suzbubs

Toronto influencer embarrassed on Ridiculousness hits back at MTV

A Toronto influencer who was featured in a recent episode of the MTV hit show "Ridiculousness" has been sharing her experience on her popular TikTok page, calling the network out for not being as "sex positive" as it purports itself to be.

Suzanna Brusikiewicz, who goes by @suzbubs, has used her platform to both educate people about and try and end the social stigma around herpes, the incurable STI that she and hundreds of millions of people have worldwide.

In a recent post, she asserted to her 233K followers that "yes, I have herpes, and yes, I'm f**king hot" — a statement that "Ridiculousness" host Rob Dyrdek mocked on his show.

(For those unfamiliar with the long-running, 27-season-long TV series, it consists of former pro-skateboarder Dyrdek and his pals commenting on viral videos of the day.)

Brusikiewicz took to TikTok following the episode to explain how MTV contacted her about featuring one of her videos on the show — the aforementioned one, which she notes had amassed three million views "garnered the most bitterness, anger and confusion from boys that I've ever seen."

"I knew that they would roast me, but I was hoping that the video would reach the people that needed to see it," she said of the clip being shared on the special.

The talking heads on the show — one of which was publicly accused of sexual assault in 2015 — joked that the TikToker was not sharing "fun facts" about herself, but "scary facts," with Dyrdek even calling her "a super spreader," a term that Brusikiewicz said she is used to, and sick of dealing with hearing.

She then goes on to share some facts: that "herpes is the real super spreader and has been for thousands of years," and that 67 per cent of the global population has HSV-1, which can spread as cold sores on the mouth to genitals as well, and at least one in six people has HSV-2, or genital herpes.

She also notes that 75 to 90 per cent of people with a form of herpes may be symptom-free, meaning that many of those laughing along with the mockery of her may actually also have the virus themselves.

"MTV should already know this considering that they have a sex ed website called It's Your Sex Life that they promote with stats and comfort around herpes that echo what I just said," the young woman continues, asking in her caption whether the network is trying to educate or shame on the topic of STIs.

The video has racked up more than 413,000 likes and 9,000 comments, and was undoubtedly a great way to handle what could have been a devastatingly embarrassing moment, turning it into an educational, anti-bullying moment.

In the days that followed, the influencer said in yet another post that the production company behind "Ridiculousness" reached out to say that they were removing the clip from the show so it would not be broadcasted anymore, which they don't often do.

Lead photo by

@suzbubs


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