Sexual Assault Allegations Surface Against TikTok's Chase Hudson, Aka Lil Huddy
We need to talk about the effect of power dynamics on consent.
TikTok TikTok star Chase Hudson, aka Lil Huddy (or LilHuddy), has been accused of sexual assault by a woman named Rivkah Zigman who says the 18-year old singer "did stuff [she] wasn't OK with" when they met up during his 2019 "Lights Out" tour.
In a series of now-private TikTok videos, Zigman, explains that she used to text with the influencer, and that while their relationship was consensually flirtatious over Snapchat and texts, that was not the case regarding what happened between then in person.
What is Lil Huddy being accused of?
When Hudson's tour came to Portland, where Zigman lived at the time, she says the TikTok star invited her to the hotel where he was staying to hang with him and some of his friends.
As she explains in the videos, he disappeared into another room for a long time. Growing concerned, she went looking for him.
When she found him, things took a turn. While she kept things vague, the implication was that Hudson engaged in sexual activity with her without her consent.
"And he did some stuff then that I wasn't OK with," she said. "I didn't say no because I was scared that he was gonna tell all of his friends on the 'Lights Out' tour that I was annoying or, like, whatever."
The next day, Zigman worked the merchandise table at Hudson's meet and greet, pretending things were fine. She even shares a quick clip from a video of the event in which she can be seen dancing and singing.
"I tried to ignore what I was feeling the next day because I wanted the boys to think I was cool or whatever," she said, "and I didn't want to darken the mood."
In the muddier issues of consent, this is a feeling far too many girls and young women can relate to.
There's this idea that to saying no or pushing away unwanted advances will potentially make you a mark for mockery, bullying, or rejection both from the assailant and their larger friend group.
In the interest of keeping the peace, girls and women all too often go along with things they don't want to.
Within a few days, Hudson blocked the former fan on all his social media.
"I just felt and still feel super betrayed and used because we were actually pretty good friends before and we were talking a whole bunch before this happened. And then he did something to me, he got what he wanted, and then he blocked me," she said.
"Maybe he felt guilty, maybe he just wanted to use me, I'm not sure."
She said it took her three years to do something about it.
Now 19 (both were underage when the incident occurred), she says she reached out to a fellow TikTokker and asked her to reach out to Hudson and that if he didn't respond, she'd go public.
Zigman user posted a reply video to a comment that read, "how is he supposed to know if you never said no?...now you're gonna end his career for [something] you decided not to tell him [about]."
In the video, the accuser stressed that she had no desire to "end his career," but when power dynamics are at play, that is an element that ironically keeps victims silent.
When a more powerful person, be it through status, money, age, or otherwise, uses that station to get another person into a relationship, consent is limited if nonexistent.
But the information victims have could harm the more powerful person, thereby allowing the more powerful person to play the victim, re-victimizing their victim by making them the villain of their own story if they choose to speak out. It's a no-win situation.
Due to his level of fame, a fan of Hudson or any other famous person might have a difficult time declining consent to engage in sexual activity.
The imbalance of power not only causes pressure on the victim, but often leads to an unchecked entitlement where the perpetrator doesn't hear the word "no," or doesn't notice physical cues that the other person is not enjoying or does not want this.
Zigman made her& original videos private, but shared an update video saying, "Things are resolving, thank you for your support."
Courtney Enlow is Editor of Pop Culture and Good News at YourTango. Her work has appeared at Vanity Fair, Glamour, Pajiba, SYFY FANGRRLS, Bustle, Huffington Post, io9, and others. She is the former co-host of Trends Like These with Travis McElroy and Brent Black. She has two kids, two dogs, and requires more wine, please.