Updated: Viral-Video Couple Brianna And Jaelin Respond To 'Trolls'
By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 30, 2016 6:08PM
Update, 4:20 p.m.:
The Walking Tour event page was removed "in error," according to a Facebook spokesperson; and it is now back up. “The page was...restored as soon as we were able to investigate," the spokesperson said in an email to Chicagoist. "Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong. We're very sorry about this mistake.”
Original:
Remember Brianna and Jaelin White, the viral-video couple whose rather narrow Chicago experience had them hightailing home to Arizona? Well, a few new developments have taken place since we last checked in on the duo that Chicago loves to hate most.
Jaelin and Brianna White replied to their haters on Tuesday in a new vlog directed at “all the negative things that have been said.” But even as the Whites looked to make peace, the most high-profile White-directed jest has been disappeared: the event page for the planned Walking Tour inspired by the infamous video was removed by Facebook.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Jaelin says at one point in the video, while the couple explains that the vlog was always intended for their established audience, not the heartless Internet at large.
“Nowhere did we say we hated Chicago. We love Chicago,” Brianna says in the clip. “It's an amazing city, probably one of the best cities in the world, and we have nothing against it. like we said in the video, it could have happened anywhere. We just happened to be there and we just didn't feel comfortable. We weren't 'scared' to be there, it just wasn't right for us, you know. It didn't feel like home to us.”
Jaelin at one point in the video makes a call related to an Internet "troll" who masqueraded as him. But most of the digs they cite are all pretty gentle and good-natured. The couple laughs along at pretty much every joke they mention.
So it was somewhat surprising to learn that the aforementioned Facebook page—which the Whites bring up in the new clip—has been taken down. Kevin Fergus, the event's creator, told Chicagoist that he did not remove the page and that Facebook did. Nevertheless, "the event will go forward," he added.
He said he hadn't seen anything mean-spirited or out-of-line. "There were a ton of comments, but they all seemed pretty good-natured," he said. "The couple was in good spirits, too, [in the latest video.] They seemed a little in on the joke, too. So it's odd that this happened."
"I would definitely not recommend going," Brianna said of the Facebook event, which she saw online before it was taken down.
Chicagoist reached out to Facebook as to why the page was taken down. A representative from the company is investigating. This post will be updated when word arrives. In the meantime, enjoy another journey to the wonderful IKEA-outfitted world of the Whites.
[H/T Reddit]