Speaker 1: How do you think it came that you were arrested
Speaker 1: for something that seems so patently incongruous with our constitutional
Speaker 1: rights to free speech. Well, i'll tell you corrupt police. Uh,
Speaker 1: corrupt police trying to protect one of their buddy's girlfriends.
Speaker 1: And I think that they thought it would just scare me.
Speaker 1: There are No Girls on the Internet. As a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Unboss Creative, I'm Bridget Todd
Speaker 1: and this is there are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: People talk a lot about threat to free speech without
Speaker 1: mentioning the reality that the people who are most likely
Speaker 1: to face consequences, but the things they say online are
Speaker 1: people who are already marginalized. And Cocoa brisco a former
Speaker 1: comedian living in Arlington, Virginia, who was arrested last year
Speaker 1: for making TikTok's, is a great example of what I
Speaker 1: mean him. I'm Coco Briscoe Man, I'm a TikToker. The
Speaker 1: story of Coco's arrest starts out in a pretty unlikely place,
Speaker 1: the search for love. Coco was new to the city
Speaker 1: and was going on a lot of dates, so she
Speaker 1: started chronicling them, and a TikTok series called Dating in
Speaker 1: DC I live in d C. I live in Columbia Heights.
Speaker 1: I'm not single now, but when I was single, I
Speaker 1: remember what a I don't know, uh particular place dating
Speaker 1: in DC is. And so I really appreciated your content
Speaker 1: because I was like, oh, yeah, dating in DC can
Speaker 1: be kind of a healthscape. And so watching your content,
Speaker 1: I really felt for you. I mean that not all
Speaker 1: of your dates were bad, but I really felt like
Speaker 1: what it was like to be dating and be like,
Speaker 1: oh God, am I ever going to find the one?
Speaker 1: So I always appreciated your content. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: So I was watching your saga, and I know that
Speaker 1: you've probably gotten quite good at describing what happened in
Speaker 1: sixty seconds. But you were, you know, someone who just
Speaker 1: made these lighthearted TikTok's about your your dating life finding
Speaker 1: love in d C. And you were and that actually
Speaker 1: resulted in you being arrested for making TikTok's. Can you
Speaker 1: tell us what happened? Yes, So you're right. My series
Speaker 1: was just about dating. It was very lighthearted. It was
Speaker 1: about um online dating and going on my dates and
Speaker 1: just about my dating adventures. UM. I used to be
Speaker 1: a stand up comedian and so when I talked about
Speaker 1: my dates. I do have a sense of humor behind it.
Speaker 1: I don't take dating super seriously. Although I am truly
Speaker 1: looking for a relationship. I'm looking for love. So I
Speaker 1: started doing it with no expectation that anyone was even
Speaker 1: gonna watch it. I thought it was just gonna be
Speaker 1: my friends and family and maybe some random people in
Speaker 1: the internet, and it it grew pretty quickly. But it
Speaker 1: was really fun in the beginning because I felt like
Speaker 1: I had kind of like a cult following, like it
Speaker 1: was like a very specific type of person and I
Speaker 1: felt that my audience really related to me. I felt
Speaker 1: like they were close in my age range. I felt
Speaker 1: like they understood the struggle, and so it felt like
Speaker 1: just talking to my friends. I was just coming on
Speaker 1: talking to my friends about my dating life. And so,
Speaker 1: as you know, you said, you did quite a bit
Speaker 1: of dating before you got into your relationships. The hell
Speaker 1: on Earth, it can be um and it gets expensive,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean a lot of times men are
Speaker 1: gentlemen and offer to pay um. But also there's a
Speaker 1: lot involved in you know, buying new outfits or ubering
Speaker 1: to and from a different neighborhood d C and the
Speaker 1: surrounding areas. It's a big area, so I was spending
Speaker 1: a lot of money on cab fare and stuff. So
Speaker 1: I decided to start going to local places. I also
Speaker 1: thought it would be a good opportunity to support local
Speaker 1: businesses in my neighborhood as well as keep me safe
Speaker 1: because dating can be sketchy. Luckily, I hadn't had any
Speaker 1: super sketchy dating experiences, but it could happen, and so
Speaker 1: I thought, if I go to local places, then they'll
Speaker 1: recognize me and they'll know what I'm doing, that I'm
Speaker 1: on a date, they'll see me going on dates, and
Speaker 1: so if anything weird ever happened, this is just a
Speaker 1: familiar place to me. And it was all great. That
Speaker 1: was working out really great because I was going to places,
Speaker 1: walking to and from my house, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden things started getting very weird in my neighborhood. I
Speaker 1: am new to this area. Um, I didn't know many people.
Speaker 1: I hadn't really no one had really befriended me locally,
Speaker 1: but all of a sudden, kind of slowly, people started
Speaker 1: to know who I was, like knowing my name, and
Speaker 1: I was I was feeling like I was getting stared
Speaker 1: at a lot. I was feeling like a lot of
Speaker 1: people were showing up. The same groups of people were
Speaker 1: showing up everywhere that I was, and I just thought
Speaker 1: it was a coincidence. It was weird, Um, but I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, this is kind of I'm on Columbia Pike
Speaker 1: in Arlington. There's four bars the neighborhood. People go to
Speaker 1: the same four bars. Not that weird. Now, People like
Speaker 1: me loved following the ups and downs of Cocoho's dating
Speaker 1: journeys on TikTok, but some people that she encountered in
Speaker 1: real life didn't have that same response. Some of them
Speaker 1: are actually really hostile. Basically, the response was who does
Speaker 1: she think she is? Slowly people started saying things to me. Um.
Speaker 1: If someone introduced to me to someone, they're like, I
Speaker 1: know who you are, Coco, I've seen your TikTok and
Speaker 1: I was like oh. But it was never in a
Speaker 1: friendly way. It was always in a like yeah, I've
Speaker 1: seen your TikTok and like, why are these people watching
Speaker 1: my TikTok. My TikTok wasn't that popular at the time.
Speaker 1: It's not like everyone watches my TikTok. I, Like I said,
Speaker 1: I had kind of a cult falling, and so it
Speaker 1: just kind of got slowly got weirder and weirder and weirder,
Speaker 1: and then finally, uh, someone told me about this group
Speaker 1: chat that was going on that has about fifty people
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood who all were kind of local yogl
Speaker 1: like this is their territory, I think, was their feeling,
Speaker 1: and who's this girl coming from California doing this TikTok
Speaker 1: going on all these day dates? Like it was a
Speaker 1: very much the energy was who the hell does she
Speaker 1: think she is? Like that's the kind of energy I
Speaker 1: was getting from these people. And when I was told
Speaker 1: about the group chat, I originally thought it was just
Speaker 1: a bunch of people watching my TikTok's and making fun
Speaker 1: of it, like look at this stupid girl, she goes
Speaker 1: on a lot of dates, like what a loser, And
Speaker 1: I didn't really care. I thought it was really lame
Speaker 1: and uncool. Um. But then it got scary because I
Speaker 1: realized that some of the employees of these bars that
Speaker 1: I was going to, we're letting this group chat know
Speaker 1: every time that I was in the bar. Coco's in here, guys, um.
