My absurd experiences in North America over the years

When a person genuinely cares about themselves, all pretense of strength will crumble instantly.

Taylor Swift leaned on Li Fu's shoulder, sobbing softly as she poured out her grievances. She didn't know how long this state lasted, but it was so long that she herself couldn't remember the time.

Li Fu remained patient throughout, only occasionally saying a word and then gently patting her back to comfort her.

Taylor Swift's emotions were actually quite stable. At this moment, it's more like she's letting down all her defenses and revealing her vulnerability in front of someone she absolutely trusts.

Her eyes were red, with tears still clinging to her eyelashes. She seemed to have all her strength drained away, and she leaned softly against his shoulder. For a moment, she wished it could stay like this forever.

The room was quiet, and the Los Angeles night outside the window was getting deeper and deeper, with distant lights letting in a blurry ray of light through the edge of the curtains.

This quietness creates an atmosphere of absolute safety and absolute comfort.

In this atmosphere, Taylor Swift felt that the two of them had never been so close.

It can be said that after experiencing this sudden change, this was the only moment that made her feel at ease, warm, and at home.

Li Fu felt her voice gradually fade away and her breathing become even. He looked down and saw that the girl in his arms had fallen asleep. Her lips were slightly parted, and there were still tear stains on her face. Her fingers were tightly gripping his sleeve.

He gently pulled his arm away, and the girl instinctively snuggled closer to him.

He hesitated for a moment, then carefully picked her up. She was surprisingly light, curled up in his arms like a frightened kitten that had finally found a safe corner.

Li Fu entered the bedroom, gently placed the girl on the bed, helped her take off her shoes, covered her with a blanket, and then quietly left the room.

Thompson had been waiting in the lounge. Seeing Li Fu emerge, he whispered, "There are still many media outlets in the lobby downstairs, including people from several TV stations and entertainment newspapers. A reporter took a picture of Taylor coming out of the side door, and it's already going viral on social media."

"Ignore them," Li Fu already had a preliminary plan. "I'd appreciate it if you could make an appointment tomorrow morning. I'm planning to hold a press conference at Time Warner's office building at 1 p.m.."

Thompson hesitated for a moment, "Tomorrow at noon? Won't that be too rushed?"

"Public opinion has started to ferment, with all sorts of voices. It's unlikely that a comprehensive plan can be made in such a short time," Li Fu said, looking out the window at the end of the corridor. Angel City was brightly lit.

"We need to react quickly. Tomorrow, contact Time Warner's Los Angeles office in my name to confirm the venue is available until 1 p.m. tomorrow... Also, notify the heads of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and News Corporation's entertainment channel, and it would be best if they sent someone over..."

He thought for a moment, then added, "Also, we need to confirm whether Beyoncé has publicly responded to this matter."

Thompson quickly took out his phone and jotted it down. "Don't worry, Mr. Li, I'll arrange everything."

Li Fu patted him on the shoulder and said nothing more.

Thompson turned and walked toward the elevator. Before the elevator doors closed, he glanced back and saw Li Fu leaning against the corridor wall, his eyes closed, his brow slightly furrowed, as if he were calculating something that had not yet been completed.

The following day at noon, at the Time Warner office building in Los Angeles.

The building's conference room was temporarily converted into a press conference venue. A long table was placed in front, with several microphones on the table, and a dark gray background wall behind it.

The seats below the stage were already full, and in the last row stood a row of technicians carrying cameras.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, News Corp. Entertainment, CNN... almost every mainstream media outlet you could think of was there.

At 12:55, Li Fu stood behind the side door and glanced at Taylor Swift beside him.

Her eyes were still slightly red, but after changing into a white dress, she looked much better than last night.

She wasn't holding any manuscript paper; her fingers were slightly clenched, so tightly that her fingertips turned white, as if she hadn't completely relaxed yet.

"Are you nervous?" Li Fu asked softly.

"A little," Taylor Swift took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

She was only nineteen years old, and apart from attending music festivals and holding concerts, she had never experienced such a big event.

"Relax, you don't need to say anything," Li Fu gently tidied a stray strand of hair at her temple. "Just tell them the truth about how you felt last night. Leave the rest to me."

Taylor Swift nodded gently, and when she turned her head to look at him, she felt a peace she had never experienced before.

It's such a wonderful feeling to have someone you can rely on.

