Sarah Joy "Fake Amish" Rumors (TikTok)

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Overview

The Sarah Joy "Fake Amish" Rumors refer to rumors that "plain people" TikToker Sarah Joy, aka @thatplaingirl, is lying about being part of the Amish or Mennonite community. The allegations started to spread after she posted a video announcing that she would stop posting TikTok videos while a part of the plain people community, implying that she would be leaving the group. Some assumed that she was being forced out of the community after her TikTok account was discovered, which they presumed was against her community's rules, leading to calls for wellness checks for Joy. After posting the video, Joy became the subject of rumors online claiming she was faking being Amish and part of the plain people community after some users claiming to know her in real life attempted to expose her. A post also surfaced that purportedly claims Sarah Joy is a pastor's daughter. Joy denied the rumors and deleted her TikTok account amid the drama.

Background

Concerns For Sarah Joy

On or around March 27th, 2024, now-deleted TikToker @thatplaingirl, aka Sarah Joy, a popular "plain person" TikToker with over 500,000 followers at the time of her account's removal, posted a video in which she announced that she would no longer be making TikToks while part of the plain people community. In the video, she appears nervous as she thanks her viewers for allowing her to show them the community. "Plain people" is a Christian group that encompasses both Amish and Mennonite groups.^[1]

The video was reposted by TikToker^[2] @reyahthelastdragon with additional commentary that day, with the TikToker theorizing that someone in the community found out about her TikTok page, assuming this is against the plain person community rules and decided to kick her out of the community. The video gained over 2.5 million views in two days (shown below, left).

The video sparked concerns for Joy's wellbeing. That day, the Daily Mail^[3] reported that she was confirmed safe after numerous people called her local police for a wellness check. Her sister, as well as TikToker @the.misfit.amish, also posted videos asking people to stop calling for wellness checks for Joy over fears it may lead to consequences for her within the community. Later that day, TikToker^[4] @reyahthelastdragon posted an update on the Sarah Joy drama with this information, garnering over 445,000 views in two days (shown below, right).

Developments

Fake Amish Rumors

Later that day on March 27th, 2024, TikToker^[5] @kenzie____________ posted a video in which she claims to know Sarah Joy in real life, saying she's faking being Amish. She goes on to share several images of Sarah and her sister Anna living outside of the plain people community. It is unclear when exactly the photos are from. The video gained over 369,000 views in two days (shown below).

On March 28th, TikToker^[6] @heathershawwww posted a video also theorizing that Joy is faking being Amish, using the claim that Joy followed her back on TikTok as evidence that she's still on TikTok and using her phone following her "final video," garnering over 242,000 views in a day (shown below, left). That day, TikToker^[7] @p3xkz posted a video claiming to know Joy and that she isn't Amish, garnering over 600,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Sarah Joy's Response

That same day, Joy posted another video to TikTok addressing the claims. She calls them rumors and says she was "told to choose the plain community or the world" and that she chose the plain community. She claims she was not born into the lifestyle, but converted to it, also denying that she followed back @heathershawwww. She claims she did delete TikTok off her phone after the initial video to try and gain her place back in the community when the bishop arrived that Sunday.

The video was reuploaded with additional commentary by TikToker^[8] @reyahthelastdragon that day, garnering over 388,000 views in two days. In the video, the TikToker also includes a news heading and photo that suggests Joy's dad is a pastor, not a part of the plain people community. An unknown amount of time later, Joy's TikTok account was deleted or removed from the platform.

Online Reactions

On March 28th, 2024, TikToker^[9] @reyahthelastdragon posted a video in which she explains how TikTokers uncovered Sarah Joy's purported old TikTok^[10] account, @antagonizethepatriarchy, in which she films videos clearly outside the plain people lifestyle. The account's last upload was on December 21st, 2022. On March 29th, X^[11] user @kelsaywhat started a thread about the drama.