Speaker 1: And it was a variation of things that were being
Speaker 1: set what a stupid wore. Um, let's banquish her from
Speaker 1: Columbia Pike. I'm gonna end her who chooses violence tonight,
Speaker 1: Let's let's And they just they kept mentioning the word
Speaker 1: a violence. And I get that that's a figure of speech,
Speaker 1: right like I choose violence. But the way they were
Speaker 1: speaking about me, the way they were speaking about my body,
Speaker 1: the way that the language behind it, and there was
Speaker 1: so much I didn't share on TikTok. I have multiple
Speaker 1: screenshots lots of conversations between these people, which, in a
Speaker 1: way I wish I hadn't ever found out about it,
Speaker 1: but I'm glad I did because I think if this
Speaker 1: behavior had continued, it could have gotten very dangerous. I
Speaker 1: think that kind of group uh gang mentality of we
Speaker 1: all have this common enemy bond can really lead to
Speaker 1: dangerous situations, especially for women. Finding out that there was
Speaker 1: a group of people from her neighborhood in a group
Speaker 1: chat saying these kinds of things about her understandably made
Speaker 1: Coco feel unsafe. But then the conversation turned to tracking
Speaker 1: her specific whereabouts. One day, a bartender at one of
Speaker 1: the bars she frequented for dates took a video of
Speaker 1: Coco riding her bike down the street and posted it
Speaker 1: in the group chat. Coco had had enough. I was
Speaker 1: shocked when I saw that one of the bartenders had
Speaker 1: taken a video of me riding my bike down the street.
Speaker 1: I had walked into the bar. I was looking for
Speaker 1: a friend of mine. I just glanced in. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: my friend's not in here. I got on my bicycle
Speaker 1: and I was on my way. I was riding home.
Speaker 1: It was late at night, and she had taken this
Speaker 1: video and said a bunch of really disgusting things to
Speaker 1: these people that call me, discussing names and which, by
Speaker 1: the way, I do not know these people. I have
Speaker 1: no personal relationship with any of these people. Um. And
Speaker 1: I was horrified, and so I went to the bar owner.
Speaker 1: I felt like I had a decent relationship with him.
Speaker 1: He had always been pretty nice to me, and I
Speaker 1: had never had any type of There was never a
Speaker 1: situation with any of these people or any of these
Speaker 1: places where there was any type of friction. I was
Speaker 1: just a paying customer going on my dates, having a
Speaker 1: drink and some food and leaving. That was the entire thing.
Speaker 1: And when I went to the bar owner, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: he's going to be horrified that his employee did this,
Speaker 1: because I would. I would be like, this person is fired.
Speaker 1: This is unacceptable. And instead of saying I'm so sorry
Speaker 1: that happened to you, Coco, UM, we do not condone
Speaker 1: this kind of behavior. You've been a great customer. I
Speaker 1: will handle this, he screamed in my face and said,
Speaker 1: if you don't feel safe in my bar, then you
Speaker 1: never have to come back. Um. And I was shocked
Speaker 1: that that was his reaction. After being made aware of
Speaker 1: the kinds of conversations happening about her, Coco failed a
Speaker 1: police report, and she was actually the first person in
Speaker 1: the situation to contact law enforcement, but she says it
Speaker 1: didn't really go anywhere. The police basically blew her off,
Speaker 1: and after getting such a hostile reaction from the bar manager,
Speaker 1: she felt like she didn't have a ton of options.
Speaker 1: So she took to TikTok and used her platform, which
Speaker 1: had once been about a lighthearted chronicling of her dates,
Speaker 1: to talk about what she was experiencing. So I took
Speaker 1: to social media and I said, this really crazy stuff
Speaker 1: is going on in my neighborhood and I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do. About it. I didn't know what to
Speaker 1: do about it. I didn't say the name of the bars.
Speaker 1: I didn't say the name of any of these people
Speaker 1: other than a first name, because it was in the
Speaker 1: screen shop from the chat. Well after I made the
Speaker 1: very first video saying this, bartender took a video of
Speaker 1: me leaving on my way home at night and send
Speaker 1: it to a bunch of people that talked about violence
Speaker 1: against me and call me names and our bullies and
Speaker 1: stalkers in my opinion, because they followed me around. Um,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is what's happening, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what to do. This woman filed a protective order
Speaker 1: against me, okay, preventing me from making TikTok's talking about
Speaker 1: the situation. Even though I didn't even know the woman's
Speaker 1: last name. I didn't know anything about her, and I
Speaker 1: didn't say the name of the bar. Four police officers
Speaker 1: show up at my house with a protective order at
Speaker 1: four a m. I'm a single woman, I live alone.
Speaker 1: You need four caps with a protective order and four
Speaker 1: I am four am. And this is an e p O.
Speaker 1: This isn't just like, oh, I've been harassing someone for
Speaker 1: a long period time. This is an emergency protective order
Speaker 1: meant to protect people from immediate danger. So and I
Speaker 1: was on there making a TikTok, going this is creepy,
Speaker 1: this creepy thing happy and this woman felt the need
Speaker 1: to do what she did. And and I truly don't
Speaker 1: believe it's because she was afraid. Um, I truly believe
Speaker 1: it's because And I have screenshots from her saying ha
Speaker 1: ha ha, Coco is gonna get it. I have a
Speaker 1: police officer boyfriend. I love this for her bragging about it,
Speaker 1: begging about how they were gonna end me and they
Speaker 1: were gonna do so I was like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: this is really messed up, Like really the Arlington police
Speaker 1: are going to show up at my house and do
Speaker 1: this like this is ludicrous. And I was like, wait
Speaker 1: till TikTok, here's about this. And and I'd like to
Speaker 1: say I had already filed a police report about these people,
Speaker 1: and I didn't think anything was gonna come of it.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't necessarily to even get anyone in trouble.
