Sports and Pop-Culture in a world without COVID-19?

Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Inspired from the thread WI: Pop Culture in a world without 9/11

So let's say POD is COVID just never exists. Everything is just normal from late 2019 to present ATL.

What changes to sports and pop-culture would happen?

I can list a few:
  • E3 2020 goes ahead as with all concerts and music festivals.
  • Tokyo 2020 happens on time. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gets to see this accomplishment. But because of the butterflies, the outcomes of who wins medals may be different. It might also butterfly Abe's assassination.
  • Movies like Mulan and all movies gets shown on theaters rather than VOD.
  • Jurassic World: Dominion is released in June 2021, and the actors of Zach and Grey Mitchell and Lowery would have appeared. We may not have that locust subplot that bares relation to the franchise at all.
  • In my hometown in Cebu, the 500th anniversary of Christianity reaching the Philippines celebrations would go ahead. The Pope and the King of Spain would have gone ahead to bless the event.
  • Zoom would have been not widespread.
  • The terms "Work From Home", "Remote Work", and "Online/Virtual Classes" would not have been common terminologies. Although online work existed way before it became a common place during the pandemic, it was not the "new normal".
Note: This thread is to focus on the non-political side of COVID. For the political aspects, we have threads for that on the Chat forum:
 
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shearsforest

shearsforest

For music, there's this one Billboard Hot 100 timeline @Conster had been working on some time ago:
Conster said:
US Billboard Hot 100 #1s, 2020
January 4: All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey
January 11: Circles, Post Malone
January 18 - March 28: The Box, Roddy Ricch
April 4 - April 11: Don't Start Now, Dua Lipa
April 18 - May 2: Rain On Me, Lady Gaga (feat. Ariana Grande)
May 9: The Scotts, The Scotts
May 16: Say So, Doja Cat (feat. Nicki Minaj)
May 23: Gooba, 6ix9ine
May 30: Say So, Doja Cat (feat. Nicki Minaj)
June 6 - July 4: Rockstar, DaBaby (feat. Roddy Ricch)
July 11 - August 15: Physical, Dua Lipa (feat. The Weeknd)
August 22: Forever After All, Luke Combs
August 29 - September 12: WAP, Cardi B (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)
September 19 - October 31: Easy On Me, Adele
November 7 - November 21: Laugh Now Cry Later, Drake (feat. Lil Durk)
November 28 - December 12: Therefore I Am, Billie Eilish
December 19 - December 26: All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey

Just an idea.
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Conster said:
POD is no covid. Probably the most notable change is Physical (feat. The Weeknd) which doesn't exist OTL; here it becomes the Song Of The Summer (TM) and gives every retail worker recurring nightmares.
Are there any other covid-related PODs in pop music? I shuffled some release dates around and whittled those BTS songs and Taylor Swift's two albums out of existence.
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shearsforest said:
Yeah, I guess. I've read more than a few Taylor Swift fans who say she would've been on tour at this point for Lover, with one suggesting that she might've begun work on her re-recordings soon after the Lover Tour.
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folklore and evermore are butterflied out of existence; not sure about Midnights.

In terms of movies, Marvel is able to properly set up Phase Four at the very least.
 
wasp_

wasp_

Irony aside I wanna how would Twitter community be really like since I would imagine not a lot of many people would doomscroll if there's no pandemic (and probably a protest that happened in 2020 IOTL) going on
 
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kspence92

I wonder if TikTok wouldn’t be as big of a thing as it is now. Truthfully I hadn’t even heard of it until the pandemic started and then suddenly everyone was making these videos
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

kspence92 said:
I wonder if TikTok wouldn’t be as big of a thing as it is now. Truthfully I hadn’t even heard of it until the pandemic started and then suddenly everyone was making these videos
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@THE KINGFISH did mention TikTok was already growing since 2018. To be honest, I've known about TikTok since 2018 and I thought it was just another Vine (2013), Dubsmash (2015), and Musical.ly (2016). It's important to note Tiktok bought Musical.ly.

I agree with Kingfish that it would have still become somewhere popular but its popularity and mainstream would be delayed maybe until ATL 2021-2022.
Spiegel1 said:
Butterflying the Bat No Zombie jokes and so on.
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I guess zombie movies would not have been the stuff of jokes. As well as pandemic movies such as Outbreak, Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, and Contagion.

Pandemic and Plague, Inc. would not be the stuff of memes as well.

It's important to note too that 28 Days Later has been compared to COVID-19, especially the scene where Jim wakes up in an abandoned London which we all know the MOD published a photo of Bedford trucks patrolling the same bridge near the Big Ben during the lockdown.
1920px-COVID-19_-_Piccadilly_Circus%2C_London_UK.jpg

img_20200324_151916-jpg.532827


faroutmagazine.co.uk

20 years of '28 Days Later': Covid-19 heightens the horror

'28 Days Later' was one of the very first movies from British director Danny Boyle. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Naomie Harris and more...
faroutmagazine.co.uk faroutmagazine.co.uk
wasp_ said:
Irony aside I wanna how would Twitter community be really like since I would imagine not a lot of many people would doomscroll if there's no pandemic (and probably a protest that happened in 2020 IOTL) going on
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Twitter would be in normal mode. The Doomposting/Doomer memes would just be limited to those who have a pessimistic view of life. They were already there prior to COVID-19. The lockdowns just expedited it.

