‘Let them eat cake.’ Why people are blocking celebrities on TikTok after the Met Gala

Celebrities hit the red carpet for the 2024 Met Gala and shared their extravagant takes on this year’s theme — “Garden of Time.”

But instead of being praised for their looks, they’re being blocked. Everywhere.

A video posted by popular TikToker @Haleyybaylee sparked a new movement being coined “Blockout 2024” and the “Blocking Boycott.”

The social media star, whose real name is Haley Kalil, can be heard lip-syncing to a sound saying, “Let them eat cake” while she shows her over-the-top look at the Met Gala in a May 7 video that’s already amassed more than 19.3 million views.

The phrase stems from the French Revolution and Queen Marie Antoinette being told that those in poverty didn’t have any bread, to which she is said to have replied, “Let them eat cake.”

A major driver of the movement is that TikTokers believe influencers and celebrities have not used their well-known platforms to speak on social issues such as Palestine.

Commenters rushed to let the TikToker know their thoughts on her video, with one person saying, “The fact she didn’t realize this would upset us just makes the metaphor even stronger.”

“The sound choice that you’re using on this day is WILD. We are truly living in a dystopian world,” another said.

“Girl read the room,” one wrote.

Some even compared this year’s Met Gala to “The Hunger Games” franchise, with one saying, “Watching this from district 12.”

TikToker @Jpall20 explains the crusade. “There is a new movement to cancel celebrities and influencers specifically to block them on all social media platforms,” the poster said in a video that’s garnered more than 800,000 views as of May 9.

The user goes on to say the goal behind the movement is to “stop certain streams of income and popularity.”

Staying on theme with Marie Antoinette’s time period, TikToker @Ladyfromtheoutside shared the importance of subjecting these celebrities to the “digital guillotine” or the “digitine.”

“It’s time to block all the celebrities, influencers and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need,” the user said in the video viewed more than 1.1 million times as of May 9. “We gave them their platforms, it’s time to take it back, take our views away, our likes our money, by blocking them on all social media and digital platforms.”

In a May 9 TikTok, Kalil apologized to her followers about using the “Let them eat cake” sound by saying, “I am so so sorry, that I chose a sound that you guys could ever possibly feel was malicious in nature.”

Later in the video that has garnered more than 5.6 million views as of May 10, Kalil says, “The things going on in the world today are weighing heavily on everyone’s hearts, innocent men, women and children are dying. People do not have access to food and water, people are being kicked out of their homes. There are so many things going on in this world that are just wrong.”

TikTok users were fans of the “digitine,” with one commenting, “Yup. I blocked Haylee Baylee, Tom Brady, Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian.”

“Done and done. This is brilliant,” another wrote.

The TikToker continued to say people should start with Haylee Baylee for her “ignorant decision to attend the $75,000 ticket Met Gala and recite ‘Let them eat cake.’”

The poster ended the May 8 video by saying, “We sentence you to the digitine.”

An “action” seems to be getting put in place to “focus on one celebrity” and “try to get as many people to block that celebrity on” every platform, according to a TikTok posted by @Sophilosophia777 that’s garnered more than 930,000 views as of May 9.

People took to the comments to give their prioritized list for celebs next on the chopping block, with one person saying, “Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner?”

“Okay let’s start with Taylor Swift,” another said.

Others took to the comments to explain how their “dream is literally coming true” and how everyone must “block the elite.”

“It’s such a simple answer. WE CONTROL THEIR IMPORTANCE,” one person said.

“’I’m done engaging and following them,” another said.

“Attention is currency!!” another wrote.

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