One comment I have is that Jason makes a claim about what Bo and Mr. Beast were “trying to say” which I think is false. I transcribed what Jason said:
…what I am saying and what Bo was trying to say and what Mr. Beast was trying to say is that this system does not have a good enough safety net to support very many people creating full time.
I don’t think this is what Bo and what Mr. Beast were trying to say. I think this is what Jason thinks.
In the article that Jason showed in the video, Mr. Beast (Donaldson) was quoted as saying:
“It’s painful to see people quit their job/drop out of school to make content full time before they’re ready,” Donaldson wrote on X. “For every person like me that makes it, thousands don’t. Keep that in mind and be smart plz.”
Which I think says lots of people fail at trying to make content full time, that they shouldn’t make drastic changes to their life like quitting job/school before they are ready, and to keep in mind that success is rare and be smart about it. Nothing about a system or safety net.
Bo Burnham says something more similar in the Conan O’Brien interview:
Conan:
[Transcribed by me from audio]
You must have a lot of young people that say: How do I get into the business? How do I accomplish what you’ve accomplished? What’s you’re advice for young people?
Bo:
[Transcribed by me from audio]
I’d say well, you gotta just take a deep breath and give up. The system is rigged against you. Your hard work and talent will not pay off.
I would say don’t take [the] advice [to follow your dreams] from people like me who have gotten very lucky, you know, we’re very biased, you know. Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner saying ‘Liquidize your assets! Buy powerball tickets! It works!’ its just you won’t [succeed].
But I think Bo is saying to give up because there is no point trying to do something that’s highly unlikely to succeed. So while Bo said that our system is rigged, I don’t think it’s fair to claim from what he said in the interview that he was trying to say the social safety net for creatives is not good enough.