Speaker 1: It was just like, hey, Arlington police, this group of
Speaker 1: weirdos is doing this to me. So in case someone
Speaker 1: decides to un alive me, here's what's going on, and
Speaker 1: here's the people involved in this, and they didn't take
Speaker 1: it seriously. They didn't investigate the in fact, never returned
Speaker 1: my phone calls. So the Arlington p D not only
Speaker 1: didn't care that fifty people had been harassing me and
Speaker 1: talking about violence against me, didn't give a ship, didn't
Speaker 1: call me back, but they feel the need to issue
Speaker 1: a protective order and show up at my house to
Speaker 1: prevent me from speaking out about people that are doing
Speaker 1: something really disgusting to me. I was like wow, and
Speaker 1: I truly thought it was a joke. I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, once I post this on TikTok, these
Speaker 1: people are going to leave me the hell alone, because
Speaker 1: the whole world is gonna go what you can't do that?
Speaker 1: And of course TikTok did have the reaction, They're like
Speaker 1: what And then there's a whole slew of women saying
Speaker 1: I couldn't get a protective order against a man that
Speaker 1: was physically abusing me for months years, and it's it
Speaker 1: was just breaking my heart and I was like, this
Speaker 1: is such a complete abuse of the system. It's disgusting.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break at her back. Now opened
Speaker 1: all this point, Coco had not publicly said the names
Speaker 1: of any of the bars involved. But after being served
Speaker 1: with the protective order filed by the bartender who took
Speaker 1: the video of her riding her bike down the street,
Speaker 1: barring her from talking about situation on social media, Coco
Speaker 1: said fuck it and made a TikTok naming the bars
Speaker 1: open up Police. That's when the police showed up at
Speaker 1: our door again, this time to put her in handcuffs
Speaker 1: and take her to jail for violating the protective order.
Speaker 1: So after that, I was like, so, these people are
Speaker 1: not only going to uh continue to harass me, but
Speaker 1: the owners of the bars are gonna do nothing. The
Speaker 1: police are gonna do nothing. The police are gonna harass me. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm telling where these bars are because if this is
Speaker 1: what they do to women, people need to avoid these places.
Speaker 1: So I said the name of the bars. Then I
Speaker 1: got another protective order again. Police show up at my house.
Speaker 1: I think it was like five in the morning this time,
Speaker 1: but it was only two cops, but they come banging
Speaker 1: on my door and I got cop dock. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: banging on the police. Oh really, And I'm just sitting
Speaker 1: in my freaking bathrobe like, what are you kidding? And
Speaker 1: I have video of the entire thing. I opened the door.
Speaker 1: First of all, I couldn't see through the Like when
Speaker 1: I look through the people, police don't stand where you
Speaker 1: can see them. These were standing on opposite sides of
Speaker 1: the door. I was like, I cannot see you. How
Speaker 1: do I know this is the police? How do I
Speaker 1: know this could be one of these creepy people from
Speaker 1: the group check coming to you know and alive me.
Speaker 1: So I put on my camera and I video the
Speaker 1: entire thing, and I was like, what did I do? Like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to tell me what I did to
Speaker 1: deserve a protective order. They were like, we don't know,
Speaker 1: we don't know what. We're just here to serve it um,
Speaker 1: which is a lie because that officer actually was the
Speaker 1: one who was monitoring my TikTok's She was with the
Speaker 1: woman to get her the second restraining order. Who by
Speaker 1: the way, this woman's boyfriend is an Arlington police officer,
Speaker 1: so these are his buddies doing his dirty work for him.
Speaker 1: And I was just like, this is ridiculous. I was
Speaker 1: like this, you can't do this to me. This is
Speaker 1: against my First Amendment rights. I can talk about whatever
Speaker 1: I want. I have done nothing wrong, And I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know weight a rounds because I'm about to
Speaker 1: TikTok this. I was like, you know, are they gonna
Speaker 1: arrest me like that? I had this like fifty fifty like,
Speaker 1: I mean they could because technically I'm violating this thing. Um,
Speaker 1: but I was like, really, are they gonna are the
Speaker 1: Arlington police is gonna sit there and watch everything I do?
Speaker 1: And they sure did, and they came back and arrested me,
Speaker 1: and uh, they sent five police to arrest a TikToker.
Speaker 1: Five cops, so in a number of eleven total police
Speaker 1: that had to deal with me for just making TikTok's.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, we have too many cops in Arlington.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, you feel the need to harass me
Speaker 1: this much, then we gotta we gotta do something about this.
Speaker 1: Y'all need to be defunded. I don't know, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: do not make me the criminal when you are not
Speaker 1: doing anything about the real people who are harassing women. Um. Anyway,
Speaker 1: that's a very long waited direction. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're expecting all of that, but that's basically the gist
Speaker 1: and there's so many little nuances like so there were
Speaker 1: so many like little side stories of people in this
Speaker 1: group who um did approach me in person and screaming
Speaker 1: my face and threaten me. Their friends have sent me
Speaker 1: tons of d m s and created fig accounts to
Speaker 1: harass me. I mean it has it's NonStop around the
Speaker 1: clock and uh. And these people were pushing really hard
Speaker 1: to have me prosecuted for violating these protective orders, which
Speaker 1: in my first court hearing, uh, the judge said he
Speaker 1: was just like so confused. He's like, how did these
Speaker 1: even get issued? You cannot get an emergency protective order
Speaker 1: unless you're in danger. I knew this, which is why
Speaker 1: in my moment of you know, about to go to sleep,
Speaker 1: had wine all night, go and can arrest me, Like
Speaker 1: I don't get I know, I look like a maniac.
