The scandal that has engulfed the presenter and influencer tells us something about changing attitudes to both cyberbullying and inequality
If you live by the sword you tend to die by the sword. The same is true of social media – just ask Chrissy Teigen. Over the past decade, the model and cookbook author has risen to dizzying levels of fame by virtue of being good at posting things online. Such is her reach that Donald Trump, who disapproved of Teigen’s “filthy mouth”, blocked her on Twitter while he was president. Joe Biden, meanwhile, followed her the minute he became president. Which was a big deal considering Biden’s official @POTUS account only followed 11 people at the time, all of whom were aides or official White House accounts. The president doesn’t follow the Queen of the UK, but he did follow the unofficial Queen of Twitter. He also unfollowed Teigen a few weeks later at her behest; the pressure of having the most powerful man in the world read your tweets was too much to deal with, apparently.
If Biden hadn’t unfollowed Teigen in February, he would probably be distancing himself from her now. A lot of big brands reportedly are. Thanks to a cyberbullying scandal, the influencer has gone from tastemaker to toxic. While Teigen may once have been online royalty, half the internet now seems to be aggressively screaming, “Off with her head!”
