A further signpost on how much YouTube and online video are penetrating every aspect of our lives: a woman named Tricia Walsh-Smith, married to a big Broadway producer, is apparently unhappy with the terms of her prenup. So she’s litigating the case in YouTube – in a long, angry and possibly defamatory rant that has sparked angry, bitter agreement from other Women Done Wrong, as well as denunciations from people who feel that she’s being tawdry and “shooting herself in the foot.”
In the video, Walsh-Smith goes off on her ex, describing his alleged sexual problems, his physiognomy, sweatiness, and taking shots at her stepchildren. Classy.
The morning shows have discovered this, and have leaped upon it – I’m guessing that Tricia is getting booked on every talk show from Oprah on down, and if she plays her cards right, she could wind up on the Apprentice or as a judge on Project Runway. This kind of media exposure, and the uncontrolled and uncontrollable platform that sites like YouTube offer to aggrieved people willing to sacrifice their privacy in return for the opportunity to take gutshots at the people they feel have wrong them, are obviously changing the way that such mini-scandals are surfacing and playing out in our pop culture. Anyone care to take a crack at imagining how the Joey Buttafuoco/Long Island Lolita tale would play out these days on YouTube, Facebook and Smoking Gun?
Here’s the video, if you’re interested. I’m wondering how long it’s going to be before Tricia gets what she want$, and yanks the thing…