"Shirley combines two of the foundational modes of live-streaming circa 2025-the man-on-the-street interview and the thrill-seeking adventure into an unknown and ostensibly dangerous place, whether the Mongolian Steppe or a tent encampment in Philadelphia-to produce a roughly hour-long narrative. He adopts the role of a guy who simply wants to know more about a problem, going from day-care center to day-care center in Minnesota and asking the people who work there, all of whom are of Somali origin, if they're the ones stealing taxpayer money."
"According to Shirley's investigative partner for the video-a man whom he refers to only as David-this day care has been licensed to care for ninety-nine children and received four million dollars in taxpayer funding. In a surreal moment, Shirley and David are confronted by a woman in the parking lot who mistakes them for federal immigration agents and starts yelling to anyone who might be inside, "Don't open up! You have ICE here,""
Legacy news organizations and independent YouTube creators are contrasted in their capacity to uncover inconvenient truths, hold powerful actors to account, and write the first draft of history. Twenty-three-year-old YouTuber Nick Shirley investigated alleged day-care fraud in Minneapolis, producing an hour-long live-stream that blends man-on-the-street interviews with thrill-seeking on-site confrontations. Shirley visits Minnesota day-care centers and asks Somali-origin staff whether they stole taxpayer money. A viral scene shows him at a storefront with a misspelled sign while his partner David cites licensing and four million dollars in funding. A woman mistakes them for immigration agents, and Shirley sometimes enters facilities under the guise of enrolling a fictional child, "little Joey."
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]