Celebrity Kids Thought They Found a Safe Space on TikTok—Then the Knives Came Out
One publicist calls the app “an atrocity.”
Sam Williams, an education coordinator for London’s Theatre Royal Windsor, joined TikTok as a casual lockdown activity. The 24-year-old posted his first video with his grandmother in late March 2020, filming her making up joke punchlines (“OK, Ma, how do you sell a pig to a deaf farmer?” Williams asks. His grandmother, yelling: “DO YOU WANT TO BUY A PIG?!?”). The video quickly went viral, since Williams’ “Ma” is Judi Dench, the Academy Award–winning star of six James Bond films, and Dame Commander of the British Empire.
Williams has since amassed over 226,000 followers on the app. Another video shows him and Dench reunited on a lawn, six feet apart, in June 2020, dancing to the song “Laxed (Siren Beat)” with Williams’ mother. A February post with Dench garnered 2.4 million views. The pair were delighted by the app and the reactions their videos provoked. “It wasn’t until lockdown and my grandson Sam coming to stay that I learnt about TikTok,” said Dench in an email. “The piece we did together took hours, but was enormous fun to do and I so much enjoyed being directed by him.”
@sam.williams1 When Bojo let’s you film a family TikTok #fyp #fy #foryou #mother #grandmother #viral #dance @finty.williams1
♬ Laxed (Siren Beat) - Jawsh 685
However, Williams has not posted on TikTok since May. He attributes part of that break to reopenings in London, but the other impetus behind his withdrawal is the comments he received on the app, which became more toxic as his audience grew. Commenters insulted Williams for “using [his] grandmother for views,” claimed he didn’t deserve his following, and said he’d “never be as good as her.”