9 social media influencers who probably can't wait for 2022 to be over
Mara Leighton
- This year, viewers expressed anger with influencers who seemed out-of-touch or reckless.
- Influencers commonly faced backlash for anti-work sentiment, extravagant purchases, and stunts.
- Below are 9 influencers who may not have had the best year.
Influencers are no strangers to online outrage, and 2022 was no exception.
This year, several faced intense backlash for a perceived lack of relatability. Online, there was a growing sense that TikTokers and Instagrammers, many of whom make unrelatable amounts of money from their viewers' engagement, had at some point crossed into an unreachable land of milk and honey and become interminably out-of-touch.
As the early-pandemic online boom — which launched the careers of many popular TikTokers — fizzled away and the internet further fragmented, an increased pressure to film stunts for big views also drew outrage. An influencer hit a golf ball into the Grand Canyon, and another "joked" about accidentally buying a $100,000 couch.
On a broader scale, "anti-work" sentiment grew on TikTok, with trends such as "Quiet Quitting," and "Act Your Wage," and "Letting it Rot" taking off. What was not popular, however, was influencers weighing in on work — particularly when it sounded like a complaint, or alluded, even jokingly, to being above the toil.
Each of the following influencers faced scrutiny and backlash this year, and we wouldn't be surprised if they were glad for 2022 to be over.
The Liver King, who confessed to using steroids to supplement his 'primal lifestyle.'
The Liver King, whose real name is Brian Johnson, grew a following of 5 million people based on a "primal lifestyle" and "ancestral tenets" that included eating raw liver, bone marrow, and bull testicles; taking freezing showers; completing intense workouts; and wearing UVEX glasses to block the "non-native light spectrum," according to his website.
In a December 2 video titled "Liver King Confession... I Lied," Johnson said he suffered from self-esteem issues, which led to him taking steroids.
"When I talk about the 85% of the population that suffers from self-esteem issues—that's me. This is why I fucking work myself to death in the gym, this is why I do twelve to fifteen blood-burning workouts a week—just to feel like I'm okay," he said in the video.
Days earlier, another fitness YouTuber, More Plates More Dates, had shared emails Johnson allegedly sent to a bodybuilding coach in 2021 where he admitted he was on about $ 11,000 worth of the growth hormone Omnitrope, per Insider's Geoff Weiss. Johnson said he had lied about his steroid use out of fear of damaging his brand.
In a recent video, Johnson said his ancestral ideology could occasionally make room for modern medicine.
"I believe there's a time and place for pharmacological intervention, monitored and managed by a trained hormone physician," he said.
TikToker Bela Delgado, who publicly feuded with 'It' girl and actor Julia Fox.
TikToker Bela Delgado left the app for a period this fall after she called Julia Fox a "joke" and a "clown" in a public feud and faced online backlash.
The feud began when Delgado originally posted a TikTok appearing to address backlash to a song she released in January entitled "Annoying Ass Bitch," telling viewers, "I really need white women to stop acting like the word 'bitch' is the n-word." Fox, according to a report by internet culture website Centennial Beauty, commented, "Babe, you should get out of the house more." The video is no longer available, but it was stitched by several users in mid-November.
Delgado then lashed out at Fox. She made a response video to the comment in which she said: "You sold out every single last one of your feminist morals when you decided to play dress up with Kim Kardashian's sloppy seconds," referencing Fox's relationship with the controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. "Yet, you want to come into my comments section not even a year later to play the misogyny-slaying messiah because I playfully used the word 'bitch' in a song?"
She added that Fox was a "fucking joke," saying, "you are not just a clown, Julia Fox, you are an entire carnival." Commenters expressed surprise and called Delgado's comments misogynistic.
Delgado later uploaded an apology (which has been reuploaded), saying her response was an "overreaction" and "uncalled for" and telling viewers she'd decided to leave TikTok because "this app is poisoning my brain. I don't know who I am anymore."
For Fox's part, she stitched a response to a reuploaded version of Delgado's apology in which a user commented on how Fox had been "right" to advise her to get out of the house. Fox didn't speak in the now-unavailable video, but she nodded her head.
At the time of the controversy, Delgado turned her account private. She has since returned to publicly posting on the app.
