New Zealand Bachelorette star Lily McManus has alerted her fans to a dangerous TikTok trend encouraging men to commit sexual assault.
Hysteria swept social media last month when six unidentified men allegedly posted a TikTok video calling for April 24 to be named ‘National Rape Day.’
The video has since been deemed a ‘hoax’ as there is no evidence of it existing, but that hasn’t stopped social media users from expressing their fears for the wellbeing of women and children.
Sickening trend: New Zealand Bachelorette Lily McManus, 24, (pictured) called out dangerous TikTok ‘Rape Day’ trend on Tuesday
Weighing in on the discussion on Tuesday, Lily, 24, branded the sickening ‘National Rape Day’ trend as ‘f**ked, and revealed her close friend was actually the victim of a drink-spiking incident on April 24.
Posting to Instagram Stories, Lily explained that her friend was visiting a bar on the Gold Coast when she was approached by a group of five men.
‘Apparently the best looking [guy] stood right in front of her, stood really close to her face and told her she was beautiful over and over again whilst asking for her Instagram.’
Disgusted: Lily branded the sickening ‘National Rape Day’ trend as ‘f**ked, and revealed her close friend was actually the victim of a drink-spiking incident on April 24
While Lily’s friend shrugged off the encounter as simply ‘creepy’, she later learned that the men were secretly spiking her drink.
‘What she didn’t know, was that whilst one guy was up in her face distracting her, another had come in from beside her and slipped something into her drink. All whilst the other boys stood around to block the action from anyone seeing,’ Lily revealed.
‘Within half an hour she couldn’t walk, she was vomiting, she couldn’t see and remembers nothing from that point in the night onwards.’
‘Within half an hour she couldn’t walk’: Lily explained that her friend was visiting a bar on the Gold Coast when she was approached by a group of five men, one of whom began flirting with her while the others helped spike her drink
Thankfully, the woman left the bar with her friends not long after she’d consumed the spiked drink, potentially saving her from being sexually assaulted by the men who’d drugged her.
Lily said she believes the fact that this incident took place on April 24 was no coincidence.
‘Although the ‘trend was supposedly a hoax on spark mass media hysteria among women, the night my friend got drugged was April 24th. Which further highlights the influence these so called ‘jokes’ have on boys,’ she wrote.
Although the ‘trend was supposedly a hoax on spark mass media hysteria among women, the night my friend got drugged was April 24th’: Lily said she believes the fact that this incident took place on April 24 was no coincidence
Lily went on condemn men who disrespect women, and encouraged otherws to call out bad behaviour.
Last month, TikTok issued a statement about the ‘National Rape Day’ video, explaining that any content promoting sexual assault would be deleted from the platform.
‘The supposed ‘National Rape Day’ trend being reported upon is abhorrent and would be a direct violation of our Community Guidelines, and while we haven’t seen evidence of this trending on our platform, our safety team remains vigilant and would remove any such content,’ a spokesperson said.
‘Sometimes the only voice that will impact these men are the voices of other men’: Lily went on condemn men who disrespect women, and encouraged others to call out bad behaviour
‘Tik Tok will remove any content that ‘promotes, normalises or glorifies non-consensual sexual acts or non-consensual touching, including rape and sexual assault’, they added.
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‘Our safety team remains vigilant and would remove any such content’: Last month, TikTok issued a statement about the ‘National Rape Day’ video, explaining that any content promoting sexual assault would be deleted from the platform