Bullying Revenge Gone Too Far, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for 4/1/26

We jump from a jaw-dropping bullying headline to the messy question of what “protecting your kid” should look like when emotions take over. Then we ride through pop culture, travel surprises, and a candy heist, while asking you what you would do in the same situations. 

 Fans of today’s most talked-about podcasts will feel right at home with Thirsty Topics—bringing you unfiltered conversations on culture, social media, and what’s trending now. 

 
• Utah mom accused of forcing a child into her car to demand an apology for bullying  
• where the line is between consequences and criminal behavior  
• what we would want to know about the backstory before judging  
• Rosalia ending a concert early due to food poisoning and the pressure of disappointing fans  
• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s first award show appearance together  
• Michael Lindell getting interrupted on camera by someone trying to serve legal papers  
• American Airlines selling certain short routes as bus connections and why transparency matters  
• 12 tons of Kit Kats stolen in Europe and our personal candy picks  

See Meryl Thursday, April 9th at Flappers in Burbank, and see one of Meryl's very good friends and wonderful comedian, Chris Elves. And so it's Chris Elves and Friends.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. Hey, Meryl.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Hey, hey, hey. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

I am doing fantastic. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

I'm very good. I'm very, very, very good. I'm excited for this week.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Oh, yes. Yes. It's going to be a good week.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yay. Uh do you want to start us off? Or do you want me to?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Or um, you know what? I'm going to start us off because uh this is a very interesting one to start to show off with. Well, I'm quite sure everyone at some point or another has dealt with bullying, either themselves or their children, unfortunately. But a mom takes this to a new level. Uh a mom kidnaps her son's bully to make him apologize to her son, and then after he apologizes, take the bully home. I love

A Mom Kidnaps A Bully

SPEAKER_01 1:13

it. And understand, this is not a typo. So a 40-year-old Utah mother, Shannon Tufuga, is facing felony charges after allegedly kidnapping her 11-year-old son's classmate to force an apology for bullying. The incident which occurred in September 2025 in Pravo, Utah, Utah, involved Tufuga allegedly hunting down the boy while he was riding his bike, forcing him into the car, and taking him to taking him home to apologize and subsequently threatening him. Well, I get it. As a parent, you want to protect your child, but uh this is way over the top. What do you think, Merrill?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Okay, yeah. Now that I hear a little bit more, I love a good like getting back at the bully situation, but I I agree that like taking a kid from his bike and having his parents think that he may have gone missing or not know, that's that's a little crazy. Like I feel like there's other, probably even more uh impactful ways to do it rather than to kidnap a kid.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, I I agree. I mean, yes, there is a big problem of bullying in this country, and something needs to be addressed. Kidnapping little children, I don't think, is the answer.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, I agree. I I feel like there's like I said, there's other ways to embarrass him, maybe at school, or to call them out in the more like intellectual way for their age, and but to take them back to their house. Like, I imagine he was probably crying and screaming and like resisting. So that's actually weird too. I don't know like how they got him to do that.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah, I don't know how she's gonna defend herself with this because there's so many different avenues to take. Uh, there's legal avenues that they can be taken, you know. Without knowing the backstory, it's it's hard to really comment too much on it because is this the first time the incident's being brought up to her? Or is this a situation that she's complaining over and over to the school district on? So I would like to know a little bit more about this situation, but I think this is so crazy to do this.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Me too. I would not I would not be the bully. I'd find, like I said, I'd find other bigger ways to humiliate them. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Do you think the mom should be charged?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Um, not charged, not charged because I like she wasn't really trying to kidnap him. I think there should be consequences, but like I don't think she should face jail time or anything. Maybe I think like fined. I think it was a really stupid thing to do, but I think like fined and then maybe having to do some type of like a community service, or I don't really know, but um, but yeah, like I don't think I would I would not see wanting to see her face jail time, but I feel like there needs to be like some consequences. But to me, this isn't like the worst thing in the world.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Oh, I agree, I agree. Um, I would love to know from our listeners and the people watching our show how would you feel about this? Would you do this if your child's being bullied, or if your child was the bully, would you be okay with another parent kidnapping your child and taking a child? Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Maybe the parents like found out that he's bullying too, and it's like, please take him away.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah, it's crazy. It's one of those other uh one of those stories, Merle, where I had to literally look it up in several sources just to make sure it was real because to me this is so way out of left field, but yeah, it's a real story though.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Well, someone that's not a bully that I love, Rosalia, uh had to end a concert early in Milan because of food poisoning. Um, I saw videos of her so sad. Like, this is definitely one of my biggest fears, and just I felt so bad for her. She's telling the audience she had food poisoning and had been throwing up backstage. She stopped after 11 songs, which I think that's amazing to even make it through 11 songs when you have food poisoning. Um, and the next day she posted a video of her feeling better, hooked up to an IV. And like that just has to be the worst feeling in the world. Because in the video, she announces to the crowd, and she, it's funny because she doesn't look sick, like she's beautiful and she looks fine, but she tells the crowd that she's really not feeling well, and you can tell that they're not sure if she's like kidding or what's happening. You know, you're probably you're you're halfway there at a concert. So it's it's also a tough situation because it's like after 11 songs, does that count as like, does everyone get a refund? Does everyone get, you know, a partial refund? And so I feel like that's

