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Chris, who’s garnered over 2.7 million fans as @Donelij on TikTok, is speaking out after his accounts were removed following accusations that he was posting homophobic and transphobic content. The 17-year-old tried making a new account under the handle @donelijimnot, but TikTok has since removed that account as well.
Chris rose to fame on TikTok for his comedic facial expressions. He never talks during his videos — most of Donelij’s content was videos of him reacting to other videos or guests. While millions of fans found it hilarious how Chris suddenly switched from a smile to a frown face, users online alleged that if a gay or transgender person was the target of his expressive looks, Donelij’s followers would then harass those LGBTQ members.
On September 4, Chris defended himself and his video content. “I want people to know I’m not homophobic or transphobic,” he told The New York Times. “The facial expressions I make in my videos are jokes. I myself didn’t think of them as offensive, but I can see how people would take it that way and I don’t want them to feel that way.”
Rob Anderson, 32, who has 904,500 followers on Tiktok, said he that he received death threats after speaking up about Donelij’s controversial videos.
“It’s a vicious, intense relentless form of harassment and it’s endless,” Anderson told The New York Times of Donelij’s followers. “These people go through all of your social channels, find any information about you — they sent gay slurs to my agent. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t go away one day and leave.”
Chris, whose Instagram account remains active, also said that he is no stranger to online harassment. “I get called the N-word, monkey, in my DMs, people saying they’re going to kill me when they see me.”
TikTok Stars Accused Chris of Not Telling His Fans to Stop the Harassment
Tiktok user @goopie, whose real name is Louie, 19, shared a message for Chris with his 1.1 million followers. Louie said, “Your fanbase harasses literally everyone you duet, and you’ve done nothing about it. Whenever he gets called out he uses the argument that he’s ‘just making a face.’ But Chris, even though you’re being as vaguely homophobic as possible, you’re still being homophobic.
“Every time you duet an LGBTQ creator, your fans go to them and leave hate comments, leave harassment, awful things are said to these people,” Louie continued. “That alone should get you to stop. It’s basically a transphobic/homophobic harassment ring that’s about 2.5 million people big.”
In response to the backlash, Chris told The New York Times, “A percentage of my followers are trolls and I feel like they do this because they like getting adrenaline on the internet. I’ll just keep on trying to get my fans to change their ways. I’m trying my best to get my fans to stop doing what they’re doing.”
Numerous Internet Personalities & Fans Continue to Defend Chris Online
Because Chris doesn’t actually say anything in his videos, not everyone supports TikTok’s ban on his content. Popular internet personality Keemstar, whose real name is Daniel Keem, called in a video for TikTok to “unban Donelji right now. … Apparently, a bunch of psychopaths on TikTok were calling that he should get canceled because he was reacting to a video where there was a transgender person and they didn’t like his facial expressions? He doesn’t even say anything!”
Keemstar also claims in the video that those reporting Donelij are racist. “He didn’t do anything wrong. … He was literally banned based on his facial expressions…the face of a young black man. It appears to me that the people that flagged his account, that tried to get him banned, that did get him banned, and canceled him, are racist.”
A change.org petition entitled, “Free @donelij” has garnered nearly 5,500 signatures as of Friday night.
A spokesperson for TikTok released the following statement on the controversial situation:
We are committed to promoting a safe and positive app environment for our users. Our Community Guidelines outline behavior that is not acceptable on the platform, and we take action against behavior that violates those policies, including by removing content or accounts. We also offer a number of features to help users control their online experience, including options to report inappropriate content, limit and filter comments and block users.
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