TikToker and influencer Kate Sigmond, whose Grand Canyon golf ball stunt landed her in hot water.
Katie Sigmond, a 20-year-old influencer with 7 million TikTok followers, posted a video of herself hitting a golf ball and throwing a golf club into the Grand Canyon in October. That did not go over with the Grand Canyon National Parks Service, which publicly scolded her on its Facebook page.
Sigmond faced two Class B misdemeanor charges — disorderly conduct, and tossing/throwing items into the canyon. And in November, she paid fines totalling $285, according to a collateral forfeiture agreement the US Attorney's Office in Phoenix provided Insider, per Insider's Tanya Chen.
In a December 10 TikTok, Sigmond apologized for the "disrespectful" action and said she "100% takes blame" for the mistake: "I honestly wasn't thinking," she said, later adding that "I'm young, people make mistakes, but that's definitely not an excuse."
Graham Stephan, Max Maher, and other top personal finance influencers who bet big on FTX.
Some of the top finance influencers who promoted FTX through paid deals and affiliate marketing apologized to followers in November as the crypto-exchange platform filed for bankruptcy, Insider's Amanda Perelli previously reported.
Max Maher (905,000 subscribers), Coin Bureau (2 million subscribers), Graham Stephan (937,000 subscribers), and Minority Mindset (1 million subscribers) all addressed their relationship with FTX after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
"As much as I trusted the information that I was given, I was wrong and I'm sorry," Stephan told his 4.1 million subscribers. "I trusted them, but in the end, their parent company was not forthcoming with all of the risks. This being one of them. This type of behavior is not something that I ever would have expected."
"I canceled with FTX US, prior to our agreement ending," Stephan told Insider over email. "The situation is extremely disappointing for everyone. I'm taking a step back to reevaluate how I can improve moving forward because my audience deserves that."
"I deeply regret any past affiliation with the FTX US company," Maher said in a November 11 video.
"It's ridiculous that as individuals we need to question the largest companies in the world. But we just do," he continued. "My entire platform is built on trust and thoroughness of research in everything that I do. You can bet from here on out I will be even more diligent when vetting anyone that I mention in my videos."
Ultimately, more than a million people may have lost money in the collapse, according to the bankruptcy filings.
TikToker Lucy Welcher, whose joke about being 'too pretty' to work didn't go over well.
In early November, TikToker Lucy Welcher posted a video in which she said she was "too pretty" to work. She later told viewers she had faced online bullying even though her comments were "obviously" jokes.
"Does it look like I want to get up at 6 am every fucking day for the next 60 years?" Welcher said in the now-unavailable video, which has been re-uploaded to TikTok and Twitter, before adding, "No! I'm too pretty for that!"
In a follow-up post on November 9, Welcher said she was being "slandered all over social media," showing screenshots of tweets that appeared to be critical of her appearance, despite the fact that she was "obviously fucking joking" in her video. Welcher also said she received death threats.
"Nobody can take a joke and everyone's literally bullying me," she added.
TikToker and OnlyFans star Tara Lynn caught flak about spending $10,000 on Harry Styles tickets.
Influencer Tara Lynn faced intense backlash after she told viewers in a since-deleted TikTok in early November that she had spent $10,000 on Harry Styles concert tickets after her original pair of tickets (which she priced at $890 each), purchased through ticket reseller StubHub, weren't emailed to her.
Lynn said StubHub offered her balcony seat tickets in exchange, but she turned them down in order to be in the "pit," close to the stage. Instead, she told viewers she purchased two more tickets priced at $4,200 each, saying "What other fucking choice did I have?" (StubHub sent Lynn a full refund for her original tickets, the company said in a statement sent to Insider).
The clip was reshared on TikTok and Twitter, and users expressed irritation with Lynn's complaints about a purchase many didn't find relatable for the average viewers, as well as her use of "finna," a slang term that originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Insider was unable to find a reference to Lynn's ethnicity, but many viewers assumed her to be Caucasian and said it was "embarrassing" to hear her use the term, as In Insider's Charissa Cheong previously reported.
In a November 6 TikTok, Lynn addressed the controversy — saying, in part, that "finna" slipped out because she was "flustered" and that she was"very grateful and blessed" to be able to spend $10,000 on concert tickets.
