RhettandLinKommunity

Home of Rhett & Link fans - the Mythical Beasts!

On Monday's GMMore episode (March 28), we had a lovely visitor (technically two lovely visitors). We had the brilliant Bill Newman and his friend Roger on the show (or at least through Skype). In case you still don't know who Bill is, he's a singer whose CD was found at a thrift store and was used/listened to in the GMM episode 5 Weird Things You Can Do with Peanut Butter. Rhett and Link played his CD and seemed to really like his song "Barcelona". His popularity boosted immediately from this publicity and he got a lot more attention thus leading to the events of Monday's GMMore. At one point, Bill and Roger actually performed Barcelona! It was amazing (and Rhett and Link sang along in a bit of it too). However, Link did "a little bit" of rapping/talking during Bill's performance and this caused a lot of commotion in the comments. Many say that this was very disrespectful and rude to Bill and that Link should've just kept his mouth shut (in fact, basically every comment about the performance is something like "Link shut up") and that it ruined the performance. Some are even demanding an apology. Very few say that they actually liked Link's commentary/rap/whatever it was that he did. Some argue that this is just Link's personality and that they wouldn't expect any less (well, they might but it's Link - he's sometimes unpredictable).

This is just my bitcoin in a nutshell -

Would the performance have been more pleasant if Link didn't rap? Yes

Do I hate Link for it? No! 

Was it disrespectful and impolite? Probably but what do I know?

Should he have done it? Preferably not but I guess that was just his way of trying to entertain us and still being noticed and/or his way of showing that he was enjoying the song

This reminds me a bit of Link's rap from this GMMore

What do you think? Was this act impolite or was it just Link enjoying the performance in his own way? Also, do you think that we've made too much of a fuss out of this? BYMB!

Views: 5038

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I'm gonna go with "too much of a fuss".  It's common knowledge Link has no filter.  If he'd really been ruining the performance, I'm sure Rhett would not have hesitated to silence him. 

Eh... This was just a casual performance, not a concert. Both Rhett and Link sang along to the song. They're providing a big platform for a lesser known artist and I thini Bill was very grateful for that. He didn't seem offended to me anyway. If people want to listen to the full uninterrupted song they can buy it on iTunes.

I don't think it was super terrible. It was kind enough that they had him on the show. Most people know him through Rhett and Link, anyway, so I'm sure anything Link would have done was fine with Bill

Rhett has made a comment a couple of times (he went into more depth about it in the live Earbiscuits from Vidcon) about how younger audiences, in the post-millennial young culture, can't seem to endure the slightest bit of 'awkward vibes.' They FREAK out over it. He mentioned this in relation to the comments you tend to see on the videos in which Rhett and Link visit businesses to try out new jobs other than being Internetainers.

Now, I personally find these episodes hilarious, and being a 90s kid, I recognize the comedic format well (it's tried and true). He's right, though ... the youngsters on the Youtube comments seem terribly worried that they're invading these places under false pretenses, confusing people, and/or ticking everyone off. That's just not the case -- the people they interview and visit are in on the joke, they know what the show is, and they're happy to be participating. It's deliberately edited to seem more awkward (that *IS* the joke).

I think that this whole Link-bashing thing is more of the same, to be honest -- Internet generation people unable to endure the slightest breach in their perception of basic etiquette, and feeling those feels way deeper than they need to. So many people born after the year 2000 fancies themselves an Internet justice warrior, because they grew up in that environment where Internet mob mentality judgment was always a thing. Severe overreaction is the name of the game, and being overprotective of those who don't really need protection is the end result.

In a nutshell, to the people that actually went out of their way to chastise Link in those Youtube comments -- y'all are WAAYYYY too sensitive. Breathe. I guarantee you this guy is grateful for Link's role in getting him some much needed attention on his work. I also guarantee you that he's a whole heck of a lot less angry about it (as in, probably not at all) than the little Internet crusaders that blew a lid in the Youtube comments on his behalf.

Calm down. Enjoy the show. Link did way more to help this guy than a little spotlight-stealing took from him (on R&L's own show, I might add, which they generously invited him to).

In this case, to me it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the awkward vibe...I actually didn't feel like their interactions with Bill were awkward at all, since R&L were being very supportive of his music and he seemed to have great humor about his album's limited success anyway.

I wasn't super bothered by Link playing hype man over Bill singing, but I can definitely see why it would be considered annoying that he's interrupting a beautiful performance with his interjections. Why not just let the man sing, you know? I think that's more people's issue with it. Consider that it wouldn't really be cool if someone in an otherwise quiet crowd during a live performance -- for a slow, soothing song -- started audibly shouting exclamations at the end of every line. If Link had just been doing harmony or background vocals like he and Rhett started doing later, I don't think anyone would have cared.

It seems like there's way more cringe-based comedy now than the '90s though. The trend really seemed to kick off in the early 2000s with the original The Office. I think it's more an age thing than a generational thing. Teenagers and young adults tend to be more self-conscious of social norms.

I definitely agree with you. Now, I was born after 2000, but I don't do that sort of thing. I didn't mind Link doing that at all and I'm pretty certain Bill didn't either. I believe people were overreacting and totally agree with everything you said. 

Preach.

Didn't even occur to me that people might be offended by that. Link's comments made me smile a bit, and I don't think they detracted from the performance.

Once again, everybody is mad at Link.. hahha Poor Link. Personally I do not find it in any way impolite, I think it's the opposite. He was singing along because he enjoyed the song. I did the same watching the GMM! haha. I totally agree with Chris, people are way too sensitive these days. 

Some comments from the video -

  • Link,we all love you, but people are tryin to preform SHUT UP!
  • LINK ENTIRELY RUINED IT.
  • I really wanted to punch Link in the face
  • STFU LINK
  • LINK SHUT UR FACE I WANT TO HEAR THIS BEAUTIFUL MAN SING
  • SHUT YO BIG FAT MOUTH LINK!!!!
  • That crap link does when he just hypes the song... Bill Newman doesn't need a hype man!
  • Link, do you always make people cry and get mad at you? Trandslason: LINK SHUT YOUR MOUTH I WANT TO HEAR BOB SING HIS BEAUTIFUL SONG!
  • link why
  • LINK you need to just let the song be sung and stop talking. it would have been a beautiful version without your comments every whole note
  • Link for god's sake! You're sooo anoying during the song
  • link has to know when not to talk lol
  • Link's comments are throwing me off the song
  • OK I completely agree Link was beyond rude to the guy while trying to sing for everyone.. it wasn't funny..
  • link bill looked like he was gonna cry when you said you found his long lost love pretty rude
  • Link, you can be such a douchebag man. Why would you talk through the entire performance and then tell the guy that you have his long lost love on skype?!? That was pretty low. He thought you were serious
  • Link was rude as f@ck!!! He often is, but this was over the top. :/
  • Link...can you just...not talk while they performe...
  • Shut up Link. Gosh besides there is a delay so it doesn't work
  • Link is trying too hard to be funny.
  • Link please stop talking
  • You guys are great but Link, you can't invite someone to sing on your show and then talk all through their song! And then you go on to tell the guy you found the person the song is about, just to tell him 30 seconds later that you didn't find them! Very disappointing.

Some people are harsh and really need to calm down!

I think you're over reacting. Link was just trying to have fun and enjoy himself. I mean it is his show, he can do what he wants.

MBs love them some Barcelona!

Now available for your listening pleasure on the Home page music playlist!

RSS

© 2024   Created by Link.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service