Last season, Apple TV’s drama Your Friends and Neighbors sparked outrage over a blasphemous scene mocking the Holy Eucharist in a Catholic Church. This season, their target is capitalism as young, smug teen Tori (Isabel Gravitt) goes on a liberal rant in an interview with a college admissions official at Princeton University.
In episode 1, “We’re Here Until We’re Not,” Tori meets with a university official to discuss her goals as a potential student. She’s a legacy candidate since both her mother and father are Princeton graduates, which drives her to deliver a smug, disrespectful, liberal soliloquy. It was apparently supposed to be a mic-drop moment but instead came off as nonsensical, entitled and disrespectful:
Hit @AppleTV drama 'Your Friends and Neighbors' slams capitalism while ironically benefitting from it in latest season. pic.twitter.com/mw9mqom4jl
— Dawn Slusher (@BlondeBlogger) April 17, 2026
Jeff: I'm Jeff Pratt, with the Princeton Alumni Schools Committee, and I'll be conducting your interview.
Tori: Got it.
Jeff: I know your parents from back in the day. Are they well?
Tori: Yes.
Jeff: So, Tori. Tell me, why Princeton? Aside from the fact that both your parents went there.
Tori: That's not enough?
Jeff: Well, um, put another way, what is it you're looking to get out of your four years with us?
Tori: Oh, are you on the faculty there?
Jeff: What? No.
Tori: I just assumed when you said "us."
Jeff: Sorry. Figure of speech.
Tori: Oh, okay.
Jeff: There's no need to be nervous. It's just us talking here.
Tori: Well, first of all, Jeff, I think we should acknowledge the pro forma nature of this interview. I'm a legacy kid, on both sides, whose father has been a consistent donor. And the reason he's been a consistent donor, the reason so many graduates of the Ivies continue to support their alma maters, is to make sure there's a spot for their kids there. Because, well, let's be honest, there are much worthier charities to support. You all torched the planet in the name of capitalism, and now, rather than try to undo the damage or feed the hungry or house the homeless, you're giving millions to 300-year-old institutions riddled with systemic racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism, in order to ensure that yet another generation of privileged rich kids will continue to hoard the lion's share of what's left of the planet's remaining resources, while the unwashed masses go to war over the scraps. So, I appreciate you taking the time, but let's be honest. We both know I'm going to be accepted because you all engineered the system to do just that.
Jeff: I didn't engineer anything.
Tori: Sorry. Figure of speech. Also, tennis.
Jeff: What?
Tori: I'm being recruited for tennis. I probably should have led with that.
Oh, Tori, you poor, deluded child. You’re ironically mocking capitalism while relying on all the comforts it provides.
Tori needs an education in what capitalism really is and what it’s done for the world, including lifting billions out of poverty, extending life expectancy, reducing child mortality, and creating the very technologies environmental extremists such as herself rely on to measure, track and address ecological issues.
The clean energy innovations, medical breakthroughs, and global supply chains that keep people fed didn’t come from socialism. They came from markets, incentives, competition and innovation.
Of course, there are downsides. Any system involving humans will have them. But alternative systems such as socialism or heavy centralized control have historically produced far worse outcomes like stagnation, scarcity, and, ironically, environmental devastation on a massive scale. Because when no one owns anything, no one takes care of anything.
As far as claiming Ivy League schools are “riddled with systemic racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism,” it’s a bit laughable given how aggressively progressive colleges and universities are now. If anything, it’s white people who are discriminated against as these institutions overcorrected and swung too far the other way from the days of racism towards people of color.
Modern Ivy League schools now prioritize ideological conformity and identity politics to a degree that sidelines merit and true inclusion for all. The anti-Semitism is sadly true, however, because it’s the left that has grown increasingly hateful toward Israel and Jewish Americans after Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 massacre in Gaza. Democrats are also divided over funding for Israel now in light of the war on Iran.
The central theme behind Your Friends and Neighbors from show-runner Jonathan Tropper has been classist from the start. Tori’s father Coop (Jon Hamm) is portrayed as some sort of noble Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to keep his family from becoming poor after losing his prestigious job. His wealthy “friends and neighbors” are depicted as shallow, superficial, and materialistic, all while the show's millionaire producers and actors enjoy financial security from the very capitalist system they want to cancel for the rest of us.
After all, it’s easy to trash capitalism when you’re cashing in on Hollywood paychecks and enjoying every luxury it provides. So, as Your Friends and Neighbors continues another season of sanctimonious, liberal virtue signaling, let’s not pretend its liberal lectures are anything more than performative hypocrisy.