Speaker 1: And I know half a million people saw that and
Speaker 1: we're like, this girl isn't saying I was insane. In
Speaker 1: that moment, I was like I cannot do this with
Speaker 1: these people, Like how many times are you going to
Speaker 1: send cops in my house in the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: early in the morning two to do this? Like No,
Speaker 1: I felt like I was losing my mind, and I
Speaker 1: probably was. Coco was arrested for violating a protective order
Speaker 1: barring her from speaking about her experiences with the staff
Speaker 1: at two Virginia Bars. But is an order saying that
Speaker 1: you can't talk about someone on social media constitutional? In
Speaker 1: an article about Coco's case, The Washington Post spoke to
Speaker 1: Eugene Voloc, a legal scholar at U c l A,
Speaker 1: who said an order that says stop talking about this
Speaker 1: person is unconstitutional no matter who you are. Yet, Voloc,
Speaker 1: who has been tracking these kinds of orders, says he
Speaker 1: has identified more than two hundred of them. The Post
Speaker 1: also spoke to Vera Idleham, a staff attorney with the
Speaker 1: a c l U, who said, while speech to someone might,
Speaker 1: in certain circumstances properly be deemed as harassment if it
Speaker 1: is unwanted, the same does not hold true for speech
Speaker 1: about someone, even if it's unwanted, because think about it, anyone,
Speaker 1: from racist police to corrupt elected officials, could use that
Speaker 1: to stifle legitimate criticism about them. One of the reasons
Speaker 1: why I wanted to talk to you was exactly that
Speaker 1: part of the story. Right, I'm I should say, I'm
Speaker 1: no lawyer, I'm no legal expert, but from all the
Speaker 1: legal experts that I've heard from, including the one in
Speaker 1: the Washington Post article about your situation, unless somebody is
Speaker 1: threatening violence or knowingly spreading false information, you cannot tell
Speaker 1: them that they can't make social media content about a
Speaker 1: specific person. Right. So, like the fact that you were
Speaker 1: arrested for making TikTok's that did not include violent threats
Speaker 1: or you know knowingly, you know, knowingly false information seems
Speaker 1: to be unconstitutional. And that that that Washington Post piece
Speaker 1: sites an a c l U attorney and a U
Speaker 1: c l A legal scholar that say that, And it
Speaker 1: seems like the courts agreed. First of all, a how
Speaker 1: are you not the poster child for the First Amendment
Speaker 1: and free speech online? And second, how do you think
Speaker 1: it came that you were arrested for something that seems
Speaker 1: so patently incongruous with our constitutional rights to free speech? Well,
Speaker 1: i'll tell you corrupt police. Uh, corrupt police trying to
Speaker 1: protect one of their buddy's girlfriends. And I think that
Speaker 1: they thought it would just scare me. I think that
Speaker 1: they thought, oh, well, if we show up with this
Speaker 1: protective order, that'll shut her up. Four cops at four am.
Speaker 1: That'll scare the ship out of her. And it didn't.
Speaker 1: Because I was like, this is ludicrous. It did shut
Speaker 1: me up for three days. I didn't go online, and
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I guess I should obey this
Speaker 1: because these people are gonna do anything they can to
Speaker 1: have me arrested. But I think the reason I'm not
Speaker 1: the poster child is because the police really messed up.
Speaker 1: And I think that the press isn't talking about it
Speaker 1: because it's a big deal, and I think that there's
Speaker 1: so much to it that, um, I think there's a
Speaker 1: little scared. I really do. I mean Arlington Now, our
Speaker 1: local paper here in Arlington three articles about my arrest.
Speaker 1: The third one was about the restaurant saying, oh, Celtic
Speaker 1: House wants to move past the controversy. Well, good for them.
Speaker 1: I don't because I didn't get an apology. These people
Speaker 1: humiliated me in the press. They wrote press releases saying
Speaker 1: I'm a liar. The only thing that I couldn't back
Speaker 1: up is I said that she got my address from
Speaker 1: my idea and credit card, and when the restraining order
Speaker 1: was filed, it said she didn't know the address. I
Speaker 1: did not. I did not know that because they had
Speaker 1: my address. Um, but that that's the only thing I
Speaker 1: could figure she knew my full name. She kept writing
Speaker 1: about my full name in the group chat. She kept saying,
Speaker 1: call her this, call her this, this is her legal name.
Speaker 1: And her friends who were approaching me were saying, we
Speaker 1: know your full legal name, and we've googled you and
Speaker 1: we're going to like we're gonna find out everything about you.
Speaker 1: We're going to destroy you. Like it was just so
Speaker 1: high school mean girls. But the reason I'm not the
Speaker 1: poster child for this was everybody wants me to shut
Speaker 1: the hell up because this is and you know, and
Speaker 1: me talking about it as openly as I am, Um,
Speaker 1: probably isn't what they want either, But they're not gonna
Speaker 1: shut me up. Uh you know. They have said, well,
Speaker 1: they can bring the case back at any time. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: what did I do wrong? I made it TikTok saying
Speaker 1: somebody filed a restraining order illegally against me, Like, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't feel like breaking the law to me.
Speaker 1: And the argument that people have made in my comments
Speaker 1: was well, it was in effect when you broke it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but how many we're gonna get filed how many times?
Speaker 1: She filed one in Fairfax County. She filed one in
Speaker 1: Arlington County because I'm sure Fairfax was like, why are
Speaker 1: you getting all these epos against someone who's done nothing
Speaker 1: to you. I'm sure they wouldn't grant a second one.
Speaker 1: I mean, the judge has already said, now again no
Speaker 1: basis for this. But if I hadn't spoken out about it,
Speaker 1: how many times? And I keep saying that over and over,
Speaker 1: I'm just like that will make up person crazy when
Speaker 1: you know you're not breaking the law and they're using
Speaker 1: this my you know, police resources on you me Like
Speaker 1: I'm like literally the least dangerous person on planet Earth.
Speaker 1: Like I couldn't fight myself up my way out of
Speaker 1: a wet paper bag, you know, Like I'm not out
Speaker 1: here in the streets throwing hands like this is. But
Speaker 1: these people, like it was so interesting about all of
Speaker 1: it to me is that instead of apologizing to me,
Speaker 1: instead of taking responsibility, because like, look, it's not every
Speaker 1: single employee of the bars, right, So if they just said, wow, um,
Speaker 1: so these claims have been made, the girl has the
Speaker 1: woman has the evidence. We're sorry that happened. We're dealing
Speaker 1: with it. We're investigating, we're gonna make sure it doesn't
Speaker 1: happen again. That would have been the end of it,
Speaker 1: but these people are they're relentless, and so they took
Speaker 1: to the media originally saying that, uh, the only reason
Speaker 1: they did it was to warn people that I was coming.
Speaker 1: Where is you, Like, I have witnesses and everyone in
Speaker 1: my neighborhood, well everybody that like has been around me
Speaker 1: a good amount. They're like, we didn't believe one word
Speaker 1: of what was written in there. Not one word. They're like,
Speaker 1: we know you. We all were like, that's not Coco, Like,
Speaker 1: there's no way this is true. So people who know
Speaker 1: me know it's not true. But um, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: so yeah. Originally they're saying, oh, we just did it
Speaker 1: to warn people. Bartenders do that, Yeah, bartenders do that
Speaker 1: if there's like a drunk person coming into a bar
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be served, that that is to keep people safe.
Speaker 1: But that's not the conversation. And I have the conversation.
Speaker 1: This conversation is about humiliating me, calling me names, bullying me.
