TikTok star and dance phenomenon Charli D’Amelio has set a new record for the site, becoming its first user to acquire 100 million subscribers. But this number is by no means a steady rise.
The 16 year old made a big splash on the video-sharing spiritual successor to Vine when she joined in July 2019. Creating her own dance moves and collaborating with other Internet icons in the Hype House, she quickly established herself as TikTok’s IT girl. With die-hard fans across the globe, her startling rise to success, while not unprecedented, is still extremely rapid.
Her fast track to 100 million was nearly derailed recently in the first (and to quote its guest, James Charles, maybe the last) episode of ‘Dinner with the D’Amelio’s’. Her sister Dixie loudly complained about a snail she ate before retching and vomiting it up, while Charli asked for dino nuggets instead of the elaborate vegan Paella their personal chef had prepared for them. She then went on to make a comment suggesting that it’d be nice to get 100 million followers because she ‘likes even numbers’.
Both her and her sister come across as spoiled, rich child stars, a bit detached from reality and playing it up for the camera. With the internet being the internet, however, things got a little ugly.
Cancelled?
D’Amelio lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers in the backlash that followed. Other internet celebrities described her as ‘ungrateful’ and ‘insensitive’. The teenager received a torrent of abuse from strangers online, including death threats. In a follow-up video the tearful D’Amelio expressed her deep regrets over the ‘misunderstanding’ between her and the chef. She pleaded with people to remember that she is, in fact, a human being.
The internet has a short memory. Within days D’Amelio’s critics disappeared, and within a week she’d reached that coveted 100 000 000.
So what can we learn from this experience? James Charles said it best:
“This charli situation is NOT sitting right with me… 100M followers in one year & y’all expect her to know how to be a perfect role model? death threats because she’s a picky eater & made a joke about a milestone? 30+ year olds dragging someone half their age? feels familiar.”
Hopefully someone tells Charli D’Amelio that 95 million is, in fact, also an even number.
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