In September, Lynn had caught flak for saying "nobody wants to work anymore" in a video. Lynn later said that the comment was "a joke."
TikToker Quenlin Blackwell solicited donations after claiming she accidentally purchased a $100,000 couch, before admitting it was all a joke.
Influencer Quenlin Blackwell told TikTokers she accidentally bought a $100,000 couch in an October 6 video, in which she appears to be crying, and asked for donations. She explained that she "was joking" when she put her card information in and did not expect to be charged. On-screen text read: "I accidentally bought a $100,000 couch."
"If you have a million dollars could you please donate?" she asked viewers. "If you have a billion dollars can you let me borrow some please?"
On October 10, she uploaded a TikTok captioned "they won't give me a refund on the couch." Blackwell told viewers she planned to create an OnlyFans account for the money, saying, "I don't want to, but I'm going to have to," and added an OnlyFans link to her Instagram bio which has since been removed.
After a week of skeptical comments from viewers, Blackwell appeared to say that the story was a prank on October 13, eliciting anger from commenters. She uploaded an image of a couch in poor condition to her Twitter and TikTok accounts with the statement: "THIS COUCH WAS WORTH IT ALL" and added, "I am so grateful and lucky to own this piece. Thank you all for the help…I now own art."
"Happy as hell to see you losing steady followers for this," wrote one commenter.
Insider's Charissa Cheong previously reported that she lost 1,283 Twitter followers on the day Blackwell tweeted the statement and 3,898 more over the following four days, according to analytics social tracker SocialBlade.
Makeup influencer Mikayla Nogueira, who angered fans after complaining about having to work past 5 p.m.
Beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira faced intense backlash for an almost two-year-old clip that resurfaced on TikTok in late September. In the video, she responded to another TikToker's comment telling her to "report to a 9-5" job.
Nogueira replied "I literally just finished working, it's 5:19. Try being an influencer for a day, try it ... It is not for everybody. In fact, it's for a very small handful of people who can actually do this job because it's absolutely fucking insane. You do not want to have this job." When the video resurfaced, Nogueira faced intense criticism.
On September 30, Nogueira posted a nine-minute video to TikTok in which she expressed gratitude for her job, which "comes with an extreme amount of fucking privilege, and blessings and gratitude," addressed the backlash, and told viewers she'd be taking a social media break unrelated to the controversy.
"Unfortunately, I was having a shit day and I made a video that I absolutely should not make," she told viewers. "I regret making it," explaining that her "emotions were running high," and that the video was then "taken out of context."
"People made it seem like I think I work harder than everybody else, and that's an absolute bullshit lie," Nogueira said.
"I don't want to lose myself completely, you know?" she told viewers. "So, I'm going to go away for a while. I'm gonna get treatment. I'm gonna get help because my depression is just not good." She promised viewers she would be back, adding, "I just want to be the best Mikayla I can be and, right now, I'm not a very good version of myself."
Noguiera has since returned to posting on social media.
Influencers Alina Fazleeva and Andrey Fazleev, who were deported from Bali after. posing nude with a sacred Balinese tree.
After she posted a nude photo of herself taken under a sacred 700-year-old tree, Russian influencer Alina Fazleeva and her husband, Andrey Fazleev, were deported from the Indonesian island of Bali in May and, per the DPA news agency, banned from re-entering it for six months.
In Balinese culture, as Insider's Waiyee Yip previously reported, trees are thought to be the homes of the gods and are considered sacred in Balinese Hindu culture. The photo, originally posted on May 1 and since deleted, elicited anger from the local community.
Before leaving, the couple returned to the tree to perform a ritual to seek forgiveness, and Fazleeza apologized in two Instagram posts the same day the couple was deported. In the first, she wrote in Bahasa Indonesia that she "regrets" her actions and was "so embarrassed," telling Balinese and Indonesian readers, "I didn't mean to offend you in any way," and calling it a "big mistake" in her second post.
"First, it is important to find out if it is possible to take photos or videos in this place. I love Bali with all my heart, and once again, I apologize to all residents of Bali and ask for forgiveness!," the post read.
Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, though ethnically and religiously diverse, passed a ban on sex outside of marriage in December.
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