TikTok creator Hannah Brown, who is known for her viral waitress skits, has lost more than 100,000 followers overnight after she was spotted attending a memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a video posted to her account, Brown explained that she had not gone to make a political statement but simply to mourn a man who had been slain in front of his family and thousands of people.
The backlash from some of her followers, however, was swift and unforgiving.
Hannah’s new viral post brought the backlash into the spotlight
After Hannah was spotted at Kirk’s memorial service, a mass unfollowing was observed on her TikTok account.
As pointed out by some comments on her TikTok, her page was at about 985,000 followers before a good portion of her followers started leaving en masse.
The significant decline of followers on Hannah’s page was highlighted by comic creator Adam Ellis on X.
“That TikTok girl who makes waitress skits went to Charlie Kirk’s vigil and lost like 140k followers in a day,” Ellis observed in his post.
Screenshots of her follower count drop quickly circulated across social media, sparking debates about whether showing up at a memorial should cost someone their career.
Hannah addressed her dropping follower count in a video that has since gone viral, garnering 2.5 million views as of writing.
She explained that she was horrified by the video of Kirk’s assassination and even more disturbed by the celebratory comments she saw online.
She maintained that her decision to attend the memorial was not an endorsement of all of Kirk’s beliefs, but rather, a human act of compassion.
Hannah explained why she chose to attend Charlie Kirk’s memorial
@bradleychicago PLEASE TELL US YOU WERE UNDERCOVER. #unbelievable #charliekirk #vigil #BFFR ♬ Lakme – Flower Duet – Lorne Balfe & Russell Emanuel & Steve Kofsky
“This is the only time I’m ever going to address this,” Brown told her audience, noting she was never at a “MAGA rally” and did not consider herself part of any political movement.
She said she went because a man had been brutally taken from his wife and children, and despite disagreeing with many of his views, she felt he “did not deserve to d*e.”
“I went to a memorial for Charlie Kirk, a man who was brutally assassinated in front of thousands of people.
“A man who has a wife and children who will never get to see him again. And despite our differing beliefs, a man who did not deserve to d*e,” Hannah said.
She admitted she was shaken not only by the violence itself but also by the way many people appeared to celebrate it online.
“I don’t agree with a lot of what Charlie believed. Do I think that means he should be s*ot and ki**ed? No. And if you disagree with that, we truly have nothing in common,” she continued.
Hannah stated that her declining follower count is a price she’s willing to pay
@.hannahbrownjohn 15:18♬ original sound – Hannah Brown
To Hannah, attending Kirk’s memorial was a way of standing against the mindset that it’s acceptable to slay people with different political beliefs.
“I went to pay my respects to a human that d*ed. And everybody that is attacking me for going to a memorial, really listen to that and think how insane that sounds.
“Whether or not you agree with his political beliefs is so irrelevant. Because truly, if you are against g*n violence… You cannot celebrate when someone you don’t like gets s*ot. You are a hypocrite,” she said firmly.
Brown added that if her attendance cost her followers, she was willing to accept that.
“If you wanna unfollow me, completely fine. I would rather have zero followers than have hundreds of thousands of people that would celebrate the d*ath of a man who just wanted to speak.
“But just know that there is nothing you can take from me that matters,” Hannah said, ending her video by stating that she loved her followers, even those who left.
TikTok users are divided as the fallout against Hannah grows
@.hannahbrown can I not pee in peace #customerservice #serviceindustry #serverproblems #hostessingtings #bistrohuddy #restaurantlife ♬ original sound – Hannah Brown
Reactions to Brown’s video were deeply divided. Some praised her for standing on her beliefs, while others accused her of aligning herself with someone whose politics they found harmful.
The numbers on her profile and her latest video showed the impact of her decision. Her follower count continues to decline, though her video explaining her attendance has also garnered over 103,000 likes.
Netizens are still split on Hannah’s attendance at Kirk’s memorial service.
“I love how this was predicated lol, she is not on the right side of history,” one commenter wrote.
Image credits: Joe Raedle/Getty
“Her follow-up video was infuriating. The way she was talking was so condescending and annoying,” another stated.
“Didn’t realize it was frowned upon to go to someone’s memorial,” wrote another commenter.
“I love jumping on and reading all of the hateful, vile comments from the party of tolerance. I never thought you guys could go lower, but you always come through,” another commenter noted.
Netizens shared their thoughts on Hannah Brown’s situation on social media
