Taylor Lorenz and Chaya Raichik / Libs of TikTok Interview

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Overview

Taylor Lorenz and Chaya Raichik / Libs of TikTok Interview refers to a viral video and interview with Chaya Raichik, the creator of the Twitter / X account Libs of TikTok, and American journalist Taylor Lorenz. Raichik has been publically feuding with Lorenz since April 2022 when the journalist was accused by some of doxxing her. The interview, published in late February 2024, went viral on social media, reigniting their feud and inspiring users to share memes and jokes, especially on X.

Background

On February 24th, 2024, American journalist and The Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz released an interview^[1] with the creator of the X gimmick account Libs of TikTok, Chaya Raichik. The video (shown below) covered a series of subjects like the "Great Replacement Theory," the death of a 16-year-old nonbinary child in Oklahoma,^[7] Raichik's views on gender, feminism and more. The interview, uploaded to Lorenz's YouTube channel, garnered over 84,000 views and 2,300 likes in a day.

Developments

Shortly after the interview was uploaded to YouTube and an article about it was posted on The Washington Post^[2] (written by Taylor Lorenz), Chaya Raichik posted a picture of her using the T-shirt with a picture of Lorenz crying from her 2022 MSNBC interview,^[8] which is the same outfit she wore during the recording of the interview. The post^[3] (shown below, left) amassed more than 32,000 likes and 1,800 retweets in a few hours.

The journalist posted a thread on X^[4] explaining why she posted the full interview on YouTube, saying Raichik would "try to chop the footage up as much as she could to push her nonsense. Watch the full interview, it speaks for itself." The post (shown below, right) amassed more than 2,000 likes and 367 retweets in a few hours.

Online Reactions

The initial response to the Libs of TikTok interview with Taylor Lorenz somewhat divided the internet, as some people criticized Chaya Raichik's views on trans rights. For example, X^[5] user @AriDrennen posted a clip of the interview on February 24th, 2024, in which the journalist pressed Raichik to explain her issue with trans adults. The video (shown below) amassed over 19 million views and 40,000 likes in a day.

The interview also became the subject of memes and jokes on X. For instance, on February 25th, X^[6] user @esjesjesj posted a tweet from the Libs of TikTok page complaining about the interview with an ironic caption saying, "Of course Taylor Lorenz did the scummiest thing possible of showing my own statements in full context." The post (shown below) amassed more than 44,000 likes and 2,200 retweets in a day.