Should She Be Charged

SPEAKER_00 6:00

a really tough situation.

Rosalia Ends Show Sick

SPEAKER_00 6:01

And like the amount of guilt and anxiety I would feel having to disappoint that many people is just crazy. Um, but I'm glad she's feeling better. And I just think I think Rosalie is like so cute and um would would love to perform the whole thing if she could.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah, definitely, definitely. And um, you know, sometimes things happen. You know, we we tend to forget that these performers are human beings, so which means that they have issues that come up from time to time, just like anyone else would, except theirs is a little bit highlighted more because they're under the microscope of the public and their fans. But hopefully people are understanding and you know, just understand that obviously things happen. You can't really get upset and angry about it. Life happens, as they say.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Exactly. Food poisoning happens. I would love to know what she ate before that caught that caused her.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

I think she's probably not gonna say anything because uh it may be misconstrued as okay, don't eat this or stay away from this place.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

So exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I would be surprised if she disclosed that, but it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't. Well, this is a fun one here. This is actually a feel-good moment. So Taylor Swift and her fiance Travis Kelsey were seen together at the iHeart American Music Awards. Yay! So Taylor Swift and her fiance Travis Kelsey made their first award show appearance together at the 2026 iHeart Music Awards on March 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. They appeared affectionate in the front row with Swift wearing a mint green velvet dress and Kelsey in a leather jacket, making a notable high-profile public appearance for the couple. Well, hey, we all know they're engaged. There's no need to hide or sneak around. Hey, just enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, you know, I think that's so cute. I love that she has

Taylor Swift Award Show Debut

SPEAKER_00 8:11

a dancing partner now. Like I said, I'm not I'm not a Swifty per se, but I'm definitely Swifty adjacent, and I like I dabble in Swiftyism. So so I I love, I'm not one of those people that like she doesn't get on my nerves to the point where I don't want to see her. Like, I love seeing her. I thought she looked absolutely gorgeous. Like she just looks like in such good shape. Um, and like I mean, Travis is handsome too, so I love seeing them. And I thought before sometimes I do think she could be obnoxious at award shows with like dancing sometimes it to the point of like we get it, we get it, you know. But I thought she seemed totally happy and normal. And I feel like having Travis there kind of balances her there too. So I was happy to see it.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Absolutely. This would definitely put uh a big smile on all of the Swifties.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Me too. Big smile on all the people that liked her, uh like to see her ring too. She was bling blinging.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Absolutely. Well, talk about somebody not bling blinging. Myrtle, I uh I'd love to hear your next topic here.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Oh, yeah, definitely. This is the opposite of uh Taylor enjoying herself at the iHeart Awards, where recently the MyPillow CEO, Michael Lindell, was interrupted on camera by someone trying to serve him legal papers. So he was on an on-camera interview um in Great Vine, Texas, when a woman approached him with papers and said, You've been served. And so you could tell, you know, he's repeatedly saying, like, we're on TV, we're on TV in the video. But in fact, um, it's still not clear whether what the papers were or like whether that's a stun or part of a legitimate filing. But that has to be like embarrassing on embarrassing. And I've seen people before be served when they're like on stage. I think there was someone, someone probably knows what I'm talking about, but there was like, oh, Jason Sudakis or something. I think like Olivia Wilde, or it was one of those two people um got served,

MyPillow CEO Served On Camera

SPEAKER_00 10:07

like divorce papers on stage, and it was like a viral moment. So yeah, just very embarrassing for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Hey, it's a great way to make sure that you get that person right.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Exactly, exactly, because you kind of have to like balance it, and honestly, like being on camera is not gonna stop the law. So, if anything, it just makes it now everyone could tell that you've been served.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