Speaker 1: There is not one thing concerned about my safety. In fact,
Speaker 1: it's all about putting my safety in Jeopardy. I even
Speaker 1: have a screenshot from one of the other bartenders from
Speaker 1: another bar not related to these two places, saying, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: f y I cocos in here. Do not come in
Speaker 1: here and be dicks. So he knew that these people
Speaker 1: were after me, right, and so I'm like, I have
Speaker 1: all of this evidence. So they just kept like raising
Speaker 1: the like just raising mistakes. They were like, yo, it's
Speaker 1: just we were trying to keep her safe. And then
Speaker 1: it was she's violent and she attacks people, and I'm
Speaker 1: like okay, and then they were like, the only way
Speaker 1: she found out about the group chat is because she
Speaker 1: drugged someone and took their phone. And I'm like, my god,
Speaker 1: they have ten witnesses to the guy who gave me
Speaker 1: the screenshots of the group chat. There were ten people
Speaker 1: there who were my friends because we had been out
Speaker 1: um together, and they pressured him to give me the screenshots.
Speaker 1: We didn't bully him. We were like, you need to
Speaker 1: like give her these so she has the evidence because
Speaker 1: she can't back up her story without it. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: but it was just on and on and on, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, just leave me alone, good lord. Anyway, after
Speaker 1: Coco started speaking up, about her experiences at the bars,
Speaker 1: experiences that she says made her feel unsafe in her
Speaker 1: own neighborhood. Someone created a TikTok account dedicated to calling
Speaker 1: her a liar. I've seen the way these people are
Speaker 1: like almost obsessed, Like there's TikTok accounts, Like somebody has
Speaker 1: made a TikTok account solely dedicated to you too. So
Speaker 1: like when we say things like, oh, like they seem
Speaker 1: like they're obsessed with me. That's that's how I would
Speaker 1: describe if somebody had if somebody spent their time making
Speaker 1: lots and lots of content just about me and how
Speaker 1: much they didn't like me, I would use the word
Speaker 1: I would feel like they were obsessed with me. And
Speaker 1: I've actually given this a lot of thought, and it's
Speaker 1: not a fully fleshed out idea, but I think there is.
Speaker 1: I think there's something to this idea that you were
Speaker 1: not willing to shut up, that you are like assertive
Speaker 1: and confident and like are able to be like no,
Speaker 1: I am going to advocate for my own safety. And
Speaker 1: I don't really care if you like it or not.
Speaker 1: I don't really care if you wanted to be to
Speaker 1: shut up. I don't really care if it makes me
Speaker 1: look If you're gonna make me look crazy, I'm going
Speaker 1: to advocate for my safety. I think there is something
Speaker 1: about that that makes them even that that makes them
Speaker 1: even more were like relentless, right. I think that like
Speaker 1: they really expected you to be scared off or to
Speaker 1: like not say anything, like I know in my in
Speaker 1: my life when I've had times where somebody was mistreating me,
Speaker 1: when I when I stood up and said no, it
Speaker 1: made it like they were not expecting that. And I
Speaker 1: think there's something about you that like it just gets
Speaker 1: under their skin that you're confident and assertive and that
Speaker 1: you're not willing to just like lay that and take
Speaker 1: it and be humiliated. You're like not willing to let
Speaker 1: them do this to you. And I think it makes
Speaker 1: them that much more angry and that much more like
Speaker 1: obsessed with you and obsessed with like I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's something about the way they talk about you online
Speaker 1: where it feels like they're obsessed with like taking you
Speaker 1: down a peg or like you know, putting you into
Speaker 1: your place. It feels it feels very like um, I
Speaker 1: don't even know the word for it. They seem like
Speaker 1: they're very interested in like humbling you in this very
Speaker 1: specific way that I think is very much rooted in
Speaker 1: like misogyny or like sexism. It just seems very I
Speaker 1: can't quite describe it, but do you know what I'm saying? Yes,
Speaker 1: I do, And that that was actually the word I
Speaker 1: was always using. That these people are completely misogynistic, you
Speaker 1: know the things that they have said to my face,
Speaker 1: Like the way that they insult me. It's always about
Speaker 1: my age. I'm thirty nine, crawl into a grain and
Speaker 1: die dating and single and not be home taking care
Speaker 1: of ten kids and like washing my husband's laundry. Like
Speaker 1: it's like that's the way they talk to me. Um,
Speaker 1: And several of them have been like, we know you're
Speaker 1: on TikTok and your thirty nine, Like grow up, you're
Speaker 1: so disgusting, like they it's just always about my age. Um,
Speaker 1: that's like the main thing. And but yeah, the energy
Speaker 1: is very much like who do you think you are?
Speaker 1: Why do you think you can do this? And I
Speaker 1: think my series has always been authentic, like I'm not
Speaker 1: on there being like oh look at me, I'm hot
Speaker 1: ship and I get all these hot guys cause I'm
Speaker 1: so perfect. No, I go on there and I am
Speaker 1: talking about guys ghost me and things happen and my
Speaker 1: love life is not perfect. My life is not perfect.
Speaker 1: I am not perfect. I make mistakes on dates. I
Speaker 1: embarrass myself accidentally, Like so there's no need to knock
Speaker 1: me down a peg like I'm I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: already pretty humble. I'm putting embarrassing stories online, like I
Speaker 1: tell my audience when I like almost ship my pants
Speaker 1: in a target parking buck. I'm not on here just
Speaker 1: acting like I'm a little miss perfect because I'm not.
Speaker 1: And so this commitment that these people have to just
Speaker 1: they're trying to cancel me, and I'm like, why just
Speaker 1: stop watching me Like I'm not. It's not like I'm
Speaker 1: making a ton of money and they have something to
Speaker 1: completely be jealous about. Like I live in a studio
Speaker 1: apartment in bunk Buck, Arlington, Virginia. I'm dating a bunch
Speaker 1: of weirdos like Dason so Loek on someone else like
Speaker 1: I'm not the one, But yeah, I mean the dedication
Speaker 1: to just shutting me up, to silencing me, to humiliating me. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just like never ending. And they think, you know
Speaker 1: they called their well, actually I don't even want to
Speaker 1: say with their pages, God, because I don't want ever
Speaker 1: promote it at all. But there, you know, their whole
Speaker 1: platform is trying to say that I'm endangering people I
Speaker 1: speaking out about how they treated me. They're like, well,
Speaker 1: we're getting prink phone calls that our business. Well good,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm fucking glad that people are calling and telling
Speaker 1: you exactly what they think of you, because you're disgusting
Speaker 1: and you shouldn't be treating your customers this way. You
Speaker 1: shouldn't be treating women this way. So I don't care.
