A teenager who was subjected to homophobic abuse during a Tiktok livestream shares the screen recording which goes viral.
It’s no big secret that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are all alive and well on social media, even in 2022 and with measures in place designed to protect LGBT+ users.
The fact of the matter is that, even with all the progress made in the pursuit of equality, hate and discrimination is still rampant in society and all too often social media becomes an under-moderated battleground for people to attack others without proper protections in place.
19-year-old Ryan Bennett, who lives in Manchester, UK, was hosting a Tiktok live to his 31,000 followers when user @77chapo, who has since had his profile removed, requested to join only to sling homophobic abuse at the teenager in the process.
Attempting to humiliate the young Tiktoker, live and in front of his followers, @77chapo ranted that being gay is a “deformity” and “worse than cancer”, along with telling him “You’re not even a male – you’re an ‘it'” and saying “You still have time before you go to hell.”
Bennett later shared a screen recording of the exchange on Twitter, below:
In 2022, you’d hope to think that narrow-minded people like “77chapo” on TikTok wouldn’t exist. However, the LGBTQ+ community still faces this disgusting, unwarranted homophobia, purely for being our authentic selves. I’m so proud of who I am, nobody will ever change that. pic.twitter.com/stHayRNbUp
— Ryan Bennett (@ryanjbennett_) May 24, 2022
In later Tweets, Ryan shared that TikTok had removed a video he posted detailing his experience with the homophobe, allegedly then threatening him with a ban, all while @77Chappo’s account remained unmoderated.
@77Chappo’s account did eventually get taken down, either having been deleted or removed.
Pink News later reported that the offender had been “immediately removed” from his security officer job at Islington Square as a result of the video going viral, with a spokesperson for the shopping complex clarifying he had been contracted externally through a security agency called CIS Security, which had opened an internal investigation on the matter.
“The individual in question is employed by a third-party business, which is in turn appointed by one of our subcontractors”
“We understand that upon discovery of the post he was immediately removed from site. An internal investigation by the individual’s employer is underway.
“We are deeply shocked by this behaviour and reject the statements made by the individual in the strongest terms. We are committed to working with the appropriate parties throughout the investigation.”
Discrimination is, sadly, still allowed to flourish on social media, with very few actionable options in place for those who fall victim to the aggressive prejudice of others.
The majority of people simply choose to ignore it because there just isn’t adequate support available.
It’s a deeply troubling reality that the most hopeful course of action for teenagers exposed to discrimination online is to take matters into their own hands and expose the offender themselves.
Well done, Ryan, for keeping your cool.
Update- his account has now been deleted I think!!! Thank you all so much for the support, it’s been unreal 🏳️🌈♥️
— Ryan Bennett (@ryanjbennett_) May 26, 2022
Just to let you guys know, TikTok removed my video exposing the homophobe and threatened to ban me, and HE still has his account. That’s an issue in itself. @TikTokSupport is this how you deal with homophobia on your app??
— Ryan Bennett (@ryanjbennett_) May 25, 2022