Times are so tough that anyone showing off a bougie lifestyle on social media is pretty much instantly canceled.
Or, they attract the attention (and mockery) of this guy: Shabaz Says, who shares public clips of those who are comfortable displaying their daily luxuries for people to drool over, with the hilarious commentary, “I’m rich, you’re poor.”
And because it’s just so relatable (and he makes his posts dressed in an Oodie in his bed), 1.7 million people follow him. Although, this week, he went too far for some of them when he posted a clip about an influencer’s over-the-top gift bags for the guests at her baby shower.
The clip of him commenting on @nabela‘s baby ‘sprinkle’ (not as intense as a shower) prep begins with Shabaz doing what many of us do: judging people while we scroll our phones in bed.
Playing alongside him is the influencer’s video of her packing Nars, La Mer, and such brands into rattan bags.
“On today’s episode of ‘I’m rich, you’re poor’, come and pack my baby sprinkles gift bags with me.
“Yes, I’m creating a gift bag with all these expensive products for my guests, creating another trend on the internet for all you povos [poor people] out there to watch and feel bad about the fact that you could never do this for your guests.
“You can’t even afford these items for yourself, let alone all these expensive moisturizers and jewelry and lotions and potions and makeup.
“Why? Because you’re poor. You’re so poor you don’t even know what a baby sprinkle is, let alone know about hand-written notes and wicker baskets and blue ribbons and custom-made candles.
“You can’t even afford to put food on the table or afford basic necessities to live… Cos you’re poor.”
The video has attracted 1.6 million views and thousands of comments.
There are many who didn’t know what a baby ‘sprinkle’ is – which is yet another example of the influencer being ‘rich not poor’.
The most liked comment read “Even if I was rich, I don’t like people enough to give them all that,” to which Shabaz replied, “Comment of the year.”
Other viewers wrote:
“That’s not a sprinkle, that’s a monsoon.”
“Those boxes are like £1,000. La Mer alone is over £100 each. This is unnecessarily EXTRAAAAAA.”
“I can’t even afford a child.”
“Yeah the richness got to her. I don’t like her. She makes me feel bad about my life.”
But this viewer observed that perhaps the judgment wasn’t warranted, writing, “Lol she gets everything for free. She’s an influencer.”
And many others outright defended the popular pregnant woman:
“Wow. Triggered a whole lotta people Keep doing what you’re doing! Love it,” wrote one, and another added, “Why are people mad? Like that’s her baby and her money so…and she’s giving it to her friends.”
In a follow-up clip, Shabaz addressed some of the criticism from Nabela’s loyal fans.
“I just wanted to apol – No I don’t, I really don’t,” the comedian begins.
He then explains that his clips are satire, and are not being mean about a person as such, but having a joke about what they can afford while we mere mortals have to do things like bring our lunches from home.
He also objected to those who tagged Nabela in the comments, saying not everyone needs to see everything that’s posted about them.
“Every person who posts a video is allowed to be criticized, analyzed, reviewed… and remember, it’s never personal; it’s just poverty.”