At 1 p.m. sharp, the press conference officially began. Li Fu pushed open the door, and Taylor Swift followed him into the venue.

The moment the protagonist of this incident stood in front of the microphone, the sound of camera shutters went off in an instant, and the flashes spread out like a layer of white fog in front of our eyes.

Taylor Swift's fingers clenched slightly under the edge of the table as she looked up at the faces below the stage.

She paused for two or three seconds, as if to make sure she was ready, before calmly beginning to speak.

Her voice was a little lower than usual, but more emotional. "Last night... I was on stage, about to continue my acceptance speech, when he took the microphone away. I thought it was part of the program. I thought... it's okay, maybe it's just part of the show..."

The audience was extremely quiet, with only the sound of camera shutters clicking.

The journalists who were able to get here were all seasoned professionals; they knew what kind of moment this was, and they all held their breath and focused intently.

"Then he said those things...it really took me by surprise. He told me I didn't deserve the award, and that really...deeply hurt me..."

Taylor Swift paused, her lips slightly pursed, her gaze fixed on the audience. "I was standing there, holding the trophy, but I felt like a puppet torn apart. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. I just felt so...humiliated. I didn't understand why."

These are indeed her true feelings. She is a girl from a small farm town in Pennsylvania who moved her family to Nashville to pursue her musical dreams.

She has relied on her musical talent all the way to the top. She won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Artist because her music attracted millions of listeners to vote for her, and she was finally able to overcome all obstacles and stand on the podium.

She originally thought she could rely on her talent to get ahead, but she was too young and naive.

The rules that govern this world are far from being as fair and just, or as glamorous as they appear on the surface. At times, they are even more like a dark jungle, despicable and sordid.

When reporters in the audience tried to ask questions, Li Fu stopped them, saying that it wasn't appropriate for Taylor Swift to express herself too much at this time.

He walked to the microphone, turned his gaze from the audience to the microphone stand, as if choosing which direction to approach from.

"I'm sorry, she's still processing what happened last night and isn't ready to be interviewed, but I don't think this was just a random slip-up," he said, looking around at the reporters below the stage. "Bullying isn't just a problem on campus. Some people have been in this industry long enough that they start to think they have the right to decide who deserves to stand there and who should step back."

He directly targeted the industry's deeply entrenched entertainment hegemony, saying, "When this 19-year-old girl wanted to express her gratitude to the organizers, her family, and the audience for their support, someone actually rushed onto the stage and snatched the microphone away. Can you imagine how outrageous that is? Any adult should know what that means! But he still rushed up there."

He shifted his focus from personal accusations against Kanye to a critique of current rules governing the entertainment industry.

Who benefits from this operating system?

Of course, it refers to the superstars Beyoncé and her husband. He didn't name names, but that was blatant enough.

Li Fu paused for a moment, then raised his voice, "I think everyone who is new to this industry should have the right to be treated fairly. As the owner of Big Machine Records, I will definitely pursue this matter to the end."

This is an uncompromising statement, and also a declaration of war in the true sense.

At this point, a reporter boldly asked, "Mr. Li, is the purpose of this press conference to help Taylor seek justice?"

"That was my initial intention; I couldn't stand by and watch my artists be bullied. However, once this press conference was held, its symbolic meaning became something else entirely..."

Li Fu looked at the audience and said firmly, "If what happened last night can be let go so easily, then next time another person will be treated in the same way on another stage. This tragedy should not happen again."

He wants to elevate this to the level of an industry phenomenon.

"I'm standing here today saying this not to defend myself for kicking that hole, but because I see a crack widening and want to make everyone see it before it becomes an abyss, and then stop it."

Li Fu concluded his speech with these words.

…………

In the next 24 hours, the whole thing began to spread like wildfire, sweeping across the United States and spreading to other corners of the world.

The New York Times published a headline in its entertainment section on its website that evening: "What does Taylor Swift's experience at the MTV Awards mean after her microphone was taken away?"

The article doesn't just focus on the incident itself, but examines it within the context of numerous young female celebrities who have been mistreated in public in recent years, allowing readers to see that this was not a single, accidental lapse in control...

Rather, it is part of a traceable pattern.

News Corp.'s entertainment channel aired a montage during prime time, featuring Taylor Swift's speech at the press conference in its entirety, accompanied by footage of her microphone being taken from her on stage the previous night.

