?
'Cause they be all happy.
They be all sittin' on the quad.
They got they
sandwiches, eatin' that shit.
And you got the
school shooter types,
which are all the
way in the back.
Keshawn know
what I'm talkin' about.
They be in the back,
they be contemplating.
-They all mad about their grades.
-With the headphones.
They're just like, "Fuck
this shit, bro, fuck this shit."
It's very sectioned
off. Very sectioned off.
[Anthony] Oh, my God.
It's so sectioned off.
-You said that too?
-[indistinct chatter]
[Alec] How's it goin'
with the tie-dye?
[student 1] Uh, pretty good.
Yeah, sellin' a lot right now, so
-[student 2] Are these smalls?
-[student 1] It is.
[light music playing]
[phone notifications]
[tense music playing]
[staff speaking on PA system]
[music fades out]
[unsettling music playing]
♪♪♪
[music fades out]