What is the TikTok lesbian breakup apocalypse?

“Ooh, she the one I should hate / But I wanna know how she taste.”

If you are on queer TikTok you may have noticed that lesbians en masse have been getting out the red string and corkboards Pepe Silvia-style. Why? To trace the increasingly tangled web of the TikTok generation of celesbians who, in classic WLW tradition, are talking, laughing, loving, breathing, fighting, fucking, crying, drinking and breaking up with each other. In fact, there has been such a flurry of breakups in such a short amount of time that it’s now being referred to as the ‘Lesbian Breakup Apocalypse’ or alternately the ‘Lesbian Breakup Curse’.

The first couple to break up was Sedona Prince and Rylee LeGlue. Known for their height difference (Prince and LeGlue are 6ft 7in and 4ft 9in, respectively), the pair had been dating for a year and four months before they released a tearful video announcing their split. In the video, which received 8.5 million views before it was deleted, the two said that they were still on good terms after a mutual breakup. However, shortly after that, accusations of cheating were made and refuted from both sides.

Alissa Carrington and Samantha Miani were next to split after four years together, followed by Avery Cyrus and Soph Mosca (two years together) and, most prominently, on-again-off-again couple Jojo Siwa and Kylie Prew. “I’ve been single for almost two months and it’s OK. It’s not deep, I promise. Everything’s fine. Not everything has to be messy and gross because it’s not,” Prew said in an Instagram Live breaking the news.

By the time Siwa and Cyrus were spotted at Disneyland and making mukbang and dance videos together, the speculation of a lesbian breakup curse was in full swing. “Wtf is in the air why are all the tiktok wlw couples breaking up ?!?” wrote TikTok user @anxiousapphic, while another said “remixing my attitude to avoid the lesbian breakup curse that’s going around.”

Some blamed the curse on Siwa, who had recently said she didn’t like using the term lesbian, comparing it to the word ‘moist’. Some blamed it on Virgo season. (Noted for the record: while in the process of writing this article a stranger in a cafe incorrectly guessed I was a Cancer – perhaps picking up on the intense emotional energy of the lesbian breakups). But most have agreed that it can all be traced back to Fletcher.

To understand what’s going on with Fletcher we need to go back to the mid-2010s when Shannon Beveridge was in a relationship with fellow YouTuber Cammie Scott. The pair were one of the OG couples of the Lesbian YouTuber Couples Era and although they eventually broke up in 2016, Beveridge had by then established herself as the internet people’s lesbian princess. The following year Beveridge started a relationship with musician Cari Fletcher AKA Fletcher. The two kept their relationship quiet until after their breakup when Fletcher released her album The S(ex) Tapes in 2020 which was entirely about their split. Beveridge was a collaborator on the album. Remember that for later, it is crucial to the story.

Everything was then quiet for a while until July this year when Fletcher released her new single “Becky So Hot” in which she name drops Beveridge’s new girlfriend Becky Missal. The chorus of the song, which Fletcher said she wrote after accidentally liking one of Missal’s Instagram posts, includes these lyrics: “Are you in love like we were?/ If I were you, I’d probably keep her/ Makes me wanna hit her when I see her/ Cause Becky’s so hot in your vintage t-shirt”.

What followed was a series of back and forths between Fletcher, Beveridge and Missal. First, Beveridge unfollowed Fletcher on Instagram and Twitter and deleted the pictures she had left of Fletcher on her feed. She also tweeted “an empath would never” – a reference to Fletcher being called “the empath” in V Magazine. Missal responded “no” to a comment on Instagram asking if Fletcher had asked permission to use her name. Then Beveridge posted a TikTok reiterating they hadn’t been involved in the process of making the song. “There’s some confusion that I would like to clear up personally right now,” she said in the video. “Number one being that this is not PR that I’m a part of. This is not a collaboration. Number two, no one asked permission.”

@fletcher

pre-save if you want to hear the full song next week and pre-order girl of my dreams if you want this shirt. link in bio ❤️‍🔥

♬ Becky's So Hot - FLETCHER

Missal and Beveridge then released a limited collection of vintage-inspired t-shirts with the slogan ‘Becky’ and proceeds going to The Trevor Project. Fletcher followed this by posting a video in which she purchases a Becky T-shirt while singing “Don’t you wish I was your girlfriend still?” – lyrics from her song “Sting”. She also tweeted a playlist she had created with 27 other songs that name-drop people. Beveridge then responded by posting a video in which she refunds the order made by Fletcher and shakes her head to Fletcher’s question. 

During this increasingly petty (sorry to all involved!) series of events, the TikTok lesbians were split between glee over the unhinged messiness of the celesbian drama playing out in front of our eyes, and concern over the ethics of Fletcher explicitly naming Missal without her consent. They also believe it was these circumstances that set off the chain reaction of breakups across the platform.

It’s not just the general gay public that is getting involved in the gossip, however. Other famous lesbians, including King Princess, G Flip and Hayley Kiyoko have all become involved. King Princess posted a TikTok video sharing a lovely little song she wrote about it all, with the lyrics: “Lesbians break up on TikTok / which turns into TikToks / inspiring songs about breakups on TikTok / the cycle will never end ... until they’re gone.” Fletcher then dueted the video with the caption promising a second verse to the song.

@kendallxpayne you would think this is my job with the amount of research ive done…. #lesbiantiktokdrama #lesbiandrama #tiktoklesbians #beckyssohot #lesbiancomedy ♬ Becky's So Hot - FLETCHER

Australian singer G Flip, who recently made headlines when it was revealed they are dating Chrishell Stause of Selling Sunset fame, posted a video in which they and Strause appear to listen avidly to TikTok user Kendall Payne’s breakdown of the Lesbian Breakup Apocalypse. Meanwhile, musician Hayley Kiyoko was asked during a meet and greet for her thoughts on the drama, to which she responded she was friends with both Beveridge and Fletcher and therefore a “neutral queen”.  A TikTok video of the exchange has almost 100k views.

So what can we learn from all this drama and the internet’s response to it? Firstly, that lesbian gossip is top-tier and that The L Word was right: this really is the way that we live and love. Secondly, that we are all desperate for any distraction from the increasingly bleak situation of the world right now and living vicariously through other people’s ultimately unserious drama is a fun escape from dark times. Lastly, and more optimistically, isn’t it great that there are so many openly queer couples who are so publically out and unafraid that they are willing to have their personal relationship drama play out online in front of millions?