Here’s The Buzz On Olivia Jade, The YouTuber Caught Up In The US College Admissions Scandal

You may have heard by now that Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman is one of forty people charged in a massive college admissions scam in the US.

According to BuzzFeed News, the scheme involved facilitating cheating on college entrance exams, along with bribing college officials and coaches to recruit students as athletes.

About $25m in bribes were allegedly paid between 2011 and 2018 to get students into schools like Yale, Stanford, UCLA, and the University of Southern California.

Felicity Huffman allegedly paid $15,000 to doctor her oldest daughter’s college entrance exam, and discussed carrying out the scam again for her younger daughter before deciding not to go through with it.

Full House actress Lori Loughlin was also charged in the scam after reportedly sending $500,000 bribes to get her daughters into the University of Southern California.

People were already fully invested in the story, but THEN we learned that one of Lori’s daughters is Olivia Jade Giannulli, a YouTuber with 1.9m subscribers who is well known for her hyper-luxurious ‘What I got for Christmas’ vlogs. We’re talking Chanel bags, Prada shoes, and the newest iPhones, people.

Olivia Jade started college in USC last year, and made a few videos about her new life on campus – a clip from an August 2018 vlog is going viral right now because of this quote, which while not well-received at the time, has aged extremely poorly.

 I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend but I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of like, game days, partying – I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.

During an appearance on another YouTuber’s show earlier this month, Olivia admitted that she went to college because her parents really wanted her to.

“Mostly my parents really wanted me to go because both of them didn’t go to college,” she said. “I’m happy they made me go… that sounds so terrible. They didn’t make me.”

It’s worked out OK for her obviously, as she has been able to do lots of college-themed #spon:

Now, there’s no evidence that Olivia Jade had any involvement in the scandal, or even knew that her parents were doing this. But damn, rich people drama.

We can’t wait for the podcast about all of this. And the Ryan Murphy TV show. Bring it on.

• College