Following CNN’s acquisition of Casey Neistat’s Beme for a reported $25 million last year, the former video-sharing app was reborn as a millennial-leaning YouTube news brand — and an accompanying app called Beme Panels that lets viewers share their own perspectives on trending topics.
And while Beme regularly distributes video features to its 260,000 YouTube subscribers, the company undertook a particularly ingenious (and stamina-defying) project yesterday, wherein Beme writer/producer Lou Foglia read the new tax bill — which marks the most sweeping change to the American tax code in decades — in its 1,000+ page entirety over the course of a 10-hour live stream.
The stream appeared to underscore the fact that the unpopular bill, which represents President Trump’s first major legislative victory, had been passed at record speeds — so fast, Beme would seem to imply, that many officials hadn’t even read it. The Wall Street Journal notes that the process had taken roughly eight weeks — complete with illegibly hand-scribbled provisions and an unintended hiccup that led to a last-minute revote in the House. For comparison’s sake, the Journal reports, the last major tax overhaul — signed into law 30 years ago — was legislated for more than a year.
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Throughout the seemingly endless Beme stream, Foglia was joined by a coterie of special guests to liven things up, including the illusionist Matias Letelier, balloon artist Robert Moy, The New York City Gospel Choir, and a Mariachi band. Around him, colleagues snacked on pancakes and played Jenga. At the end of the stream, the Beme office erupted in cheers and shot confetti cannons, as Foglia chugged a beer and a co-worker asked him what he learned. “It’s unreadable,” he says.
Check out the stream, which has been viewed roughly 85,000 times so far, below:
