The world of TikTok stardom is imploding right now. It’s reigning dancing Queen, 16-year-old Charli D’Amelio is being cancelled for a recent video posted on YouTube that shows her and sister Dixie being unappreciative of their chef-made family dinner. Losing over 1milion followers in the three days since it was posted, the D’Amelio family have been subject to a cancel campaign by fellow content creator Trisha Paytas.
If you’re not in the chaotic world of online content creators - where YouTube and TikTok combine to make hundreds of well-followed teens feel like noughties icons Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Hilary Duff – you may still recognise Paytas’s name. She first went viral years ago when she posted a video ‘Do dogs have brains?’ riding out on the ‘dumb blonde’ persona she’s curated over the years.
Now, 32-year-old Trisha seems to enjoy trolling the internet, and spends her time calling out other creators – despite having her own past littered with much more serious scandals including allegations of racism, transphobia and mocking mental illness. Her latest cancel campaign came at the D’Amelio's, bringing attention to the much googled ‘chef video’ that see’s the family sit down for dinner with fellow YouTuber James Charles.
The 'Charli D'Amelio chef video'...
Side bar, you may remember James Charles for the most controversial cancellation in YouTube history last year. He lost over 3million followers overnight (and suffered serious reputational damage) when another beauty-guru YouTuber posted a video accusing him of being egotistical, a bad friend and manipulating young straight men into romantic relationships. Those accusations were refuted by James and accepted as false later on. He was only 19 himself at the time and has since redeveloped his following. Dealing with such harrowing incidents of online fame, that he says put him on the brink of suicide, has made him perfectly placed to mentor the D’Amelio sisters who have too seen unparalleled online fame as teens.
It’s no surprise then that he’s jumped to the D’Amelio sisters defence as she suffers a similar, albeit milder, fate being cancelled for something much less disturbing than what James what originally falsely accused of.
Why is Charli D'Amelio being cancelled and losing followers?
In the ‘chef video’ as it’s being called, which now has over 11million views, the D’Amelio sisters sit with their family and James as they’re served by family friend and famous chef, Aaron May. First, there was the somewhat tone-deaf comment from Charli. Talking about how she’d amassed her huge following so quickly, she spoke of how she wished she had more time before the one year anniversary of her hitting 1million followers so she could hit 100million followers on the same day.
‘Was the 95 million not enough for you?’ James joked. To which Charli immediately course corrected, laughing ‘I was just saying… even numbers.’ Perhaps if James hadn’t of been there to bring her back down to earth, it would’ve been stomach-churning, but the encounter was largely harmless seeing she has people around her somewhat humble.
The real controversy though came when the chef serves them a paella that has snails in, and Charli is seen grimacing as sister Dixie tries the French delicacy. After chewing it, she spits it out, crying and running from the table to be sick. ‘She’s so dramatic,’ her family states, rolling their eyes at what seems to be a classic reaction of Dixie’s.
May laughs at her reaction, clearly familiar with the D’Amelio sisters, as Charli admits her favourite food is chicken nuggets. They’re thankful to the chef at the beginning of the video, but there’s no denying their behaviour could be seen as rude. Bratty, even. That being said, Charli is 16 and Dixie 19. How many of us had refined enough palettes as teens not to bat an eyelid at an actual snail on our plates?
Sure, many of may’ve been subject to a scolding from our parents for similar behaviour growing up, but the way the internet has reacted, you’d think they threw their plates to the ground before tipping the table and launching said snails at the chef himself. It’s not just the loss of followers, it’s the barrage of public commentary. Countless videos have been made condemning their behaviour, Trisha Paytas’ included, and the comment sections on all of their videos are filled with angry followers.
And of course, that’s not all – Charli has since spoken out about the backlash saying she’s received death threats, crying that she may leave the platform if this type of behaviour is what’s expected of her future whenever she makes a mild mistake.
When one person calling someone out leads to a chorus of voices, it quickly becomes a tsunami of hate.
It goes without saying that death threats towards anyone online are completely unacceptable, but even just the countless people calling her ‘disrespectful’ feels unnecessary. One person calling them out for being rude might have been fine, but when all of those voices form a chorus, it quickly becomes a tsunami of hate towards what are really two young, growing women.
And how can we expect her to handle said hate at such a young age? Adult women in the public eye have spoken at length about the mental health dangers of trolling and cancel culture. To do it to a child then is not just concerning, it's abhorrent.
‘This Charli situation is NOT sitting right with me,’ James tweeted defending them. ‘100M followers in one year and 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.’
Ultimately, when you consider the fact there are popular creators on TikTok with histories of racism, paedophilia allegations and assault charges, Charli D’Amelio being cancelled for not liking snails is truly baffling.
Read More:
James Charles Has Opened Up About The Mental Health Effects Of Being Cancelled