Popular TikTok creator Ophelia "Mama Tot" Nichol has found herself at the center of a major online controversy after causing some drama with a recent post.
Nichol - who has over one million followers across social media - is best known for her generally positive and outgoing online persona. However, she - like many other TikTok creators (just look at the drama stirred up by the recent Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Momtok trend) has been no stranger to negative headlines.
In the past, she has shown support for various causes including the LGBTQIA+ community and putting an end to human trafficking in America. That is why her most recent controversy has shocked some fans.
The Mama Tot TikTok Drama Explained
Fans are aghast at TikTok star Mama Tot after the popular online creator posted a recent video.
In a now-deleted post, Ophelia "Mama Tot" Nichol shared what many have deemed to be controversial misinformation regarding the recent Hurricane Helene and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) to it.
Nichol has been accused of leaning into potentially dangerous conspiracy theories to do with the response to the devastating storm, many of which have become prevalent in particular sects of right-leaning Republican voters.
In the wake of the storm, conspiratorial thoughts, like those Nichols allegedly shared, have been circling online. Many seem to claim that the U.S. federal government (which is currently Democrat) is denying Republican victims of Hurricane Helene relief and is diverting funds to more generally Democratic areas.
This has caused followers of Nichol to reconsider their support of the online creator, as the recent video was the first significant time she has shown any sort of potentially dangerous conspiracy content such as this.
Some have called the social media star hypocritical for showing her support for fairly progressive causes publicly on her platform, only to (as some have perceived) seemingly harbor controversial right-leaning opinions off-camera.
Others claim Nichol (aka Mama Tot) uses marginalized groups like the queer community for engagement and does not truly believe any of the generally supportive remarks she is saying.
In the last week, Nichol has lost over 100,000 followers on TikTok (via Social Blade). The reason for such a mass exodus, while not confirmed, can likely be attributed to this most recent controversy regarding the star.
In the wake of the drama, Nichol posted a follow-up video on one of her TikTok accounts (@ShowLover99), saying that the post about Hurricane Helene was inherently not political and "not one time has [she] ever used [her] platform for politics:"
"I have been on this app since 2020, and I've loved on people the entire time. Not one time have I ever used my platform for politics or for any of that stuff. For one, people do not even know how to help one another when it comes to politics. They just do not. They hate you if you do not agree. Like, I can't deal with it. And people want a safe place to come to. People do not want to see all that mess. The world is so hyped up right now. It is like one big ball of evil. But I have never made my page about politics."
"In that video, I never said anything about politics," Nichol continued, remarking that she was simply frustrated that those impacted have had to go through such a tragedy:
"In that video, I never said anything about politics, FEMA, money, the government, presidents. I never said anything about those things. None of that. I just expressed how frustrated and sad and angry I was that [the victims] have had to go through this."
Nichol has continued to post since this public follow-up, last sharing a video of her donating supplies to Hurricane Helene victims.
It remains unknown if Nichol meant to share such perceivably conspiratorial sentiments online, but that has not stopped the widespread backlash toward the creator from continuing.
