Do you follow the Deciem Instagram account? The parent company of budget skincare favourite The Ordinary had their Instagram output commandeered by ex-CEO (he renounced his title and asked to only be referred to as 'Worker' back in January) Brandon Truaxe a little while ago, and the output has been a bit confusing.
Over the last few months the official @deciem account has transformed into a personal vlog style feed documenting Truaxe's life and travels alongside intermittent posts about new products within their roster of cult sub-brands - The Ordinary, NOID, Hylamid and Fountain included. Recent cause for concern, however, was a literal call for help in which followers were asked to 'call 911'.
In a video that has now been deleted (but was captured and shared by a twitter user), Truaxe is seen walking down the street with a man called Jonathan trailing behind him. 'I'm trying to help you, Brandon. You need to calm down. You'll end up getting killed. I'm trying to help you. Please listen to me', Jonathan can be heard saying.
Between Jonathan's words of warning, Truaxe is heard to respond: 'This is abuse. Please tell them I was getting sued and this is going to go on the Deciem Instagram account in exactly one minute'.
A screen shot of the comments that seem to have come below the video show @deciem, seemingly still under the control of Tuaxe, asking his followers to contact security on his behalf. 'Everyone, please contact Biggin Hill airport security', it reads. 'This is real', 'Call police', 'They have my luggage', followed.
In a second video Truaxe posted shortly after, he appears to be surrounded by trees or bushes and visibly in distress. 'Zouk, I'm serious, please help me', he says in a selfie video.
Another screenshot of the comments captured before the videos were taken down show who we assume to be Truaxe repeatedly asking for help and for the police to be called. 'Help me 911', he posted. '911', 'Call police', 'This is real', 'They have my luggage', he seems to have said.
Since the posts were deleted there hasn't be any public acknowledgement from Deciem or Truaxe to explain specifically what happened just yet. However, Truaxe did share another video of himself cryptically saying: 'Don't burn after reading. It's coming, and, you're gonna watch it'.