In what might be the strangest saga to come out of TikTok since “blokes going to Minions 2 in suits“, a 10-year-old NFL draft prospect nicknamed Baby Gronk and the Louisiana State University (LSU) gymnast Olivia Dunne have been occupying prime real estate on many For You Pages.
The situation gained traction on TikTok when creator @H00pify uploaded a series of videos detailing Baby Gronk’s supposed love life.
The videos blew up, partly due to h00pify’s tone being so serious as he described what seemed like such a ridiculous situation. I mean, the videos don’t even sound like they’re in English most of the time.
One minute we’re talking about Baby Gronk, then Livvy (Olivia) Dunne, then the Drip King, then “rizz” (short for “charisma”), and now Baby Diggs.
SLOW DOWN!
It honestly took me about seven viewings before I started to piece together the word salad so don’t feel bad if you get whiplash from the lack of segues between topics.
It’s worth noting that the entire situation is absolutely a pisstake. And yes, it’s definitely a little weird to be putting a 10-year-old at the centre of a fake news saga, but more on that later.
So who the fuck are all these people?
Baby Gronk (real name Madden San Miguel) is a 10-year-old American Football influencer with 322,000 Instagram followers at the time of writing.
His parents technically run the account but it’s always been Baby Gronk’s name in the spotlight which kinda gives me the ick a little bit.
It was Baby Gronk’s parents who uploaded the initial video of him meeting Livvy Dunne at LSU earlier in the year which was then covered by H00pify.
“I do marketing,” said his dad Jake San Miguel in an interview with The Athletic.
“It’s a brand. It’s a movement. I do all of that. I manage everything.
“Everything we do for content is on purpose. Everything is planned out. Just being a creator and being an influencer.”
Yeah, nah. It’s a “no” from me.
It’s giving the Olsen twins but the 2023 sporty influencer version.
Despite his age, the kid is bringing in over USD $100,000 (AUD $148,000) per year from brand deals and sponsorships according to his dad.
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne also has a truckload of Insta and TikTok followers sitting at 4.1 million and 7.5 million respectively at the time of writing.
She absolutely isn’t dating Baby Gronk (that arc is just part of the meme), but she is super popular within the sport. So much so, that LSU had to beef up its security when she was competing because so many fans rocked up to support her.
So there you have it.
Do you get it now?
I certainly do(n’t).
