September 22, 2024

What happened with Lunden and Olivia Stallings? TikTokers face backlash for racist tweets

Olivia #Olivia

TikToker Lunden Stallings’ wedding to Olivia Stallings, née Bennett, went viral for being “the royal wedding of lesbian TikTok.” Days later, Lunden Stallings’ racist, resurfaced tweets went viral, too.

To say the newlywed influencers have given their followers a whiplash of a week would be an understatement.

The two TikTokers — who built a devoted TikTok following in recent years as @lundenandolivia — started this week on a high, fresh off their wedding weekend. Photos from their wedding at Naylor Hall in Roswell, Georgia, depicted a grand bash where female guests wore white gowns and beautiful oak trees loomed in the background.

On TikTok, videos of users gushing about the details of their wedding racked up millions of views, and People Magazine ran an exclusive featuring photos from their sun-streaked day.

LUNDEN AND OLIVIA STALLINGSOlivia and Lunden Stallings.@oliviamstallings via Instagram

By mid-week, various TikTok appreciation posts on the Stallings’ wedding were taken down, and People ran a new story: “TikToker Lunden Stallings Apologizes After Racist Posts Resurface Following Wedding.“

The internet’s change of heart came soon after posts on Reddit showed Lunden Stallings casually using racial slurs like the N-word. Lunden Stallings later apologized for the video in a TikTok story that has since disappeared, saying she was “completely and utterly disgusted and ashamed” by her behavior. She went on to say the comments were posted when she was in her teens. Her tweets, posted on X, which was then known as Twitter, date back to 2012.

It wasn’t long after the discovery that Stallings had stepped onto the merry-go-round of accountability, the internet has seen so many influencers, celebrities and brands ride before.

Who are Olivia and Lunden Stallings?

Olivia Stallings — she changed her last name from Bennett— and Lunden Stallings built a devoted TikTok following in recent years as @lundenandolivia.

On TikTok, they gained a following for their curated brand, which put their Southern accents on display and featured outfit of the day posts and budget-friendly shopping finds. 

On Sept. 30, the couple married at a venue in Roswell, Georgia, called Naylor Hall, a historic property built in the 1840s.

The couple’s wedding inspired appreciation posts that racked up millions of views on TikTok, with users diving into the couple’s decision to go for complimentary gowns, hire live wedding painters and pay homage to their personal style touches.

The wedding also led to discourse on what their relationship says about LGBTQ+ progress and the community’s efforts for acceptance and representation.

In the People exclusive, Lunden Stallings discussed how her public-facing same-sex relationship was making headway for the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think that by showing two feminine women in a relationship in the South, I think that it breaks a barrier,” she said.

The marriage appeared to be a crossover between Southern conservative aesthetic and LGBTQ+ community. TikToker @pamelawurstvetrini characterized them as, “Live laugh love pumpkin spice latte boots, bachelorette party in Nashville’ type of gals.” 

The narrative around the Stallings’ wedding changed when racist tweets resurfaced

Not long after their wedding, users on discussion boards like Reddit began to share what appeared to be screenshots from Lunden Stallings’ deleted X (formerly known as Twitter) account.

The posts seemed to go as far back as 2012, when Lunden Stallings was a teenager and showed the influencer’s use of racial slurs.

The original screengrabs, which appeared on a subReddit page devoted to the couple, have been taken down. Still, Lunden Stallings admitted to the racist posts in her TikTok story — which has since disappeared— and said that she was “completely and utterly disgusted and ashamed.”

“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,” Lunden Stallings said in the TikTok story, recorded and preserved by other accounts. “That’s not who I am.”

In response, women of color have expressed frustration over what the mainstream continues to accept regarding diversity and representation standards.

Some users re-examined the discourse the Stallings wedding had prompted around LGTBQ+ representation in the first place.

“This is why there needs to be more people of color lesbian couples that get the representation, get their credit because it’s the same s—every time,” @oceanvanexel says in a TikTok. “Same story, different font.”

“They wonder why people of color are scared in America,” a user who goes by @amariah7777on the platform commented. “Because people wear racism for fun here and say it was just immaturity. I hope she’s changed.”

The discourse also prompted users to turn over even more stones related to the wedding that had been recently glossed over.

Take, for instance, as some users have pointed out the couple’s wedding venue, Naylor Hall, which People had described as “historic.”

“I think we all know where this is going,” @toris.intel on TikTok says of the wedding venue in a video posted on Oct. 4 and where users were quick to claim that the couple married on a plantation.

According to Naylor Hall‘s website, the venue was constructed during the antebellum period by Barrington King, the son of Roswell King. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Roswell King was a manager of plantations and oversaw several hundred slaves.

Lunden Stallings declined to comment to TODAY.com. As of this story’s publication, Lunden and Olivia Stallings’ separate Instagram pages and joint TikTok accounts remain active on the platforms.

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