That is so true. Talk about serving. Um, American Airlines is connecting flights by bus. So, American Airlines partners with the Landline Company to replace certain short-haul regional flights with luxury motor coach service, connecting smaller airports to major hubs like Philadelphia, Chicago. These bus trips are booked with the flight numbers, offer check baggage, and included Wi-Fi power, but have surprised some passengers who did not realize they were not flying. I saw this story, Merrill, and I would be pissed.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

You know, you're thinking you're you're getting on the board of a plane, you're literally going to the gate, and you know, you're going down, and like, okay, well, maybe the plane is off to the side, you have to go up the ladder or whatever, the stairs. But you're being led to this big motor coach.

American Airlines Flights By Bus

SPEAKER_01 11:32

I think I'm really upset about that. What about you, Maryl?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Me too, me too. I would be freaked out. That it's a total different experience.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yes, it is. It's definitely different. But what's interesting is the price is the same. There's no discount in pricing when they do that, and when they do that, they don't necessarily let you know. And I guess you have to really look at your ticket because there's a way to tell if they did it, but you have to look really closely, which kind of borderlines on the shady side to me. Just my personal opinion.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Exactly. Me too. None of us are. I mean, sometimes it says Airbus, but I would be expecting that to be actual. This one is just straight up bus. So I would not I usually look at what seat I'm in and not if it's an actual plane or a bus. But unfortunately, as like someone that is a nervous flyer, I have to say, I would be I'd be like, oh, okay, you know, half of me would be like this sucks, and then the other half would be very relieved.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

That is so true. That is so true. And and I get it, things happen. Um, like there was a flight, I guess, from connecting flight that was from Chicago to, I believe, Indianapolis. And the pastor was saying that normally it's a flight under an hour, it's a real short flight. Well, on the bus, it's like two and a half hours. So I would be upset because one, you put me on the bus and I didn't realize it. And then two, I'm not getting a discount for it. It's the same price. So yeah. But I think a little bit more transparency would be nice.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Exactly. They need big big letters. This is a bus. Um, well, my last one is very uh, I love this one. I mean, I'm sure uh Nestle does it, but more than 12 tons of Kit Kat bars were stolen in Europe. Nestle just reported that this is around 400,000 candy bars were stolen while being transported from Italy to Poland. Um, both the truck and the shipment were missing, which is kind of scary. I hope the driver's okay. And Nestle said the bars can be identified through batch codes if they show up for resale. The company also used the story in a broader rise against cargo that um is theft across Europe. So, I mean, to me, if I was gonna have 400,000 of it of anything, Kit Kats would be pretty good. But this just seems like pretty obvious. Like, how can you how can you hide 400,000 bars of Kit Kat?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, that's a little hard to do. Sometimes it makes you wonder if it's an inside job.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, that's true. That's true. And maybe because maybe there's even some like insurance payout or something.

Kit Kat Heist And Candy Picks

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Well, we'll probably see those bars on uh Amazon or some other place.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Exactly. Now, if you could have like any chocolate bar that you that you took, which one would you have?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Oh, I would say between a Kit Kat or Milk Duds. Milk Duds is actually one of my favorite uh favorite candies. So between those two.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Oh, that's a good, that's a good like movie theater one. Well, mine would be Reese's peanut butter cups, but remember a few weeks ago we talked, we learned that it's like there's neither like chocolate nor peanut butter in those anymore, pretty much. You're just eating like a weird fruit like fertilizer or something. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Well, you just enjoy it, but just don't read the ingredients, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Well, Merle, what do you have coming up?

SPEAKER_00 15:01

I'm gonna plug again the same way, same one I did last time, um, Thursday, April 9th at Flappers in Burbank, and it's one of my uh very good friends and wonderful comedian, Chris Elves. And so it's Chris Elves and Friends. So I I love being on these shows where it's like one person that I love and they're friends, and I'm I get to be a friend, so that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Well, Meryl, you are a great friend.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Oh, thank you. Here's a peanut butter cut, here's a milk done for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Well, everyone, thank you so much for all your support. Thank you for continuing to watch us, listen to us, and also comment on our social media. I do read everything that you guys post. Um, continue to tell people who we are and help us grow. I'm Lawrence Elrod.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I'm Meryl Klima.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Take care, everyone.