Current:Home > NewsUntangling the Controversy Involving TikTokers Lunden Stallings and Olivia Bennett -Thrive Capital Insights
Untangling the Controversy Involving TikTokers Lunden Stallings and Olivia Bennett
View
Date:2025-04-14 19:47:11
This was probably not the way Lunden Stallings and Olivia Bennett imagined starting off their marriage.
The influencer duo—who have almost 700,000 followers on their joint TikTok account—went from newlywed bliss to issuing an apology video during their honeymoon all in a span of days after Lunden's past racist tweets resurfaced.
The saga all started on Sept. 30, when the 26-year-olds tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Naylor Hall in Roswell, Ga., with many fans referring to the black-tie nuptials as the "royal wedding of lesbian TikTok."
"We like romanticizing the moment that we're in," Lunden gushed to People in a profile gushed on Oct. 1, adding that she and Olivia felt their wedding was "so much bigger than us" as figures in the LGBTQ+ community. "And I think that by showing two feminine women in a relationship in the south, I think that it breaks a barrier."
However, just as Lunden and Olivia began filling their social media accounts with photos and videos from their picture-perfect wedding, screenshots of what apeared to be old tweets containing racial slurs made from Lunden's X (formerly known as Twitter) account surfaced on Reddit. The racially insensitive posts, the screenshots of which have since been deleted, seemed to date back as early as the 2010s.
Amid backlash, the TikTokers made a 10-minute apology video on their TikTok Stories, with Lunden saying that she was "completely and utterly disgusted and ashamed" by her past behavior.
"I don't want people to think that I am just sweeping this under the rug or that it's something I'm not going to address or don't want to address because I do want to address it," she continued. "That's not who I am."
Calling Lunden's controversial tweets an "unfortunate and ignorant mistake," Olivia told her new wife, "It's so disappointing to see that those things were written, and written by somebody that I love, but I also know to my heart and core that's not who you are. I would've never married her if that's who she was today."
Lunden added, "I just want everyone to know, even the ones that don't know, that I am sorry."
But their mea culpa didn't quell the online criticism, with some taking issue with the fact that Lunden and Olivia's video was made on Stories, where posts expire 24 hours after its creation. Others called out the couple for getting married at a wedding venue with ties to a plantation owner. (Naylor Hall's website said the property was built during the 1840s by Barrington King—the son of Roswell King, a cotton mill owner who controlled several plantations that were operated by slave labor, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.)
As of Oct. 6, Lunden and Olivia have not publicly addressed backlash over their apology video.
E! News has reached out to their rep for comment but hasn't heard back.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (4457)
Related
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- At least 46 were killed in Chile as forest fires move into densely populated areas
- Alexandra Park Shares Rare Insight into Marriage with One Tree Hill's James Lafferty
- Jack Antonoff & Margaret Qualley Have A Grammy-Nominated Love Story: Look Back At Their Romance
- 'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
- Spoilers! What that 'Argylle' post-credits scene teases about future spy movies
- Why Jason Kelce Thinks the NFL Should Continue to Show Taylor Swift on TV Game Broadcasts
- Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict says he only hit late against Steelers
- The 'Rebel Ridge' trailer is here: Get an exclusive first look at Netflix movie
- Rapper Killer Mike Arrested at 2024 Grammys After Winning 3 Awards
Ranking
- Kansas City Chiefs CEO's Daughter Ava Hunt Hospitalized After Falling Down a Mountain
- Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict says he only hit late against Steelers
- Denver shooting injures at least 6 people, police say
- How Euphoria's Colman Domingo Met His Husband Through Craigslist
- Plunge Into These Olympic Artistic Swimmers’ Hair and Makeup Secrets
- Kandi Burruss Leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta After 14 Seasons
- Japanese embassy says Taylor Swift should comfortably make it in time for the Super Bowl
- Mayorkas is driven by his own understanding of the immigrant experience. Many in GOP want him gone
Recommendation
Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
Kandi Burruss Leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta After 14 Seasons
Why Miley Cyrus Nearly Missed Her First-Ever Grammy Win
Harry Edwards, civil rights icon and 49ers advisor, teaches life lessons amid cancer fight
Connie Chiume, Black Panther Actress, Dead at 72: Lupita Nyong'o and More Pay Tribute
Abortion access on the ballot in 2024
South Dakota tribe bans governor from reservation over US-Mexico border remarks
How Jon Bon Jovi Really Feels About Son Jake Bongiovi and Fiancé Millie Bobby Brown's Relationship