Influencers love their publicity and their skits, and some of them end up taking things a little too far, like what happened to a YouTuber named Deshae Frost. Frost notably went on a livestream with a model named Celina Powell from Miami, Florida, where she kissed him abruptly. Afterward, Frost made a joke that he got herpes on his mouth, somehow making his fans believe that he got it from Powell. Now, however, Powell is supposedly furious and has alleged that she plans to sue.
The threats came from Powell herself, who revealed to several media outlets on Thursday that she consulted with her lawyer, Rebecca R. Bordoli. Powell’s lawyer then sent a legal letter to Frost to stop making “defamatory, defamatory per se, harmful, and false statements” about the model.
Apart from the herpes joke, Powell seems to believe that Frost’s skit led to his fans believing that she also assaulted him with the livestream kiss. Frost’s fans, however, believe he might have plausible deniability, as he repeatedly says in subsequent streams that “Celina [Powell] did not do this [expletive] to me, she’s a great person.” That said, some of the text in Frost’s posts implied it.
Powell’s lawyer insists that the damage to the model’s reputation has been done, and Powell herself reveals that even the kiss that Frost’s fans assumed was non-consensual was also scripted. Powell even claims, “You told me to kiss you!” referring to Frost’s script. On top of retracting the jokes and the statements, Powell also demands a formal apology from Frost within 10 days. If not, then she’s resorting to a lawsuit.
People Online are Taking Sides
Despite claims and evidence from Powell that the abrupt kiss was indeed staged, some people apparently still kept accusing her of assaulting Frost. Hence, X comments such as “I mean she kissed them with no consent so he can counter Sue that if he really wanted to” were quickly met with counterpoints, meaning Frost might not exactly have a strong defense.
The legions of commenters accusing Powell of assault, however, could be a worrying indication that Frost’s stunt might have damaged her reputation. So far, Frost hasn’t responded to Powell’s demands, though his videos with Powell, including the herpes joke and the kiss, continue to be available on some of his social media accounts at the time of writing.
Depending on how Frost responds or how Frost’s fans and viewers continue to believe his skits, the influencer stunt could easily devolve into a full-blown courtroom war between the two. And as one X user says, some jokes do more harm than good: “Interesting how an influencer livestream squabble is now a legal battle. Social media consequences are real!”
