ICYMI

The Bling Ring Wasn’t Possible Without the Internet

The new Netflix documentary on the Bling Ring reveals just how savvy and desperate for fame these thieves were.

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Episode Notes

The early years of social media were a wild place where people weren’t really thinking about what they were posting, which is something the teenagers of the Bling Ring took advantage of when they started using celebrity gossip sites, Facebook, MySpace and Google Maps to target their famous victims. On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Moises Mendez II to talk about the new Netflix documentary The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist, which details this group’s tactics, crimes, and conflicting stories. Rachelle and Moises discuss how the internet played such an important role in these crimes, the chaos in the courtroom, and the desperation for attention these teens had.

This podcast is produced by Daniel Schroeder, Rachelle Hampton, and Daisy Rosario.

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About the Show

Join Rachelle Hampton twice a week as we gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back.

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Hosts

  • Moises Mendez II is a freelance culture journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. He covers entertainment, LGBTQ+ culture, and social media. He has bylines at Fast Company, Rolling Stone, HuffPost, and more.

  • Rachelle Hampton is a culture writer and reporter at Slate and co-host of ICYMI. Her work has appeared in the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian Magazine, and In These Times. She still hasn't recovered from Tumblr’s demise.