- Amy Chang, a beauty TikToker with 1.6 million fans, thought she was telling a story about a "toxic" friend.
- But commenters swiftly turned on her, convinced she had mistreated her friend during a night out in New York.
Beauty influencer Amy Chang, who has 1.6 million followers, took to TikTok last week to share a classic storytime video about "toxic friendship" as she applied her makeup.
However, after Chang recounted the night her ex-best friend and her broke up, viewers who flooded her comment section were widely convinced that Chang was the toxic one. The creator has since acknowledged the critiques, and her apparent "flaws," but fans are not quite satisfied with her reflection, either.
According to Chang, it all went down during a night out for sushi 17 years ago, when Chang and her ex-friend struck up a conversation with two men at a nearby table. They each ended up unofficially pairing off with one of the guys – though her friend had a boyfriend (who was in jail at the time, Chang noted), and her friend's suitor also happened to be married.
"At the end of dinner, they surprised us and paid for dinner and asked us to go get drinks with them," Chang said in her storytime that's been viewed 2.7 million times.
@bondenavant The night my toxic best friend and I broke up —— Funny thing is when we recomnected years later, this story unfolded in the reverse #storytime #grwmroutine #grwmstorytime #bestfriends #toxicfriendshipcheck #friendship #nyc #koreangirl #naturalmakeup #friendshipstorytime #toxicrelationshipsbelike #reallife #mylife ♬ original sound - Amy Chang
Chang and her friend agreed to go out with the men. But then, at the next bar while the two were in the bathroom, Chang said her friend "started crying and yelling" at her. The friend felt she'd been put in an awkward position, Chang said, given that she — and the guy she was talking to — were both in relationships.
"I was like, are you fucking serious right now?" Chang recounted telling her friend. "These two guys paid for our dinner that was probably $250, are charming, handsome, successful, and you're not having a good time? You're thinking about your boyfriend that's in jail?"
From there, Chang called her friend's boyfriend a "loser," and the two apparently left the bar in a huff. Back at Chang's apartment, her friend packed her things and left in the middle of the night, after which they didn't speak for years, she claimed.
After having heard the story, a large swath of commenters unequivocally sided with Chang's friend.
"I don't think she's the toxic one," reads the video's top comment, with 72,000 upvotes. Many felt the friend had shown loyalty after being forced into what she felt was an uncomfortable situation. "She was visiting – she was the priority," another commenter wrote.
In response to some concerned comments, Chang clarified that the "guy [her friend] was talking to was friendly and polite. It's not like they were going to go to bed together." She also said the incident occurred in her twenties, and she wouldn't conduct herself like that now.
"I want to tell real stories," she wrote. "I don't want to make myself seem perfect. I'm a real person. One who has had lots of struggle and made lots of mistake [sic]."
In a follow-up video posted a day later, Chang backtracked, acknowledging her part in the toxic friendship. However, many commenters were not satisfied with her response, and felt she was digging herself a deeper hole.
@bondenavant Replying to @aprildowked its hard to give nuance and context on social media #storytime #grwmmakeup #grwmstorytime #friendship #toxicfriendship #makeuptutorial ♬ original sound - Amy Chang
"I know that I was a toxic friend back then," Chang admitted, describing other incidents over the years in which she treated her friend poorly, including an incident where she explosively reacted to a perceived slight. "I was so insecure; I found it really difficult to have healthy female friendships."
Commenters again came down hard.
"She leveled up from moderately toxic to pro gaslights," one commenter wrote. Another added: "I hope that friend sees this comment section and feels relieved."
The creator has not responded to any more criticism, and resumed her typical content, sharing a nighttime "get unready with me" routine over the weekend.
Chang did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.