There also won't be those "Apocalypse Bingo" memes you saw everytime something bad happened in 2020.
usernamebutepic said:
Louis theroux did a special on him in 2011 I think
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To be fair, I may have already heard about Doc Antle at this point but as for Joe Exotic and Carole Baskins, I really didn't hear about them up until that Netflix documentary showed up.
 
wasp_

wasp_

Gillan1220 said:
Twitter would be in normal mode. The Doomposting/Doomer memes would just be limited to those who have a pessimistic view of life. They were already there prior to COVID-19. The lockdowns just expedited it.

There also won't be those "Apocalypse Bingo" memes you saw everytime something bad happened in 2020.
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So Twitter is still going be like post-exodus except not much crazy happened
 
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wasp_

wasp_

Gillan1220 said:
Twitter won't change much at all. What makes me curious is without COVID-19, does Elon Musk still buy Twitter and change it to X in this ATL?
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I guess the reason Elon buyed Twitter (as I'm googling right now) is because of this:
Elon Musk's controversial decision to purchase Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 came about for several reasons. It acted, in part, as an accelerant to his desire to create an 'everything app' similar to China's WeChat. But he also sought to roll back the censorship he said was taking place on the platform.
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‘The everything app’: why Elon Musk wants X to be a WeChat for the west | Social media | The Guardian

Twitter owner’s rebranding is part of larger strategy to add payment functionality and more
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

Assuming the butterflies, he would probably screw over Tesla company as if he's doesn't roll over on Twitter.
Funny enough the hysteria around it is enough for me to have a hiatus because of the people acting like a actual chimpanzees instead of his changes.

(Also I was referring "post-exodus" as post Tumblr exodus around 2018 and 2019 if you didn't know)
 
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Gillan1220

Gillan1220

wasp_ said:
I guess the reason Elon buyed Twitter (as I'm googling right now) is because of this:

‘The everything app’: why Elon Musk wants X to be a WeChat for the west | Social media | The Guardian

Twitter owner’s rebranding is part of larger strategy to add payment functionality and more
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

Assuming the butterflies, he would probably screw over Tesla company as if he's doesn't roll over on Twitter.
Funny enough the hysteria around it is enough for me to have a hiatus because of the people acting like a actual chimpanzees instead of his changes.

(Also I was referring "post-exodus" as post Tumblr exodus around 2018 and 2019 if you didn't know)
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Speaking of Elon, the launch of Space X in late May 2020 would have drawn lots of in-person visitors without the COVID-19 restrictions. '

My guess is Elon would still by Twitter and change it into X at some point, but maybe in ATL 2024-2025. However, there won't be a mass layoff of Twitter and other social media companies because there is no pandemic.

I wasn't really familiar on how to use Tumblr before so I didn't really know about this mass exodus.
 

Spiegel1

Gillan1220 said:
Speaking of Elon, the launch of Space X in late May 2020 would have drawn lots of in-person visitors without the COVID-19 restrictions. '

My guess is Elon would still by Twitter and change it into X at some point, but maybe in ATL 2024-2025. However, there won't be a mass layoff of Twitter and other social media companies because there is no pandemic.

I wasn't really familiar on how to use Tumblr before so I didn't really know about this mass exodus.
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No pandemic no Zombie jokes no Ivermectin shenanigans yeah.
 

Enigmajones

For one the second iteration of the XFL would have successfully completed its first season. I’d envision the Houston Roughnecks and maybe the DC Defenders in the XFL title.
 

nyratk1

The biggest butterfly in the world of pro wrestling is that Bray Wyatt would still be alive.

I'm also not sure we get Roman Reigns' heel turn and the Bloodline - at least in its current form.

I think Keith Lee also ends up staying with WWE since he doesn't struggle with the effects of Long COVID and underwhelm after he gets back to wrestling.
 
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KPyall

KPyall

Google would probably still be doing their April Fools' Day jokes today. IOTL, they stopped because of COVID, and they've never made new jokes since.
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Some interesting reads regarding pop-culture and COVID:
www.forbes.com

The Impact COVID-19 Had On The Entertainment Industry In 2020

In 2020, consumers relied on digital for at-home entertainment. In the U.S. annual revenue grew by 33% and accounted for 82% of theatrical and home/mobile entertainment dollars.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
www.makingmanhattan.com

How COVID Changed the Entertainment Industry — Making it in Manhattan

And where it’s heading next.
www.makingmanhattan.com www.makingmanhattan.com
www.scottfleary.com

How has Covid-19 affected the Entertainment Industry - Scott Fleary

How has Covid-19 affected the Entertainment Industry News Matt 03/03/2022 How has Covid-19 affected the Entertainment Industry Tue, 31 Oct 2023 The pandemic has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry, from the way that it is enjoyed by audiences, to the production process. Both in terms...
www.scottfleary.com www.scottfleary.com
 
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