Tayvion Cole (Roblox)

About

Tayvion Cole or Tavion Cole refers to a viral video of a Roblox player named Tayvion Cole getting shot to death at a house party by Zach Bryson while playing the East Brickton Roblox role-playing experience. The video went viral on TikTok in August 2022 and inspired ironic memes mourning him, videos expanding on the lore behind the shooting and characters and parody documentaries about his death as if it was a real, tragic shooting. The meme saw a resurgence on TikTok in late 2023.

Origin

On July 4th, 2021, YouTuber^[1] lucii P posted a video of their Roblox character Quez Hudsan at a house party while playing the Roblox Experience East Brickton, a gangster roleplaying game similar to Da Hood. Around the 0:30-second mark, another player, Tayvion Cole, gets shot to death by Zach Bryson, causing players to flee from the room (shown below). The video gained over 96,000 views in a year.

On an unknown date prior to August 7th, 2021, possibly prior to the lucii P post, TikToker @fettistuntin posted a now-deleted video showing an alternative angle of the shooting from Bryson's point of view. The video was reposted to YouTube^[2] on August 9th, garnering over 179,000 views in a year (shown below).

Spread

The video gained viral spread across TikTok and YouTube over the following months as people pretended it was a real, tragic shooting worth mourning. On August 8th, 2021, TikToker^[3] @its.yougo shared the video, captioned, "Shootings caught on camera Tayvion Cole," garnering over 2.1 million views in a year (shown below, left) On August 11th, TikToker^[4] @yusxke posted a skit about being at the shooting of Cole, garnering over 2.1 million views in a year (shown below, right).

One day prior on August 10th, YouTuber^[5] Coco Dysfunction posted a video offering extended lore on the shooting of Cole, claiming a girl set Cole up and she was killed for it and that one of Tayvion's gang member friends tried to shoot Bryson but shot the wrong man, garnering over 125,000 views in a year (shown below).

On August 12th, 2022, YouTuber^[6] Zepur posted a documentary about the shooting of Tayvion Cole, garnering over 94,000 views in a year (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[7] @luhcpinnxo posted a "what if" video imagining what Cole would be like if he survived the shooting, garnering over a million views in the same span of time. On August 19th, YouTuber^[8] Flamingo posted a video about the meme where he plays East Brickton, garnering over 2.1 million views in the same rough span of time (shown below, right). A memorial mural for Cole was added to East Brixton as the meme continued to go viral.^[9]

The story of Tayvion Cole saw a resurgence in mid-to-late 2022 as TikTokers made new videos using the footage and discussed it. On November 22nd, 2022, TikToker^[10] @ihyomerta posted a video sharing the clip, captioned, "Saddest shooting caught on camera," garnering over 2.2 million views in two weeks. On November 23rd, TikToker^[11] @mongolianfishmarkets posted a video combining both angles of the shooting, garnering over 108,000 views in the same rough span of time (shown below).

2023 Resurgence

In late 2023, TikTokers began posting videos referencing Tayvion Cole again. This time, the focus was on remembering Tayvion Cole and the impact his death had on society. On November 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[12] @chopkuya posted a video referencing Cole, garnering over 440,000 views in two weeks (shown below, left). On November 12th, TikToker^[13] @onlineboy420 posted a video about how the hood was before his death, garnering over 2.5 million views in four days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References