Current:Home > InvestSignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Untangling the Controversy Involving TikTokers Lunden Stallings and Olivia Bennett -MoneyStream
SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Untangling the Controversy Involving TikTokers Lunden Stallings and Olivia Bennett
Burley Garcia View
Date:2025-04-10 01:53:20
This was probably not the way Lunden Stallings and SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank CenterOlivia Bennett imagined starting off their marriage.
The influencer duo—who have almost 700,000 followers on their joint TikTok account—went from newlywed bliss to issuing an apology video during their honeymoon all in a span of days after Lunden's past racist tweets resurfaced.
The saga all started on Sept. 30, when the 26-year-olds tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Naylor Hall in Roswell, Ga., with many fans referring to the black-tie nuptials as the "royal wedding of lesbian TikTok."
"We like romanticizing the moment that we're in," Lunden gushed to People in a profile gushed on Oct. 1, adding that she and Olivia felt their wedding was "so much bigger than us" as figures in the LGBTQ+ community. "And I think that by showing two feminine women in a relationship in the south, I think that it breaks a barrier."
However, just as Lunden and Olivia began filling their social media accounts with photos and videos from their picture-perfect wedding, screenshots of what apeared to be old tweets containing racial slurs made from Lunden's X (formerly known as Twitter) account surfaced on Reddit. The racially insensitive posts, the screenshots of which have since been deleted, seemed to date back as early as the 2010s.
Amid backlash, the TikTokers made a 10-minute apology video on their TikTok Stories, with Lunden saying that she was "completely and utterly disgusted and ashamed" by her past behavior.
"I don't want people to think that I am just sweeping this under the rug or that it's something I'm not going to address or don't want to address because I do want to address it," she continued. "That's not who I am."
Calling Lunden's controversial tweets an "unfortunate and ignorant mistake," Olivia told her new wife, "It's so disappointing to see that those things were written, and written by somebody that I love, but I also know to my heart and core that's not who you are. I would've never married her if that's who she was today."
Lunden added, "I just want everyone to know, even the ones that don't know, that I am sorry."
But their mea culpa didn't quell the online criticism, with some taking issue with the fact that Lunden and Olivia's video was made on Stories, where posts expire 24 hours after its creation. Others called out the couple for getting married at a wedding venue with ties to a plantation owner. (Naylor Hall's website said the property was built during the 1840s by Barrington King—the son of Roswell King, a cotton mill owner who controlled several plantations that were operated by slave labor, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.)
As of Oct. 6, Lunden and Olivia have not publicly addressed backlash over their apology video.
E! News has reached out to their rep for comment but hasn't heard back.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (35)
Related
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Disney Alum Skai Jackson Arrested for Misdemeanor Spousal Battery After Alleged Fight
- The Daily Money: Been caught stealing?
- Diaper Bag Essentials Checklist: Here Are the Must-Have Products I Can't Live Without
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- Drone video captures aftermath of home explosion that left 2 dead in Bel Air, Maryland
- Book Review: ‘Kent State’ a chilling examination of 1970 campus shooting and its ramifications
- Stud Earrings That We Think Are 'Very Demure, Very Cutesy'
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- News outlets were leaked insider material from the Trump campaign. They chose not to print it
Ranking
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Americans are becoming less religious. None more than this group
- Advocates want para-surfing to be part of Paralympics after being overlooked for Los Angeles 2028
- Jarren Duran suspended 2 games by Red Sox for shouting homophobic slur at fan who heckled him
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- All-Star, Olympian Dearica Hamby files federal lawsuit against WNBA, Las Vegas Aces
- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky's Baby Boy Riot Rose Makes Rare Appearance in Cute Video
- Prince William Debuts New Beard Alongside Kate Middleton in Olympics Video
Recommendation
Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
A Full Breakdown of Jordan Chiles and Ana Barbosu's Olympic Controversy That Caused the World to Flip
RHONY's Pigeon-Themed Season 15 Trailer Will Have Bravo Fans Squawking
Conservationists try to protect ecologically rich Alabama delta from development, climate change
Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
Dancing With the Stars Season 33 Premiere Date Revealed—And It’s Sooner Than You Think
Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang Says One Host Was So Rude Multiple Cast Members Cried
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 has struck the Los Angeles area, the USGS says