From Netflix to social media, rumors have been circulating with teenage celebrity Piper Rockelle at the center. Recently, a Netflix documentary called Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” was released, exposing the lies and manipulation behind the YouTube group, the “Piper Rockelle Squad.”
Piper Rockell’s squad began growing in popularity in 2017. The squad was a group of 11 kids who filmed YouTube videos together. They made all sorts of videos, from pranks to crush content. At first, according to Sawyer Sharbino and a couple of the other squad members, running around and filming videos was fun. The kids were able to make friends and spend hours of quality time together.
Once the different members in the squad’s YouTube followings started growing, the YouTube videos took a turn. The videos they were forced to shoot were making many of them uncomfortable, and they wanted to rest. All of the video ideas came from Tiffany Smith, Rockelle’s mom. At this time, there were still all 11 members in the squad: Piper Rockelle, Symonne Harrison, Claire Rocksmith, Sophie Fergi, Hayden Haas, Emily Dobson, Sawyer Sharbino, Jentzen Ramirez, Gavin Magnus, Corinne Joy, and Lev Cameron.
All 11 Squad members, not including Rockelle, sued Smith for emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Every kid in the squad was also underage, ranging from 9 to 11 years old at the very start. They claimed almost all of the abuse occurred on set when they were at Piper’s house, but later, harassment spread online.
Eventually, parents started to notice and began pulling their kids out of the squad. Today, many of them are still friends, connecting over the trauma they experienced when they were younger.
Outside of the documentary, more drama has been circulating on social media. Recently, a new group called “the Glow House,” which is a group of girls that have a large following on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, threw a party celebrating the opening of the Glow House. Many teen influencers online were invited. Piper Rockelle and her boyfriend, Capri, were planning on attending this party, but were uninvited when the documentary was released.
The Glow House has a reputation for being well-organized and full of kind people; however, they didn’t want to be associated with Rockelle. Capri later posted a video explaining that the main girl, who started the Glow House, lied and said there were no more spots left at the party when there were multiple.
A couple of months prior, another popular group on social media called the Bop House, a different group of girls known for doing OnlyFans, invited Rockelle to the house. After the meetup, there was major backlash from other members of the group and people on social media, stating she was underage and shouldn’t be in a house known for selling explicit pictures of themselves online.
Many of the decisions on what videos and TikTok’s Rockelle should be in are controlled by her Mom. People have started to talk about why Smith would be willing to let her go to a house like the Bop house, especially because she is 17.
In the documentary, there was a part that described how Rockelle’s mom started a Brand Army account, but it wasn’t for herself; it was for her pre-teen daughter. Smith had Rockelle taking photos in a bikini at 12 years old.
Brand Army is similar to OnlyFans because people worldwide can buy pictures and must spend money to view anyone’s photo, but the twist is that only people who are 18+ can buy pictures. Many find these actions creepy and sexualizing a young girl.
Throughout the different events that have happened to Rockelle and her friends, some people still claim that the squad members are lying about what happened and left because they became successful due to Rockelle. However, there are many witnesses to these events and a whole documentary to back up the kids’ claim. From the Bop House to the Glow House, the impact of these events has been very clear. In the future, many hope that Piper Rockelle will eventually live on her own, and her mom will be held accountable.
