Drew Tyson Afualo (born September 18, 1995)[1] is an American influencer, podcaster, and author. She is known on TikTok for her videos responding to and roasting men with misogynistic and fatphobic viewpoints, often punctuated by her distinctive high-pitched laugh; she had over eight million followers on the platform as of March 2023.[2] Afualo also hosts the podcasts The Comment Section, produced by Brat TV, and Two Idiot Girls with her sister Deison. As an influencer, she has provided red carpet coverage for events like the Black Adam premiere and the 95th Academy Awards.
Early life
Afualo was born to Tait and Noelle Afualo and raised in Corona, California. She graduated from Centennial High School in 2012. Southern California's Inland Empire area.[3] She grew up in a Samoan family, the middle child between an older sister, Deison, and a younger brother, Donovan.[4][5][6][7] Her father, Tait, grew up in Samoa[8] and played football professionally, as did her grandfather, uncle, and many other men in her family.[5] She has described her child self as "strong-willed", "bossy", and a "know-it-all",[4] and credits her family and Samoan heritage for instilling her self-confidence, sense of humor, and feminist viewpoint.[9][10][7][4][5]
Afualo joined TikTok in March 2020 at the encouragement of her boyfriend, who had seen her rants about college life she had posted to Snapchat.[15][5][16][3] She initially ran the account casually, posting a handful of personal dating stories for a smaller audience, before going viral in early 2021 with a video in which she listed "very specific red flags" in men. The video attracted a large volume of hate comments from male viewers, and Afualo's series of humorously insulting response videos to those comments gained her a newfound audience.[13][15][5][17] Her follower count subsequently expanded from 1.5 million to 4 million in the span of two months,[16] and would ultimately surpass 8 million as of March 2023.[2] Additionally, she has over 90,000 followers on Twitter and over 530,000 on Instagram.[6]
Afualo's TikTok videos typically consist of her responding to, mocking, and roasting men who express misogynistic, fatphobic, racist, transphobic, and otherwise bigoted views,[5][13][15][18] earning her nicknames such as "crusader for women",[9][10] "defender of women",[5] and "Queen of the Roasts".[18] Her videos often feature her signature high-pitched giggle-laugh,[6][17][15][4][5] which Bloomberg News describes as "a staccato, full-chested explosion of high-pitched emotion and outrage"[14] and HuffPost says "strikes fear into every internet misogynist".[5] Afualo herself characterizes it as a natural Polynesian laugh,[14] calling it "unmistakably Islander".[15] Since mid-2022 she has been a full-time content creator, earning a living from views, advertisements, and brand sponsorships.[4][14]
Additionally, Afualo and her sister Deison co-host the podcast Two Idiot Girls, where they discuss topics such as media representation of minorities, racism, internalized misogyny, and mental health in both serious and light-hearted ways.[6][8] Drew mentioned in a May 2022 interview that the podcast had been signed to a "major company".[15] In January 2023, a Two Idiot Girls live show was held at the House of Blues in San Diego.[29][30]
Both The Comment Section and Two Idiot Girls were nominated for the 15th annual Shorty Awards in the Comedy Podcast category.[31][32]
Afualo made her first VidCon appearance in June 2022,[15] hosting the panel "Hot Gurlz Only" with fellow TikTokers Chrissy Chlapecka and Sarah Schauer.[40] In October 2022, she published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times entitled "How to confront bigots on social media — and win".[41] Later that month, Afualo attended the New York City premiere of the film Black Adam as a red carpet host, where she interviewed the film's star, Dwayne Johnson.[42][8][43] She also appeared in Meghan Trainor's "Made You Look" music video alongside Scott Hoying, Chris Olsen, and JoJo Siwa.[44] Known for her roasts on TikTok, Afualo was the subject of her own roast by the members of Smosh in a YouTube video entitled "Drew Afualo is Dead - The Funeral Roast".[45]
Afualo is outspoken about her Samoan heritage, crediting it for her headstrong nature and desire to uplift women.[5] While covering the Black Adam premiere, she wore a custom dress by Samoan designer Nancy Elizabeth that incorporated a tapa clothcorset[42][43] and spoke Samoan to actor Dwayne Johnson.[2] She has a malu, a tattoo traditionally reserved for Samoan women of royal blood, on the back of her left hand.[4] In addition to Johnson, she has cited Parris Goebel as an important Samoan inspiration, having seen the choreographer wear a puletasi to the MTV Video Music Awards growing up.[28]
Afualo is a supporter of intersectionalfeminism.[3][5] She has said that, while she supports body positivity, she leans "more towards body neutrality, which in essence just means your body just is what it is. It just exists. It has no bearing or reflection on you as a person, your character, your worth — nothing. It's just keeping you alive".[10] During a May 2022 New York Times interview, Afualo condemned the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it "terrible" and "horrifying".[4] In an October 2022 TikTok video, she described her past experiences of sexual harassment, saying that she had "made a promise to herself" to "never [...] waste time being nice to a man who doesn't deserve it— especially when I'm alone, and especially when I'm in public. Because you know what the stories I have all have in common? There were hundreds of men standing around, watching it happen".[50]