My Time on Jubilee

About a month ago I was scrolling on YouTube, watching various Jubilee videos when I saw they had a Community Post requesting "liberal Christians" to interview for a show pitting different Christian viewpoints against each other. For those not familiar with Jubilee, it's a wildly popular company that makes viral YouTube content in the debate space. Their show Surrounded (which I was on) puts one famous person against 20 less famous people in a speed date format to debate various topics. Mine was 1 Conservative Christian v. 20 Liberal Christians. I decided on a whim to submit and was selected to be on this episode. Here's a few thoughts on the episode, my experience, and my weird viral moment on TikTok and Threads. 

Understanding the Format
For those of you interested in being on a popular YouTube or TV show, just know that there's a lot of behind the scenes "formatting" to help "produce" a show. On the show, the producers select who will go first and "win" the race to the chair. So when five or more people race to the center, like pro wrestling, we know the outcome. Which was disappointing because I was doing box squats for a month to get ready to pop up and debate. 

The filming takes place in a very warm abandoned warehouse studio, with large air fans blowing right before they call "action!" So if people look sweaty or uncomfortable, they are also hot as heck. 
We didn't know we would be debating Allie Beth Stuckey, a MAGA podcaster and author of "Toxic Empathy." So preparing for the debate was nearly impossible. In fact, they didn't send the topics to us until 9:30PM the night before. We filmed on a Saturday, meaning who's checking their email on Friday after 7PM? So any prep was out the door. 

While I'm pretty knowledgeable in right wing Christian talking points (LBGTQ+ bad, Abortion bad, Immigration bad, Empathy bad, etc.) there was still no way to completely know the best examples to use to debate, so I had to rely on my own studies and hope the right words came out. Talk about walking by faith. 

But once Allie showed up and we settled in, the shoot was super smooth with there being four claims she made and I waited until her claim "Empathy can lead to sin" came up. I really am bored by the political issues and would rather discuss more philosophical ideals. So when the claim was made, I raised my hand and was selected to kick off Claim #3.

The Actual Debate
I learned two things while watching previous debaters: 

1. Regardless of how well it's going, the other debaters are going to throw up red flags so the clock stops and they can get their turn.

2. The format is more about quick talking points than deep dive discussion.

I wasn't sure if the show would be three hours and cut down to 90 minutes or it it would be 90 minutes and 99% of the show makes the episode. Turns out we film 100 minutes and 99 minutes got in. Outside of cutting some friendly banter up front, the main points are showcased. 

To be honest, I thought I would be debating a male. So having to argue with a woman is always a bit different. Anyone who has debated knows this to be true. This goes for women and men, as we know the general rules of society that keep us feeling safe. So I knew that some of my snark would need to be dialed down, which was probably best since these clips do go viral. 

Our actual discussion went for 5 minutes, which was pretty impressive, since many people were voted out by the three minute mark or earlier. One poor Mormon girl was voted out before she could sit down. At one point I realized I was going to be able to state many of my arguments in defense of empathy, and that's when my school teacher/preacher persona got to take over. While being a comedian doesn't necessarily make one a better debater, being quick witted does help. 

I'll let you be the judge on how I did, but the online response did help me realize a few things about myself and the content game in general. One thing I forgot is my wagging finger goes wild when I'm cooking.

Going Viral for 15 Minutes 
So far the YouTube episode has over 1 million views, which shows people are hungry for some type of civil debate, because the episode is much more low key than previous videos. But what was super weird to me was how MY TIKTOK clip went viral. 

I don't have a real TikTok account. I just have a tiny burner account to watch clips and see things that make the news. I had 50 followers with most just being bots from a handful of clips I post so if I do comment on something it doesn't look like a bot. I used to have 1500 followers but got rid of that account when my algorithm failed me. 

I took a clip about how Jesus used empathy and it gathered 230K views, 30K likes, over 500 comments, and over 3,000 saves. It was reposted by many people as well. On Threads I had one clip get 2K likes, 450 comments, 147 reposts, and 75 shares. And another clip had 300+ likes, 76 comments, and 20 reposts. I felt like a pretty girl on IG with a new Gucci bag.  

I also went from 50 TikTok followers to now 470 followers. That's 400 organic followers in less than a day. I've been posting comedy clips since 2015 and nothing like this every happened before. It turns out people were less interested in my comedy and more interested in me pointing my finger of empathy at a MAGA Trad Wife. 

With this new found success, I posted a follow up clip and I'm sorry to say, your boy isn't the viral sensation he hoped he was. Back to normal numbers, and back to reality. Which is fine. I'm not even sure I could switch gears into some type of Christian ethos content machine at this stage in life, even if I did pull off back to back 200K view content. 

Final Thoughts 
Overall, I enjoyed my time meeting the people I met and having an opportunity to discuss empathy with a person who so has so much animosity toward it. Why? Maybe because it would force her to think about others in uncomfortable ways. Maybe her definition of sympathy (aka pity) creates a position of power. Or maybe because her male religious mentors like Charlie Kirk and Douglas Wilson have been so much against empathy for the reasons mentioned earlier. 

What I really learned is that even with another credit, my life hasn't changed. It's not like I'm now the authority on liberal Christianity. I jokingly told my brother I could start The Empathy Project - only to find out there are multiple organizations with the same name. I also ironically found out that I went more viral with a burner TikTok than when I had a 1500 follower account I was actively using. I also learned more women seemed interested in me when I mentioned Jubilee than Dry Bar Comedy. And I learned that no matter my points or Allie's points, the comment section creates its own beast. 
I'm reminded of the last scene in The Coen Brother's Burn After Reading:

CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say.
CIA Superior: Jesus fucking Christ.

I hate ending on a swear - but that banter is literally how I feel right now. 

Below is the full episode. I kick off Claim #3. Enjoy!