Speaker 1: But you know, the woman that has raised the biggest buss,
Speaker 1: the one that you know filed the protective orders against me,
Speaker 1: admitted in the court of law that not only have
Speaker 1: I never threatened her, that none of my followers have
Speaker 1: ever threatened her, and that she's never had any contact
Speaker 1: with me at all whatsoever. Ever, other than other than
Speaker 1: once she was taking a video of me and Georgetown.
Speaker 1: She walked past my t able and took a video
Speaker 1: of me, and I approached her. She was with her
Speaker 1: police officer boyfriend, and I said, I just saw you
Speaker 1: take a video of me. Please do not share my
Speaker 1: location with your creepy friends. I know what you guys
Speaker 1: are doing. I do not appreciate it. And I was like,
Speaker 1: what you're doing is illegal, and she looked at her
Speaker 1: police officer boyfriend really freaked out, was like, is it
Speaker 1: is it illegal? And he was like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like he just didn't know what to say. And my
Speaker 1: friend who was with me, was like, well, if it's
Speaker 1: not illegal, you should at least lose your job for
Speaker 1: doing that to your customer. And that's always said. So
Speaker 1: that's the only time that I have ever spoken to
Speaker 1: that woman in my entire life. I do not know
Speaker 1: anything about her. The bottom line is that, you know,
Speaker 1: for me now, I feel like my mission is to
Speaker 1: raise awareness about other women who are going through similar things,
Speaker 1: Like that's been kind of a mission I've been on
Speaker 1: a little bit. And then also like you know, shedding
Speaker 1: some light on this police situation more after a quick break.
Speaker 1: So if you've ever wondered, I wonder what Bridget is
Speaker 1: up to when she's not making the podcast that, I
Speaker 1: have great news for you. We just launched our brand
Speaker 1: new newsletter where I'm gonna be writing about things I'm
Speaker 1: paying attention to online, interesting stories that didn't make it
Speaker 1: to the podcast, and a whole lot more. I promise
Speaker 1: you will never spam you. You can subscribe to our
Speaker 1: newsletter at Tangdi dot com slash newsletter and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be like a useful newsletter. I promise you can also
Speaker 1: support the show by checking out our merch store at
Speaker 1: tanti dot com slash store. Let's get right back into it.
Speaker 1: This entire situation has made Coco ask tough questions about policing,
Speaker 1: how police serve or fail to serve the communities that
Speaker 1: are meant to be protecting, you know. And this is
Speaker 1: something I have an addressed because I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a delicate subject and it's a hard thing to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know. But um acknowledging the privilege in being able
Speaker 1: to get arrested and not having like a fear, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that did upset some people,
Speaker 1: like look, she's laughing and being like, ha, come arrest me.
Speaker 1: And in the moment, I didn't have to think about
Speaker 1: what this would mean to other people. When I have
Speaker 1: I have friends of color who were like Coco, you know,
Speaker 1: one person said, we'll welcome to being black. This is
Speaker 1: something that people feel happens to them a lot that
Speaker 1: they're made to be criminals and they're being harassed by
Speaker 1: the police, and so, you know, it's it's it's such
Speaker 1: a touchy subject that I haven't figured out how to
Speaker 1: really address. But I've just been trying to listen and
Speaker 1: be open more with my friends. Um, one of my friends,
Speaker 1: who is from Pakistan originally or his parents were, has
Speaker 1: said he lives in a predominantly white town, a small
Speaker 1: town in Virginia, and you know, he has said, when
Speaker 1: I leave the bar at night, I have to be
Speaker 1: extra careful, you know, where my white friends could just
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I'm leaving a bar, I'm drunk and
Speaker 1: that's fine, and please don't harss. He's like, I've been
Speaker 1: harassed multiple times by please just leaving a bar, not
Speaker 1: even drunk, just leaving walking out of a bar and
Speaker 1: being stopped just walking down the street and things like this.
Speaker 1: And so you know, there's especially the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: like there's just been so many issues with cops and
Speaker 1: then and I'm just thinking to myself, like, we have
Speaker 1: got to speak out about this because it can't just
Speaker 1: keep happening. We can't keep using these resources to harass
Speaker 1: and bully people, and whether it's because of the color
Speaker 1: of your skin or because you piste off some cops boyfriend,
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be, it just can't happen.
Speaker 1: Like it's got to stop because it's ludicrous. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, that's the most upsetting part for me overall.
Speaker 1: And the second most upsetting part is how the how
Speaker 1: the media has handled it, especially the local media with
Speaker 1: m A r L Now and all of their stuff.
Speaker 1: It's funny, I didn't notice that A r L Now,
Speaker 1: you know, they had those, um three different articles about
Speaker 1: the bars and this and that when you're case was
Speaker 1: dismissed and you were vindicated, just a tiny little blurb,
Speaker 1: no article, just like a tiny little of you know,
Speaker 1: that story that we put We had, we had so
Speaker 1: many articles on well update you know. No, No, it's
Speaker 1: so interesting to me that they didn't feel the need
Speaker 1: to write an entire story about the fact that, uh,
Speaker 1: your proct protective order was deemed to be invalid. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's I just found that interesting to me. That seems
Speaker 1: like such a better story. Some TikTok or had a
Speaker 1: spat with restaurants. Who gives a ship no one, No
Speaker 1: one cares if some TikTok or had a spat with restaurants. Like,
Speaker 1: that's not a story to me. This story is hey, uh,
Speaker 1: illegal protective orders are being issued in multiple counties here
Speaker 1: to her to further bully and harass a woman who
Speaker 1: has made a police report about this. The police did
Speaker 1: not help her, but they helped this woman who was
Speaker 1: in fact harassing her. Like, how come we can't get
Speaker 1: a story and we can't get a story saying, well,
Speaker 1: Cocu Riscoe was telling the truth all along. It turns out,
Speaker 1: and it turns out the charges have been this missed,
Speaker 1: the case has been dismissed. It's all over. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: can go back to doing dating TikTok and talk about
Speaker 1: how you know this harassment of women needs to stop.
Speaker 1: Maybe some good will come out of this. No no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no article. In fact, all they do is
Speaker 1: praise these bars plass the controversy. Well I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not moving past it, and I'm not moving past this
Speaker 1: with Errol Now either, because um, they owe me an apology.
