A woman is receiving massive backlash on the internet after she was outed on TikTok for allegedly taking food from a vendor outside a music festival in Austin, Texas, and refusing to pay. The clip, posted by @grrrrlonline, has received more than 3 million views, and many netizens in the comments are blasting her for what they saw as “mean girl” behavior.
The incident reportedly happened outside the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where food vendors were selling to people leaving the event. The viral video does not show the woman actually taking the food. Instead, it shows what appears to be the aftermath.
The person recording got close to the woman’s face as the two seemingly exchanged words. There is no original audio from their interaction, as the clip instead plays a TikTok sound featuring saxophones. However, the person who posted the video claimed that several people confronted the woman about not paying the vendor, but she insulted them.
The TikToker also claimed the woman’s friends were no better and thought the situation was “funny.” That prompted her to post the woman’s face online and ask if anyone in Austin knew who she was.
Netizens React to the Viral TikTok Post
It didn’t take long for the clip to blow up and draw netizens’ ire. One commenter said, “PSA: Playing the ‘mean girl’ role in your friend group is cute and all, until you realize the rest of the world ain’t your friend group.” Another wrote, “I’m absolutely sick of entitled behavior. Full stop.”
“Honestly it makes me cry when people do things like this and disrespect someone who is just trying to make a living,” a third commented. A fourth added, “It’s not the cost, it’s the principle. You don’t have a right to take something simply because it’s not that much…if it’s only $3 PAY FOR IT!!!”
Someone else wanted to make sure the vendor got something positive out of all the attention, writing, “Drop the name of the vendor. Let’s all go support them!”
There were, however, a couple of people who weren’t entirely on board with the backlash. “It’s a hot dog you’ll live LMAO,” one comment read. Another remarked, “It’s kind of crazy we now live in a society where we just film people. Like we are not the police.”
An Apology Was Later Issued
After the video went viral, a TikTok user named @harper.tishgart, who claims to be the woman shown in the clip, posted an apology addressing the incident.
“I took food from a vendor outside ACL and didn’t pay for it,” she admitted in the statement, describing her actions as “disrespectful and entitled.”
She said she was embarrassed by what she had done and explained that she came from a service industry family, meaning she knew how difficult that type of work could be and “should have known better.”
“This man was working to make a living, and I treated something that belonged to him like a joke. It wasn’t one,” the statement continued. The woman also said she wanted to apologize to the vendor personally and pay him for the food, asking anyone who knew how to reach him to help put them in contact.
That apology received mixed reactions.
“It’s giving I’m only sorry because I got caught,” one person wrote, while another wasn’t impressed that she was asking others to connect her with the vendor, responding, “Wym if someone knows the vendor? Go find him yourself.”
Others were more forgiving. “You’re taking accountability and that’s what matters! Learn from this and you’ll be better because of it!” one viewer told her. Another chimed in, “I applaud you for apologizing. It takes a lot sometimes to immediately take responsibility. And you didn’t get defensive or anything. We all make mistakes.”
The incident is still fresh, so it remains to be seen whether the woman will be able to get in touch with the vendor and make things right with him.
