While white social media creators are constantly rewarded, Black creators are often left in the dust
Social media influencers such as Nikita Dragun (second to the right), Chase Hudson (top right) and Larri Merritt (third to the right) are known to be in TikTok’s social group called Hype House (Insider)
Last week, Netflix announced that TikTok’s Hype House will be getting its own series on the popular streaming platform.
Hype House is a group of verified young adult social media influencers that live in a mansion where they create content together. They are extremely popular across several platforms, including Instagram and YouTube.
With a combined following of over 125 million on TikTok alone, there seems to be a strong fanbase so the demand for a reality TV show seems appropriate. So why have there been online debates discussing the show’s validity? Take one look at who is in Hype House and you’ll get your answer: the lack of diversity.
Hype House was created in December 2019 by two white creators, Lil Huddy and Thomas Petrou. Ever since then, this creator collective has featured mainly white creators other than a few such as YouTube makeup influencer Nikita Dragun, who is of Vietnamese and Mexican descent. Although their drama can be entertaining to some, it’s hard to ignore that other BIPOC creators are often overlooked for similar opportunities.
TikTok is known for highlighting its white creators over any of the BIPOC ones, especially Black creators. Over the past couple of years, it’s been under fire for its problem of not properly giving credit for the popular dances that appear on there. Usually, the original dancer posts their dance, and then another creator with a larger following does the dance without giving credit to the original. And because that creator has more followers, their followers credit them for the original dance.
An example of this came up in March with the successes of Hype House member Addison Rae. Rae achieved fame on TikTok by replicating popular dances for her fans, which led to an invitation on the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show to promote her new single, “Obsessed.” While on the show, she also demonstrated some popular TikTok dances — without crediting any of the original creators.
The next day, there were side-to-side comparisons of the original dancers and Rae on Jimmy Fallon trending on Twitter. This sparked outrage online on how Black creators have to beg to get recognized while white creators do the bare minimum. It was a reminder of how then 14-year-old TikTok creator Jalaiah Harmon’s story for her wildly-popular Renegade dance.
Although Jimmy Fallon acknowledged the original creators (again, mostly Black) by inviting them to his show via Zoom, people still felt like it was not enough because it was done after the fact and the interviews weren’t in person, like Rae’s.
This lack of recognition doesn’t end creatively either, it shows financially. White social media influencers also have advantages when it comes to how many sponsorships they get. Because of these sponsorships and the content they make, the top TikTok influencers make over $3 million annually.
Many Black creators find out that while doing a paid campaign, their white counterparts would be paid double the amount they got. Because of this, some Black creators have taken matters into their own hands. For example, Taylor Cassidy made a series called “Black Girl Magic Minute” to highlight different Black women’s content and give them credit. Another group came together and created a “content house” called The Crib Around the Corner. The AT&T TV-sponsored house includes popular Black TikTok creators such as Stacy Thiru and Dare Ajibare.
At the end of the day, Black people and other people of color just want to be recognized and be given the same opportunities as white creators on all social media platforms.
Netflix’s Hype House series does not have an official release date yet.