Ask Sawal

Discussion Forum
Notification Icon1
Write Answer Icon
Add Question Icon

Why sienna mae did to me?

2 Answer(s) Available
Answer # 1 #

Sienna Mae Gomez, a hugely popular California-based TikToker, has been accused of sexual assault by her former friend and fellow TikTok star Jack Wright.

The allegations follow months of speculation after a friend of Wright first made the accusation in May 2021. Gomez denied the allegations in two separate videos she posted to her Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube pages in June, and in a statement shared with Insider at the time.

Wright had never explicitly addressed the claims, but on January 20 he posted a YouTube video titled "what sienna mae did to me," where he described four interactions in which he said Gomez touched him without his consent.

Gomez and Wright never publicly confirmed a relationship but began posting videos that showed them kissing, hugging, cuddling, and dancing with each other on their respective social media platforms in October 2020. Bolstered by their apparent relationship, Gomez accumulated over 14.5 million followers and Wright amassed over 9 million on their main TikTok accounts.

During 2021, the two slowly stopped making videos together. On May 30, Wright's friend, Mason Rizzo — who had over 184,000 TikTok followers — posted a screenshot of a Notes app page with allegations that Gomez sexually assaulted Wright and that she was verbally abusive to him and others.

After the allegations were posted, Wright retweeted them, and social media users appeared to turn on Gomez instantly, who denied the allegations.

In his latest video, Wright said Rizzo's accusation was correct, and said he felt "gaslighted" by Gomez's denial, adding that he was "terrified."

Here's a run-down of how the allegations played out.

While Gomez never confirmed her relationship with Wright, they began frequently appearing on each other's social media pages in October 2020.

The two started to slowly stop appearing in each other's videos and Gomez jokingly "addressed the situation" on TikTok when the Hype House revealed it would be the subject of a Netflix reality series.

Gomez said fans noticed Wright's absence in her videos and she said it was because they were filming the show. Wright has only been seen in two additional videos with Gomez since.

On May 30, Wright's friend, Rizzo, posted a statement to social media. He later deleted the detailed allegations of abuse against Gomez and said the dispute would be handled offline.

"I struggle with seeing a girl getting praised after telling my best friend to go kill himself and sexually assault him multiple times after he set boundaries and repeatedly wonder why 'he doesn't like you back,'" the statement read.

Rizzo continued on to claim that Gomez has a history of "verbally abusing people" when she was in high school and Los Angeles, where she now lives, in addition to "prioritizing the growth of her platform."

Gomez posted videos about reaching 15 million followers on TikTok in early April 2021. This is supported by data on Social Blade — a website that collects social media following data — that was reviewed by Insider.

However, after Rizzo posted the since-deleted allegations to his Twitter, she began hemorrhaging followers by the hundreds of thousands. According to Social Blade, she was at 15.1 million followers on Monday May 31, but by Wednesday June 2, she lost over 400,000 followers.

By Friday June 4 she had lost another 200,000, totaling her loss to over 600,000 followers in under a week. She currently has 14.8 million followers.

James, Wright's twin brother, used Twitter's quote-tweet function to seemingly substantiate Rizzo's allegations. He wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "this is why 'I couldn't just let it go and stay out of it.'"

James Wright later deleted his tweet when Rizzo put out a statement that said he and the Wright family were working to resolve the issue with the Gomez family offline.

On June 1, Gomez posted an 8-minute video stating that the allegations in Rizzo's tweet are "unequivocally false." She said that she and Wright "never had sex," and that it felt uncomfortable to disclose details about her sexual history because she is underage.

Gomez went on to say that she was in love with Wright during their apparent relationship but said that Wright did not feel the same way toward her. She said the "passion" she felt for Wright is now being misconstrued as desperation and possessiveness.

"Two weeks ago I asked him to film a video with me for my mental health's sake because I couldn't move on with everyone thinking we were still together," Gomez said. "He told me it wasn't healthy for either of us because this would mean losing his online girlfriend."

Gomez also said that she and Wright have said hurtful things to one another, and said that Wright was sexually assaulted by a different woman at a gathering on a night when Gomez wasn't present.

