16-year-old TikTok sensation Dez Machado is coming under fire after claiming her career as an influencer is harder than working a 9-5 in a response to angry fans — and now, they’re even more upset.
What may have seemed like an impossible dream a decade ago is now a reality for many social media stars, with YouTubers, Twitch streamers, TikTokers, and more raking in a nice bit of cash for creating content online.
Of course, their job requires more than merely making videos; influencers are also responsible for various other tasks, such as regularly posting on social networks, paying attention to statistics and more — but this sudden boom in influencers is sparking some criticism from internet users.
It’s not uncommon for stars to catch flak from commenters online, who take fault with them for making what seems to be a nice chunk of change for doing dances on TikTok — and one influencer had enough of the criticism.
Dez Machado, a 16-year-old TikToker with over 1 million followers on the app, hit back at an angry viewer by appearing to say that her job as an entertainer is more difficult than working a 9-5.
“Damn, working a Jack in the Box is harder than entertaining one million people?” she wrote. “I ain’t know, my bad foo.”
However, Machado went on to admit that she’d gotten “lucky” by being able to make money “easily” — but she isn’t offended by those taking issue with her earnings.
“If you’re making money easily you’re always going to get hated on,” she continued in a separate reply. “Like me, for example. I make money easily (kinda) because I didn’t have to do any schooling or follow the social norms to make money! And that’s okay, I know my job is easy but I’m not offended. Yup, I got lucky, I’m sorry.”
The TikToker has been met with a wave of backlash from critics, some who are accusing her of “job shaming” the average worker; but she isn’t the only influencer whose been put under the microscope for such comments.
Smash pro and Twitch streamer ‘Leffen’ received pushback over a similar statement in September, after arguing that streaming is harder than “minimum wage jobs.”
I fucking sold my body and soul to make that money lmao, you think you have to love and respect every shitty job you do for money? I'd rather flip burgers at mcdonalds if it paid the same amount.
— Leffen (@TSM_Leffen) September 27, 2020
Needless to say, it comes as little surprise that such comments are inflammatory in the eyes of most people; but it does raise an interesting conversation as to the specifics of working as an influencer vs working eight hours a day at an “average” job.
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