Commenters on TikTok are outraged in response to a now-viral video from user Lilly (@its.lil.zink). The video in question is the fourth installment of her “Things that may be legal but make you look like an alcoholic” series.
In this iteration, which has received over 915,000 views as of Sunday, Lilly pours a double vodka with water. According to Lilly, this makes the customer look like “an alcoholic.”
However, TikTok was not having it. In comments, users roasted Lilly, arguing that there are plenty of reasons why one might crave such a simple drink.
“I do it because it’s cheap, not carbonated, and doesn’t spike my blood sugar,” explained a user.
“The only thing I can drink is vodka waters,” added another. “I have a lot of stomach problems and can’t have mixers like cran or orange and I can’t have carbonation.”
“It’s low calorie and hydrating,” concluded a further TikToker.
Many others said they order the drink, then alter it later with their own mix-ins.
“I definitely order this and add Mio / drink flavor,” explained a user.
Instead of commenting on the drink, other users opted to discuss Lilly’s role as a bartender.
“When did you start bartending?” asked a commenter. “Yesterday?”
“I keep seeing this series of tiktoks and honestly you seem like you need to find a different field lmao,” expressed another user.
This comment spurred a response from Lilly, who posted a follow-up explaining the series.
In the video, she says that the commenter had a point and that she “didn’t even like [the] series.”
“There are a lot of alcoholics that come into my bar,” she shares, “But I work at an old people restaurant, so it’s kind of… not correct for the young crowd.”
While she accepts the criticism, she says she won’t be stopping anytime soon—because all the hate brings in viewers and commenters.
“I don’t want to keep making these, but clearly you guys like them and keep commenting and fighting in the comments so they get a bunch of views,” Lilly explains, “so I’m going to keep making them.”
In comments, viewers understood her hustle.
As one user noted, “Lmao I have wanted to fight you on every single one of the videos in this series but I love your attitude towards it.”
Update March 31, 11:30am CT: When reached for comment, Lilly told the Daily Dot that she joined TikTok as “a fun way to waste some time.”
“I never would have imagined that my videos would grow so fast and how many hate comments I would receive,” she shared. “If I had to estimate I would say 90% of commenters say something negative about my videos rather than something positive.”
While Lilly understands some of the criticism of her videos, she said that she was simply basing the series on other trends on TikTok, like “things that may be legal but make you look like a psychopath.”
While many of those videos are correctly regarded as jokes, Lilly says TikTokers “took [her] videos in a totally different direction.”
“Obviously when people do the psychopath trend, they aren’t actually calling anyone who does the thing mentioned in the video a psychopath — they just think it’s a funny/weird thing people do,” Lilly said. “[That was] my full intention of my series… However, people were not happy.”
Outside of TikTok, Lilly said she’s been working in the restaurant industry for three years, which she “loves” and is actually “pretty good” at.
She also said, while she appreciates the comments and views, she thinks TikTokers are going overboard with their negativity. She recounted numerous instances of people digging through her old videos to make specific insults against her, criticizing her profession, and more—all of which contributed to significant emotional distress, she said.
“I usually just ignore the comments because I’m trying to be the bigger person,” she said.
Still, she noted that some comments have gotten to her and caused “lots of anxiety.”
For those who like Lilly’s content, she said she’s still going to keep making videos, even if it brings out an unruly side of TikTok.
“Hate only fuels me to get more views,” she joked.
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