Update 1:43pm CT, May 18: The company that posted the TikTok of a person destroying an allegedly ancient terracotta pot has confirmed the artifact was fake.
Tim Marriott, co-founder of Engineered Labs, told BuzzFeed News that the company had “no one to blame for the misinformation except ourselves.”
This article as it was originally published continues below.
A viral video shows a TikToker intentionally breaking a 3,000-year-old pottery artifact, drawing criticism from viewers.
The video, which appears to have since been deleted, was posted by TikTok account @engineeredlabs. It showed someone, who appears to be white, picking up the artifact with the on-screen text saying, “This pottery made it 3,000 years without breaking.” Then, they dropped the artifact on the ground, shattering it.
Indigenous TikTokers say the video displays insensitivity and white supremacy.
One TikToker, @oodhamboiii, stitched the original video in disbelief.
“Notice how dispensable other people’s artifacts/cultures are to yt people,” the video’s on-screen text says.
Some viewers have speculated that the original video isn’t real and that user @engineeredlabs didn’t really break a 3,000-year-old artifact. @oodhamboiii says it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not.
“It doesn’t matter the justification or whether it was real or not. The mere fact of posting content like this is so harmful,” they wrote in a comment on their video.
@oodhamboiii #duet with @engineeredlabs #nativetiktok #nativetiktoks #whitepeople #indigenous #indigenoustiktok #foryou #fypシ #foryoupage #10MillionAdoptions #FindYourEdge #colonizer #SearchForWonderMom #LaurelRoad4Nurses #BBPlayDate #ShowYourJOWO #FORDfortheBuilders #LIKEABOMBSHELL #native ♬ Sleep Walk – Santo and Johnny
Viewers were in agreement with the Tiktoker.
“This tiktok made me nauseous, thinking about how many other things they’ve destroyed so carelessly just because they ‘had too many,'” one viewer commented on the video.
“I can’t genuinely believe if that video is real or not because it seems [too] insane to destroy something like that,” another viewer said.
One TikToker, known as Anna (@e.annawads), stitched @oodhamboiii’s video stitching the original video.
“Never belonged to you in the first place. THIS is why the tribal reclamation of ALL artifacts is needed,” the video’s on-screen text says. In the video, Anna flips her middle finger when the artifact breaks.
@e.annawads #duet with @oodhamboiii ♬ Sleep Walk – Santo and Johnny
Viewers of Anna’s stitch couldn’t understand why user @engineeredlabs decided to break the artifact.
“Why tf would they do that. Not like indigenous people would love to have their own artifacts to preserve for future generations. Hate this actually,” one user commented.
“Why would they even break it? What the Hell is that thought process???” another user said.
A third user said the action displayed a lack of respect for indigenous people.
“OH MY GOD… they never respected us and never will until the earth is crumbling maybe not even then,” the user commented.
Another TikToker, known as Anabell (@hija.del.viento), went into detail explaining why the break was wrong in her own stitch of the original video.
“I am assuming that it’s a white person doing this, and if it’s not, it’s someone who’s been brainwashed by the system to think this is OK,” Anabell says in the video. “I don’t know if that thing is real or not, and if it’s not, then it’s still incredibly disrespectful.”
The TikToker says that if someone was to go into a white supremacist museum where certain wars were praised, and “god forbid” you break something or even talk shit, white people would call them incredibly disrespectful.
“Just look at the way they got mad when people were literally bringing down Confederate statues,” Anabell says. “They threw a fit.”
The Daily Dot reached out to users @oodhamboiii, @e.annawads, and @hija.del.viento via TikTok comments. The Daily Dot reached out to Engineered Labs via their website contact form.
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