Speaker 1: Yeah the article really are the Arlington Now coverage really
Speaker 1: just it seems so obviously based on really misogynistic stereotypes,
Speaker 1: like oh, she she's railing against this bar, and I
Speaker 1: was like, well, someone who was speaking up and that's
Speaker 1: something they experience, even using like the words they would
Speaker 1: use basically seemed like the long form version of bitches
Speaker 1: be crazy? Am I right? Like it just it just
Speaker 1: seemed to like really rely on a lot of sexist
Speaker 1: tropes about women, right absolutely. And the whole situation started
Speaker 1: making me feel like I was going bananas because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm the only person in this scenario that hadn't told
Speaker 1: a lot, and I had a platform to demolish these people.
Speaker 1: I could have gone on and just started making up
Speaker 1: stories about these people, and but I didn't. I was like,
Speaker 1: this is what they did, this is how they reacted,
Speaker 1: here's my proof the end, and everyone else involved, I mean,
Speaker 1: the woman who filed the protectibar is completely made up
Speaker 1: ludicrous stories to tell in court. I'm like, she's lying
Speaker 1: on the stand, like, I wish you could have been
Speaker 1: in that courtroom seeing my reaction to these ludicrous things
Speaker 1: this woman was saying. I was laughing out loud, like
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, am I getting the giggles
Speaker 1: in court? Like this woman is insane? And my lawyer
Speaker 1: at one point just like reached over and kind of
Speaker 1: like squeeze. I was like, like, what is this what
Speaker 1: it's saying? And I'm like, oh my god. The writers
Speaker 1: for air L now right there, just gonna write everything
Speaker 1: down that she says. And the woman is acting like
Speaker 1: I have attacked her. She's like I am terrified of her.
Speaker 1: I can't even look at her in the courtroom because
Speaker 1: I made a TikTok telling people what you did to
Speaker 1: me that makes you terrified, And she does this whole
Speaker 1: elaborate story, and then my lawyer is like, but has
Speaker 1: whoever threatened you at all or had any contact with you?
Speaker 1: Don't know? Why are you so scared of people knowing
Speaker 1: the truth about you? That's the fear. That was the fear.
Speaker 1: And she's just not a nice person, and that's fine,
Speaker 1: you don't want to be a nice person who cares,
Speaker 1: but do not send cops to my house and do
Speaker 1: not publicly humiliate me and some lies. And I'm just
Speaker 1: so angry at how nobody bothered to do research. Nobody
Speaker 1: just bothered to see that I had been talking about
Speaker 1: being afraid of these people for weeks, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's I'm getting very heated when I talk about it,
Speaker 1: because I just I don't know what to do about
Speaker 1: Errol now. I just I want to, I don't know,
Speaker 1: sue the pants off of them. After the courts dismissed
Speaker 1: the protective order against her and prosecutors declined to pursue
Speaker 1: the charges that she faced for violating it, Coco started
Speaker 1: using her platform to become an advocate for other women
Speaker 1: who have spoken of about facing unsafe situations at bars.
Speaker 1: So there is some like I don't want to say
Speaker 1: good coming out of it, but I know that recently
Speaker 1: you've taken to using your platform to really help other
Speaker 1: women who have had dangerous experiences at bars, trying to
Speaker 1: get them, like, use your platform to get them some accountability.
Speaker 1: You know. Can you tell me how that came to
Speaker 1: be and how that's going. You know, that was never
Speaker 1: my intention, although I you know, if I can be
Speaker 1: of service and of help to these women, I absolutely
Speaker 1: will use my platform too. That it wasn't even something
Speaker 1: that I planned or thought of. Um, But after my
Speaker 1: whole court situation, people got very interested in the story
Speaker 1: and then people tag me in these videos. So these
Speaker 1: are videos I haven't come up on my own. People
Speaker 1: tag me and they're like, hey, Coco, this is either
Speaker 1: similar to your story or look what's happening to this person.
Speaker 1: And I was just kind of reacting to it, like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is like this is a trend,
Speaker 1: this is happening. Um. There was the one bar in
Speaker 1: Fuller Tin that is threatening to sue a woman who
Speaker 1: got drugged and sexually assaulted in their bar. She took
Speaker 1: to social media and was like, this bar is not
Speaker 1: safe for people. She actually had UM, you did have
Speaker 1: a medical exam and so she was in fact assaulted
Speaker 1: UM a lot of times. And I heard this from
Speaker 1: a nurse who specializes in doing the testing for women
Speaker 1: who have been drugged and assaulted, who said, most of
Speaker 1: the time, by the time they get to the testing,
Speaker 1: the drugs are out of their system and they're not traceable.
Speaker 1: So that you know, that's not always the thing people
Speaker 1: can prove. They say, oh I got drugged, and then
Speaker 1: you know, the toxicology or whatever report comes back saying
Speaker 1: that there isn't something in their system. I'm not a
Speaker 1: doctor and I don't know, but this is just something
Speaker 1: that was told to me, um from someone on to talk.
Speaker 1: But anyway, yes, this bar is threatening. To sue this
Speaker 1: woman for posting about it online. And I'm just like, wow,
Speaker 1: like to me that it's just so disgusting. And that's
Speaker 1: what the bars did to me. They took to the
Speaker 1: media calling me a liar and then threatened to sue me,
Speaker 1: and they had told the Washington Post that they were
Speaker 1: thinking about filing a lawsuit. I'm like, for what, first,
Speaker 1: saying your bar makes me feel unsafe? I can say
Speaker 1: whatever I want. I mean, I can. We can take
Speaker 1: to the internet be like their food sucks and the
Speaker 1: place is disgusting and the service is awful. Like why
Speaker 1: can't I say it's unsafe. That's not illegal. You cannot
Speaker 1: sue me for saying that your bar makes me feel
Speaker 1: unsafe and then showing proof of what you did to me,
Speaker 1: Like come on, and yeah, there were things that I
Speaker 1: initially when I talked to Washington Post couldn't fully back up. Um,
Speaker 1: but I can now being tied in these videos. It
Speaker 1: upsets me because I'm like, this is just incredibly common.
Speaker 1: It's easy when you're going through something personally to feel
Speaker 1: the weight of it all, to feel isolated, to feel
Speaker 1: like it's only happening to you, and knowing that these
Speaker 1: similar situations. Similar situations are happening in women everywhere across
Speaker 1: the country. Um, I want to do everything I can
Speaker 1: to help them, and I want to help them avoid
Speaker 1: my experience because it's bad enough, like each step of
Speaker 1: the way for me was very humiliating and scary. But
Speaker 1: then knowing that, you know, the newspapers are printing lies
Speaker 1: about you, the police aren't willing to protect you, it's
Speaker 1: like it's terrifying. And I consider myself to be a
Speaker 1: pretty competent person and a pretty tough cookie, and this
Speaker 1: whole situation was so mentally and emotionally damaging for me
Speaker 1: that there were days that I couldn't get out of bed.