At the end of the program, the host commented, "A 19-year-old girl, at the most important moment of her life, needs to be protected just to be able to say 'thank you' properly. We need to think about what exactly happened."

The Los Angeles Times was more direct.

They published a commentary in the newspaper the following morning, titled "When the Microphone Is Taken Away—On the Silent Power Structures in the Entertainment Industry."

The article doesn't name anyone, but it maintains a constant hint throughout, like drawing a boundless outline, leaving the reader to figure out who should be filled in that outline.

It mentions that some people in the industry, because of their seniority, start to think they can decide for others who deserves opportunities.

They even copied Li Fu's entire statement. If this kind of thing can be let go so easily, then next time someone else will stand on another stage and be treated in the same way.

At the same time, we interviewed other newcomers who had had similar experiences before, allowing them to express their feelings.

Public opinion spread rapidly like a tidal wave.

The topic was equally popular on social media.

Taylor Swift's remarks at the press conference were cut into a short video and shared hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter.

The last sentence of Li Fu's speech was made into an image with quotation marks and widely circulated on Tumblr.

The discussion in the comments section also shifted. Initially, people were debating "what Kanye was thinking," but by the afternoon, the topic had veered towards a deeper question: "Why would a 19-year-old girl need someone to protect her from bullying?"

The impact of this issue quickly extended beyond the awards ceremony that evening, reaching into many earlier and more similar unrecorded moments.

And once those moments are seen again, they are no longer just scattered fragments.

Instead, it is a clue waiting to be identified.

Conspiracy theories are extremely prevalent in North America, including deep government, reptilian elites (who believe some leaders are actually extraterrestrial reptilians), the 9/11 attacks, the moon landing hoax, and so on. There are just too many to list.

This matter doesn't even require any guidance; the public will naturally imagine the "dirty" side of the entertainment industry.

The criticism was directed at Kanye West and Beyoncé.

That evening, CP posted a message on his social media, using language characteristic of his style, angrily accusing Kanye of having mental problems.

Of course, he wouldn't miss any opportunity to prove himself to be a good person and a successful boss.

"Taylor's experience at the MTV Awards was shocking. I think if any young employee in our company were treated like that in public, I would do everything in my power to ensure that the person who did it never does it again in any public setting."

He is extremely skilled at riding the wave of trending topics and generating traffic, and it can even be said that no one can match him. In addition, he has a deep cooperation with Li Fu.

This message was widely shared within hours, and the comments section was almost entirely filled with praise.

It really gave him a good time again.

The following evening, the two brands that had previously collaborated with Kanye issued brief statements.

The wording differed slightly, but the core message was almost identical: "Based on comprehensive considerations, we have decided to terminate our cooperative relationship with Mr. West, effective immediately."

Later that day, a third brand also issued a similar statement, followed by two more. Although they did not make a public announcement, their promotional materials were quietly removed overnight.

As the media storm raged, on the morning of the third day, a brief message circulated within Kanye's management company: Kanye had repeatedly tried to apologize, but was refused each time.

Meanwhile, another piece of news was slowly spreading through Los Angeles' entertainment industry circles, like a thin mist silently permeating the air.

Some people are beginning to examine Beyoncé's handling of the MTV Awards night with greater caution.

Discussions about whether she knew Kanye would do that have been repeatedly brought up, details about whether she was really crying backstage have been checked again and again, and rumors about her trying to invite Taylor on stage afterward to mend the rift have been circulating wildly.

Kanye's rude behavior is evolving into an examination of the complex and hidden power mechanisms within the entire entertainment system.

As one of the representative figures of that system, Beyoncé inevitably became the focus of scrutiny.

On the morning of the fourth day, Kanye was desperate and contacted Beyoncé and Jay-Z's teams multiple times, hoping they could help "de-escalate the situation".

But Beyoncé's team did not respond immediately.

They are busy with another matter: assessing the long-term impact of this incident on Beyoncé's personal brand and how to handle the public scrutiny she is under.

The impact of this matter is currently enormous.

All voices were drowned out by in-depth reports from The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, heated discussions on Twitter, and media coverage from News Corp.

It was only at this point that Beyoncés and others realized that Taylor Swift really didn't have any powerful backers in the entertainment industry.

However, a true god stands behind her.

What weight do entertainers carry in front of important figures?