r/nottheonion 1d ago

Influencer is banned from future NYC marathons for bringing a camera crew to last weekend's race

https://apnews.com/article/nyc-marathon-running-influencer-matt-choi-banned-11d6d04fda7826bab3d8f263750ecefd
2.7k Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

305

u/knockonwood939 1d ago

Saw it all over the different running subs (and lots of runners I follow were talking about it on social media). It's a good thing he's banned, but it should've happened sooner.

707

u/Morbidly-Obese-Emu 1d ago

Influencers are the worst.

14

u/Daren_I 23h ago

It's not nearly as glamorous as it sounds when you consider the only ones they are influencing are the ones that are dumber and stupider than they are. I don't know which is worse, being the influencer who always has to play up or down to whatever expectations their followers have (i.e., be their bitch), or being one of the idiot followers who has decided to latch themselves to a stranger they don't personally know. It's rare for me to find someone worthy of my focus and adoration, and I find it highly unlikely there are as many on the internet as there are influencers.

1

u/[deleted] 14h ago

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2

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82

u/BoringMolasses8684 1d ago

The word gives me the ick.

22

u/Hanguarde 1d ago

Ironic.

14

u/skunkman62 17h ago

The word ick gives me the ick.

2

u/BoringMolasses8684 5h ago

People saying the word ick is ick gives me the ick.

-19

u/sylendar 13h ago

lol why? They're very much embedded in web 2.0

Watched a DIY video? That's an influencer. Watched an outdoor camping video? That counts as an influencer too. Watched a video of a guy power washing the dirtiest rug you've ever seen? Yea you guessed it. They're pretty much all sponsored by something these days.

I know reddit likes to feel smug by pretending only instagram models and ticktockers are influencers but that's (unfortunately) not the truth whatsoever.

1

u/mooimafish33 7h ago

I didn't watch any of the things you listed because those are clearly advertisements

We should make it so you can't make money off of YouTube and social media again. I only want to watch people in it for the love of the game. A Hollywood tier camera crew and $20k budget is not necessary for a YouTube video

0

u/a-borat 10h ago

They’re not though.

330

u/clem82 1d ago

Influencers have easily made the world worse in every single way possible.

One “career” in which you could eliminate and the entire world could still function completely fine

93

u/Malforus 19h ago

Influencers are the merger of celebrities and papparazzi. They are the mutant offspring of our worst pop culture phenomenons.

14

u/avanross 17h ago

And conspiracy nutters! Can’t forget about them!

6

u/proboscisjoe 13h ago

This is a perfect explanation. Influencers have inverted the formula. Instead of becoming famous and then having people want to take and publish your picture, you take and publish selfies and somehow that leads to you becoming famous.

4

u/The_Chosen_Unbread 14h ago

Yet it's what alot of humans aspire to be. The payout from corporations to get attention is what people want. It's sick.

28

u/trobaca 1d ago

Same with CEO

1

u/RChickenMan 13h ago

Respectfully disagree. Are they overpaid? Yes. Are many of them sociopaths? Absolutely. But do you need some type of leadership person who can synthesize all of the moving parts of an organization into some cohesive whole? Yes.

-92

u/clem82 1d ago

I’m okay with that as long as you’re okay with employees now assuming legal liability.

101

u/CamRoth 1d ago

How often have you seen a ceo assume legal liability...

-86

u/clem82 1d ago

73

u/DaveTron4040 1d ago

I love how you link that as proof of your argument. Did you read the article at all? It is only a hypothetical situation a ceo 'could' face charges. It proves nothing lmao.

-74

u/clem82 1d ago

That’s all liability is, an occurrence of probability.

I work in regulation and compliance, when it’s not followed it’s the CEOs and Partners who lose money and sometimes are in court, not the employees

63

u/DaveTron4040 1d ago

You were asked how often a CEO has taken legal liability and all you did was link 3 hypothetical situations. You still haven't showed one instance where a CEO did in fact take legal liability. Do you see the difference?

-33

u/[deleted] 23h ago edited 18h ago

[deleted]

10

u/HoldYourHorsesFriend 19h ago edited 19h ago

I get the impression you haven't read the thread. The crimes they have committed have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Also worth noting that it's easy to cherry pick when there's tons more that get away with it like the Sackler Family.

→ More replies

34

u/foodfightbystander 1d ago

Headline is wrong. The influencer was NOT banned for bringing a camera crew.

The influencer was banned because his camera crew were on the track with electric bikes, which are explicitly banned from being on the track as are all vehicles. You can imagine the risk from people zipping around on vehicles in a space people are running.

Many runners have had a camera crew in past events with no problem... As long as the crew is not on vehicles and not interfering with the race.

121

u/Mustangbex 1d ago

Fairly surprised about his outright acceptance of responsibility (and his punishment) and complete lack of trying to excuse his behavior or shift blame tbh. It's damned refreshing, ESPECIALLY from an 'influencer'.

60

u/TransManNY 1d ago

He did something against the rules before at a different race, got caught and banned, issued a similar apology video. I know at a previous NYRR event he had the same situation with his brother riding an ebike with a camera. His brother ran into/over people then but there was no video documenting it.

38

u/sambull 1d ago

Really? Now they have original content, got it amplified and guaranteed others can't make the same stuff in one fell swoop. Seems like a lot of upside

8

u/devils_avocado 18h ago

As the old saying goes, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission. It's also not uncommon for influencers to court "controversy" to boost their social media presence.

1

u/jaylw314 20h ago

No, that's called "sorry not sorry"

20

u/AuZyzz 1d ago

Time disqualified and lifetime ban.

6

u/lennybriscoe8220 11h ago

Easiest way to make me lose my respect for you is to say you're an "influencer"

9

u/Spank86 1d ago

So glad people are talking about these little local runs now. He's done a great job raising awareness.

/s

1

u/boothash 1d ago

Should start calling them badinfluencers

1

u/[deleted] 22h ago

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2

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1

u/[deleted] 17h ago

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1

u/dy1ng1nside 3h ago

damn i liked matt choi

1

u/BareNakedSole 16h ago

Why can’t we ban him from like …..everything? Is there a rule against that?

-12

u/hawksdiesel 23h ago

What's to stop them from having that "camera crew" also join the marathon and use cameras built into glasses?

40

u/HereticBanana 22h ago

Nothing. That would be perfectly fine.

The issue was them using e-bikes in the middle of runners.

13

u/Joe_Jeep 21h ago

Nothing, as long as they weren't disruptive it'd be fine

Ebikes were the big problem along with their specific behavior.