Jools Lebron became famous online in 2024 for popularizing the term "Very Demure" in a video that has 58 million views.
Last week, she got attention again for a much different reason — this time for uploading a TikTok video asking her followers to donate to a GoFundMe campaign for a dental surgery costing $45,000.
Social media users shared their opinions on whether people should donate to the GoFundMe. Some objected to having her followers, people with 9-to-5 jobs, send money to an influencer with over two million followers. But others came to Lebron's defense. Eventually she deleted the video.
"We're talking about a trans woman of color asking for help and people are telling her to go out into the real world and get a real job," one creator said
in their video. "But I also do want to remind you guys that I got a lot of friends with normal jobs and they still don't have dental insurance."
Lebron's "very demure" viral moment back in 2024 gained her two million followers – but the pressure of going from someone virtually unknown to one of the most talked-about internet figures of the year took a toll on her.
"Going viral let me fall down a slope of insobriety that ruined my life," she said in a March video. She went on to say that while she was able to achieve personal milestones like financial stability and affording gender-affirming healthcare, it brought back her issues with alcohol and drugs. Since then, she's uploaded candid videos about getting her life back on track after she got sober and does not shy away from showing the less-than-favorable sides of this process.
The drug use, she said in the now-deleted GoFundMe video, is the reason her teeth were decaying. "This is a video I thought I’d never have to make," she said.
"About four or five months ago I had a deal with a dentist, and he was going to take out all my teeth and give me a brand new set of teeth because through addiction my teeth are severely destroyed." Lebron continued, "I don’t want to ask my community for help, but I feel like I have no other choice at this point. I would love to go get a regular job, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think that’s going to help my situation.”
@conuashlei #jools #joolslebron #demure #gofundme
♬ original sound - conu-ashlei
On Thursday, she uploaded a video to TikTok saying she had collapsed at the airport due to stress. Then, in an Instagram story, she posted that she's OK. "I didn't try to delete myself," she wrote. "I collapsed at the airport from stress and chest pain. The internet is a little insane for me right now, but aye, the teeth are getting done, and the girls are talking about me. … I kinda think it'll be okay."
@joolieannie You see how I collapse from stress
♬ original sound - Jools Lebron
After deleting her GoFundMe, she shared that she's taking a step back from TikTok, saying in a video that she will mostly stream on Twitch.
"I think I have to officially let TikTok go," she wrote in the caption of a video. " I think that I am fooling myself that this algorithm will ever favor me. If I ever think I will make up for the momentum I had during 'Very Demure.' I think that I’m fooling myself if I think that being an influencer and chasing this dream is healthy for me in my mind."
@joolieannie I think I have to officially let TikTok go. I think that I am fooling myself that this algorithm will ever favor me. I think I’m fooling myself. If I ever think that I will make back the momentum that I had during Very Demure and I think that I’m fooling myself if I think that being an influencer and chasing this dream is healthy for me in my mind, I’m clearly having some kind of mental break and I’m clearly not in a good space and I’m clearly not doing well and I think that when I think about it more and more it all just steps back to me trying to chase the same fame and recognition and momentum that Very Demure had and I have to move it’s time 🩷 #verydemure
♬ original sound - Jools Lebron
She ended her video saying, "I think that when I think about it more and more, it all just steps back to me trying to chase the same fame and recognition and momentum that Very Demure had, and I have to move; it’s time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jools Lebron made a GoFundMe for her dental surgery. Then came the backlash.