"I'm sorry but for the one time I have to protect myself before I protect you," she said, referring to Wright. "I was trying to keep your name and your personal business out of it but you didn't keep my name and my personal business out of it knowing damn well your friends were going to post those tweets."

On June 2, Wright posted a statement in response to Gomez's video. In it, he wrote that his brother and Rizzo were "only trying to protect me with the truth."

"I truly encourage my childhood friend Sienna to get the support and help that she needs. I don't want to tear anyone down and only wish healing for everyone involved," Wright wrote.

He has yet to personally accuse Gomez of sexual assault or verbal abuse. In her video, Gomez pointed out that Wright un-retweeted the initial accusations against her before they were deleted.

Another individual named Lachlan Hannemann posted a TikTok on June 3 that he claims contains footage of Gomez sexually assaulting Wright, which Hannemann said he witnessed.

The video has since been removed from Hannemann's account, and he wrote in a follow-up comment that it was removed by TikTok. It is still circulating on TikTok on other accounts.

In the video, which Hannemann said was filmed on November 30, 2020, he showed a clip of Wright appearing to be inebriated to the point of being asleep or otherwise incapacitated. Hannemann said Wright was "passed out, unconscious" in the video.

Hanneman claimed that he was unaware the relationship between Gomez and Wright was "fake" and wasn't alarmed when Gomez sat on top of Wright and started kissing him. Hanneman then showed a clip purported to be Gomez kissing Wright with her hand on Wright's crotch while Wright was incapacitated.

Hanneman went on to say that he pulled Gomez off Wright shortly after the clip was filmed.

In a second video response, Gomez denied the allegations for a second time. She said that she was a victim of "multiple attempts to cancel me and slander my name." Gomez also said that she has tried multiple times to take the situation offline, but that Wright's friends keep dropping "cryptic" information despite her efforts.

Gomez claimed that it was normal for her and Wright to kiss one another for videos and in private at the time the November 30 video was taken. She also claimed that Wright was not unconscious at the time she started kissing him and that Wright kissed her back on his own accord. Gomez also said her hand was not on Wright's crotch in the video, but was on his thigh.

"The way that Jack's friend narrated this video, I'll admit, looks so weird," Gomez said. "If he was unconscious, why did his arm move when you got up, and also, why was he kissing me back?"

Gomez went on to say that the clips were edited together deceptively and questioned why the alleged assault was recorded by James Wright. She claimed that James filmed the interaction because he perceived it as funny, not because it was perceived as an assault. She also denied that Hanneman pulled her off Wright.

"This video is proof of nothing and instead raises more questions about Jack's issues and his friends' behavior," Gomez said.

When Netflix announced the "Hype House" series in April 2021, it named eight influencers who were set to star, including Sienna May Gomez. Gomez confirmed her participation in a since-deleted Instagram post, where she wrote "thank u @thehypehousela for letting me b in ur show."

However, throughout the show Gomez barely features. She is seen in the background of a party in the first episode, which appeared to be filmed in early 2021, and does not appear again in the subsequent seven episodes.

In a Twitch stream discussing the series on Saturday January 8, one of its stars Larri "Larray" Merritt said he became a bigger part of the storyline than was originally planned, and speculated this was "due to the fact that Sienna and Jack had their altercations and issues," saying that as a result "they needed something with a storyline."

Wright, who had never directly addressed the allegations, posted a cryptic TikTok on Tuesday January 11. On-screen text read, "can't stay quiet anymore especially when other guys in LA told me what she did to them as well. i'm done being gaslighted and silenced. y'all deserve to know. please give me a little more time but please know that i've had love and support through all this from family, friends, and all of you online."

The TikTok has been viewed more than 8 million times, and has over 35,000 comments, many of which are speculating it refers to the allegations against Gomez. A top comment asking viewers to "explain" has had over 100 replies from people discussing the accusations.

Wright explicitly addressed the allegations for the first time on January 20 in a YouTube video titled "what sienna mae did to me."

In the video, he accused Gomez of repeatedly touching him and trying to kiss him without his consent. He also said Hannemann's claim that Wright was "unconscious" while Gomez was on top of him was correct.

