Linda Solley Hurd has responded to people’s opinions on TikTok, after she went viral for spending 15 years getting revenge on a man who was mean to her friend.
Earlier this week, Hurd shared a viral video about how she anonymously sent someone spoilers for his favourite TV shows over the course of several years after an incident that happened in college. She was at a comedy club with a friend when the friend accidentally knocked back her chair, causing the man sitting behind her to spill his drink everywhere. After he sweared at her friend and spit in her face, Hurd retaliated by making a fake Facebook account to send him Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead spoilers, before eventually breaking off his engagement.
Now, she’s calling out double standards as some critics pointed out there would be a difference if a man tried seeking revenge on a woman over the course of 15 years.
Since posting her original video, Hurd has responded to specific commenters trying to “play devil’s advocate”. In one video, she responded to a comment that read: “Just imagine, for a second if a guy did this to a woman. The guy would be finished within three seconds of posting.”
At first, Hurd appeared to agree with the comment as she said: “Yes, men just can’t get away with the things that women can get away with.” However, she then went on to list examples of male celebrities who’ve faced scandals but maintained their careers.
“Like for one Chris Brown, remember when he committed a brutal domestic assault and he lost his entire career?” she asked. “He lost everything. I don’t even know if he can find work.”
Hurd added: “Oh wait. No, he won an AMA last year and has many lifetime achievement awards.”
When Brown was 20 years old, he was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats in 2009 after having a physical fight with his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, who was left with visible facial injuries and was hospitalised. He plead guilty to the felony on 22 June of that year and accepted a plea deal of community labour, five years’ probation, and domestic violence counselling.
After completing the year-long domestic violence course in 2010, Brown posted to X, formerly known as Twitter: “I have enough self respect and decency to be proud of accomplishing this DV class. Boyz run from [their] mistakes. Men learn from them!!!”
Hurd then used film director Woody Allen as another sarcastic example, saying: “He has 30 years of credible allegations against him and married his adoptive daughter. He literally has made movies and has had like a 50-year career.” Since Allen’s allegations were first brought up in August 1992, they have all been thoroughly investigated and the allegations were rejected by investigators.
Hurd acknowledged that there is a double standard like the commenter was suggesting, but “not the one they think it is.” She claimed that many women similarly perform acts of revenge because it’s a “creative form of justice that really hurts nobody” and is “just fun and silly most of the time.”
The TikToker continued to say that women don’t have the “luxury” to “commit violence” and ended the video by thanking the commenter for bringing that to her attention. Since then, many women have applauded her in the TikTok’s comments section.
In another video, Hurd responded to a comment asking how she was able to find the man on Facebook in the first place. “It’s so telling to me that the only people asking this question are men, because women have just had to be so aware of their surroundings their entire life,” she said.
Hurd explained that in “less than 120 seconds”, she had gone to the comedian’s Facebook page and looked at his tagged photos and noticed the man’s friends had taken a picture with the comedian. She then went to their tagged photos and found the man who was rude to her friend. If that process didn’t work, she already had her backup plan ready. The man was wearing a hat for a sports team on their college campus, so Hurd said she would have looked at the team’s roster and cross-referenced it with Facebook.
She was also able to find the man’s Facebook account because two of his friends were wearing fraternity letters. One of them was still wearing a high school class ring, so she would have looked at their composite photos and found him that way instead. What’s more, Hurd still had another way to find him if all three of methods didn’t work.
Hurd explained that at their college bar, men typically slide their receipt across the bar after signing it while women fold it in half and physically hand it to the bartender - so as to avoid anyone getting their name. However, Hurd would’ve simply glanced at his name on the receipt to look him up on Facebook.
Many women rushed to the comments section, noting that they never questioned how Hurd found the man’s information because women are known for being experts at “stalking”.
“You finding him on Facebook wasn’t even a question in my mind. I’ve never NOT found someone because even if I can’t, one of my girlfriends can,” one comment read.
Another woman agreed, writing: “We are literally FBI agents when we need info.”
The Independent has contacted Hurd for comment.
