TikTok beekeeper accused of faking her viral videos Instagram: @texasbeeworksTikTok star and beekeeper Erika Thompson has been accused of faking her viral videos, with other beekeepers and bee enthusiasts pointing out purportedly glaring flaws in her content. Thompson hails from Elgin, Texas, and is the founder of Texas Beeworks \u2014 a beekeeping operation that has come under intense scrutiny from netizens over the past week. Unlike most beekeepers, who are seen wearing white beekeeping suits and helmets, Thompson\u2019s viral content shows her with her hair down and sporting dark clothing\u2026 the first of many purported faux pas of the profession. Thompson\u2019s content has earned her over 6 million followers on TikTok, usually showing the beekeeper\u2019s hive rescues and removals with an ASMR-like narration explaining the story behind the hives. Despite her popularity, Thompson has come under intense scrutiny as of late due to several other beekeepers on TikTok, who claim that the Texas-based TikToker is faking her videos. Dilligenda, who runs Los Angeles-based lahoneybeerescue, first called out Thompson on May 24 for seemingly not cutting out honeycombs or actually removing the hives herself, theorizing that her husband was actually doing all the work. \u201cWhat she\u2019s doing \u2014 going and opening up hives with her hair down, wearing dark clothes with exposed skin \u2014 is dangerous,\u201d the TikToker explained. \u201c\u2026she doesn\u2019t show herself wearing protective gear when she goes up and analyzes the hive at first.\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s setting a very dangerous precedent,\u201d she continued. \u201cShe looks really pretty doing it, and that\u2019s because it\u2019s faked.\u201d Days later, the entire bee-keeping section of TikTok exploded with criticism against Thompson, with many calling her out for showcasing beekeeping habits that could get people new to the profession seriously injured. Thompson herself has yet to comment on the allegations against her, which have transformed TikTok\u2019s normally educational, relaxing beekeeping space into a \u201chive\u201d of drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TikTok beekeeper accused of faking her viral videos Instagram: @texasbeeworksTikTok star and beekeeper Erika Thompson has been accused of faking her viral videos, with other beekeepers and bee enthusiasts pointing out purportedly glaring flaws in her content. Thompson hails from Elgin, Texas, and is the founder of Texas Beeworks \u2014 a beekeeping operation that has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}