Speaker 1: There were days I couldn't handle it. And you know,
Speaker 1: these situations are happening to women much younger than me,
Speaker 1: with not a following on TikTok that can stand behind
Speaker 1: them like an army, you know, and not awesome people
Speaker 1: saying please be on my podcast and tell your story, right,
Speaker 1: so you know, we have to be voices for those people.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I actually have a choice at
Speaker 1: this point, because I can't ignore it now. I can't
Speaker 1: just when people tag me in this, I can't just
Speaker 1: be like, Oh, that's sad. Let me just go back
Speaker 1: to talking about what I can't do it. I have
Speaker 1: to address it. Um. So you know, the big question
Speaker 1: now is will this become what my content is about?
Speaker 1: And maybe I feel like as long as I'm being
Speaker 1: tagged in these videos, as long as I'm aware of
Speaker 1: a situation and I feel like I have something to
Speaker 1: add or something to say that I will say it
Speaker 1: and I'll speak out. Um. But yeah, I feel like this,
Speaker 1: this whole situation has really turned my life into a
Speaker 1: different direction than I was not expecting. And I do
Speaker 1: feel the weight of that. And I have kind of
Speaker 1: taken a break from social media a little bit recently
Speaker 1: because it gets very overwhelming. UM. And I love I
Speaker 1: love getting private messages from people. I love that they
Speaker 1: share their stories with me, and I love UM, I
Speaker 1: love reading the stuff. It's just a lot sometimes, so
Speaker 1: I have I'm still a person and TikTok isn't my job.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is my job. I guess that I
Speaker 1: get paid for it, and you know, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit um, But I'm also a person and I have
Speaker 1: to cultivate my own personal relationships in my life, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to spend all day talking to strangers
Speaker 1: on the internet. You know, I want to be with
Speaker 1: the people in my life and love them. It's been
Speaker 1: I don't want to be the girl that's always on
Speaker 1: her phone that's so insulting to people that I love.
Speaker 1: When I'm out with my friends, out with my friends, Um,
Speaker 1: when I'm on a date, on a date, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to sit there and and TikTok, and you know
Speaker 1: I do sometimes I make little videos of restaurants and stuff.
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm not going to be replying to
Speaker 1: all these comments all day long because I can't. And
Speaker 1: so I try to read as many as I can
Speaker 1: and reply to as many as I can without overwhelming
Speaker 1: myself because I feel like, you know, when you're on
Speaker 1: a platform like that, you grow so quickly. You're not prepared.
Speaker 1: No one prepares you for what it feels like to
Speaker 1: be bombarded with so much information and so many people
Speaker 1: wanting to talk to you. And uh, it's a gift, really,
Speaker 1: but it also kind of sometimes feels overwhelming. I can
Speaker 1: only imagine. And I guess that's there's I mean talking
Speaker 1: about like a happy ending, you know, following your content.
Speaker 1: I know that you have a lot of like positive,
Speaker 1: exciting things in your life and your real offline life developing.
Speaker 1: And so it's kind of like a nice bookends to
Speaker 1: the journey of you starting this this channel to chronicle
Speaker 1: your your journey in d C looking for love, you know, UM,
Speaker 1: having it, having it be in this point where you like,
Speaker 1: are you seem like you're in a good place in
Speaker 1: your real life? I am. I have been really blessed
Speaker 1: with meeting so many wonderful people and actually most of
Speaker 1: the people in my life currently I've met on TikTok,
Speaker 1: which is so weird, but they have become real life friends.
Speaker 1: And my friends have been incredible supportive. I mean, this,
Speaker 1: all of this stuff that has happened to me was
Speaker 1: so much. UM. It was very emotional. UM and I
Speaker 1: lost people in my life over it. There are people
Speaker 1: that kind of distanced themselves. They were kind of scared
Speaker 1: of this group of people, as I was scared of them,
Speaker 1: because these people were harassing some of my friends as well. UM,
Speaker 1: And people took a step back for me, and that
Speaker 1: was one of the hardest things. But I understand, and
Speaker 1: I can't ask anyone to fight my battles for me.
Speaker 1: For me or even be here through that if it
Speaker 1: makes them uncomfortable. But the friends of mine who have
Speaker 1: stuck around are lovely and supportive women, and they're strong
Speaker 1: and they're kind and they have my back. Um, I
Speaker 1: have been doing well in my dating life. I have
Speaker 1: met someone finally that who maybe looks at Carrie Styles here. Um,
Speaker 1: he is wonderful. He's just such a kind man and
Speaker 1: he has been really supportive about all of this. And
Speaker 1: this is all of this was very scary to tell
Speaker 1: people about, like, hey, I got arrested for making TikTok's
Speaker 1: in the news makes me sound like a psycho, Like
Speaker 1: it's a hard thing to bring into an already complicated
Speaker 1: situation because dating is already difficult enough. But he was
Speaker 1: very receptive and open to hearing my side, and he
Speaker 1: has just been really wonderful. And it's still knew, so
Speaker 1: who knows what's going to happen. But I feel like
Speaker 1: I have a new friend in my life and somebody
Speaker 1: who does care about me that I care about, and
Speaker 1: I you know, I hope the best for us in
Speaker 1: this journey going forward. It's so far, so good. Um.
Speaker 1: I have started a new job that I like and
Speaker 1: my My coworkers are lovely, and my boss seems to
Speaker 1: be great, and so you know, it's now moving forward.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to look for the good things and
Speaker 1: that's trying. That's what I'm trying to focus on. It
Speaker 1: just feels sometimes like the negative voices are louder to us,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm trying to find peace with
Speaker 1: if I am choosing to move forward with being a
Speaker 1: content creator putting so much of myself out there publicly.
Speaker 1: This is just going to be part of it. The
Speaker 1: hate and the trolling and all of that. Um, but
Speaker 1: speaking out about women's safety is something that I will
Speaker 1: always do and it's become such a huge deal for me,
Speaker 1: um and hopefully I can help protect other women. Got
Speaker 1: a story about an interesting thing in tech, or just
Speaker 1: want to say hi? You can be us at Hello
Speaker 1: at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts for
Speaker 1: today's episode at tangodi dot com. There Are No Girls
Speaker 1: on the Internet was created by me Bridget Pad. It's
Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Radio and Unboss creative Jonathan Strickland
Speaker 1: as our executive producer. Ary Harrison is our producer and
Speaker 1: sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Bridget Todd. If you want to help us, pro rate
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Speaker 1: I heeart Radio, check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple
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Speaker 1: to War would