AT THE PEOPLE’S Choice Awards in February, film stars were making the usual red-carpet rounds. Among them was Barbie’s America Ferrera, who was nominated for, and would later win, Movie Performance Of The Year. Pausing in front of TikTok celebrity interviewer Harry Daniels, her face twisted in confusion as she uncomfortably mused, “Oh my God. Both? I don’t know,” before being hurried away. The question? “Would you prefer a gay son or thot daughter?”
This intentionally provocative, somewhat baffling question (“thot”, for those out of the loop, is a term used to describe sexually promiscuous women), is one of the latest examples of content creators pushing Hollywood’s buttons in the name of engagement. Daniels is one of the more successful, garnering millions of likes on TikTok (69.5 million to date) for his red-carpet targeting of major-league talent. “Not you!” Oscar-nominated musician Billie Eilish shouted upon seeing him at the same awards, then walked away laughing as Daniels called after her. The short clip has been watched 23.1 million times.
Arecent wave of TikTokers, meanwhile, are using a newly famous filming location to up their audience. After user Rhian Williams posted two instructional videos on how to visit Drayton House —the grand estate used in Saltburn that cast and crew were forbidden from naming — creators flocked to the Northamptonshire location with phones poised. The persistent influencers made headlines when more than 50 ventured beyond the public footpath that runs through the estate onto private property to take photos and videos. “I never envisaged the amount of interest there would be. It’s quite weird,” owner Charles Stopford Sackville said of the intruders. “I don’t take it as flattering.”