Josh Richards, 18, one of the group’s breakout stars, has posted videos of himself dropping his towel in front of his “boyfriends” Jaden Hossler and Bryce Hall pretending to lock lips with another buddy, Anthony Reeves and giving his roommate, Griffin Johnson, a peck on the forehead for the amusement of his 22 million followers.

There is a barrage of sweaty half-naked workouts, penis jokes, playful kisses and lollipop sharing. Scrolling through the TikTok feeds of the group’s physically buff members can feel as if you’re witnessing what would happen if the boys of Tiger Beat spent an uninhibited summer in Fire Island Pines. Just look at the hard-partying Sway Boys, who made national headlines this summer for throwing raucous get-togethers at their 7,800-square-foot Bel Air estate in violation of Los Angeles’s coronavirus guidelines. The youth-oriented social media platform is rife with videos showing ostensibly heterosexual young men spooning in cuddle-puddle formation, cruising each other on the street while walking with their girlfriends, sharing a bed, going in for a kiss, admiring each other’s chiseled physiques and engaging in countless other homoerotic situations served up for humor and, ultimately, views.įeigning gay as a form of clickbait is not limited to small-fry TikTok creators trying to grow their audience.

Robinson’s hotel seduction video is veering toward becoming a modern-day cliché. “If watching my videos makes you happy and stuff, that’s cool,” he added.Īs devotees of TikTok’s young male stars know, Mr. Gay and bi-curious male followers are welcome, too. Uploaded in February, the video has gotten more than 2.2 million views and 31,000 comments (lots of fire and heart emojis). Finney identify as heterosexual, but as some TikTok influencers have discovered, man-on-man action is a surefire way to generate traffic. Robinson pushed against the tiled wall.īut as racy as the video is, fans are under no pretense that the two are in the throes of gay puppy love. In an eight-second video set to a lewd hip-hop track by the Weeknd, he and a fellow teenage boy, Elijah Finney, who calls himself Elijah Elliot, filmed themselves in a London hotel room, grinding against each other as if they’re about to engage in a passionate make-out session. Robinson posts sexually suggestive curve balls that, he said, “break some barriers.” Between the daily drip of shirtless dance routines and skits about his floppy hair, Mr. Connor Robinson, a 17-year-old British TikTok star with rosy cheeks and a budding six-pack, has built a large following by keeping his fans thirsty.

Everyone has a story hotel