- The fitness influencer Joey Swoll accused a competitive swimmer of mocking a man at the gym.
- Swoll's post led to hundreds of social-media users directing hate at the athlete, Nika Godun.
A professional swimmer defended herself after the fitness influencer Joey Swoll accused her of mocking a young man she recorded lifting weights in the gym.
Swoll, who has 6.8 million followers on TikTok, has repeatedly gone viral for denouncing creators who have filmed people — usually men — at the gym. Swoll typically duets or stitches creators' videos, assessing the situation and often siding with the men in the clips. He says that there is a difference between someone glancing at a woman in the gym and a person being creepy.
On June 6, Swoll made a TikTok in response to a video posted by the competitive Russian swimmer Nika Godun. The clip, which Swoll appeared to have recorded from one of Godun's now-expired Instagram stories, showed her zooming in on a young-looking man lifting a weight in a rushed manner while she giggled in the background.
@thejoeyswoll Making fun of a kid at the gym trying his best? Really? We ALL start somewhere. #gymtok #fyp ♬ original sound - Joey Swoll
In his assessment of the situation, Swoll said he thought Godun was mocking the man with an "arrogant" laugh.
"Does he have bad form? Yes, it's just a kid," Swoll said, suggesting that Godun should either have tried to teach the young man how to lift the weight properly or avoided filming him altogether.
"Filming him to make fun of him to post on social media is never an option, and you're a professional athlete. You should know better," Swoll added.
The fitness influencer also said he messaged Godun on Instagram to call out her behavior. He shared screenshots of messages which appeared to show Godun telling him to "lighten up" and defending the practice of "people watching" because it could be funny.
Swoll's TikTok was met with a hugely supportive response from commenters, who said they agreed with the influencer's concerns.
"This is sad. Pros especially should set a better example," one commenter wrote.
In the past, Swoll's posts have elicited apologies from the creators he has criticized, but in this instance, Godun released a statement on Instagram in which she defended her actions and accused Swoll of taking her video out of context.
Godun wrote that she personally knew the young man in her video, adding that he was a fellow swimmer she chose to record because he was deliberately doing the exercise wrong while his coach wasn't looking.
"I posted a video with a caption 'me on a Monday morning' saying that I'm like this kid because I adore his 'I'm tired and I don't give a fuck' energy," she wrote.
She also referenced several hateful comments she received on Instagram following Swoll's post. She said the influencer exposed her to millions of people who turned against her "without using their brains."
Godun's post only seemed to elicit more negativity, as thousands of commenters echoed Swoll's initial accusations against her and said they did not believe her explanation for making the post.
Godun told Insider in a statement that Swoll was "using his followers to spread the hate in order for his videos to go viral," adding that this came "at the expense of someone's reputation."
Swoll did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Swoll's content has proven to be very divisive in the past, as his critical responses to other creators have previously resulted in those creators receiving hate comments. One TikToker told Insider that she became the target of doxxing and death threats after Swoll made a video about her.
Critics of Swoll say they believe his fans sometimes use the influencer's content to spread misogynistic rhetoric, particularly relating to videos where he criticizes female creators for filming men.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.