Baseball Mean Girls

Overview

Baseball Mean Girls refers to a controversy surrounding two girls who were filmed mocking an influencer by the username @jackielabonita who was making a TikTok at a Houston Astros baseball game in late April 2023. In the viral video, the TikToker talks about the girls destroying her confidence, leading to backlash against the girls online. However, that fallout subsequently led to their doxxing, which caused social media users to debate who was in the right.

Background

On April 22nd, 2023, TikToker Jackielabonita posted a clip of her attempting to film a video of herself at a Houston Astros game. The girls two rows behind her in the stands begin visibly laughing at her and giving her the middle finger in the video. She ends by saying she wanted to cry after the incident. Her TikTok proceeded to gain over 7.5 million likes in four days (shown below).

Developments

The same day @jackielabonita (Jackie) posted her TikTok on April 22nd, 2023, it was reposted to Twitter by user @cupid4joon,^[1] who said if the situation happened to her, "nobody" would "survive." The post gained over 20,000 retweets, 40,000 quote tweets and 188,000 likes in four days. Her reupload of the clip also gained over 15 million views in that timeframe (shown below). Cardi B then notably posted a similar sentiment about the viral video.^[4]

Debate about the clip began spreading on TikTok and Twitter over the coming days. For example, on April 23rd, Twitter user @MulhollandL0ver^[2] opined that the influencer should have expected some attention and mockery for setting up a tripod to take a video of herself at a baseball game, gaining over 450 retweets and 3,100 likes in three days (shown below, left). Also that day, user @adoseofmars^[3] criticized the girls, saying it was an example of "women hating women," gaining over 20 retweets and 310 likes in the same time period (shown below, right).

Doxxing of The "Mean Girls"

In the aftermath of the TikTok, social media users began attempting to find the girls sitting behind Jackie. One TikToker, @niceuu6 was accused of being one of the girls, leading to her family getting harassed on social media. On April 24th, 2023, she eventually posted a video clarifying she was not one of the girls to stem the tide of backlash (shown below, left). Ultimately, the girls were identified as women named "Litz" and "Alondra," and their social media accounts and old pictures were spread widely on Twitter and TikTok. On April 26th, the pair notably posted two TikToks in which they shared their side of the story (shown below, right).

According to their tale, they were first made uncomfortable by the influencer's cameraman, who they claim had been filming them for minutes before Jackie moved from her assigned seat to sit in front of them for her TikTok. She stated that she was not "flipping off" Jackie but rather the cameraman. They also claimed they were not bullying her and saying nasty things about her but rather photobombing her video and being rude to the cameraman.

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External References