Culture

Jackie Weaver, The Woman Who Ran The World’s Most Chaotic Zoom Call, Is The Internet’s New Hero

Sorry but hearing a man tell Jackie Weaver she has no authority, then watching her immediately boot him off the Zoom call is ART.

by Michelle Rennex  8 February 2021
Jackie Weaver Zoom Memes

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Over the weekend, you likely saw Jackie Weaver trending — and for Australians watching the drama unfold, it was truly a confusing time.

This is because the viral Jackie Weaver is not the beloved Aussie actress, but rather a random savage British woman of the same name, who was busy kicking people off a local council Zoom meeting like it was nobody’s business.

You see, a recording of a Handforth Parish Council virtual meeting from December 10 went viral over the last few days, thanks to the iconic actions of one Jackie Weaver. As the Zoom call descended into absolute chaos, Jackie Weaver had to take charge by booting out the most disruptive member of the call, Brian Tolver.

The issue? Brian Tolver was actually the chairman, so kicking him out of the meeting was a big no-no, as the vice chair gladly noted by claiming it was against the “STANDING ORDERS!!!!!”.

Luckily, just before Tolver was calmly kicked out, he was able to get one last iconic line in: “You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver. No authority at all!” Yet, despite having “no authority”, Jackie Weaver used her authority and booted the chairman out of the meeting. And while on 30 seconds long, the short clip is easily not only the most British thing ever, but the most chaotic Zoom call on record.

But the extended version of the clip is even more chaotic, if that were even possible — and definitely worth the six minutes it takes to watch.

From the vice chair literally screaming about Jackie Weaver needing to “READ THE STANDING ORDERS, READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM” through a log-in named “Aled’s iPad”, to the chairman literally yelling at Jackie Weaver to “STOP TALKING”, every moment was more wild than the last.

That’s not even mentioning the woman on “Julie’s I pad”, who takes a whole-ass phone call without muting her microphone and then makes some highly questionable noises, while the chairman is still yelling about the rules of the meeting.

Once Brian Tolver is booted from the meeting, the rest of the clip just features a heap of manic laughing, Jackie Weaver booting another two men yelling about nothing from the Zoom call, and the vice chairman turning into Gollum at the 5:17 mark, before the actually meeting finally starts.

While the whole thing is amusing, it should be said that Jackie Weaver is the real hero of the call, regardless of whether she followed the standing orders or not.

She kept her cool while three grown men literally yelled at her and tried to knock her down, and she just kept calmly ejecting them all from the call. Icon behaviour, and exactly why Jackie Weaver is now the internet’s latest hero.

But because the whole Zoom call was just pure chaos, it’s only natural that the Handforth Parish Council virtual meeting spawned some hilarious memes, too:

And naturally these memes also evolved into songs, musicals, raps, and even full-blown movie trailers.

Sadly for us, while chatting to BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, Jackie Weaver shared the news that “99.99% of council meetings are just not like that, they are often less exciting than we might hope they were”.

But upon listening to the Zoom call back, Weaver noted that there was some sexism at play in the reaction towards her, explaining that “I kind of feel that maybe an underlying part of it was they just didn’t like being told no by a woman.”

So why we rightfully probably won’t get another Handforth Parish Council Zoom incident, I think we can all agree that Jackie Weaver definitely has, and will always have, the authority. Jackie Weaver for chairman 2021!