Top Social Media Star Says Only Gays Get HIV — Calls Them ‘F*gs’

Nash Grier has 8.7 million followers — more than anyone else — on Twitter’s Vine video app. But the “God-fearing Christian” is under fire after claiming only gay people get HIV, and calling them “fags.”

He may be only 16 years old, but Nash Grier has a management company that represents him, and he’s figured out how to make social media work for him. So when he was called out for falsely claiming only gay people get HIV, and calling them “fags,” in one of his many Vines that his 8.7 million followers see daily, he removed it — but the damage was done.

Grier has been described by New York Magazine as “a God-fearing Christian who frequently consults his iPhone’s Bible app while on the road.”

“I don’t use cuss words, I try not to do anything awful. You don’t want to lower your audience,” he says. He shares that Jesus-camp vibe with dozens of other social-media luminaries. A recent Nash video bore the caption “Y’all twerk more than you pray these days #HolyBible #GasPedal.”

Tyler Oakley, another social media star — he has 2.6 million followers on Twitter, 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube, and his latest post on Tumblr has 569,000 notes — grabbed Grier’s post and reposted it to Twitter, twice on Sunday:

 

Promoting a false stereotype that HIV only affects gays to his millions of teen fans is extremely dangerous. https://t.co/W6X9MUrgUK

— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) July 6, 2014

 

Call me and people like me, ‘fag’ all you want, but spreading false information about deadly diseases is next level. https://t.co/W6X9MUrgUK

— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) July 6, 2014

And then added this:

Still relevant: https://t.co/izImAeXGFi

— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) July 6, 2014

 

Buzzfeed notes that “Grier hasn’t acknowledged the deleted vine or tweets from angry users, instead only promoting a new video about dealing with haters online.”

And adds:

Many of his now-deleted tweets have been screenshot and shared on Tumblr.

Meanwhile, Gawker notes that “Grier was recently photographed hanging out with another mutual shitbag, pop star and verified representative of human entitlement, Justin Bieber, so the influence they’re having on each other is likely legendarily positive.”

 

UPDATE: Grier apologized:

pic.twitter.com/AiWGMpflAp

— Nash Grier (@Nashgrier) July 6, 2014

Image via Twitter