Abbie Richards

Abbie Richards (born June 4, 1996) is an American comedian and environmental activist whose anti-golf campaign and conspiracy theory charts went viral on TikTok and Twitter in 2020.

Early life and education

Richards was born on June 4 1996 and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts.[1][2] She graduated from Colorado College with a degree in environmental science and as of August 2020 was studying for a masters in climate studies at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands.[1][2]

Comedy career

After graduating from Colorado College, Richards moved to Melbourne to work in standup comedy.[2]

Social media career

She began posting criticism of golf and golf courses on TikTok after running past a golf course in the spring of 2020 and noticing the course's "no trespassing" signs.[1][2] She told The Daily Dot that "the privatization of green spaces, especially during a pandemic when people need to maximize their distance from one another, made me furious."[2] She posted to TikTok a video "about running for president to make golf illegal" which went viral.[1] Her posts focus on concerns about environmental impact and social inequality, but she also includes among her criticisms that the game is boring and "the clothes are ugly".[1][2][3][4] According to Richards her posts "started as a joke, and 100 percent is not a joke anymore" as her concerns became more serious as she did more research.[1][2]

ESPN commenter Kenny Mayne referenced the anti-golf content in a tweet, saying "The producers think the TikTok Golf hater girl @abbieasr is too avant-garde for a full SportsCenter segment".[1][3]

In January 2021 Richards published an op-ed about golf on Euronews Living entitled 'Golf is a giant board game damaging the planet: Time for it to go.'[5]

On May 30, 2020, she posted a video showing a protester at a racial justice march during the George Floyd protests talking to an emotional police officer, which received 6 million views.[3] By July 2020, views of her TikTok posts had dropped to under 9000 each in what Screen Rant called an apparent case of shadow banning, either intentional or due to a faulty algorithm.[3] She also was restricted from live streaming on TikTok without explanation.[3]

Richards also created "The Conspiracy Chart", an inverted pyramid assessing various conspiracy theories on a spectrum from "Grounded in Reality" to "Detached from Reality", which according to New Zealand journalist David Farrier "went bonkers on Twitter".[6][7][8]

References
  1. Martinelli, Michelle (2020-08-03). "Meet TikTok's viral environmentalist 'anti-golf girl' who argues against golf courses". USA Today. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  2. Schroeder, Audra (2020-06-04). "Meet the woman who is trying to cancel golf on TikTok". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  3. Davis, Hubert (2020-07-25). "TikTok Shadowbanned: Major TikToker Shut Out of For You & Live". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  4. ""Cancel golf!" - Internet personality wants sport…". Bunkered. 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  5. Richards, Abbie (9 January 2021). "Golf is a giant board game damaging the planet: Time for it to go". Euronews Living. Euronews. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  6. Farrier, David. "I talk to the creator of the Conspiracy Chart". Webworm. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  7. "Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?". Brut. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  8. Myrman, Dan (6 January 2021). "Abbie Richards & The Inverted Conspiracy Pyramid". Podcasts.nu (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-01-16.
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