With nearly 23 million followers and over 1 billion likes on TikTok, Tony Lopez appears to be a social media superstar. But recent accusations aimed at the internet sensation has led to a justified fall from grace.
Find out how Tony earned his fame, and what he allegedly did to let it slip through his fingers.
Who Is Tony Lopez?
Tony Lopez was born on August 19, 1999, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He and his brother Ondreaz are known as the Lopez Brothers, a dance duo with a sizable following on YouTube and Instagram. The siblings are popular for content that mainly consists of challenges and dance vids.
But Lopez’s solo TikTok account is a monster compared to his other pages. With 22.8 million followers, he monetizes his content with corporate sponsorships, brand deals, and his own line of merch.
Tony Lopez Lives At The Hype House
Lopez is a member of the Hype House, a collective of young influencers who share a posh LA mansion. The space doubles as a content creation studio, and a total of 19 social media personalities—including Chase Hudson, Charli D’Amelio, and Lopez’s brother Ondreaz—either live in the house or use it as a crash pad.
For a minute, Lopez was at the top of his game. He was part of the social media cool clique and estimated to have a net worth of $2 million. However, recent events have put a damper on his reputation and career.
Tony Lopez Was Involved In A Leaked Photo Incident
In February 2020, a handful of Twitter users claimed to have nude photos of several TikTok stars including Tony Lopez, Chase Hudson, Benji Krol and Bryce Hall.
Lopez owned up to snapping the pics back in August 2019. He claims he was a victim of catfishing.
“This person got a hold of my [expletive], hacked my Snapchat, got my nudes from Instagram, held onto them for about six months, and decided to drop them the day I went to a meet and greet,” he explained in a YouTube response video.
But he took the embarrassing moment in stride, poking fun at the situation on Instagram and Twitter:
That’s not to say the nude leak didn’t bring him moments of despair. “In all seriousness though, invading someone’s privacy is horrible,” he continued. “It can definitely take a toll on people’s mental and it’s a form of bullying and it is very illegal. How I handle the situation may be different from how someone else handles it so I feel like, overall, bullying in general, anything that’s happening online, if someone’s talking crap and somebody, you know, is saying things about people, I think the best advice that I can give to somebody that’s watching this or someone at home or someone that’s going through a similar situation is to not care about opinions, man and just to not care about what anyone has to say about you. And know yourself and love yourself and know your worth because you need to hold yourself to a standard. You can’t let other people alter who you are. You can’t let other people tell you who you are. You are who you are.”
Fans commended Lopez for being honest and working to downplay the incident. However, this was only the beginning in terms of unwanted scandals.
Lopez Allegedly Solicited Pictures From Underage Girls
In August 2020, several young women came forward and accused Lopez of soliciting nude pics from them while they were underage.
One of his alleged 15-year-old victims claimed that Lopez sent lewd DMs and requested nudes. A Twitter user by the name of @defnoodles relayed the story. Shortly after, more girls came forward with similar tales. Many provided screen grabs to support their claims. One girl, Izzy, said she even sent Lopez a photo ID to prove that she was 15.
To make matters worse, critics began to unearth problematic tweets from Lopez’s not-so-distant past. A tweet from July 2019 read, “Goodnight to the girls that suck [expeletive] only.” Five months later, he used the word “gay” as a slur on the social media platform. Lopez published an apology in July of 2020:
He did face some consequences for his actions. The biggest hit was losing a sponsorship deal with the beauty brand Bliss. When social media users asked for their position on his behavior, the company wrote, “We take these accusations seriously and will not work w/ Tony Lopez going forward. We are committed to working w/ partners who uphold our brand values.”
Once again, Lopez took to social media to do damage control.
But is it too late to say sorry? Lopez continues to maintain a massive following on TikTok. But as word about his past behaviors spread on social media, it’s hard to say if he’ll be able to bounce back from the damage.