Wright accused Gomez of "breaking in" to his house on multiple occasions, saying, "When I was sound asleep she would come into my room and I'd wake up to her hand in my pants."

Wright said he and Gomez had known each other since high school, but were never in a relationship and were always "just friends."

"Looking back now I don't know why I stayed friends with her, stayed around her. I truly thought she was going to change," he added.

Neither Gomez nor Wright responded to Insider's request for comment.

In a statement to NBC News, a representative for Gomez "unequivocally" denied the allegations, and said Wright was "reframing" history and making statements that were "harmful and untrue."

"There has been no police investigation — not even a police report to our knowledge — no charges, no private lawsuit and no contact between Sienna and Jack or their respective legal teams in many months," the representative told NBC News.

[5]
Edit
Query
Report
Míriam O'Heaney
Speechwriter
Answer # 2 #

TikTok star Sienna Mae Gomez has returned to the internet following accusations that she sexually assaulted her former friend and fellow TikToker Jack Wright.

After denying the accusations, Gomez took a four-month social-media hiatus, returning on May 28 with a video dancing to a song called "Cancel Me."

Gomez, who is 18, faced widespread backlash after a friend of Wright's posted a since-deleted statement to social media in May 2021 alleging that Gomez had sexually assaulted Wright. Gomez denied the allegations at the time in a since-deleted YouTube video and a statement to Insider.

Wright explicitly addressed the allegations for the first time in January 2022, posting a YouTube video describing four different interactions in which he said Gomez touched him without his consent.

Gomez responded at the time in a lengthy blog post and a statement to Insider via a representative. She "vehemently denied" Wright's accusations and accused him of slut-shaming, saying she had been in love with him but that her actions had been taken out of context, and said she had been bullied online as a result of his accusations. She also appeared on the "BFFs" podcast with Dave Portnoy along with a lawyer and forensic expert to dispute Wright's allegations.

Since January, Gomez had not posted on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram. On May 28, she uploaded a new video on all three platforms — a highly-produced clip set to the 2020 song "Cancel Me" by singer and "Euphoria" actor Dominic Fike, who recently sparked controversy for saying he fantasized about Amber Heard beating him up. (Heard has been accused of abuse by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, whom she has also accused of physical and sexual violence, in an ongoing defamation trial.)

Gomez's clip is in a similar visual style to Fike's official video for the song — filmed on a beach, with a vintage aesthetic. It's captioned "she lives" and opens with the text, "This video is brought to you by cancel culture." Across TikTok and YouTube it has been viewed over 4.8 million times.

Wearing a bikini and a T-shirt saying "FLOP ERA," Gomez smiles, dances, and lip-syncs to the lyrics, "I hope they cancel me. Why? So I can go be with my family." The clip lasts 56 seconds, and doesn't include some of the more controversial lyrics of the original song: "After tour, I broke up with my girlfriend. Why? To fuck a bunch of bitches," and, "I hope I get Me Too'd."

Gomez has subsequently posted three other TikToks and one Instagram photo.

Comments across social media have been mixed, with some people labeling her "brave" for returning to the internet, and others questioning her choice.

She has drawn the most criticism on Twitter and YouTube, where one comment with over 250 likes suggests Gomez is trying to "romanticize" the situation, and another with 130 likes said Gomez appears to be suggesting she was canceled over "some little thing." On TikTok and Instagram however, followers appeared to show more support for her than they have in the past.

Some people also noticed Gomez's Instagram bio links to a separate account under the handle @siennaswim. The account has not posted yet, and only follows one person — Gomez's official Instagram. The bio reads "JUNE2022" and it is labeled a "Swimwear Store," leading some followers to speculate she will be launching her own swimwear line.

The mixed reaction echoes prior controversy surrounding Gomez's response to the initial accusations. Following her denial videos, she took a month off social media before returning in July 2021 with a since-deleted video in which she performed a choreographed dance to Sam Smith's "Young."

[5]
Edit
Query
Report
Antoinette Devine
Chief Commercial Officer