Tall Knight Grooming Allegations Controversy

Overview

Tall Knight Grooming Allegations Controversy, also known as Tall Knight Texting Minors Accusations, refers to a series of allegations levied against TikToker The Tall Knight in mid-2023 regarding alleged comments, screenshots and first-hand accounts of him writing sexual suggestive comments to minors, as well as DMing minors on Instagram. The controversy also purportedly involved promoting his OnlyFans, Patreon and Twitter accounts to minors, which all hosted sexually explicit content. The backlash resulted in his TikTok account being banned in late August 2023. Many likened his alleged actions to grooming with numerous users labeling him a "groomer." Prior controversies notably involving the Tall Knight started as early as February 2023 when he was accused of scamming his fans and being a transphobe. After the Tall Knight was exposed and banned from TikTok, many made reaction content about it, causing viral discourse on TikTok and elsewhere that prompted a response video from the Tall Knight on YouTube in which he denied all of the accusations, resulting in further backlash.

Background

On August 21st, 2023, @The_Tall_Knight posted on X,^[1] "I just got banned from TikTok when I had 1.6M followers…" He also mentioned in the post how he was going to struggle with paying rent because of his TikTok ban, which came as a surprise to him because, in his words, "my account was in good standing. I’ve never even gotten a guideline violation before." The post gained over 70 likes in eight days.

On August 22nd, 2023, The Tall Knight posted a video on his secondary TikTok^[2] account, @the_tall_knlght, furthering his statement about being banned and asking for monetary compensation from his fans while showing the seemingly dire situation of his living space. The video received roughly 909,800 plays and 51,200 likes in one week (shown below).

Later on August 22nd, 2023, TikToker^[3] @chaysemorales stitched @the_tall_knlght's TikTok,^[2] outlining the reason why he was purportedly banned. According to the post, the reason was that he engaged with comments left by minors on his videos who had their ages or birth years stated in their account bios. @chaysemorales' stitch gained roughly 70,800 plays and 3,900 likes in one week (shown below, left).

TikToker^[4] @chaysemorales then posted another stitch on August 22nd, further outlining more underage accounts he was allegedly flirting with in comment sections, including one account that said its owner was 13. The stitch gained roughly 334,900 plays and 20,600 likes in one week (shown below, right).

On August 23rd, 2023, Tall Knight posted a TikTok^[5] that answered a comment reading, "did you know she was 17?" admitting that it was the reason why he got banned. The video received roughly 1.4 million plays and 46,200 likes in six days (shown below, left). On August 24th, TikToker^[6] @profpippy stitched Tall Knight, reiterating the same screenshots and allegations that TikToker^[3][4] @chaysemorales surfaced. The stitch gained roughly 1.3 million plays and 199,900 likes in five days (shown below, right).

Later on August 24th, the Tall Knight posted a TikTok^[7] in which he responded to TikToker^[6] @profpippy, centering on @profpippy highlighting his NSFW Patreon content, gaining roughly 758,900 plays and 10,300 likes in six days (shown below, left). On August 25th, TikToker^[8] @yourfavoriteguy posted a video that compiled the allegations thus far, gaining roughly 3.5 million plays and 438,600 plays in four days (shown below, right).

Developments

Tall Knight's Response Video On YouTube

On August 22nd, 2023, Tall Knight posted a roughly 28-minute-long video to his YouTube^[10] channel called "My Side Of Things" in which he started by confronting his early 2023 scamming allegations. The video, which received roughly 75,500 views in one week, included his segment on the "groomer" allegations at the 17:45-minute mark (shown below).

Alleged Tall Knight Messages With 16-Year-Old On Instagram

On August 25th, 2023, TikToker^[9] @yourfavoriteguy posted a second video that centered on purported Instagram DM screenshots that had just surfaced online, seemingly involving the Tall Knight and a 16-year-old fan. In the messages, the Tall Knight was allegedly flirting with the fan, being sexually suggestive with his language. The video gained roughly 1.3 million plays and 147,600 likes in four days (shown below). It is currently unknown where @yourfavoriteguy surfaced the screenshots from.

Tall Knight's Response

On August 28th, 2023, Tall Knight responded to the leaked Instagram DMs in a YouTube^[11] video called "Final Update" (shown below). In the video, he discussed how Cr1TiKaL had reacted to the controversy on stream, as well as showed a screenshot of a censored Instagram account that he alleged to be the DM leaker, highlighting that she had no age in her bio.

Online Reactions

During the timeframe that the controversy was unfolding in late August 2023, various TikTokers reacted to Tall Knight's cancelation and perceived downfall, many of which were humorous in nature.

For instance, on August 26th, 2023, TikToker^[12] @swagger_swoles posted a video about not being associated with the Tall Knight despite looking similar to him, gaining roughly 1.4 million plays and 169,600 likes in three days (shown below, left). On August 27th, 2023, TikToker^[13] @ssjturk posted an I Got 2 Phones meme that made fun of the Tall Knight, gaining roughly 3.2 million plays and 598,400 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Similarly to TikToker^[12] @swagger_swoles, other content creators with similar, medieval aesthetics to the Tall Knight, such as TikToker^[14] @thegibelnator, posted content and memes that humorously distanced themselves from the Tall Knight.

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References