These days, Charli D'Amelio boasts an eye-watering 144 million TikTok followers, but back in 2020, the social media sensation was just a struggling, under-appreciated TikToker, trying her best to get from a measly 99.5 million followers to 100 million. *Ahem.*
Charli was left sobbing in November of that year when her follower count dropped from 99.5 million to 98.5 million in just hours.
TikTok users had unfollowed Charli’s account because of remarks she made in an episode of her family’s show, The D'Amelio Show.
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Charli, her sister Dixie, their parents Marc and Heidi and make-up guru James Charles were being served dinner by their personal chef Aaron May when the D'Amelio siblings turned their nose up at May’s cooking.
May had made a ‘classic paella’ that included snails, explaining to the group: “It's classic paella, and it’s actually an omen of good luck and fortune.”
Charli quipped: “Liars,” while her sister heaved and gagged in front of May after trying one of the snails.
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After Charli’s follower count dropped and her TikTok was inundated with comments criticising her behaviour, she took to social media to address the episode, saying: “You can hate on me for whatever I've done but the fact that all of this is happening because of a misunderstanding.
“I just feel like that's not okay. If this is the community that I've put myself in, I don't know if I want to do that anymore."
Immediately after the episode attracted backlash, Dixie also took to social media to defend her family, saying: “I love Chef, and I would never disrespect him in any way, and maybe don't judge someone's personality over a 15-second video.”
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When Charli eventually hit 100 million followers, she shared a video with the caption: "A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED ME REACH 100 MILLION SUPPORTERS!!! AND ANOTHER HUGE THANK YOU TO @tiktok I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!"
Up until last month, Charli’s TikTok was the most followed account in the world, however, she lost her top spot to Khaby Lame on 22 June when his 142.2 million follower count surpassed Charli's 142.1 million.
At the time of writing, Lame has 147.1 million TikTok followers, while Charli has 144.3 million.
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Topics: TikTok, Social Media
Aisha Nozari