One of my online guilty pleasures is watching messy influencer drama. In 2018, I was all over James Charles and Tati Westbrook’s viral crash out. In 2020, you bet I had a front row seat to Shane Dawson’s public internet execution. Yet, despite all the internet controversies I’ve witnessed, nobody else has caught my eye quite like Ash Trevino.
Trevino is a 36-year-old mother from Texas who went viral on TikTok late last year for her controversial livestreams. Prior to her TikTok career, Trevino worked in a dental office until it was acquired by an Indian family; she claimed her reason for leaving was because she wasn’t “working for no Indians” and quit right on the spot. Since then, her main source of income has been her live streams.
When I first heard about her, I was intrigued, but I didn’t get why she was so controversial as to warrant such strong backlash from the public. It was only when I sat down and watched other TikToks recapping the full lore that I was finally able to understand all the fuss: Trevino willingly engages in problematic and illegal behavior while showing absolutely zero remorse. And while she may be a problematic person, TikTok is only hurting her mental health, not helping. If we as an audience truly want her to change, she is better off getting therapy, but in order for her to realize that, we need to stop giving her the attention and money that she desperately wants.
One glaring concern surrounding Trevino is her treatment of her kids — after all, 20 Children’s Protective Services cases can leave a sour taste in viewers’ mouths. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, on a TikTok live, she admitted to abusing her eldest daughter because her “baby daddy” loved her more than he loved Trevino. When her eldest daughter hit 500,000 followers on Instagram, Trevino publicly expressed her jealousy. And if all the aforementioned events didn’t sound bizarre enough, last Thanksgiving, she left her daughters in a virtual stranger’s house while she fought men at a bar.
Watching her act this way around her kids makes me wonder: Why does she even post stuff like this? Certainly she has to know that bullying her daughters online doesn’t bode well for her public perception? While she may overshare her darkest moments on TikTok live, Trevino isn’t dumb — she knows that people are more likely to watch and talk about her when she makes questionable decisions, which helps generate clicks, and, even more importantly, money. After all, TikTok is the only source of income we know she has; it makes sense that she would continue posting controversial videos to maintain views and keep her income steady. TikTok pays its creators through video views, and LIVE gifts supports this. With monetary strings attached, the thirst for money and clicks only reinforces Trevino’s decision to post her poor life choices on the internet instead of seeking assistance offline.
It also makes me wonder: If we know she’s a horrible mother, and we know she’s earning money for her shocking behavior, why do we keep consuming her content?
Let’s be honest with ourselves here, then: Watching Trevino’s chaotic personal life is entertaining. It’s nice to know, as messed up as it is to admit, that someone is “doing worse” than we are. Having a bad day? At least you aren’t Ash Trevino getting very publicly kicked out of Rainforest Cafe!
Trevino’s neglectful treatment of her kids goes hand-in-hand with who she surrounds herself with romantically: prison inmates. Of course, not all prison inmates are immoral humans, but the ones that Trevino surrounds herself with are explicitly dangerous people who have often been imprisoned for crimes like domestic violence. Trevino rotates through inmates the way Leonardo DiCaprio rotates through women under the age of 25. The names Jesse, Francisco and Santos should ring a bell to those well-versed in the Trevino lore, as all of them are inmates she has been involved with over the past year.
Jesse was the first inmate Trevino dated before breaking up with him after he was released from prison. Trevino moved on to Francisco (who was jailed for murdering two teenage girls) and said on live that she doesn’t believe he is guilty. She then started seeing Santos, a 19-year-old who was imprisoned for domestic violence. When asked if she had hooked up with Santos, Trevino infamously said on a live she’s “seen his pee pee and he’s seen (her) nunu.”
This type of behavior is dangerous, no question about it. Giving platforms to people who are in jail for domestic violence and murder not only normalizes this behavior, but could teach her younger audience to believe that this is completely normal. For example, while 19-year-olds are technically legal adults, a 36-year-old and a 19-year-old are in two totally different stages of life.
People like Trevino shouldn’t even have a platform in the first place, but we keep coming back for more because we know she isn’t prone to change. Trevino’s online presence reminds me of LovelyPeaches, a TikToker who reached internet stardom in 2019 for similar reasons: A tumultuous personal life full of legal controversy. The attention LovelyPeaches garners on social media only reinforces her negative behavior and gives her financial incentives to continue perpetuating said negative behavior. The same can be said for Trevino: By watching her livestreams and content, even indirectly, we condone her actions by giving her money and attention.
Deplatforming influencers is difficult and rarely has it ever been truly successful, but it is not impossible. As hard as it may be, the only way Trevino will stop what she is doing is if we make her pockets hurt, or, in other words, stop watching her content directly. We could all benefit from touching some grass.
Daily Arts Contributor Liv Frey can be reached at livfrey@umich.edu.
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